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Chris Savage (aka Eclectablog) posted this on December 28th, 2011. One of the main points I have raised repeatedly since the passage of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law, Public Act 4, is that the imposition of an Emergency Manager (EM) does little, if anything, to solve the underlying problems that bring municipalities and school districts to the crisis point where an EM is deemed necessary.
With Joe Harris set to depart Benton Harbor sometime in the first few months of 2012, for example, what has he done that will prevent that town from simply returning to the same place it was when he entered the scene? The answer is, of course, little to nothing.
It is my contention that systemic problems plaguing Benton Harbor and other Michigan towns & school districts that are staring down the barrel of the elimination of local democracy are not solved by an EM. Widespread poverty, diminishing revenues both from a shrinking tax base and a Republican state budget that robbed them of revenue sharing and school fund monies, poor education and a lack of trained leaders coming up through the system all conspire to keep these towns and districts from extricating themselves from the problems they face.
It’s worth looking at some of the Michigan cities that have had EMs in the past. First, let’s take a look at Highland Park. Highland Park first had an EM appointed under Republican Governor John Engler in 2001. The first EM Arthur Blackwell was later replaced after it was discovered that he had been taking unauthorized payments for his services after publicly agreeing to an annual salary of $1. A jury determined this past summer that he would have to repay over a quarter million dollars in back pay he paid himself.
So, what has become of Highland Park since 2009? Well, sadly, it is back in the red again. In August of this year, DTE, the electricity supplier for Highland Park, took out 1,400 street lights because the city owed $4.5 million on its power bill. This is simply a symptom of a much greater problem: Highland Park is once again in debt. Soon after he was elected this past November but [...]
Chris Savage (aka Eclectablog) posted this on November 2nd, 2011. In September, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed Lou Schimmel to replace Michael Stampfler as Pontiac’s Emergency Manager. Yesterday, Schimmel fired several key department heads: the city clerk, the city attorney and director of public works.
Pontiac Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel has fired the city’s clerk, attorney and director of public works in what he says is realignment in City Hall.
City Attorney Mark Hotz, Clerk Yvette Talley and Department of Public Works Director Jarvis Middleton were let go Friday.
The changes are part of what Schimmel said is an effort to put together his own team.
“My qualified team of experts,” he said.
A separation agreement is being put together for those positions, which also included firing law department employee Stephanie Sumner. [...]
An employee with United Water, which is contracted to manage the city’s wastewater treatment facilities, will run public works.
That last bit is of particular interest. In a story I broke in June, I revealed that United Water was contracted by Stampfler and later hired to run the wastewater treatment plant completely. During the time he hired them United Water was facing 26-count felony indictment for Clean Water Act violations.
Michael Stampfler is Pontiac, Michigan’s EFM. He has the dubious distinction of being the first Michigan EFM to use new powers granted by Michigan Republicans to cancel a union contract. What went nearly unnoticed was that last week, he dissolved the Pontiac Planning Commission and replaced it with a smaller number of his own hand-picked, unelected members. But he also did another thing. He made a contract for water treatment services with United Water Services permanent, outsourcing the water treatment to them and laying off city water treatment officials.
This is big news. Why? Because United Water was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice last December for violating the Clean Water Act.
United Water Services Inc., the former contract operator of the Gary Sanitary District wastewater treatment works in Gary, Ind., and two of its employees, were charged today with conspiracy and felony violations of the Clean Water Act in a 26-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, the Justice [...]
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