East Lansing to Assemble Team to Review Finances; Council Considers Changes that Police Oversight Commission Say Hurts Transparency, Accountability

With the city facing a budget deficit that is expected to persist for years going forward if adjustments aren’t made, the East Lansing City Council voted to assemble a Financial Health Review Committee to comb through the city budget and suggest actions the city can take. 

According to the resolution passed by council at its Aug. 12 meeting that creates the committee, the review team will look at the whole financial landscape around the city’s budget challenges. This includes reviewing the general fund, development incentives, employee and retiree benefits, potential revenue streams, services offered by the city and more. 

The team will be made of no more than seven community members, who will be appointed by Mayor George Brookover, and then confirmed by a vote from City Council. The team will meet at least monthly, and finish its work within six months, unless given an extension by City Council. 

Council voted to assemble the Financial Health Review Committee and make Councilmember Mark Meadows liaison to the group in a 4-1 vote, with Mayor George Brookover the lone vote against. 

Brookover said the city did not implement many of the suggestions that a previous Financial Health Review Committee suggested after conducting a review in 2016. 

“It’s just my personal experience that we do these things and then the reports stand and don’t get incorporated,” Brookover said. 

Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh said she thinks it’s important to revisit options because the previous review was done nine years ago. 

Councilmember Dana Watson said she thinks it will be good for the public to be invited to discussions about city finances and potential changes the city makes to shore up its budget. 

Community members have until 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 29 to apply to be on the commission. The resolution says applications should be sent to Interim City Clerk Amy Gordon, whose email is agordon@cityofeastlansing.com. Applicants with a background working in finance, accounting or with pensions and employee benefits will be given preference. 

Council has first reading of changes to ordinance governing Police Oversight Commission. 

Earlier this year, the city reached a new collective bargaining agreement with the union that represents ELPD patrol officers. Changes to the ordinance that establishes the city’s police oversight commission were part of the bargaining. These changes hurt transparency and accountability in policing, commissioners’ say. 

The oversight commission has been operating differently since the new collective bargaining agreement was announced. Among other things, officers’ names are no longer included in reports given to the commission and commissioners are now barred from weighing-in on complaints before a final ruling on discipline is issued. 

Even with the new collective bargaining agreement, oversight commissioners’ have argued that the language in the agreement is being unfairly applied to block transparency. They say some of the ordinance changes are necessary under the new agreement – but not all of them.

At the Aug. 12 council meeting, council conducted a first reading of the ordinance amendments to officially change the ordinance to align with the new collective bargaining agreement. A second reading, which is necessary for the changes to be adopted, is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 23. 

Police Oversight Commission Vice Chair Kath Edsall urged council to not adopt the new rules. During public comment, she said the ordinance removes all investigatory powers from the commission, even after ELPD’s internal complaint investigation is finished. Edsall said the language in the ordinance goes beyond what is required in the bargaining agreement, and gave examples of incidents the oversight commission reviewed that it would not be able to under the new ordinance.

“Prohibiting any investigation by the commission would prevent the commission from gathering pertinent facts,” Edsall said. “Several times the commission has requested body-worn camera footage for use of force incidents. We have witnessed a 15-year-old waiting for a ride, and unable to provide identification, be thrown to the ground and handcuffed. 

“We have also witnessed a man at McDonald’s eating a breakfast sandwich [who] asked to leave, and as he did, he was thrown to the ground and tased by an ELPD officer,” Edsall continued. “These are only two examples of use of force investigations that would be prevented by the ordinance, as written. No where in the CBA does it specifically prohibit investigations.”

Commissioner Chris Root also spoke during public comment, drawing attention to how widespread the changes to the oversight commission’s ordinance are. 

“Amendments are proposed to 18 of the 35 sections of the ordinance, nine sections are completely deleted,” Root said. “Some of these amendments would significantly weaken the commission’s access to information and its ability to take independent action.”

Root said some of the ordinance changes are required by the bargaining agreement, but not all. She said that since the changes were thrust upon the commission about three months ago, attorneys have not explained what parts of the agreement make each change necessary.

Watson, who serves as liaison to the oversight commission, requested a document be made that includes citations within the ordinance changes showing why each amendment is necessary. Recently hired City Attorney Steve Joppich said he would like to talk to the attorneys who worked on the ordinance changes and collective bargaining agreement to see if a document like this can be created. 

Joppich said he isn’t sure he will be able to create and share the document because it could give away details about the city’s bargaining strategy. 

“In some ways, expanding out with any legal communication that provides legal advice, on any matter that could apply, and [could] result in litigation and put taxpayer funds at risk and so forth,” he said. 

Watson said it seems that the attorneys who drafted the ordinance went “above and beyond” what was required in the collective bargaining agreement. She also said feedback from the commission should be considered when rewriting the ordinance. 

Meadows, who also serves as liaison to the oversight commission, said he hopes the labor attorney and city attorney are present at a special meeting the oversight commission is holding to discuss the ordinance changes. That meeting will be held Monday, Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Hannah Community Center.

This story was updated when the city scheduled the special police oversight commission meeting.