Dictator of Pontiac put ALL city properties up for sale, cut workforce 90%, outsourced police & fire

[HiPointDem]

Since Lou Schimmel became Pontiac’s emergency manager in 2011, he has privatized the Department of Public Works, outsourced police services to the Oakland County sheriff’s office, and turned over the city’s fire department to nearby Waterford Township, killing the public sector unions which represented the city’s firefighters and cops. He’s put every city property, including City Hall, up for sale and cut the city’s public employee workforce by about 90%. And he’s done it all without the consent of the city council.

When a city fails to meet certain financial benchmarks, the state can step in. “Basically, there’s a set of conditions that trigger this (Emergency Manager) law, things like missing a payroll or bound (sic) default,” Michigan State University economist Eric Scorsone told MSNBC. A state review team then examines the city or school districts’ financial health for the governor, who then decides whether a financial emergency has taken place. The governor and state treasurer then determine whether “local officials have the wherewithal to enact a plan,” Scorsone said. If not, then the ELB—which includes gubernatorial appointees—will likely appoint an emergency manager.

Schimmel, whose office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview, is the third EM to preside over Pontiac since 2009.

“He’s the roughest, toughest one,” said Democratic City Councilman Don Watkins. In fact, said Watkins, Schimmel has completely disregarded the City Council, leaving the city’s elected legislative body impotent and irrelevant. Council members no longer receive compensation for their part-time work as elected representatives, though the mayor is on the EM’s payroll as a consultant.

Emergency Managers haven’t always held such sweeping powers. Until 2011, they were called Emergency Financial Managers and their authority was defined by a state law called Public Act 72. Passed under Democratic Governor James Blanchard in 1990, it empowered the state government to appoint managers to run city budgets or school districts which would otherwise remain financially insolvent. After the 2008 financial crash, the Democratic administration of Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed several EFMs.

But even before the crash, some people were unsatisfied with what they saw as the limited authority of EFMs. Under Granholm’s administration, Schimmel was a manager in the town of Hamtramck and an adjunct scholar at the Mackinaw Center, a right-wing Michigan think tank. In 2005, he wrote an essay for Mackinac arguing that Public Act 72 didn’t give EFMs “all of the necessary tools to be successful.” The authority to tinker with public sector union contracts was particularly limited, he complained.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/11/michigans-emergency-manager-law-another-front-in-the-war-for-union-survival/

[octoberlib]

1. K&R!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Yep! You folks can not afford police

But please give up your guns to the nice man from the government.

[Downwinder]

3. When does the Federal Government take over Michigan?

[dhol82]

4. Is Pontiac now

a flourishing city? Is it a haven for all?

Or is it in deeper doo-doo than ever with no way to go but further down?

This guy sounds like he is creating his own libertarian paradise. Sheesh.

[newfie11]

5. Welcome to the new America

[ProfessionalLeftist]

6. Coming to a city/state near you...

Count on it.

[surrealAmerican]

7. What happens when this fails?

Once the city has nothing left to cut, but is still in a financial hole, what does the state do?

[corkhead]

8. The emergency manager sells it off to the highest bidder, then goes to "work" for the buyer.

In 2009, Pontiac Michigan’s former emergency manager, Fred Leeb, sold the former home of the Detroit Lions, the Pontiac Silverdome, for a song: $583,000. The public property cost taxpayers $55.7 million to build in 1975 (Guarino 2009). In March 2012, the new owner, Andreas Apostolopoulos sought a tax break for the dome, which was denied the same month (Associated Press).

Leeb, who stepped down as emergency manager in 2010, now is working with Apostolopoulos to expand casino gambling to the state of Michigan.


http://www.arroyorain.com/2012/05/16/pontiac-emergency-manager-personally-gained-from-public-property-sale/

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Bingo.

Watch Detroit.....just watch.