Like Uncle Sam, the Detroit Charter Revision Commission is looking for a few good men and women.  Uncle Sam pays. The Commission does not, unless you find reward in helping to improve and update the City’s Charter.

Before you stretch and yawn, think about this:  At least the Commissioners know they need help. Now is the time for bold moves and bold moves require wise advise.

The Commission meeting, held Tuesday, April 27, 2009 at the Muslim Center on West Davison, was oddly one of the most rewarding meetings I’ve attended since I began watching the Commission’s actions. There were no bold moves, but a move in the right direction.  The Commissioners first officially dipped their big toes into the waters of one of the hottest issues their revision will touch -- council-by-district issue.  Former Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel, Mildred R. Madison, president of the Detroit League of Women Voters and Professor David Fasenfast of Wayne State University gave presentations and answered questions regarding the move to district representation.

The Commission appears to be checking the temperature before proceeding.  Not a bad move considering their meetings attract folks who are excited about district representation as well as those who are still arguing against – and vowing to vote against any revision because of it -- despite voter approval of district representation last November. 

Cockrel said the new council form raises some sticky issues. “How much power the mayor has is going to be important.” She also offered an example of how detailed questions might get. For example:  Will city council members have offices downtown and in their districts or just in their districts? Can council really work as a unit if its president and president pro tem are elected by voters rather than selected by council members?

“I don’t envy you,” Mildred Madison said after taking the microphone.

Madison’s League of Women Voters, Detroit chapter, championed the council by district initiative. “We are an internationally known city,” said Madison. “We’ve got to act like it.”

Before moving into more substantive review of the Charter, the Commission still has some loose ends to tie. It has yet to approve its bylaws. Commissioners are still searching for an administrative assistant, managing without permanent office space, and pondering who should be its parliamentarian (despite hiring a general counsel at $131,500 annually who at a recently meeting repeatedly reminded Commissioners that he was not their parliamentarian).

Lamont “I’m-not-your-parliamentarian” Satchel, reported that he is “reaching out” to the legal community for pro bono assistance for the Commission and will consider offering internships for law students.

Commissioner Janice Mitchell Ford reported that “a stakeholder letter” will soon be sent to, well, stakeholders.

Great! We need the expertise of many, including city planners, academic leaders, researchers, and City residents.

In fact, this stakeholder letter should be an open letter.  You never know where we might find expertise and good ideas. After all, aren’t all Detroiters and well-wishing Michiganders, stakeholders? 

Get in line lawyers and law students. Many want to volunteer and have something to offer. At least, that’s my prayer.

DetroitUncovered

Charter Chatter

by Marshall Powell

Don't Count On Council

Can we count on anything? Really, when it comes to city government, ask yourself, what can I really count on; that is, besides being blown away as our governor predicted almost four years ago with unintentional accuracy.  The Detroit Charter Commission was warned not to count on the City Council to clarify the responsibilities of city departments by its ability to draft ordinances.

“The Council cannot be counted on to do the right thing. They will do the politically expedient thing,” John R. Eddings told the Commission at is regular meeting Tuesday, May 12, 2010 at the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries.  Explicitly stating in the revised Charter the authority of the Ombudsman’s Office allows the office to investigate complaints “free and clear from of political influence.” Eddings, a former Detroit Ombudsman, and Kalamazoo-based attorney Sharan L. Levine were invited to discuss the Ombudsman Office addressed in Article 4 or the current charter.  Levine chaired the Ombudsman Committee of the Administrative Law section of the American Bar Association. 

The City Ombudsman, like ombudsman for jurisdictions across the country, answers questions and helps individuals resolve complaints about a department’s action or inaction.  For those of you who like straight talk: The Ombudsman protects you from getting your rights and interests trampled by bullies and bureaucracy. (We’ve seen too much of both in the last several years).

Independence, impartiality and confidentiality are three characteristics an Ombudsman needs to be most effective, according to Levine. She added that Detroit’s Ombudsman’s office is “almost there” in terms of having the authority it needs.

Levine and Eddings made the following recommendations: 

•Allow the Ombudsman to have an independent counsel.

•Remove the current exemption that prevents the Ombudsman from investigating any department or agency that has subpoena power.

•Exempt the Ombudsman from Freedom of Information Act obligations under certain circumstances to protect the confidentiality of investigations.

•Protect the Ombudsman’s independence by prohibiting City Council from creating any ordinance related to the office.

Commissioners and citizens listened intently and asked thoughtful questions.  That’s the good news.  The potential bad news is whether budget shortfalls will threaten the existence of the Ombudsman.  Both speakers said an empowered Ombudsman is critical.

“When a community has established an Office with such a laudable function, it would be a shamed to let it go,” said Levine, referring also to the 30-year history of Detroit’s Ombudman’s Office.

Eddings, whose 10-year term as ombudsman ended in 2004, foresees an ombudsman being needed more with council-by-district representation. An Ombudsman sees the trends in complaints, discovers conditions or practices that lead to complaints and, therefore, according to Eddings, helps the City avoid lawsuits.

The Ombudsman function can’t be lost under any circumstances, said Edding, who also is a former president of the U.S. Ombudsman Association. If consolidating departments is necessary, he favors, preserving the function of the Ombudsman, Ethics Commission and the Inspector General. (Imagine a new “big three” to protect to public’s interest.)

Commissioner Jenice Mitchell Ford appeared on WDET’s The Craig Fahle Show Wednesday morning to discuss whether the Ombudsman’s Office is still necessary. Ford said Commissioners’ goal is to have a revision ready for voters’ consideration on November 2011 ballot.

Don’t wait till November 2011 to pay attention.

Detroit needs an Ombudsman Office because the answer to the question – What can we count on? – is clear.  Everything changes and some things never do. There always will be legitimate complaints and always someone trying to ignore them for no legitimate reason.

A Dedicated Dozen

Two weeks ago I purchased donuts from Donutville USA on Ford Road in Dearborn. I’m pretty sure they chose me.

As I was driving nearby my car suddenly accelerated, veered into the parking lot and stopped abruptly in a space less than six feet from the door, making it impossible not recognize the omen: Buy donuts or die. So I bought a dozen. While at the Detroit Charter Commission meeting Tuesday, I was remembering the sweet treats when I noticed another important dozen– the determined and dedicated dozen people who regularly attend Commission meetings. They are far too few for a city with an estimated 800,000 residents.

Nevertheless, right now, this core group is the consistent public voice. Moreover, they are the only watchdogs guarding the public’s interest who are not elected officials. They take their role seriously.

To the casual observer they are about as mismatched a group of individuals as the glazed, jelly-filled and chocolate-covered assortment that comprised my dozen. But an active listener can easily hear what they have in common. They no longer trust, if they ever did, elected or appointed officials to perform with transparency and integrity.

Residents politely peppered Chairman Freman Hendrix with questions about a request for proposal (RFP) for audio-visual services. The Commission had a contentious meeting about six weeks ago when its use of the water department’s audio-visual team to record meetings came into question. Residents, and commissioners, wanted to know whether a contract existed, the amount of compensation, if any, and who had authorized it. The Commission responded by approving the RFP. The regulars responded by asking questions and offering suggestions to make sure the process was fair and that the best vendor is selected.

They were polite but firm, serious Detroiters; the ones NBC’s Dateline and Chris Hansen couldn’t find.  

This week’s meeting featured a topic ideal for a group of regulars concerned with transparency – the benefits of creating an Office of Inspector General. Attorney Ronald Goldstock, a law professor and former Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor, explained the role of an inspector general (IG) and the skills needed in an effective IG’s office.

“If you are looking to save money, that’s what the IG’s office does because it reduces waste, abuse and fraud.” Goldstock added that “a good inspector general is always thinking about how to prevent waste, abuse and fraud from occurring in the first place.”

Commissioner Jenice Mitchell Ford asked Goldstock to comment on the pros and cons of folding an Inspector General, Ombudsman and Ethics Commission into one function.Goldstock rejected the idea of combining these functions, even if some responsibilities overlap.

“Rolling them together tends to co-opt their separate functions. I am a believer in overlapping jurisdictions. I don’t like monopolies. Monopolies get lazy and lack innovation. I prefer two more people constructively looking at the same thing.”

The regulars had lots of questions for Goldstock, an expert witness and consultant for independent private-sector inspector general services.  He reminded the Commission and the citizens that he didn’t have all the answers and some questions require a closer look. He also noted that an IG is obligated to report to the public. Judging from the regulars, the public wants somebody watching elected officials, appointees and public servants, and somebody watching the watcher.

Goldstock laughed as if it wasn’t the first time he heard the sentiment. His advice was “to come up with some mechanism for appointing someone who is not connected to the administration and can’t be co-opted.” Was his response an omen? Hold elected and appointed officials accountable to act in the public’s best interest and put mechanisms in place to help citizens watch their actions or accept receivership, gracefully.

Detroit needs another dozen concerned citizens; maybe one of them will bring donuts to the next Commission meeting.

What’s going on?

Oh, make me wanna holler

And throw up both my hands

Yea, it makes me wanna holler

And throw up both my hands

--  “Inner City Blues” 1971 single by Marvin Gaye

The Detroit City Council refuses to play ball with the Mayor. Mayor Bing is taking his ball and going home. The Charter Commission is pondering the rules to the ball game. Unfortunately, Detroiters – folks who live or work here -- are the losers in their game.

That is what’s going on and it’s frustrating.

Consider the last five days: Friday the Council voted to override the Mayor’s veto of their budget. Tuesday, the Mayor announced he will not offer any amendments. At a meeting Tuesday evening, the Charter Commission pondered a question posed in its June 3, 2010 press release:  “How much of a role can an energetic Corporation Counsel play when his/her client’s interests are split and oftentimes at odds with each other?”

Ironically, the Mayor and Council have closed their minds to negotiation and accepted a split over the budget. This split, however, is too costly for Detroiters, even if typical of past Mayor v. Council squabbles. In one week, following a month of crime-related tragedies, Detroiters now wonder whether we’ll have fewer police, firefighters and EMS workers as a result this standoff.

Now is not the time to throw up your hands and holler.  Detroiters must form alliances.  Tuesday local unions signed a pact to support each other’s efforts to organize and bargain.  Neighborhood and citizen groups in Detroit should do the same, offering each other support in a fight for safe, clean streets. Banding together regardless of our zip code to confront elected officials’ with what is important, like public safety, might actually get their attention.

Everyone needs to “feel the pain” of budget cuts, a city resident told me recently. What?  We already feel the pain! Additional cuts to police and fire department budgets is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment for sticking around in Detroit or for being stuck here. Either way, we deserve to be safe. 

An echo from the clanking sound of minds closing at city hall was so loud Tuesday evening, I wondered whether those at the Commission meeting, held next door at One Woodward Place, could hear Marcia Proctor, Elliott Hall and Donald Pailen.  Listening to three lawyers – two former Corporation Counsel and an ethics expert – discuss whether the corporation counsel’s client is the Mayor, the City Council or the City Entity seemed, almost trivial, in light of recent events.

This was no fault of the Charter Commission. It is an important question.  Just ask Commissioner John Johnson, the former corporation counsel, who tripped over a secret settlement agreement and landed in a professional misconduct hearing. Nevertheless, the discussion felt overshadowed.

Fittingly, and perhaps incidentally, Elliott Hall reminded Commissioners they “always have to draft for the 10 percent of the time when the Mayor and Council do not agree.” Wise advice, especially considering the pain and suffering that can result from that 10 percent margin of disagreement, like losing 100 police officers.

Community groups should unite to tell the Mayor scrap your plans to layoff police officers. “If you want to keep your job, police officers keep theirs.”  Put it to the Mayor in those simple terms and he’s likely to find a way. If he needs inspiration, he should listen to the late, great Marvin Gaye plead: “We’ve got to find a way.”

Perhaps, then the cloud that hung over yesterday’s meeting will lift. For right now, listening to his melodious voice is helping me cope with my frustration.

Ferengi Politicians

Readers, beware: Familiarize yourself with The 285 Rules of Acquisition. All the talk about rules at Tuesday’s Charter Commission meeting reminded me how much the rules matter.

 

The Detroit Charter Commission is using each regular meeting through August to feature a panel discussion on a particular set of rules in the City’s Charter. Aside from being interesting at times, the real value of these presentations is that the topics give some clue as to what provisions of the current Charter may be altered.

Last night, attorneys Godfrey J. Dillard and William Goodman debated how to handle elected officials who have overstayed their welcome. The Commission gave the discussion a dignified title, “The Removal of Elected and Appointed Officials: Impeachment versus Forfeiture.” Of course, the lawyers didn’t agree. The thing, however, most folks want to know is how can we get rid of a bum politician?

One answer is don’t elect one. These days that’s easier to say than it is to avoid. You see, your grandfather’s bad politico was a bum politician.  He – 40 years ago it was almost always a he – avoided work.

Today, Ferengi politicians are the danger. They work, but for themselves.

Trekkies will recall the Ferengi, a humanoid species featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Unregulated Capitalism was their religion. The 285 Rules of Acquisition governed every decision a Ferengi made. Do you see where this is going?

Rule 59. Free advice is seldom cheap. Despite hiring a general counsel at an annual salary of $131, 500, the Commission asked Attorney General Mike Cox to issue an opinion on whether the Election Commission or City Council is responsible for actually writing the revised charter.

Free advice abounds. Five – yes, five – law firms have agreed to provide the Commission with pro bono services “on an as-need basis, reported General Counsel Lamont “I’m-Not-Your-Parliamentarian” Satchel. The generous firms are Lewis & Munday, Plunket Cooney, Clark Hill, Foley & Lardner, and Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker.

All this lining up to “help” means citizens better organize to get their voices heard.

By the way, free legal interns from Wayne State are working with the Commission this summer. (That’s nice.)

Rule 208. Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer. Commissioner Rose Mary Robinson, Commission Chair Freman Hendrix, and Executive Director Gregory Hicks, in that order, probably understand this rule better than most.

If curious about this rule, ask a Commissioner or one of citizen-regular attendees why the meetings are not currently recorded and televised. The saga that entails will illustrate the rule perfectly. Note to Commissioners: Gil Scott said the R-e-v-o-l-u-t-i-o-n would not be televised, not civic meetings.

Rule 1. Once you have their money, never give it back. This rule needs no explanation. Just remember, we pay taxes; needed services are what we should get back.

Keeping Ferengi politicians from further destroying efforts to build a better Detroit requires diligence from citizens who haven’t lost hope and self-respect. Even if I’m a crazy trekkie, it might help to remember we’re not all playing by the same rules.

No Time for Coy

Ron Scott came to the July 13 Charter Commission meeting ready and waiting for the one question some previous guest speakers have handled with reticence. 

Scott, head of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, actually didn’t wait to be asked whether he had any recommendations for the Commission.  Scott’s presentation was his recommendations. (Aside from opinions about Scott’s suggestions, his upfront approach is preferable to the backroom deals that led to us conclude the City Charter should be revised.)

The Commission invited Scott, Ines DeJesus, an educator and former Detroit Police Commissioner, Professor Marvin Zalman and Assistant Professor Yuning Wu, both in the Criminal Justice Department at Wayne State University, to discuss trends in “Community Policing, Citizen Evaluations and Affordable Operations.”

DeJesus, a police commissioner from 1994-1998, painted a sobering picture of the responsibilities of a police commissioner. Zalman highlighted the police accountability needed and Wu defined community policing. She said it requires citizen involvement and cooperation among various municipal agencies and functions such as fire fighting, trash collection and zoning.

Professor Wu captured the sentiment of residents when she said “You and me, our opinions matter. What do we think about police effectiveness?  We are the clients.”

Wu’s reference to data-driven policing that focuses attention on “hot spots” was a springboard for Scott’s six recommendations to the Charter Commission:

1.Require an elected Police Commission.

2.Require consistent audits of the Police Department done in conjunction with the Police Commission.

3.Allow the Police Commission to regularly evaluate the Police Chief.

4.Require Police Commission authority over multi-jurisdictional activity.

5.Provide citizens with notification and information on a consistent basis without reliance on Freedom of Information Act requests.

6.Require documentation of police activities.

Scott also said the Police Commission should have a staff and other resources, including subpoena power and the ability to conduct independent investigations, presumably to protect citizens and police and to ferret out police brutality.

Speaking of brutality, the meeting started at 6:10 p.m. did not end until after 10:30 p.m. Viewed in the most positive light, an almost four-hour meeting is evidence the Commissioners’ hearts and apparently strong bladders allowed them to focus on getting through their agenda. Kudos! . . . I think.

Relief for ADHD Sufferers

Who needs Ritalin, the drug used to control symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), when you can attend Detroit Charter Commission meetings?

Lately, the Commission meetings have provided several hours of drug-free relief for those with short attention spans. Seriously, if you get bored easily or find it difficult to focus, attend a Charter Commission meeting. The August 10 meeting at the Kemeny Recreation Center was worth an excursion into deep Southwest Detroit.  From pension fund financing and control to who’s going to replace Chair Freman Hendrix was discussed.

Public Employee Retirement Systems

A discussion of the general retirement fund and police and fire fund attracted more citizens than most recent meetings. The Chairman attempted to keep the discussion balanced by noting there are some who support a bill sponsored by state Rep. George Cushingberry, D-Detroit. Introduced in March, the bill calls for transferring control of the Detroit’s pension funds to the Municipal Employee Retirement System (MERS), a nonprofit, private organization is Lansing. The public’s reaction to the mere mention of transferring control of the Detroit funds to MERS negative. “Money-grabbing” was the term used frequently in public comments on and off the microphone. The message was clear.  The city’s pension funds are a hot topic, as hot as the Kemeny Center. (In August the Center is only for the healthy and well-hydrated.) “There is no problem with language in the Charter; the problem is getting it implemented,” said guest speaker Don Taylor, insight apparently offered just in case Commissioners care. The City Charter requires the funds’ existence and defines the make-up of each fund’s board.  Taylor is president of the Retired Detroit Police & Firefighters Association. State Rep. Bettie Cook Scott, D-Detroit, who was among the citizens in attendance, shared that she has sponsored a House bill 6275 that would allow the police and fire pension fund to loan up to $1 billion to the city. (Huh?)

Two Administrative Assistants

The Commission has searched for an administrative assistant for months. The position offered a salary range of $30,000 to $62,000. Apparently torn between two candidates, the Commissioners decided to offer a position to both candidates.  Each will be offered an annual salary of $25,000 plus $825.00 in fringe benefits for parking expenses. The Commission’s Personnel Committee contends the $825.00 for parking is not a fringe benefit. (Huh?)

Commission Vacancies

Anticipating a vacancy when Hendrix accepts a position on  the Greektown Casino and Hotel Board of Directors, Commissioners have been debating how to replace him since late July.  The question is whether the seat should go to person who finished 10th in the last November’s election or to a person appointed by a majority of the Commission. The Commission appears to favor filling the seat by appointment based on a majority vote. Is the current Charter silent on the matter? Myers-Phillips, who finished 10th, and other potential candidates are paying close attention. Anyone interesting in joining the Commission is well-advised to do likewise.  If the Commission posts an announcement, letters of interest will have to be provided within seven calendar days, according to a Personnel Committee Report that included a proposal for addressing the vacancy.

Citizen Comments

To quote the MasterCard commercials, citizen comments are priceless.  Many are well-informed, insightful and thought-provoking. Sometimes, the citizen comments alone are worth the trip across town.

WARNING: There are side effects to attending Commission meetings: mild shock and a desire to heckle certain commissioners. In my case, surviving these two conditions resulted in an intense resolve to help my neighbors remain informed and active citizens.

How will attending meetings affect you?  The only thing I can promise is that you won’t be bored. Hot maybe, but never bored.

Privatization Much Like Courtship

The Detroit Charter Commission listened Tuesday to four presentations regarding the pros and cons of privatizing city services.  If they were even remotely paying attention, they would do all in their power to help the City place checks and balances on privatization.

Turnaround consultant Geni Giannotti said the City’s Charter provision addressing privatization, Section 6.307, is too stringent and involves too many hurdles. “It is a disincentive to privatization,” said, Giannotti, who was an executive assistant to former Mayor Dennis Archer. She contends the section should be “streamlined.”

Those in attendance, many more than the dedicated dozen regulars, heard three other presentations that argued for a sober look at privatizing city services, one that recognizes the pitfalls to privatization. Ed McNeil, a former City Parks and Recreation Department employee, described some “hidden costs” of privatizing as city employees still doing the work vendors are supposed to do under their contracts and, in some cases, vendors failing to complete work.

“Every public service that we enjoy today began as a private service. The reason private services converted to public is that the private model failed,” said Roland Zullo of the Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy at the University of Michigan.

Zullo argued the three reasons to keep services public are to (1) ensure universal access to services, (2) minimize corruption and (3) minimize negative externalities or moral hazards such as lax health and safety conditions.

Zullo and McNeil provided compelling examples of the pitfalls of privatization. “Change orders came back repeatedly.” Ultimately, the cost of some contracts increased significantly, said McNeil, who is now special assistant to AFSCME Council No. 25 President Al Garrett.

While listening to their presentations, I thought about how much privatizing public services is like courting: The unwise commit to quickly, give away what should be earned, and require too little in exchange for their commitment, making a breakup inevitable and costly.

It would be nice if the Commission was listening to those, like Zullo and McNeil, who ask for our willingness to assess the effects of privatization on clients, workers, and other city services.

If you’ve read this column in the past, you know I frequently look for the bottom line: On this issue, it is this: Don’t assume privatization is the answer to Detroit’s fiscal woes no matter how much the personally interested – politicians and the companies who court their favor – say it is.

Fairness and Cake

Many children have an impeccable fairness detector. If you don’t believe so, put any two 8-year-olds in a room, promise them cake and then slice a couple pieces. From across the room, they’ll know if the slices differ in any way -- size, shape or amount of frosting.  Then the grumbling begins.

At last night’s Detroit Charter Commission special meeting citizens’ fairness detectors were going off all over the room. At least one Commissioner was grumbling so convincingly, commissioners altered their plans to select a new commissioner.  The Commission had planned to vote on Chair Freman Hendrix’s replacement.  Hendrix is resigning, effective September 14, 2010, to accept a position on the Greektown Casino Board of Directors. The problem that triggered fairness detectors:  Some Commissioners wanted to select a replacement yesterday, August 31, 2010. As one resident put it, “vacancy means you are not here.”

Commissioner Rose Mary Robinson suggested Hendrix resign yesterday. Robinson takes issue with Hendrix’s desire to vote on his replacement.  The Commission has decided to fill the vacancy by a majority vote of its members. Essentially, the argument is there is no vacancy until Hendrix resigns. Moreover, the process does not appear to be fair, transparent and impartial if Hendrix’s insists on voting, Robinson explained. By the grumbling and clapping amongst the public in attendance, many agree with Robinson, who suggested all activity related to selecting a replacement be tabled until after Hendrix resigns. Robinson contends that doing so would allow greater notice of the vacancy, widening the selection pool, and allow for a more transparent process.

In a compromise, the Commission decided in a 6-3 vote to allow seven nominees for the vacancy to give their 5-minute speeches, as had been planned.  The nominees are Dan Ringo, an engineer and representative of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 324; Herbie J. Felton, a long-time community activist and frequent meeting attendee; Leonard Weber, a 36-year Detroit resident and former charter commission candidate in the 1990s; Sarah D. Lile, an attorney, and 2009 Commission Candidate; Tonya Myers Phillips, an attorney who finished 10th in the 2009 Charter Commission election; Patty Fedewa, an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board and 2009 Commission candidate; and Vince Keenan, founder of Publius.org, a nonprofit organization that provides voters with information online.

Just after Commissioners Robinson and Hendrix were enjoying a “cooling off period”  from their impassioned exchange, Commissioner Ken Coleman spoke for several minutes about the need to move the process along so that a revised draft could be presented to the public in March 2011. Coleman’s monologue gave Hendrix and Robinson enough time to catch their breath for round two.  This Commission watcher finds the exchanges healthy. I only wish the other seven commissioners had some passion about something. Anything!

Hendrix’s resignation will leave the group with only one strong voice. Other commissioners tend to sit quietly until asked to vote.  A few commissioners have so little to say about the issues usually raised by Hendrix and Robinson that replacing them with all seven nominees for the upcoming vacancy, as one citizen suggested, seemed like a good idea, if a fantasy.  If we could take all seven nominees we might get some passion and real debate.   The fact that at least seven commissioners are content to let Hendrix and Robinson alone debate the issues of public concern is disappointing. In a fairy tale world of my creation, Commissioners would be required to express an opinion or independent thought at least every other meeting.  Perhaps at the next meeting we should place nine slices of cake in front of them?

Public Lighting a potential lightening rod

Detroit soon will jettison its Public Lighting Department, according to a city hall insider.

“Detroit will be out of the public lighting business by the time your business is done,” Charles Beckham told Detroit Charter Commissioners, who must finish their work by the end of 2012.

Beckham, Mayor Bing’s former chief administrative officer, was the guest speaker at a Commission meeting Tuesday evening. He was invited to discuss the City’s enterprise departments, described as those that generate relatively significant revenue such as the municipal parking, building and safety, and water and sewerage departments.

No stranger to Detroit politics, having been part of the good and sad of it, Beckham was Water and Sewerage director under Coleman A. Young, later joined the Kilpatrick administration and helped run Mayor Bing’s 2009 campaign. Beckham served as the Mayor’s chief administrative officer until he resigned in May.

“The move is not to necessarily sell public lighting. That’s always controversial,” Beckham said. “These assets in the public lighting department cannot be sold without the approval of voters,” he said referring to the “old and antiquated” equipment at Detroit’s Mistersky Power Plant.

Russ Bellant, a retired city worker, agrees with Beckham but only to a point. Citizens readily voice opposition to selling city assets but in this case that’s not the threat, Bellant said.  DTE never wanted to buy Misterksy, according to Bellant. “They just wanted it to go out of business to eliminate the competition.”

“Although the PLD can’t be sold, it can be dismantled,” Bellant says. He contends that dismantling the PLD is exactly what mayors have been doing for the last 50 years. “Mayors have been under a lot of pressure and persuasion from the downtown business community, including DTE.”

Bellant says Mayor Bing is stripping Public Lighting of its ability to generate revenue.  “What Bing is doing is he’s implementing the death of the public lighting department,”

Bellant says the Water and Sewerage Department and Wayne State University are no longer PLD customers. “Wayne State was a multi-million dollar a year customer. If you have these sources as customers, you can sell bonds. People who sell bonds know these folks are going to pay their bills.” Consequently, Bellant considers empty and shortsighted arguments that the city can’t support the PLD.

Beckham disagrees. “We could save a lot of money by shutting down Mistersky and buying all our energy from DTE,” he told those attending the meeting held at the Fellowship Chapel church on the City’s west side.

Shortly after taking office, Mayor Bing announced plans to decommission Mistersky within 90 days in favor of buying energy for DTE. The city currently buys 75 percent of its energy from DTE, according to Beckham. Mistersky is still up and running, although Beckham described it as feeble and lacking capacity to serve the city’s needs.

New Commissioner:  Commissioners selected Tonya Myers Phillips, an attorney with Michigan Legal Services who placed 10th in last year’s election, to fill the vacancy created by Freman Hendrix’s resignation.  Commissioner Jenice Mitchell Ford replaced Hendrix as the group’s chairperson.

Charter meetings are not a sprint, its a journey

The Charter Commission meeting this past Tuesday was the final meeting of what seems like a lifetime of meetings with special guest speakers.

Not that the speakers weren’t informative, in many cases they were.Over the months Light was shed on enterprise zones; making Detroit a hub

for inter-modal transportation was insightful and you could always count on some valuable information coming from the audience. What will not be missed is the pure un-adulterated love Commissioners Ken Coleman and Ken Harris seem to have for the microphone.

The meetings typically ran into the late evening hours but that could’ve been reduced significantly if the Commissioners themselves could find away to get right to the point. Save the soliloquy for the campaign trail and get right to it please!

The Charter Commission will finish out the year with what they’re calling a Charter Commission Convention. This will be an opportunity for the community to become more engaged in revising the charter. Now is the time for the community to be heard on what the charter should look like. If you’ve not taken the time to attend any meetings, make time in your schedule to attend the convention and take part in remaking your charter.

The Commission selected Commissioner John Johnson as Vice-Chair replacing Jenice Mitchell-Ford who replaced Freman Hendrix as Chair.