CHICAGO — The 10-member state-appointed financial review team that will begin digging into Detroit’s finances next week is a diverse mix of high-profile state officials and local community leaders and businessmen.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s appointment of a review team comes less than a week after a preliminary review found Detroit to be in a condition of “probable fiscal stress” and is the next step in the process toward possible appointment of an emergency manager.
The team is expected to start work in early January. Under state law, it has 60 days, with an optional 30-day extension, to review the city’s finances and report its findings to the governor.
The team includes state Treasurer Andy Dillon, a Democrat who was Speaker of the House before Snyder tapped him as treasurer in early 2011.
Other Lansing-based officials on the team are Doug Ringler, director of the Office of Internal Audit Services in the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget; Frederick Headen, director of the Treasury Department’s Local Government Services Bureau; and Brom Stibitz, senior policy advisor for the Treasury Department.
Local retired professionals and community leaders on the team include Irvin Reid, retired president of Wayne State University; Isaiah “Ike” McKinnon, a retired police chief of Detroit; and Glenda Price, retired president of Marygrove College.
Also on the team is Shirley Stancato, president of New Detroit, a group that aims to improve race relations in the region; Conrad Mallett, the president of Detroit Medical Center Sinai Grace; and Jack Martin, a public accountant and founder of Martin, Arrington, Desai & Meyers PC.
“This review team is the right mix of expertise and backgrounds to tackle this very challenging job and ensure a thorough, objective, and fact-based review,” Snyder said in a statement.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, who has maintained that the city can solve its problems without state intervention, said his office would cooperate fully with the team as it begins its work.
“At the same time, my staff and I have worked through the holiday break with union leadership on my plan that seeks savings of $102 million for this fiscal year and $258 million” in fiscal year 2013, Bing said in a statement. “We will continue to negotiate until we reach agreement to resolve the city’s financial crisis.”
The review team can report a range of findings. It can conclude that Detroit is not in financial stress, is in a condition of mild financial stress, or is in a condition of severe financial stress but the issues can be resolved with a consent agreement. It can also find that a financial emergency exists and that there is no satisfactory plan to resolve it. Snyder could then appoint an emergency manager.
