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For municipalities in Michigan struggling against bankruptcy because of dwindling home values, vacating resident and crumbling infrastructure, a method was introduced to save the residents and stop the tide toward insolvency – the Emergency Manager law.

This law allows the state to appoint a competent, qualified person to go in and clean house, sweeping past weak, inept leaders who are too afraid to lose their comfortable elected positions to actually do something about the problem. Unions have trembled at these appointments, as the managers have powers to dissolve sweetheart contracts in order to save a city.

Of course, the people – spurred on by unions and elected officials such as city council members, and village and township boards – are outraged.

Four communities are now under managers: Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Pontiac and Flint. There also was a threat earlier this year that Detroit would be next, though it appears Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder are instead going to come to some sort of alternate “agreement” soon. Understand, there’s no indication that the managers are failing at their job, and Flint and Pontiac have had some encouraging development announcements of late.

However, the threat that Detroit, which hasn’t seen a white leader since before the controversial five-term reign of former Mayor Coleman Young started in 1974, could face an emergency manager is what lifted even more protest against the law. It’s reported that 226,637 petition signatures to end the law were recently submitted to the state, and if only 161,305 signatures are deemed valid, the law would be suspended until a statewide vote on the matter could be held.

I’ll put it bluntly. There has been more action and anger by the Detroit City Council against the state coming in to take over than there has been against the rampant crime, unemployment, poor schools, housing degradation, commercially-dead regions – the list goes on and on.

Some would say this isn’t surprising. Take for example the recent Detroit Department of Human Services debacle, where council members protested the mayor’s turnover of funding responsibility back to the federal government because hundreds of thousands of dollars were mismanaged by city officials. The council seemed WAY more angry at losing control of the issue, than that the funds went to pay for lavish office supplies, such as infrared-sensing trash cans, instead of to the city’s poor.

The problem with these communities starts and ends at one place – the leadership.

The way it should work is that residents elect officials to handle a municipality’s day-to-day operations – it’s not a glamorous job, nor should it be, as ex-con former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick proved.

It’s clear, however, that in these lost areas where the only people left are mostly those who, instead of following politics, daily have to worry about where their next meal is coming from – these areas do not have proper leadership. The officials in these communities operate from on high, without worry from educated oversight by concerned residents. These communities NEED a hero, a manager to come in with no local ties to right the wrongs and hopefully put residents’ needs first again.

But there is another answer – instead of complaining of “state control,” instead of pointing fingers away from their chests, these elected officials in the beleaguered cities of Michigan, and other states with problems, need to do just one thing – their jobs – which involves making the tough decisions, by getting out and fixing the problems, and the corruption, and the bloated staff positions. It may be time to lay off some police officers, close a library, or even – god forbid – raise taxes.

Will they lose their seat next term by following this advice? Maybe, but last time I checked, getting elected wasn’t part of their job.

Instant Insights /

Do the Unglamorous Leadership Job &#150; or Get Out

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