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No. 122053, 122091
| AFSCME, |
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Renate Klass (248) 559-2110 |
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Plaintiff-Appellant,
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| and |
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| Detroit City Council, |
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Robert W. Palmer (248) 398-9800 |
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Intervening Plaintiff-Appellant,
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F. Philip Colista (313) 961-8400 |
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vs
(Appeal from
Ct of Appeals)
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(Wayne
-- Ziolkowski, R.)
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| City of Detroit and Detroit Housing Commission, |
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John H. Willems (313) 963-6420 |
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Defendants-Appellees.
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Click to view briefs in Adobe format:
Plaintiff-Appellant Brief
on Appeal>>
Plaintiff-Appellant
Reply Brief>>
Intervening Plaintiff-Appellant
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Defendants-Appellees' Brief on Appeal>>
Background
In 1933, the City of Detroit established the Detroit Housing Commission
(DHC) under the state's housing act. In 1995, the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development and the City of Detroit entered into agreements
aimed in part at separating DHC from the City's governmental systems.
In 1996, the state Legislature passed Public Act 338, which amended
the Housing Facilities Act to provide that housing commissions, such
as the DHC, are distinct public bodies corporate with enumerated independent
powers and authorities. In addition, in accordance with the amendments,
DHC was statutorily authorized to employ and fix the compensation of
its director and other employees, and to prescribe their duties. In
July 2001, relying on the 1996 amendments, then-Detroit Mayor Dennis
Archer notified the Detroit City Council that the DHC would begin functioning
as a separate "public body corporate." In response, the City
Council adopted a resolution expressly rejecting the declaration that
the DHC was a separate employer under the Housing Act. The resolution
further declared that all city employees assigned to the DHC, now and
in the future, are City employees. Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert
L. Ziolkowski held that all persons employed at DHC were to remain employees
of the City of Detroit. The Court of Appeals reversed in a published
decision. The Court of Appeals also held that the 1996 amendments to
the Michigan Housing Facilities Act severed the City's employment relationship
with DHC employees by operation of law. AFSCME and the City Council
appeal.
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