Special City Council Session Tuesday

The Detroit City Council has scheduled a SPECIAL SESSION FOR Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 9:45 a.m. in the Committee of the Whole Room, 13th Floor Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, to consider resolution to convene a Closed session Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. with attorneys from the Research & Analysis Division and the City of Detroit Law Department.

The purpose of the meeting will include:

1. Discussing two (2) privileged and confidential communications submitted by the Law Department dated August 7, 2012.
   
   • Whether Any Charter Violation Has Occurred, Where City Funds (Both General and Grant), Property, and Equipment That Are Budgeted and Designated for Use By the Detroit Workforce Development Department Are Utilized by a Nonprofit Corporation Without the Approval of City Council and,
   • If So, What Are the Appropriate Remedies Under the 2012 Detroit City Charter and Whether Any Charter Violation Has Occurred, Where City Funds (Both General and Grant), Property, and Equipment That Are Budgeted and Designated for Use By the Department of Health and Wellness Promotion Are Utilized by a Nonprofit Corporation Without the Approval of City Council and, If So, What Are the Appropriate Remedies Under the 2012 Detroit City Charter.

This marks further investigation into the Institute for Population Health, formed in February 2012 which is taking over operations formerly performed through the Detroit Department of Human Services. Michigan Department of Human Services has worked with the Mayor to de-designate DDHS as the administrator of over $15 million as the Community Action Agency funded through a federal Community Services Block Grant.

From the March 2, 2012 article at Nonprofit Quarterly:

The state and the FBI are already digging into the city’s Human Services Department’s alleged misspending of public dollars. In recent years, the agency had to give back some $7 million in Head Start funds because of declining enrollments despite an ever-increasing Head Start waiting list. The city already returned $9.2 million in weatherization funds last year because the city missed spending deadlines. The state also charges the city with having billed the state $600,000 for a nonexistent workforce development program. Mayor David Bing then laid off the department’s entire weatherization staff. The CSBG funds—$6 million—go to services that help the poor such as homeless shelter programs and food banks.

The state’s position is to transfer responsibility for Detroit’s weatherization and CSBG programs to an independent nonprofit that would run the programs. Oddly enough, Mayor Bing has agreed to work with the state in picking a nonprofit to receive and administer the funds. Some on the City Council were leaning lukewarmly in that direction too, until word leaked out that the state had already talked to the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency in suburban Wyandotte to take over at least the weatherization program if not that and CSBG together. That has thrown a monkey wrench into the plan.