A lawsuit claims no state-appointed managers should be running Michigan cities or school districts until after voters determine the fate of the emergency manager law in November.
The action was filed today in Lansing by lawyers opposed to emergency managers.
The lawsuit says Governor Rick Snyder lost the authority to name managers to run struggling cities or school districts once the referendum on Public Act Four was put on the November ballot.
That suspended the law enacted last year, but the governor claims authority to name emergency financial managers – with less-sweeping powers – under the law that preceded it.
That makes no sense, said attorney John Philo.
“Something strikes me as very wrong about that. The presumption should be that until the people decide, we go back to our standard form of government, which is elected officials.”
Philo said there’s nothing in law that says we then revive old law to fill the gap.
“We don’t. We go back to our standard form of government, which is elected officials,” said Philo. “We’re almost treating elected officials as an aberrant form of government when we do this. That’s our standard – it’s elected officials. We go back to that until voters have their say in November.”
There are seven Michigan cities and school districts being run by state-appointed financial managers.
The lawsuit says those managers should be ordered to step down and turn their operations over to mayors, city councils, and school boards.
*This post was updated from an earlier version
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