Members: Charter restricts impact

‘The buck stops at the mayor’s desk,’ they say

By Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

    DETROIT — Some members of the City Council acknowledge that changing the way the government body operates could make it more efficient, but they also maintain the council is as effective as it can be under the city charter.

    When The Detroit News approached all nine members last week to discuss the council’s inability to resolve Detroit’s problems, Council President Gil Hill and council members Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, Kay Everett and Clyde Cleveland declined to comment.

    Hill is running for mayor in the Nov. 6 election. Of the three others, only Cleveland isn’t seeking re-election.

    As evidence of the council’s effectiveness, Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel pointed to its handling of the police-shooting issue. In September 2000, the council issued a report that showed the city had paid $123 million in damages and out-of-court settlements due to lawsuits over police shootings between 1987 and 1999.

    The City Council then called for a federal inquiry and held four hearings over the following three months. A federal investigation was launched last December.

    The council still hasn’t issued a report on its findings, but Cockrel said one was expected before the council goes on its one-month winter recess in December.

    Cockrel argued that the City Council has done a good job of raising issues, setting budget priorities and conducting oversight of city operations, within the limits of the city charter. Under the charter, the council doesn’t have the authority to “give orders to any ... officer or employee, either publicly or privately.”

    Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr., to whom Sheila Cockrel is stepmother, said the council can’t help residents with services.

    “(The council) is not going to demolish buildings or fix street lights by themselves,” Cockrel said. “When it comes to day-to-day management of city departments, the buck stops at the mayor’s desk.”

    Councilwoman Brenda Scott agreed and said the council’s principal role is to provide funding for departments to function properly. “If it’s an eyesore for a citizen it’s an eyesore for me,” Scott said.

    Kenneth Cockrel and Council President Pro Tem Maryann Mahaffey both support using a committee structure to do the council’s work on legislation — much like those used by Congress, state legislatures and even most other city governments.

    A committee structure is already authorized. As approved by voters in 1997, the revised city charter calls for standing committees. Council members disagree on whether their failure to set up the committees puts them in violation of the charter.

    Kenneth Cockrel said he moved to put the committee structure into operation in 1999, but there were not enough votes to push it through; a simple majority would be needed. “The way we conduct business doesn’t work,” he said.

    Mahaffey said embracing the committee structure would force the council to become more knowledgeable about city issues.

    Sheila Cockrel said she opposes committees. “A committee structure creates another level of bureaucracy,” she said.

    Councilman Nicholas Hood III, who lost a bid for mayor in the Sept. 11 primary, has been openly frustrated with the council’s inability to act. He said from his seven years on the council he learned that only the mayor has the power to accomplish anything.

Clyde Cleveland

Cleveland, 65, has served on the City Council since 1974. Cleveland has a record of pushing for senior citizen programs, minority business contracts and international trade development. But Cleveland for years has had one of the worst attendance records. Last year, he missed every hearing concerning questionable shootings by Detroit police.

In addition, Cleveland pleaded guilty in March to assaulting his estranged wife, Mary Cleveland. He avoided prison with a plea bargain. Cleveland acknowledged pushing his wife against a wall, but denies her charge that he hit her with a pistol. He is not seeking re-election.

Kenneth Cockrel Jr.

Cockrel, 35, is finishing his first four-year term on the City Council. Cockrel sponsored the Prompt Payment ordinance after billing problems with the Detroit Resource Management System. The ordinance has helped to reduce payment problems caused by DRMS snafus.

Cockrel also sponsored the Gateway Radial ordinance which limited the number of new liquor stores, pawnshops and other businesses considered harmful in neighborhoods. The ordinance prevents the opening of liquor stores and pawn shops within 200 feet of each other in the future but does not affect those that already exist.

Sheila Cockrel

Cockrel, 53, is a second-term councilwoman. She is the stepmother of Kenneth Cockrel Jr. As a member of the Recreation Task Force, she has led the fight for increases in the budget for parks and recreation each year. The city’s recreation budget has increased from about $43 million in 1993 to $66.5 million in this year’s budget.

Cockrel was the first council member to request that the Justice Department be called to investigate alleged police abuses. While the council held four legislative hearings on police shootings last year, no concrete solutions have developed within the police department.

Kay Everett

Everett, 59, has served on the council since 1991. She created the Keep Detroit Beautiful and the Emergency Services task forces. The Emergency Services task force started the dialogue that helped to create the 3-1-1 system. Task forces have no binding authority on city policies.

Everett sponsored an illegal dumping ordinance that increased the amount of fines for violators of the city code. But the illegal dumping issue still remains one of the city’s worst problems.

Gil Hill

Hill, 69, is the City Council President and is running for mayor. He is finishing his third term on council.

The council member who gets the most votes becomes president and could temporarily succeed the mayor. Hill sponsored the Fare Reduction and Elimination Initiative, a program allowing senior citizens and students to ride city buses free or at reduced rates.

Hill also created the Commercial Strip Revitalization Project to develop strategies to revitalize neighborhood commercial strips. Hill’s group has had a minimal effect.

Hill has claimed credit for sponsoring the Dangerous Building Accelerated Demolition Program, pushed by the mayor.

Nicholas Hood III

Hood, 49, will finish his second and final term in December after a failed mayoral bid. Hood followed in the footsteps of his father, Nicholas Hood Sr., who served on the council from 1965 until 1993.

Hood has championed neighborhood issues, pushing through a Civil Infractions ordinance. The ordinance was to force more compliance with city codes, but it is never enforced because it lacks teeth, city officials said.

Hood rarely spoke out during council meetings, and he often supported Archer’s proposals. He sought to bring practical solutions to the council, but sometimes it left him looking indecisive and passive, said critics.

Maryann Mahaffey

Mahaffey, 76, has been a fixture on the council since 1974. Mahaffey, who served two terms as council president, is now President Pro Tem, meaning she finished second in council race. Mahaffey has championed the city’s poor and fought for historic structures such as Ford Auditorium and Tiger Stadium.

Mahaffey has helped draft the city’s ethics ordinance, which was stalled for years over a squabble between the council and Archer on who would appoint board members. Critics have argued the ordinance also lacks teeth to enforce ethical behavior.

She wrote legislation that prohibited utility shut-off during the winter months.

Brenda Scott

Scott, 46, has sat on the council for the past eight years. She heads the council’s Downtown Parking Task Force. The task force has done little to improve parking. But downtown parking is today more congested than it has been in decades.

Scott also sponsored a resolution to rename the Museum of African American History after its founder, Dr. Charles H. Wright. She has led the fight against imposing a fee for access to Belle Isle and against casinos on the riverfront. The Belle Isle fee issue is stalled and the riverfront casino plan appears doomed.

Alberta Tinsley-Talabi

Tinsley-Talabi, 47, is in her second term on the council. Talabi founded the City Council Task Force and Policy Panel on Substance Abuse Prevention and developed the “Denounce the 40-Ounce” campaign in 1995. The campaign targeted the advertising and sale of malt liquor in the city. She also spearheaded an ordinance to limit new billboards downtown.

You can reach Darren A. Nichols at (313) 222-2396 or dnichols@detnews.com .