By COREY WILLIAMS

Associated Press Writer

DETROIT — Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick named a new chief of staff on Tuesday, a day after the woman who previously held the post resigned amid allegations that she and the mayor lied under oath about an affair.

Kandia Milton, who has served as deputy chief of staff and liaison to Detroit’s City Council, was appointed to Christine Beatty’s job, Kilpatrick announced in a written statement released Tuesday.

The mayor’s office also said Kilpatrick planned to address the city for the first time since the scandal broke. He was set to speak on Wednesday night from his church, Greater Immanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ.

He is not expected to answer questions from the media, spokesman James Canning said.

Kilpatrick met Tuesday morning with several city department heads at the mayor’s official residence.

Afterward, Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams snickered when asked whether Kilpatrick would resign.

“He’s the mayor. He’s in charge of what’s going on here,” Adams said. “He’s ready to speak to the people. He’s anxious to speak to the people.

“He has to be cautious about what he says. He’s very upbeat, and the people need to know that.”

The Wayne County prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the perjury allegations.

Meanwhile, a judge ruled that The Detroit News can join the Detroit Free Press in a lawsuit against the city to try to get to the bottom of whether a secret settlement exists in a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city.

Both newspapers will be allowed to depose attorney Michael Stefani on Wednesday.

Stefani represented former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and officer Harold Nelthrope in their whistle-blower’s lawsuit last summer that cost the city more than $9 million.

The City Council also decided Tuesday to wait until three other council members return to Detroit to discuss starting its own investigation into the matter, councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said.

Some council members want to learn if they were misled in the settlement of the lawsuit.

Cockrel supports waiting to see what actions the prosecutor’s office takes in investigation.

“We have to let the judicial process play itself out first,” she said.

Kilpatrick and Beatty gave testimony during that civil trial that they were not involved in a physical relationship in 2002-03 and that Brown was not fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

The text messages first reported by the Free Press offer a different story.

The 14,000 messages examined by the newspaper reveal the two carried on a flirty, sometimes sexually explicit dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their numerous trysts.

“I’m madly in love with you,” Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002.

“I hope you feel that way for a long time,” Beatty replied. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!”

On Oct. 16, 2002, Kilpatrick wrote Beatty: “I’ve been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.”

Kilpatrick is married with three children. Beatty was married at the time of the messages and has two children. She had served as the Kilpatrick administration’s chief of staff since the mayor took office in 2002.

In a letter to Kilpatrick that was released by his office on Monday, Beatty said she no longer could effectively carry out her duties.

The two, both 37, have been friends since they attended the same Detroit high school.