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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Watched a special finance council meeting that Mays chaired. What a carnival atmosphere! Mays suspended all rules which from what I read must only be done unanimously. This allowed Mays to run amok. Even the CFO left when his input was ignored.
Mays stood and hovered over the committee .To me that meant he was demonstrating his dominance, but he better realize there are other strong personalities on that council and his trying to control will only go so far.
While he is apparently trying to control his usual exaggerated hand and other gestures, he still uses his hands in an attempt to show authority. In reality that may mean he is stretching the truth. He still bends down, but not as much as before, when he stares the other council in the eyes. More dominance?
He comments on why he is talking loud and strong to indicate that he has a strong opinion about his position. He needs to realize that what is important is how the other council members perceive his actions and if they accept his attempts at authority.
His arrogance by continuing to walk out of the meeting and take lengthy phone calls was astonishing to me. Was he getting his marching orders? He kept insisting council needs to support all of Weaver's agenda.. Davis led in the budget process the need to provide support to the police.
Mays talked about his inability to make motions as chair of the Finance Committee. I don't understand the logic of his asking everyone in the meeting if they wanted the chair of Finance. Only the President can make or take away committee positions.
Council needs to remember they will get the blame for agreeing with poor decisions that end up costing the city money or have unintended consequences. Many of the debates during the recall elections focused on blaming the previous woes of the city on council members..
It as a May meeting.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:00 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Terry Bankert
Just got to the Flint City Council special affairs. Mays just threatened to get involved in a recall of Eve Worthing after the one year date. Guess I missed the screaming match between Galloway and Mays.
Good news. The Council set June 25 as the date for a public hearing to appoint Flints Ethics and Accountability Board. Thank You Flint City Council.
posted June 10 |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:03 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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East Village Magazine
Commentary: Beyond the water crisis, another Flint crisis looms
Home»Commentary»Commentary: Beyond the water crisis, another Flint crisis looms
Posted on Jun 9, 2018
By Paul Rozycki
In its own clumsy way the Flint water crisis seems to be slowly drifting to some sort of resolution. Most scientific reports are showing a significant reduction in the lead levels in our water. As a result the state has ended its distribution of free water at its water points of distribution (PODs) in the city, over much protest and anger. Several private groups and churches have stepped forward to provide bottled water, on a much-reduced basis, for Flint residents. The pipe replacement continues, and more than a third of the estimated 20,000 pipes have been replaced so far.
Debate over whether Flint’s children have been ‘poisoned’ by or simply ‘exposed’ to lead also reflects the division and a potential shift in the view of the water crisis (For more on that, read EVM Editor Jan Worth-Nelson’s stories here, here and here). Yet, Flint’s recent Memorial Day ‘boil water’ advisory, after a water main break, is not going to make any of us feel more confident that the end of the water crisis is on the horizon.
But the water crisis is only the most recent of Flint’s underlying problems. The financial challenges the city faces are as significant–and longer-lasting–than the water crisis.
City Council proved it can meet short
The Flint City Council held a remarkable meeting recently. As reported here by EVM’s managing editor Meghan Christian, the council met for 27 minutes, heard a presentation on the city’s proposed two-year budget, held a brief discussion, and adjourned—one of the shortest meetings in recent memory. In sharp contrast to many recent meetings, it was an organized, civilized, and focused discussion of the most important part of the council’s job—approving and passing the city’s $56 million budget.
Though there is much more to be done, at the moment Flint’s budget seems to be balanced, and the city appears ready to move beyond its years of state oversight and emergency managers.
But hidden in those dry columns of budget numbers are the seeds of a larger problem that Flint faces—a basic financial crisis that may be more difficult to resolve than replacing lead pipes in the city.
While the mayor’s budget projects a surplus for the 2018-19 year, many projections show a deficit in the years that follow.
Two major reasons lie behind those troublesome numbers—a lack of revenue and increasing legacy costs.
The city tax base
With the loss of nearly 80,000 well-paid General Motors jobs in the last few decades it’s not surprising that the impact on Flint is devastating. The city has gone from a population of almost 200,000 to less than half that today. While the population loss has been striking, the loss of tax base has been more dramatic. The taxable value of Flint property declined by half—from about $1.5 billion in 2001 to $750 million in 2015. The personal income loss has been even greater. In 1996, the personal income in Flint was $3.5 billion. By 2013 it had fallen to $400 million. As a result tax revenues for the city fell from about $12 million in 2006 to about $5 million in 2014. The city lost almost two-thirds of its tax base within a few decades.
But if property values should rise, as they have done (a little bit), wouldn’t that fix things?
Not quite. Because of Proposal A, passed in 1994 to address voters’ frustrations with property taxes and inequities in education funding – followed by Headlee amendments to the Michigan Constitution, taxes generally can’t rise any faster than the rate of inflation. So if even if property values go up by 10 percent, tax revenues are likely to rise by only a percent or two.
Revenue sharing
In Michigan, cities receive ‘revenue sharing’ funds, where the local governments receive funds from the state. In the past it has been a significant part of Flint’s budget, as it is for most cities and many other local governments, but in recent years, the state has reduced revenue sharing greatly. In 1998 Flint received about $22 million in revenue sharing. By 2014 that amount was down to $10 million. The Michigan Municipal League projects that Flint lost over $54 million in revenue sharing between 2003 and 2014. Cities in Michigan have lost more than $8 billion in revenue sharing in the last decade and a half. By some measures, Michigan local governments have lost nearly 50 percent of their promised revenue sharing in the last 15 years, and we typically rank last among the states in revenue sharing with local governments. The fact that Flint seems certain to fall well below the 100,000 population level in the next census will make it even more difficult to qualify for larger state and federal grants offered to bigger cities.
All this means fewer resources for a city facing increasing problems and challenges.
And as our population declines many of those problems loom larger.
Legacy costs
One of the major financial problems facing the city is the cost of retirement benefits that were taken on by a much larger and financially stable city. According to The Flint Journal, the city currently has obligations to about 1,800 retirees. That might not be a major problem if the city still had 1,800 or more employees. But it doesn’t. In 2008 the city had about 800 employees. In the next year or so it will have about 527. The city currently has less than half the money needed to take care of its current retiree costs.
The legacy problems have two major causes.
In the past, perhaps city administrations were all too willing to promise a generous retirement package to its workers. Yes, maybe that was true, and maybe past administrations should be blamed for a lack for foresight in promising too much. But, the city was growing, the tax base was increasing, and it shouldn’t have been all that difficult to pay for it. The future looked bright for an expanding city.
But a major part of the problem is also a reflection of the city’s decline and loss of population. A city with 2,000 employees will find it easier to support 500 retirees than a city with 500 employees can support 2,000 retirees. Declining cities tend to have more ex-employees than current ones. Flint isn’t unique in this. Most cities (and organizations) with a shrinking population face the same problem.
One other problem that cities like Flint face is simply that they are older cities, and there is much that needs repair, replacement or upgrading—often at a great cost. Flint’s aging water system is only one example of a system that may have been appropriate and affordable when it was put in place 50 or 100 years ago. But today the pipes, roads, schools, and government buildings now need renewal and the funds just aren’t there. Again, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Probably past administrations should have kept up with maintenance and repairs better, but today Flint faces the problem a maintaining a system designed for a city, and a tax base, of 200,000 people, with less than half of those resources.
Other problems also don’t shrink as rapidly as the population. Certainly the need for police officers, firefighters, maintenance workers, trash collectors, judges, courts, and social workers has not dropped as fast as Flint’s population or tax base has. In many cases the needs have risen. But the city’s ability to support those services has fallen even faster than the population.
Solutions?
The possible solutions to the financial problems of local governments deserve another column, but a few things should be briefly considered.
First, the state needs to restore the missing revenue sharing funds. The cuts of the last few decades have crippled many local governments and have been a major cause of much of the financial problems faced by cities, townships, and villages. We need to realize that emergency managers can’t do much if the resources aren’t there, and often do more harm when they try.
Second, as property values rebound from the 2008 recession, the law should allow tax revenues to recover as quickly.
Third, regional governments and regional tax bases can be another way of dealing with urban areas facing declining population, fewer resources, and increasing problems. Though this has been used selectively in a few parts of the state, politically, it will be a hard sell in Genesee County, given the friction between the city and the out-county.
Finally, local governments need to step up to the plate and responsibly deal with the fact that they don’t have the resources they once did. All too often that hasn’t been the case in Flint. They can’t simply shift funds from one pocket to another in the hopes of avoiding a crisis. Flint’s habit of borrowing from the water fund didn’t serve the city well in the past and won’t in the future.
Paul Rozycki
If there is any light at the end of the tunnel for Flint’s financial problems, it might rest with the fact that we’re not alone. More than 150 cities, villages, and townships are facing financial stress for the same reasons Flint is. According to Bridge Magazine, Michigan has at least 138 cities, 26 townships, and 15 villages that are distressed—and they cover the alphabet from Adrian to Ypsilanti.
At least we might have some allies who share our plight.
EVM political commentator Paul Rozycki can be reached at paul.rozycki@mcc.edu. |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:08 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| This site discussed the issue of the legacy costs as they were presented to the RTAB and approved by the state treasurer. A hard goal to achieve! |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:11 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Flint's Interim CFO Sabuda at the March 9, 2017 RTAB meeting
"right now coming into July 1 of 2017 pension contribution jumped from18 million to 42 million. We've been working with MERS since July to look at various options to fund the pension without interrupting the city. I can favorably report that we have come up with sound financing plan for that benefit and I'm pretty excited about that . The key here is that we have 50 million going out the door, 30 million coming in. and we have to sop that, okay, and also provide city service. So, we're playing that balancing act between the two drivers there. As of 12-31-15 we were 43 percent funded and that is going to fall as we progress. I want also to point out that we also came up with six scenarios on how to fund and we met with the State Treasurer to help us with various assistance. We've framed out the problems and issues and I'm in the process of reviewing those and getting with his team so that they can help us with our financing issues here.
Post Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:41 am
..."Council, the Mayor, and the leadership of the Council and the Mayor have selected an option to fund the pension system, which is before the Council this evening, the entire Council this evening. Basically what you see before you on Page 4 of the table shows the required transfers of employer contributions, where we were and where we're going. So, when yo see column 2, the revised retiree transfers employer contribution we're looking at going from 42 to 33 million. Now what we're seeing it's 42 to 33. We're going from 42 to 20.6. And then each year thereafter what we're looking at as far as funding for employer defined contributions , Council will take this up tonight at their study session and then look at it at their Monday meeting of, that would be, today's the 8th, the 13th, you can see where we're going with this, the increased contributions as we progress through life through year '20, '21, '22, and '23. What this does is give us room to build back the fund, the water fund and the various funds back up. This also allows the City to provide city service. Any other scenario would have drained all reserves within a two-year period and we would not be making a 33.7 million-dollar pension contribution that you see on the left."
Post Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:18 am
Chairman Headen:
...do I understand correctly, that for the first three years, fiscal "17,'18 & '19, your'e basically, for lack of a better term, backloading the annual contribution by and it looks like, a total of $226 million, so the contributions over those three years would be 22.6 million less under the selected column 4 than it would be under column 2.
Sabuda: Correct.
Headen: And you're dong the reverse beginning in, it would be fiscal year '20 to '23. You're paying more in than you would have, but in the bottom line, when you consider all seven years you're talking about, what, $6 million being contributed less overall, which gets you to an estimated funding ration of 27 percent?
Post Thu Mar 30, 2017 1:16 pm
Sabuda:
Correct. You're right on target. Know this, too. We're also recommending to the Council is that if we have certain funds left over, let's appropriate those and put them into the system as a contribution at the back end in addition to that. That's part of the recommendation that's coming out to them tonight and that they're going to consider.
But,yes what this allows us to do is make a pension contribution. It's not what the actuary would like, but balancing city services with pension itself, helps us make payments and then provide the service. After this you either drain the reserves or you start cutting services.
Headen:
And hasn't MERs actually made the decision to change the investment assumption down to 7.75 or is that just a consideration at this time?
Post Thu Mar 30, 2017 1:28 pm
Sabuda:
Absolutely. There were assumptions, Mr. Chair. There were four assumptions that they had changed, the investment return assumption. On page 38 of the report you can see the actuarial changes. There's a change in investment return. There's a change in mortality table t reflect retirees living longer. And then the unfunded accrued liability was moved to a fixed period versus a floating period. Also, the smoothing of the assets, which will be the fourth one. That's not listed here, went from ten years to five years.
Overall here, the key here, guys, I can't stress enough, you have 50 million going out the door and another 30 million coming in, and that's the amount we had to conquer. S as we go through, we make the pension contributions that are outlined on page 4 in the table, but also as the City can afford it, we start making additional contributions above what the actuary has outlined here in this table.
Post Thu Mar 30, 2017 1:43 pm
Please know that the actuary is with the selection, if the City doesn't make those additional contributions the actuary would have an adverse opinion on the report. They would like to see the 14 (?41?) million dollar contribution. So as we go through life I want to make this very clear that the actuary would like to close that spending gap now, and not later, and we need to to do everything we can to get more into the system as we progress in life.
That's all I have.
Mr Finney requests the Chair grant him some question.
Finney; So on the investment return assumption, is that a market number? Is it less than market? Is it better than market? Do you know what selection was made?
Sabuda responded the assumption was based on what the fund would earn. He added the last period earnings were between 10 and 11%, but he current assumption in earnings is 7.75%. The february report will provide have the earnings for the last 4 years.
Finney asks how much of an increase in life span did the make to the mortality table. He is curios because his own personal advisor is pushing his out to age 93. Finney would like to know the they originally planning.
Sabuda promises on the next report.
Finney then asks Sabuda if there is any development on a long term solution as he views this as a short term plan.
Post Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:22 am
Sabuda indicates the administration is working with the State of Michigan Treasurer and his team to review.
Townsend notes that while Sabuda is wanting to alleviate the next three years, he would like to understand what is anticipated along general fund contributions, and the other fund contributions. "What do you anticipate say in 2020 and beyond being able to make those contributions?"
Sabuda states that everything is going to come down to property taxes, expenditures and revenues as well as the population and the water fund. If these economic issues turn around around, we can continue to build, said Sabuda. "We're buying ourselves 3 years"
Post Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:38 am
Sabuda discussed how the City would like water bill payment rates as high as 98% but emphasized that the City required a shut-off tool. He stressed that while they had to work with residents, they had to be out there enforcing it or the city couldn't pay their bills.
Jones addressed the RtAB . Flint is working with the Flint Genesee Chamber of Commerce to develop ways to increase the number of individuals employed. The city is also working with united Way to secure funds for indigent populations.
Finney discussed with Jones how he was working with community on the western side of the state on how to transport people to where the jobs are. Benning, the head of the MTA had indicated over 2,000 individuals are transported daily to jobs in Bridgeport, Lansing, Howell, Brighton, lapeer and sites in Oakland county.
Jones will be working to ensure Flint got the income taxes from those workers.
There will be a salary study because Jones believes Flint Department heads are underpaid.
Post Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:01 pm |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:18 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Yet Weaver accepts a $390,000 salary (partly paid for by the State) for her CFO and refuses a $20,000 salary increase for the Clerk instead of her padding the Mayor's budget for a traveling companion?
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:36 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Flint still faces financial questions after years of emergency management
By Dominic Adams | dadams5@mlive.com | Posted April 17, 2018 at 10:50 AM
FLINT, MI -- Questions still remain about Flint's long-term financial health despite six years of state oversight that overhauled the city's finances.
A 2011 state-ordered preliminary review showed problems with Flint's finances and ultimately recommended an emergency manager for the city.
Now, more than six years later, state officials have said the financial emergency has been addressed to a point where receivership is no longer needed.
State Treasurer Nick Khouri repealed all remaining emergency manager orders on Tuesday, April 10, and lifted state oversight on Flint's finances.
"Moreover, it appears that financial conditions have been corrected in a sustainable fashion," Khouri wrote in a letter to Flint Mayor Karen Weaver.
Flint residents India Coble, 26, and Juliano Spivey, 15, stand as they listen to residents' as nearly 100 people gather to rally at City Hall in protest of the Flint water crisis on its three-year anniversary on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 in downtown Flint. Jake May | MLive.com
Flint's Chief Financial Officer Hughey Newsome said emergency managers helped Flint get its financial house in order. But Newsome said the city's financial future remains uncertain, an uncertainty that could potentially be magnified by a water crisis that resulted from a series of decisions made while the city was under emergency management.
"The after-effects of the water crisis -- including the dark cloud of the financials -- will be here for some time to come," Newsome said. "We're not out of the woods yet, but I don't think emergency management can help us moving forward."
The water crisis hit the city as it was still working to recover from massive job and population losses following years of disinvestment by General Motors. Newsome said the crisis affected the city's economic development efforts and may have left potential businesses wanting to come to Flint wary because of the water.
Gov. Rick Snyder has publicly identified economic development efforts as his priority in the city and Flint has recently received a $3 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to spur those efforts.
Flint's spending became more in line with its revenues, changes were made to its budgeting procedures and retiree healthcare costs and pension liabilities were reduced while under emergency management.
But past financial overseers have warned the city about what would happen if Flint allows its fiscal responsibilities to slip.
"If, however, the new policies, practices and organizational changes are ignored in favor of returning to the historic ways of doing business, it is not likely the city will succeed over the long term," former Emergency Manager Jerry Ambrose wrote to Snyder in 2015 when he advised Flint's financial emergency was over. "The focus of city leaders will then likely once again return to confronting financial insolvency."
The deficit:
Current emergency financial manager Ed Kurtz looks at former emergency manager Michael Brown as they discuss the decisions they've made and the current state of the city in this MLive-The Flint Journal file photo. Lauren Justice | MLive.com
The deficit:
Flint's annual deficit had grown to nearly $15 million by the end of 2010, according to the state, and officials accused Flint in 2011 of failing to stick with its previous deficit elimination plans and going further into the red.
It was discovered that Flint had a $19.2 million deficit when an emergency manager took control in November 2011.
In his 2015 letter to Snyder stating that the financial emergency in Flint had been "rectified," Ambrose touted improvements such as creating a strategic plan, building and maintaining a biennial budget and five-year financial projection, creating fund balance reserves that included a budget stabilization fund and requiring the funding of retiree healthcare and pensions.
However, there are still signs of potential fiscal distress despite Flint's progress under an emergency manager.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver's proposed budget for 2018-19 plans for a more than $276,000 general fund surplus.
But those projections also show a more than $1.75 million potential deficit in 2019-2020. The deficit is projected to grow to more than $8 million by 2022-23.
The deficit is projected to shrink the city's general fund balance from roughly $18.87 million in 2018-19 to minus $2.78 million by 2022-23.
A main reason for the projected deficit, Newsome said, was continued legacy costs and a lack of revenue.
Newsome acknowledged Flint's projected deficit but said it's nothing that officials are trying to hide.
"My last two predecessors have really delivered realistic budgets," he said. "I definitely don't see this administration being irresponsible in regard and I don't see this council rubberstamping such a budget either."
Healthcare and retirees benefit costs:
When Ambrose left in 2015 and turned things over the to the Receivership Transition Advisory Board, he said the city's other post-employment benefits -- retirement-related costs other than pensions -- were reduced from $850 million to $240 million.
A new hybrid pension plan enacted by emergency managers reduced Flint's long-term liability, according to Ambrose.
But on-going legacy costs are still one of the most pressing issues for the city's financial future, Newsome said.
"Remember, the reality we're facing -- we have a $561 million liability to (Municipal Employees' Retirement System) and the fund is only at $220 million," Newsome told the city council on April 9. "We also have an obligation to our 1,800 retirees to make sure that we're paying our MERS obligation. "
A 3 percent raise for Flint police officers approved earlier this year added to those liabilities.
The new police pay comes after two different contracts that were imposed on officers by former emergency managers Michael Brown and Darnell Earley in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Officers were working under a contract that was enacted by Earley in 2014 that saved the city $336,000 immediately and $4.3 million in the long-term, according to past MLive-The Flint Journal reports.
The RTAB asked Newsome in January how the city would pay the additional $264,000 annually in wages and benefits along with a projected $3.4 million in additional retirement costs over the life of the contract.
Newsome was unable to specify how the city would pay for the new contract.
"So, we are not concerned about being able to make that payment over the next two, three, four years," Newsome told RTAB. "But, to tell you exactly where those -- where those dollars will come from right at this point in time, I can't say.
"I think the 'so what' of this is that, you know, the incremental impact from this pay raise is not going to be that large when you think about the three and a half million. The city still needs to figure out where that three and a half million is coming from."
The RTAB approved the raises despite the uncertainty.
Because police negotiated the raise, Newsome said, it also could be an issue with other unions wanting a similar increase during their future negotiations.
Newsome told MLive-The Flint Journal that the city is making increased payments to MERS to avoid balloon payments in the future. For example, Newsome said, Flint will pay an additional $21.5 million this year.
"The idea is to kind of right-size so we can level off payments," he said. "There are some things we are doing to look for savings on the retiree healthcare side."
Newsome would not discuss specifics of the potential savings, but said the city was exploring savings by working with city consultants.
Fund balances:
Former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley gives his opening testimony during a hearing about the Flint water crisis in front of the U.S. House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform at the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 in Washington D.C. Jake May | MLive.com
Fund balances:
Newsome said all the city's funds currently have a positive balance.
Prior to emergency management, the city would sometimes turn to it specialized accounts to help make up for shortfalls in its general fund.
For example, the city would borrow from its water fund to pay the bills from other departments. Eventually, the water fund would need that money to pay for operations in its department, but the money wasn't there, which helped add to the city's financial problems.
However, the city's budget projections show the water fund will have a $2.1 million deficit in 2018-19, which is anticipated to grow to $3.3 million by 2022-23.
Currently, the water fund balance is what it should be according to city policy requiring a reserve balance of 25 percent of the current year's adopted budget.
But next year, the water fund's reserve balance will be at 19 percent and is projected to continue to drop over the next few years, according to city's five-year financial plan.
The city's financial projections eventually put the water fund balance in the red by 2022-23.
"The water fund is probably the most tepid one because it is expected to be below the reserve balance by the end of the year," Newsome said.
Newsome said the city can only account for 60 percent of the water that goes through its system.
He also said the city has 80 percent collection rate on its water bills, which is about $28 million this fiscal year.
"One of our top priorities is better metering," Newsome said, adding that it could cost the city between $10 and $18 million to get the program up and running.
Revenue:
Michael Brown fills out a batch of paperwork as Flint's Emergency Manager, the last of which mostly consisted of contracts for the Smith Village housing development, at City Hall in Flint, Mich. on Wednesday, August 8, 2012. Griffin Moores | MLive.com
Revenue:
Flint's most-recent budget for 2018-19 calls for a combined revenue increase of $1.09 million more than previous budget projections because of increased property values, more income taxes coming in and additional state revenue sharing.
Despite projections for increased revenue, one RTAB member during the board's 2017 evaluation by the state warned that Flint's tax base will keep dwindling.
"An RTAB member suggested that the city's tax base is likely going to continue to shrink and the city currently has limited resources to reverse this trend," according to the RTAB evaluation.
Newsome said the increases in revenue were based on projections from the city assessor's office.
"Right now, revenue is not there," he said. "The income tax is relatively flat. The property tax is flat. That's reality."
Flint's current proposed budget for 2018-19 calls for an increase of $120,000 from property taxes, $339,000 increase in income tax revenue and an additional $631,000 in revenue from the state of Michigan. |
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Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:38 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Eva Worthing
11 hrs
Tonight was fun. Mays tried to kick me and Kate out of the meeting. Monica appealed his ruling and we got to stay.
Eric purposefully shut down talks about the budget tonight by screaming and calling us out of order for no reason. Our voices were silenced and we had no recourse.
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The other wards need to be outraged as Mays is silencing the voices of their elected officials and keeping their issues from being heard. |
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 9:04 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Eva Worthing https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2UQh60T4GzY&feature=share
Manage
YOUTUBE.COM
062018-Flint City Council-Committee
Like · Reply · 55m
Eva Worthing
Eva Worthing About one hour and 30 minutes in, he wants to kick us out and I make my case about his behavior. Not one word from our President about Mays’s abuse of his chair. |
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Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:31 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The term "cultural differences" keeps coming up a lot in Flint City Council whenever Eric Mays has a conflict with a white female. But that doesn't explain why he also has confrontations with black females and males of all races.
In the June 25th Special Affairs meeting. Mays once again aired his personal issues when he had been called a racist, and a misogynist. Racist? I could be wrong but I don't think so! Misogynist? I believe that is a strong possibility. However many insist the real answer lies within the framework of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I leave them to their opinions.
But I do believe that the high level of incivility by Mays displays a lack of integrity, an unwillingness to cooperate and is detrimental to the future of the City of Flint. And no matter what label we assign to his behavior, having a bully in the midst of any council meeting will drive that meeting off track so that the agenda of the bully takes precedence over the governmental task on hand. When the rest of the council tries to speak up, they get drowned out and th ward they represent gets disenfranchised and creates an insult to the concept of a democratic government.
There are established procedures and law that governs the the functionality and credibility of any governing body. The City Council has a fiduciary responsibility to the residents of the City of Flint and political gamesmanship should not be allowed to usurp that obligation. The Chief Financial Officer is correct that council need to take care of business due to a looming multi million dollar obligation regarding pension liabilities.
Women are the most frequent targets of Mays although he is now including Councilman Griggs as a target. Cornell Philosophy Professor Kate Munne has defined a misogynist as not just a male hostile and feeling hatred towards women, but also as males wanting to control and punish women who challenge their male dominance. This includes women who are in positions traditionally assigned to males such as politics..
Mays paints himself as being on moral high ground and engages in verbal battles to anyone in order to preserve his belief that he is socially and morally superior to those he targets.
Throughout the June 25th Special Affairs meeting it became obvious to me that Mays believed the rules did not apply to him and that he was somehow above following the rules.
Mays tirade at Galloway: While he interrupts others with "Point of Order" or "Point of Information", he was loudly telling Galloway "You do it every time-in or out of order. You ain't me . Don't come at me. I'm tired of these folks" as he points towards the women and Griggs. Then when Fields calls for a Point of Order, he interrupts her..
Mays initiated a side conversation with Guerra during a discussion. Galloway spoke so softly to Guerra she as inaudible. Mays got angry and loudly told Galloway: "Don't tell me what to do! Don't chastise me!
'
Mays criticized Kate Fields and Eva Worthing for "having problems as it relates to me" and that they disrespected him. Mays indicated their behavior needed to be looked at. He was critical of Griggs for looking at the clock as the meeting was running late and the public was forming outside the doors.
Mays claims it is not a threat but a promise that he will "do my thing and check you all". as he singles out Fields and Galloway. This is the second time he has made similar statements and if it were me I would view it as a veiled threat. |
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Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:24 am |
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