You don’t have to be a jerk about it Last spring when I published exclusive audio of Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris talking about crushing the unions, I was shocked at what he said and, more to the point, how he said it: So, I’ve laid off twenty-five people. I’ve laid off nine police officers. I’ve laid off four […]

A Consent Agreement by any other name is still an Emergency Manager Yesterday, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder presented a Consent Agreement to the city of Detroit. You can read the 26-page Consent Agreement HERE (pdf). HuffPo Detroit has a great run-down of the key parts of the Consent Agreement HERE. There’s some surprisingly egregious stuff in there. Whoa. Here’s the […]

Dunt, dunt, dunt. Another one bites the dust. In the never-ended steamroller crushing municipal debt, another Detroit-area city, Allen Park, appears to now be headed down the road toward the imposition of an Emergency Manager. This one may be voluntary. The Allen Park City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to start the process that could put the city on track for […]

In our last episode… Detroit may avoid Emergency Manager by agreeing to a consent agreementThis morning, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder presented a consent agreement to Detroit city officials. This is basically his last offer before imposing an Emergency Manager on Michigan’s largest city. Michigan Radio reporting news from the Associated Press: Councilman James Tate says the deal includes an advisory […]

There goes another one, just like the other one… As I wrote about in January, the Indiana Senate decisively passed an Emergency Manager bill similar to but different than Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law. The vote was 48-1. Last Friday, the Indiana House passed the Emergency Manager bill unanimously, 96-0. Local governments and school corporations in financial distress could ask a […]

Using financial crises to disenfranchise citizens Last year, faced by over $300 million in debt from a failed trash-to-energy incinerator, Pennsylvania’s capital city Harrisburg attempted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. They were, however, rebuffed. A law passed in earlier in the year specifically to prevent Harrisburg from filing for bankruptcy prohibits them from doing so until July 2012. In […]

Yeeouch. That’ll leave a mark. One of my newest heroes these days, Ingham County Judge William Collette has had just about enough of Governor Sndyer’s Detroit Emergency Manager review team. As I mentioned this afternoon in my Michigan Emergency Manager news round-up, this review team tried to circumvent the Open Meetings Act, which Judge Collette had already found them in […]

It just goes on and on and on and on Lots of news to cover today. Make sure you click through to the jump page if you’re reading this from the front page of Eclectablog. Stand Up For Democracy coalition delivers 226,637 petition signaturesYesterday, the Stand Up For Democracy coalition and Michigan Forward delivered well over the 160,304 signatures needed […]

The never-ending story… Muskegon Heights EM review team still hasn’t met – 3 weeks laterMLive reports that the financial review team for Muskegon Heights schools still hasn’t met three weeks after it was formed. The review team assigned to determine whether Muskegon Heights Public Schools needs an emergency manager has yet to meet three weeks after it was appointed. “We’re […]

Excuse me, but I beg to differ Last week, AnnArbor.com Business news director Nathan Bomey penned an op-ed titled “Why bankruptcy is worse for Michigan cities than emergency managers”. As you might imagine, I have an entirely different take on this which you can read at AnnArbor.com in a counterpoint op-ed today titled “The case against emergency managers: How bankruptcy […]

It’s good to be the king The Herald-Palladium reports today that Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris appointed himself to several city commissions. I guess he’s not planning on leaving soon after all… In an order dated Tuesday, Emergency Manager Joseph Harris removed, appointed or reappointed members to the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Cemetery Board, the Twin City Area Transportation […]