Detroit council chief could get spot on oversight panel

[corktownyuppie]

Looking at history, HELL NO! I hope this fails...

The Detroit City Council president would have a seat on a state commission with broad oversight of the city’s finances under amended legislation to be considered by a House committee today.Republican-authored legislation tied to $195 million in state aid for Detroit pensioners now includes a seat for the council president or a designee on a nine-member financial review commission.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz32LCWTkWB

In case it wasn't clear from my last 100 posts, I'm certainly not a fan of Brenda Jones, and I've found City Council historically obstinate and obstructive.

But.

I think it's important to put a City Council appointee on this board for a few reasons:

[[1) Having had direct experience with leadership from afar, it's common that when local leadership lacks the expertise [[or political will) to do what is right, it is crucial that outside leadership steps in. But the potential flaw in the structure is when outside leaders -- who have the necessary expertise -- lack the local knowledge necessary to make well-founded, fully-informed decisions. Putting a city council appointee ensures that at least one person at the table is bringing forth knowledge that might not always be known by the other experts.

[[2) For obvious reasons, it is important that the governed feel that they have a voice that is being heard. Even if that voice does not carry the full authority to make decisions, just knowing that someone is in the discussions advocating your interests can go a long way to keeping people from sabotaging efforts and wasting energy obstructing.

[[3) It's 1 seat in a 9-person committee. I'm not worried about a city council appointee getting in the way of progress.

For what it's worth, Duggan and Jones appeared well-prepared and united [[especially compared to some of the state congressmen who clearly did not understand some of the technicalities of how this bankruptcy process works), which will be very crucial in this turnaround.

[Vic01]

...I'm not worried about a city council appointee getting in the way of progress.

an "appointee" by the city council as a whole might be OK... I still say the president of the city council is too high risk based on history.