Flint's City Council President opposes the appointment of a new emergency manager for his city.
Last Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the referendum on the state’s emergency manager law onto the November ballot, which will let Michigan voters decide whether or not to uphold the controversial law.
Following that ruling, State Treasurer Andy Dillon said putting the emergency manager referendum on the ballot means the state will have to revert to previous legislation about emergency financial managers, reported MPRN's Rick Pluta.
Dillon said the current emergency managers running cities in Michigan will all be re-appointed except for Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown. Brown has served as Mayor of Flint within the last five years. Under the old law, to which the state will revert, he's not eligible to serve as emergency manager because of this.
However, today, Flint's City Council President, Scott Kincaid challenged the need for a re-appointment of the emergency manager at all.
Mlive reports Kincaid said the city is more financially stable than it was, and no longer meets the criteria for a state-appointed manager. He says he plans to ask the rest of the council to join him in his opposition, which, he says, could include a challenge in court.
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"We've met our payroll, we have cash flow, our audits have been done on time, a deficit reduction plan has been presented," [Kincaid] said. "I don't know what standard the state would use, other than a political one, to put in an emergency financial manager." ..."We are in a different position now than when Mike Brown came in," Kincaid said. "We were spending more than we were getting. Now we have a balanced budget for this year, cuts have been made and contracts put into place."
Brown will leave his emergency manager position in the next few weeks, and his possible replacement has yet to be named, Mlive reports.
-Elaine Ezekiel, Michigan Radio
