The Year in Review
Our Recent Accomplishments
Since City Attorney Brig Smith took over, the Office has transitioned into a digitized, modernized, and "privatized" law firm for the City, and has accomplished some truly amazing things on behalf of the City. Here are some highlights:
Administration
Office of the City Attorney Modernized, Digitized, and "Privatized"
- 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. This meant modernizing, digitizing, and "privatizing" the Office.
- Modernizing: The Office of the City Attorney now truly serves as General Counsel to the City as a municipal corporation, with centralized review of all City legal matters and billings.
- Digitizing: We scanned our most important work product, including historical documents that date back prior to the 1930's, so that they will be text searchable and forever available. The City Attorney has also spearheaded transitioning the entire City's numerous software platforms into an integrated Enterprise Management Software system.
- "Privatizing": Mr. Smith has brought to the Office of the City Attorney the same management tools and philosophies he used in managing complex litigation in private practice. The result? A leaner and meaner "law firm" for the City capable of doing more with less.
Development
Landmark Deal Reached to Regionalize the Zoo
- We successfully negotiated a complicated operating agreement that keeps Potter Park Zoo under City ownership but adds County-level management- and funding.
- The deal at least doubles Zoo funding and spreads the Zoo's costs across all residents of Ingham County, not just citizens of Lansing.
- Other local governments have watched this deal closely as a model of regionalism as they struggle to do less with more in the face of urban sprawl and the restructuring of local economies into a single global one.
- While the Zoo has always been an asset for the entire region, now it will be funded by assets from the entire region.
City Gets Cutting Edge Cable Deal
- In the face of volatile changes in state and federal cable law, we secured a deal that puts Lansing among the leaders in the State.
- The new deal means several hundred thousand dollars in additional revenue to the City--per year.
- We also secured a separate deal with another service provider who is new to the area: this means even more financial security for the City and even more viewing choices for its citizens.
Cranes Back in the Air and People Back on the Streets
- We have closed several deals working with the City's bold and talented economic development team, including PND Director Bob Johnson and EDC President Bob Trezise.
- For the first time in years, Downtown's storefronts are no longer vacant, cranes are back up in the air, and people are here after 5:00.
- We are proud to have played a part in the City's renaissance in the last year and look forward to even bigger and better things in the next year.
Litigation
City Takes Wolverine Pipeline Fight Back to Supreme Court
- The City has once again turned to the Michigan Supreme Court in its ongoing efforts to prevent Big Oil interests from moving a gas pipeline into the South Side of Lansing.
- Instead of an existing, direct 8-mile route through upper middle class Meridian Township, the pipeline would take a new, circuitous 22-mile route through lower middle class South Lansing.
- The City previously prevailed against the pipeline in the Supreme Court, which prompted Big Oil to lobby the legislature to change the law.
- The City looks to prevail again in the Supreme Court by showing that this new legislation cannot trump the longstanding constitutional right to local control.
National Nazi Rally Kept Peaceful
- In its national rally in Toledo the year prior, the National Socialist Party incited riots resulting in over $1 Million in property damage and over 200 arrests.
- When they came to Lansing, the City remained peaceful and its property remained safe, thanks to the hard work of the LPD and a security plan that the City Attorney successfully defended in an emergency Court hearing.
Prosecution
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
Slumlords See Jail Time
- For the first time in nearly 15 years, the Office of the City Attorney secured jail time in housing cases.
- Under our new Court Ordered Compliance Program, rather than continue to accumulate civil fines, we sought court orders that would result in jail time for chronic absentee landlords who failed to comply.
Cracking Down on Crack Houses
- The City Attorney successfully pursued board-up actions against long-time drug houses and the Office vigorously prosecuted defendants in areas that were becoming known drug corridors.
- Rather than invent a new tool, we dusted off an old one, using the City's "padlock ordinance" to great effect in severe cases.
- Under the ordinance, if two investigations in six months result in a finding of drugs, the City Attorney can-and did- seek a board-up.
