Quote Originally Posted by Novine View Post
As others have stated, what's the long-term track records of EFMs in Michigan? Not very good. Many of the communities that have had EFMs have ended back up in financial troubles. Why? Because there's been no effort by the EFMs to educate the elected class of the communities on how to properly run a financially stable community.

It's like sending in someone to clean up the house of a hoarder. If you don't get the hoarder to understand their problem, as soon as you leave, they'll go back to hoarding. Likewise, if you don't educated the elected officials on the best practices of running a financially stable government, what happens when you leave and those people go back to running the government?

Many people seem to take glee in the idea of punishing the "bad children" by forcing the Mayor and the Council to the sidelines. Take away their toys! What happens when the EFM leaves and the elected officials take over again? How will that process have helped them to learn how to keep Detroit from getting into that position again?
Gee, nover. An EFM is an Emergency Financial Manager.

1) Only applies during emergency

2) Only addresses finances -- see the DPS fights about power of an EFM [[yes, I know that's not quite the same).

When Schimmel left Hamtramck, he said he had eliminated the financial emergency, but he warned that he felt that the city leaders who fought him tooth and nail on every reform were likely to return to their old ways.

Conclusion: The EFM process is not intended to permanently solve problems. That's left to the democratically elected officials. EFM is only to sold the emergency financial situation.