Feds raid Taylor City Hall

**Dexlin** · February-19-19, 12:53 PM

Anyone have any idea of what's going on, here?

More than a dozen FBI agents searched Taylor City Hall early Tuesday in an apparent public corruption investigation, The Detroit News has learned.

FBI agents were spotted inside the second-floor office of Mayor Rick Sollars and blocked access to the area.

While agents busied themselves in the mayor’s office, grim-faced city employees and police officers wandered through the corridors of city hall, declining to comment.

Some employees hung around the lobby, craning their necks to try to peer into the mayor’s office, as men in suits darted in and out.

Yellow caution tape, accompanied by a sign bearing the message “under construction,” prevented curious onlookers and reporters from going onto the second floor.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...it/2914967002/

**Meddle** · February-19-19, 02:49 PM

As part of a public corruption investigation, a team of FBI agents entered Taylor City Hall around 10:30 a.m.

A half-dozen plainclothes officers in suits entered the building and asked for Robert Dickerson, chief of staff to the mayor. Later, a group of more than a dozen FBI agents wearing jackets emblazoned with the agency's logo arrived.

FBI Special Agent Mara Schneider said agents were "conducting a number of search warrants at City Hall and a couple of other locations" in Taylor, including the home of Mayor Rick Sollars on Hunter Circle North.

http://www.thenewsherald.com/news/fb...e4151e03e.html

**Dexlin** · February-19-19, 05:08 PM

Okay, so we're getting more information on the target of the investigation:

The exact nature of the investigation was unclear but the searches come amid questions about Taylor police officers pocketing vehicle inspection fees and allegations that Sollars and a city councilman received kickbacks from a towing contractor.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...it/2914967002/

**aj3647** · February-20-19, 02:37 PM

Just your garden variety "pay to play" corruption. I would hypothesize that this is far more common in the 'burbs then we are currently aware of.

**O3H** · February-20-19, 02:45 PM

It should not be tolerated, and those in a "civil servant" position,
should be busted and sent to jail. None of it should be allowed.

**Scottathew** · February-20-19, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by O3H

It should not be tolerated, and those in a "civil servant" position,
should be busted and sent to jail. None of it should be allowed.

100% agreement here. Find the corruption and lock them up. It will be a huge signal and deterrent when other Detroit-area officials see people going to jail.

**Honky Tonk** · February-20-19, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Dexlin

Anyone have any idea of what's going on, here?

I'm thinking it was probably a still.

**Wesley Mouch** · February-21-19, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by O3H

It should not be tolerated, and those in a "civil servant" position,
should be busted and sent to jail. None of it should be allowed.

Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's retrofit every building in Taylor to be 'green' within 12 years! What could possibly go wrong?

But seriously folks, I assume the FBI sees jail as a possibility.

**BMoo** · February-21-19, 05:35 PM

"The exact nature of the investigation was unclear but the searches come amid questions about Taylor police officers pocketing vehicle inspection fees and allegations that Sollars and a city councilman received kickbacks from a towing contractor."

I guess this isn't surprising. I've been told that Sollars was let go from the Romulus machine shop he had ownership in due to him skimming money off from the company and into his pockets.

**Dexlin** · February-21-19, 06:00 PM

Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars received two standing ovations Thursday at his State of the City event, two days after the FBI raided his home and office.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...ll/2936890002/

You'd think people would learn that you have to jump off the ship before it is totally subsummed.

The FBI in recent years has cracked down on pay-to-play schemes in the suburbs, taking down the Rizzo trash empire, locking up one township official for 17 years, and triggering 17 convictions and criminal charges against 22 public officials and contractors, including towing mogul Gasper Fiore, trash titan Chuck Rizzo and Detroit City Councilman Gabe Leland.

The Free Press reported in 2017 that Sollars backed a no-bid contract for Rizzo Environmental Services to collect trash in Taylor. The company's political action committee was the single largest donor to Sollars' campaign, donating $9,750 since 2013, but the mayor insisted he never saw signs of bribery for which the company later became notorious.

**Danny** · February-22-19, 06:44 AM

I smell recall of Taylor's Mayor.

**poobert** · February-22-19, 02:42 PM

I know there is a lot of city/suburb acrimony on this board and in metro Detroit but I think we can all agree that Taylor itself is completely without value and the world would be better off without it.

**Dexlin** · February-22-19, 07:47 PM

It's getting worse:

Taylor — Mayor Rick Sollars' chief of staff is leaving his post and a police officer has been suspended following a raid on the mayor's office this week by FBI agents investigating public corruption.

FBI agents also are investigating whether a contractor whose home and office was raided Tuesday helped renovate the mayor's lakefront chalet in Lenawee County, sources told The News.

**313WX** · February-22-19, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

I know there is a lot of city/suburb acrimony on this board and in metro Detroit but I think we can all agree that Taylor itself is completely without value and the world would be better off without it.

They don't call it Taylortucky for nothing.

There are very few redeeming qualities to Taylor.

**Wheels** · February-23-19, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

They don't call it Taylortucky for nothing.

There are very few redeeming qualities to Taylor.

And if I said the same about Inkster would you be in agreement?

**313WX** · February-23-19, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Wheels

And if I said the same about Inkster would you be in agreement?

As far as there being very few redeeming qualities? Yes I would.

That said, after further thought, one thing Taylor has going for it is that it's the regional shopping destination for Downriver. But that's about it.

**Meddle** · February-23-19, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by Wheels

And if I said the same about Inkster would you be in agreement?

You mean Stinkster?

At one time it was a real pit. Don't know for sure either way now.

**ABetterDetroit** · February-23-19, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by poobert

I know there is a lot of city/suburb acrimony on this board and in metro Detroit but I think we can all agree that Taylor itself is completely without value and the world would be better off without it.

This sums up a major problem in Michigan that is not nearly as common in other states.

In one form or another, the civil wars never end.

Rip an entire community’s reputation to pieces, write laws to shit on it, take anything remotely of value if possible and then claim it is the bane of our existence.

Lower income communities have reason to fear. The track record is well written in the history of this state.

Michiganders are our own worst enemy. There is a serious lack of empathy for our own in this state and we are all in this together. The world has never gotten smaller, faster. That is a very bad combination of problems to have.