Tracking the EM's progress

**jt1** · May-23-13, 03:57 PM

Does anyone know if there is any mechanism to see what the EM has done, is doing and the end result.

It would be nice if us common folks could actually see some glimpse of progress. To date, which I believe is going on 2 months, we've gotten a report to tell us we are broke and...?

**p69rrh51** · May-23-13, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by jt1

Does anyone know if there is any mechanism to see what the EM has done, is doing and the end result.

It would be nice if us common folks could actually see some glimpse of progress. To date, which I believe is going on 2 months, we've gotten a report to tell us we are broke and...?

Good question! I have been wondering if he has done anything at all beyond stating the obvious.

**getmoore** · May-23-13, 06:07 PM

I think this is supposed to be the update page.
http://www.michigan.gov/detroitcantwait
But so far there's nothing on it that we don't already know.

**313WX** · May-23-13, 06:30 PM

One thing I've noticed is that there are A LOT more cops patrolling the streets in the past few months [[though not necessarily a reduction in crime).

Other than that, I haven't noticed any changes for the better.

He's only been in there for two months though.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-24-13, 02:44 AM

You shouldn't be expecting progress updates. The EM is building a coalition. Everyone needs to be on board. And everyone will be saying... "If you can get everyone else on board, we'll agree -- but only if everyone else agrees."

So I think you'll see no progress until the last second. And then either he'll have a good deal pulled together, or he won't. Success or bankruptcy.

**Dumpling** · May-24-13, 04:32 AM

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

You shouldn't be expecting progress updates. The EM is building a coalition. Everyone needs to be on board. And everyone will be saying... "If you can get everyone else on board, we'll agree -- but only if everyone else agrees."

So I think you'll see no progress until the last second. And then either he'll have a good deal pulled together, or he won't. Success or bankruptcy.

"The City's financial issues, the DWSD's internal dysfunction and an inability
to raise rates for DWSD customers have resulted in significant historical
under-spending on critical capital expenditures [[italics mine) that must be
addressed in the near and intermediate term." [[From the May 12, 2013
Financial and Operating Plan)
So, from this, despite existing DWSD debt and defecting customers, e.g.
the City of Flint, we may look for "right-spending" to occur, not the "under-spending" that has been happening.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-24-13, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by Dumpling

"The City's financial issues, the DWSD's internal dysfunction and an inability
to raise rates for DWSD customers have resulted in significant historical
under-spending on critical capital expenditures [[italics mine) that must be
addressed in the near and intermediate term." [[From the May 12, 2013
Financial and Operating Plan)
So, from this, despite existing DWSD debt and defecting customers, e.g.
the City of Flint, we may look for "right-spending" to occur, not the "under-spending" that has been happening.

While not an expert here, when you have 4-5 times as many employees as are necessary, you are probably spending enough. You suggest they are underspending on infrastructure. Well, maybe that's true. But I don't think they're underspending overall.

Seems like the smart thing here is to hire out the management to someone who can do it right, then take the 'profits' and dedicate them to paying off bonds to make those improvements and then to help pay for city operations.

Always we hear about 'jewels'. Well, a water and sewerage system doesn't hang around your neck on on your fingers. Owning it should instead be paying dividends to someone.

This is a classic example of an organization that lives to feed itself, not the taxpayers. One shouldn't be surprised that no one wants this gravy train to leave their station. City administration have had copious jobs to hand out and bribes to receive. And the Unions have had lots of dues coming in from lots of workers. What's not to like -- unless of course you are the owner of the abused jewel.

**Dumpling** · May-31-13, 05:31 PM

The DWSD is a "jewel" in the sense that, when the sick people of Metro
Detroit do what they have to do in the bathroom, they can pull a lever to
instantly get rid of the malodorous mess and only just have to deal with being sick from then on. The mess goes to a place far, far away and never comes back. It is not a "jewel" in the sense that the former K-Mart World Head-
quarters by the Somerset Collection in Troy could be selected as a replacement location without someone needing to apply for federal disaster relief assistance. There are repercussions for the area a WWTP is sited in. This is especially true of the Detroit WWTP because it is so big and old.

**Dumpling** · June-01-13, 08:06 AM

http://dwsdupdate.blogspot.com/

This site keeps tabs on DWSD contracts awarded.

**Dumpling** · June-01-13, 08:18 AM

One possible location for the NEFCO project is the site of the former
Systematic Recycling leaf composting operation which I believe at that
time was on land owned by James Rosendall who worked with Synagro
to set up a process for DWSD biosolids. The property may still be owned
by Mr. Rosendall in which case Mr. Orr may be approving a contract in
which NEFCO will lease the property from Mr. Rosendall thereby giving him
his due free enterprise compensation for all of his Detroit troubles.

**brizee** · June-02-13, 03:23 PM

http://www.clickondetroit.com/emails...hr4-4.facebook

-Condo at the Book Cadillac
-Free ride/driver/bodyguard
-24/7 state police access and protection
-200K a year
-Promise of more sucking on philanthropist/corporatist tit

Some pretty damn good progress for him and his bank account!

**313WX** · June-02-13, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by brizee

http://www.clickondetroit.com/emails...hr4-4.facebook

-Condo at the Book Cadillac
-Free ride/driver/bodyguard
-24/7 state police access and protection
-200K a year
-Promise of more sucking on philanthropist/corporatist tit

Some pretty damn good progress for him and his bank account!

And on top of that...

*All of this information was in those emails the Federal Cirucit Court Judge ordered to be released for the pending Federal Lawsuit.

*Apparently the city of Detroit is still paying for all of this through some type of agreement, despite PA 436 stating that the state of Michigan would cover the tab.

**Toka313** · June-02-13, 09:55 PM

Bear in mind that the DWSD has been run by Judge Cox and more recently by Sue McCormick [[who has been suggested as being a friend of Snyder's from Ann Arbor). The city hasn't run DWSD for years.

The idea of overstaffing was from an analysis that suggested getting rid of a lot of employees, but it was going to be replaced with a private company. It was union busting. The people who were going to get laid off conducted a very daring strike and won. It wasn't like they were going to get rid of 80% of the workforce there and not replace them.

**Toka313** · June-02-13, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

And on top of that...

*All of this information was in those emails the Federal Cirucit Court Judge ordered to be released for the pending Federal Lawsuit.

*Apparently the city of Detroit is still paying for all of this through some type of agreement, despite PA 436 stating that the state of Michigan would cover the tab.

PA 436 only covers the salary of the EM through the state. All expenses and staff hired by the EM is covered by the city.

**Wesley Mouch** · June-02-13, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by Toka313

Bear in mind that the DWSD has been run by Judge Cox and more recently by Sue McCormick [[who has been suggested as being a friend of Snyder's from Ann Arbor). The city hasn't run DWSD for years.

The idea of overstaffing was from an analysis that suggested getting rid of a lot of employees, but it was going to be replaced with a private company. It was union busting. The people who were going to get laid off conducted a very daring strike and won. It wasn't like they were going to get rid of 80% of the workforce there and not replace them.

Everyone screams 'union busting', but nothing of the kind really seems to happen much.

So what if they are Union Busting? Has nothing to do with what needs to be done.

So far as Cox goes, I can't speak first-hand to how deeply Cox & Co. ran the DWSD. Can anyone speak to this? I would find it hard to believe that Cox ran things day-to-day -- but who knows. If Cox spent 100% of his time on DWSD 'running' things, it would change things for me.

**Toka313** · June-02-13, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Everyone screams 'union busting', but nothing of the kind really seems to happen much.

So what if they are Union Busting? Has nothing to do with what needs to be done.

I guess since I'm heavily involved in labor issues we won't be seeing eye to eye on this.

**TexasT** · June-03-13, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by brizee

http://www.clickondetroit.com/emails...hr4-4.facebook

-Condo at the Book Cadillac
-Free ride/driver/bodyguard
-24/7 state police access and protection
-200K a year
-Promise of more sucking on philanthropist/corporatist tit

Some pretty damn good progress for him and his bank account!

I bet he took a million dollar per year pay cut to leave his firm. I'm not saying those aren't good perks but if his end game is to make money, he's doing it wrong.

**rjlj** · June-03-13, 09:08 AM

Seems pretty cheap to me to attract talent that knows how to correct the finances of the city. How many people have been employed over the past 40 years that didn't have the brain power to balance a check book? How much money has been spent and wasted to get to the position that the city is in now? Well over 14 billion.

Originally Posted by brizee

http://www.clickondetroit.com/emails...hr4-4.facebook

-Condo at the Book Cadillac
-Free ride/driver/bodyguard
-24/7 state police access and protection
-200K a year
-Promise of more sucking on philanthropist/corporatist tit

Some pretty damn good progress for him and his bank account!

**Eber Brock Ward** · June-03-13, 09:22 AM

Yeah, profits per partner is over $900,000 a year at Jones Day [[http://www.americanlawyer.com/firmPr...name=Jones+Day).

As a prominent partner and a rainmaker, he probably made $1.5 to $2.0+ million a year.

But like he said, it's the "Super Bowl of restructuring." If he pulls this off, he can expect to look at $4+ million a year paydays.

**bailey** · June-03-13, 09:28 AM

Originally Posted by Eber Brock Ward

Yeah, profits per partner is over $900,000 a year at Jones Day [[http://www.americanlawyer.com/firmPr...name=Jones+Day).

As a prominent partner and a rainmaker, he probably made $1.5 to $2.0+ million a year.

But like he said, it's the "Super Bowl of restructuring." If he pulls this off, he can expect to look at $4+ million a year paydays.

agreed. I wonder if a failure here would be in anyway toxic to him? I mean he was touted as "the" guy to get this done... if he fails, was it his failing, or was the situation just too insurmountable?

**professorscott** · June-03-13, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by bailey

agreed. I wonder if a failure here would be in anyway toxic to him? I mean he was touted as "the" guy to get this done... if he fails, was it his failing, or was the situation just too insurmountable?

How can he possibly "fail"? It's already well established that he just has to decide whether the City's finances can be fixed outside of bankruptcy or whether they cannot. All the data I've seen points to "cannot". So in some number of weeks, he just reports out that the City can't be fixed outside of bankruptcy, it declares bankruptcy, and then the EM's job is just to do whatever the trustee and the court tells him to do.

Actually if it was a close call - if there was an even-money chance that the City could be made solvent just through negotiations and voluntary asset sales and the like - his job would be much harder than it is.

**Wesley Mouch** · June-03-13, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by Toka313

I guess since I'm heavily involved in labor issues we won't be seeing eye to eye on this.

Well, probably not. I don't see organized labor as much of the solution to labor's problems today. Nonetheless, I hope positive dialog helps all of us understand each other better. My rant was intended to try and discourage some of the 'broad brush' categorization heard around here. It is possible not to follow the party line on organized labor and still remain respectful of workers.

**louis** · June-03-13, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by TexasT

I bet he took a million dollar per year pay cut to leave his firm. I'm not saying those aren't good perks but if his end game is to make money, he's doing it wrong.

I hate to break it to you but Orr's firm replaced miller canfield about 2 weeks prior to him being appointed the EM position. so its a near guarantee that what he is not getting now [[financially speaking) will be made back with interest upon his resignation 16 months from now.

**TexasT** · June-03-13, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by louis

I hate to break it to you but Orr's firm replaced miller canfield about 2 weeks prior to him being appointed the EM position. so its a near guarantee that what he is not getting now [[financially speaking) will be made back with interest upon his resignation 16 months from now.

Small potatoes. A $3.3M contract? Orr would have brought in way more business than that for JD over the next 18 months if he stayed. JD had revenues of over $1.7B last year. They aren't salivating over $3M.

**bailey** · June-03-13, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by TexasT

Small potatoes. A $3.3M contract? Orr would have brought in way more business than that for JD over the next 18 months if he stayed. JD had revenues of over $1.7B last year. They aren't salivating over $3M.

Small potatoes? Being name checked in every single news article to be written about this historic debacle from now on? it could have COST them money and they'd still be doing everything they could to get there.