Browsing Tag
Sue McCormick
by P.D. Lesko with reporting by Maddie Fetchiet
BETWEEN DEC. 2014 and June 2015, Project Innovations, a Farmington Hills, Mich. consulting firm owned by Charlie Fleetham, was paid slightly less than $40,000 total by Ann Arbor. Despite…
Ann Arbor City Attorney Shenanigans?
Asst. City Attorney Says Postema’s Office “Represents” Detroit City Employee
Ann Arbor Public Services Administrator Sue McCormick left in 2011 to head the Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept. In a March 2015 email regarding depositions in…
Council Members Kept in Dark About Specifics of Sweetheart Deal for Staffer Who Resigned
by P.D. Lesko
IN JANUARY 2015, City Administrator Steve Powers told Council members that Building Dept. staffer Ralph Welton had resigned. Council members took that to mean that Welton had left the employ of the city and its payroll.…
Detroit’s Water War: Former Ann Arbor Official at the Center of a Scandal. Again.
SUE MCCORMICK’S woes started with former Ann Arbor Chief of Police Barnett Jones. In January 2013, the Detroit Free Press caught Jones serving as both the full-time Chief of Police in Flint, Mich. and head of McCormick’s department of…
Police, Fire, Parks, Millage Funds & Pools Dinged By City’s IT Fund For Millions In Assessments While IT Projects Remained Uncompleted
MAYOR HIEFTJE HAS repeatedly told the public that the cost of police and fire service is a strain on the city’s budget. In a 2012 interview he said this about the city’s safety services budget, “...All the water has been wrung out of the…
Ann Arbor Cronyism & “Double-Dipping” Scams Go Prime Time in Detroit Water Department Scandal
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Sue McCormick said Friday she "remains confident" in former Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones. Her department also sent out a press release January 11th affirming confidence in Jones and…
Former Ann Arbor Public Services Administrator Starts Detroit Fire Then Throws Gasoline On It
Sue McCormick's (below) bouffant hair-do, a 60s throw-back, supposedly hides horns. At least this is what a fired forestry worker claimed when talking about his work for the City of Ann Arbor, and McCormick—who was his boss. McCormick, who…
Was Council Aware of the Successful Class Action Lawsuit Against Seattle’s Percent For Art Program Before Approving Ann Arbor’s Art Ordinance?
By P.D. Lesko
In 2007, Ann Arbor City Council passed the Public Art Ordinance that sets aside one percent of funds from all public construction budgets for art projects — to a maximum of $250,000 per project. On the City of Ann Arbor web…
Recycle Ann Arbor Quietly Throws CEO Melinda Uerling Under the Wheels of the Compost Truck
MAKE NO MISTAKE. One look at the last three years of financial statements of Recycle Ann Arbor, and the company's losses make it clear that CEO Melinda Uerling was struggling to keep the company, controlled by the Ann Arbor Ecology Center,…
Recycle Ann Arbor Has Lost 700K & Michael Garfield Thinks RAA Is Entitled To A Taxpayer Bailout
To listen to Michael Garfield, head of the Ecology Center tell the story, Recycle Ann Arbor, which is controlled by Garfield and the Ecology Center, has been the victim of "miscalculation made in the 2010 contract" between the City of Ann…