The Year in Review

Our Recent Accomplishments

 

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Since City Attorney Brig Smith took over, the Office has transitioned into a digitized and modernized "public law firm" for the City, and has accomplished some truly amazing things on behalf of the City.  Here are some highlights:


 

Administration

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City Attorney Leads Charge on Enterprise Management Software

  • Coming from a leading law firm, one of the City Attorney's highest priorities when taking office was to bring to the Office the same technology, tools, and techniques used in the state's best firms so that it could equal or exceed those firms. 
  • The City Attorney pushed hard to acquire and implement "Enterprise Management Software" (EMS) for the City.  EMS allows an enterprise, like the City, to share information seemlessly across the enterprises and with other enterprises.
  • The City Attorney is currently spearheading a pilot program to implement EMS across the Office of the Mayor, the City Council, the Office of the City Clerk, and the Office of the City Attorney.
  • He has also established a "Courts, Cops, and Counselors" working group to explore implementing EMS in the District Court, LPD, and Ingham County Prosecutor's Office.

 

Collections and Banckruptcy

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City Leads Nation in Dealing with GM Bankruptcy

  • The City of Lansing was the first municipality in the country to file in the GM Bankruptcy.
  • Thanks to the City’s proactive approach in anticipating the bankruptcy and addressing it once it occurred, the City has been essentially held harmless in the GM Bankruptcy, and continues to collect millions of dollars annually in revenue from GM.
  • In addition, the City’s two state-of-the-art plants at Delta and Grand River mean hundreds of new jobs, as well as new residents and families moving to the capital city.  Many are relocating from other GM plants and cities that have not fared as well.

City Attorney Ramps Up Collection Efforts Across All Departments

  • As part of an aggressive new approach to collecting debts owed to the City, the City Attorney has dramatically increased the money coming into the City, both in raw dollars, and as a percentage of debts collected.
  • In these tough times, when every dollar counts, this “found” money is helping to cushion the blow from structural revenue reductions from property and income tax and State revenue sharing.

 

Development

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Accident Fund National HQ Revitalizes Old Power Station

  • We successfully negotiated one of the most complex development deals in the Country.
  • The deal keeps Accident Fund, a Blue Cross/Blue Shield subsidiary, here in Lansing, and adds potentially hundreds of new jobs.
  • More importantly, the deal takes the old Ottawa Power Station, which has long been an albatross around the City's neck, and transforms it into a state-of-the-art national campus for Accident Fund.
  • The deal was codenamed the Phoenix Project, because it (literally) resulted in the Ottawa Power Station being reborn from the ashes.

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City Market Gets New State-of-the-Art Home

  • We also closed on Pat Gillespie's "Market Place" project.
  • The project means a new cutting edge home for the venerable City Market.
  • It also means new commercial and residential development along the Grand River.
  • The project, along with the Capitol Club Condos, Michigan State Police HQ, and Accident Fund HQ, continues the Mayor's "Grand Vision for the Grand River."

City Market

 

 Scores of Other Projects Completed, In Progress, and In the Works

  • Even in these hard times, the City’s development team is aggressively pursuing development and job creation, including major projects with Barnes Aerospace, The Christman Building, Emergent Biosolutions, Jackson National Life, The School for the Blind, and Third Party Suppliers for GM.  Stay tuned for even more good news.

  


Litigation

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 City Attorney Gets Big Wins in Court


City Attorney Brig Smith successfully defended the City in two major lawsuits: “Discount Dave’s” and the Tina Houghton matter.

The “Discount Dave’s” Matter

  • In the “Discount Dave’s” matter, the City Attorney won the right for the City to proceed with the immediate demolition and remediation of the former Buy-Rite site next to the Cadillac Club.
  • The Buy-Rite site was burned to the ground in a fire, and the City was sued for an injunction to prevent the site from being disturbed until its arson investigation concluded.
  • The demolition and remediation occurred without expense to the City and keeps the site safe for our citizens and capable of redevelopment.

Buy Rite

The Tina Houghton Matter

  • In the Tina Houghton matter, the City Attorney won a citizen suit attempting to prevent then-Council member-elect Tina Houghton from being sworn in.
  • The Chief Judge’s ruling in the matter reaffirmed the position of the Office of the City Attorney on the Charter and cleared the way for Ms. Houghton to take office.

 Tina Houghton

 

Prosecution

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Courts, Cops, and Counselors Working Group


  • The City Attorney initiated a monthly working group consisting of the District Court, LPD, the Office of the City Attorney, and the Prosecutor’s Office.
  • The working group has improved horizontal and vertical communication among the agencies, and streamlined the process of providing justice quickly and correctly to our citizens.
  • Through such communication, and through simple but important tweaks to interagency coordination, the City has saved over $100,000 on Officer OT as part of the “Cops on Streets, Not in Seats” Program.

Cops on Streets, Not in Seats

  • We instituted a policy that allowed our police officers to focus on preventing crime in the field instead of waiting to testify in Court.
  • Under the policy, we offer zero-point pleas to traffic defendants prior to their Court date, but seek stiffer penalties if defendants wait until their Court date to plea or actually take the matter to trial.
  • The end result is police officers spending less time waiting in Court and more time working the streets.

 

Housing and Neighborhoods

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Deluxe Inn Boarded Up


  • After many years of working on neighborhood issues with the Deluxe Inn, the property has finally been boarded up and awaits redevelopment.
  • While boarding up properties is not always the best solution, sometimes it’s the only solution.
  • The property, which is on a valuable corner near the highway, is now ripe for redevelopment, which will be a boon to the neighborhood.


Crowd Control Cost Recovery

  • As part of the Mayor’s initiative to curb excessive use of City resources for large events, the Crowd Control Cost Recovery Ordinance was introduced to, and passed by, City Council on a fast-track basis.
  • The Ordinance provides the City Attorney and LPD with the tools to deal with large events that require extraordinary resources to manage and maintain the peace.
  • While we will continue to work collaboratively with owners, we now have a formal process to keep the City whole if the collaboration fails.