Detroit Fills Its FA Board

The Detroit City Council last week approved the two final positions on the financial advisory board that will oversee the implementation of the city’s consent decree with Michigan.

Also last week, Mayor Dave Bing filled the newly created program manager position, naming Oakland County executive William Andrews. Andrews will oversee the implementation of the fiscal and operational requirements of the two-month-old consent decree, which is aimed at stabilizing the city’s finances.

After weeks of delay, the City Council last week appointed W. Howard Morris, president and chief investment officer of Detroit-based Prairie & Tireman, as one of its two selections. Morris formerly served as emergency manager for Inkster Public Schools. The council also tapped Mary Beth Kuderick, chief financial officer of the United Auto Workers Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.

Under the consent agreement rules, Gov. Rick Snyder picks two board members, Bing gets two members, the council taps two members, and state Treasurer Andy Dillon gets one member, with the final selection a joint pick by Snyder and Bing. The council also formally confirmed former Treasurer Robert Bowman as the joint appointee of Bing and Snyder.

The three council members who voted against the consent agreement did not appear at the special session approving the selections.

The council had delayed its selections until a judge ruled on the constitutionality of the city’s challenge to the consent decree. An Ingham County circuit court judge ruled last week that the challenge, brought by Detroit’s corporation counsel, was not a valid challenge.

The nine-member board held its first meeting last Friday.

The remaining board members are: Darrell Burks, senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers; Glenda Price, former president of Marygrove College; Ronald Goldsberry, consultant for Deloitte Consulting; Eddie Munson, former partner at KPMG; Sandra Pierce, president and CEO of Charter One Bank of Michigan; and Ken Whipple, chairman of the board of Korn/Ferry International. Pierce will be board chairman.

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