United States v. City of Detroit, Civ. A. No. 7-71100.
| Decision Date | 21 March 1979 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 7-71100. |
| Citation | 476 F. Supp. 512 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF DETROIT, a Municipal corporation, and Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, Defendants, and State of Michigan, Defendant and Cross-Plaintiff. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
James K. Robinson, U. S. Atty., Charles J. Kalil, Asst. U. S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff.
Kay D. Schloff, Darryl F. Alexander, Detroit, Mich., Thomas J. Emery, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lansing, Mich., for defendants.
Darden, Neef & Heitsch by Lawrence D. Heitsch, Detroit, Mich., for Oakland Township, Carolyn L. Phelps and Alfred J. Taylor.
Owen J. Cummings, Livonia, Mich., for Redford Township.
Allen, James, Snow, Witthoff, Richard G. James, Taylor, Mich., for VanBuren Township.
David J. Adams, Detroit, Mich., for City of Orchard Lake Village.
Stewart, O'Reilly, Cornell, Donovan, Lascoe & Rancilio, Sterling Heights, Mich., for City of Sterling Heights.
John E. Breen, Detroit, Mich., for Wayne County Road Commission.
Dale A. Jurcisin, Westland, Mich., for City of Westland et al.
George B. Catlin, City Atty., Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., for Grosse Pointe Woods.
Gary P. Gordon, Lansing, Mich., for State of Michigan.
Kenneth Kruse, Allen Park, Mich., for City of Allen Park, Frank Lada, Mayor or Laura Maples, Clerk.
James M. Hacker, Fraser, Mich., for City of Center Line, City of Fraser, Township of Shelby.
Bodman, Longley, Bogle & Dahling, Andrew J. Broder, Troy, Mich., for Grosse Point Park.
McLean & Mijak by J. Gerald McLean, Romeo, Mich., for Village of Romeo.
William P. Hampton, Farmington Hills, Mich., for City of Birmingham, and Village of Franklin, City of Farmington Hills, Township of Oxford, Bloomfield Township, City of Troy, Keego Harbor (city of), City of Lathrup Village, West Bloomfield Township, Waterford Township, City of Sylvan Lake, City of Bloomfield Hills, City of Ferndale, City of Novi, Village of Oxford, City of Royal Oak, City of Hazel Park, Pontiac Township, Independence Township, Orion Township, Oakland County D.P.W., City of Pleasant Ridge and City of Utica.
Ronald Deziel, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Dearborn, Mich., for City of Dearborn.
William Wolanin, Troy, Mich., for City of Troy.
Robert Boyd Armstrong, Plymouth, Mich., for Novi Township.
Robert P. Dank, Mount Clemens, Mich., for Macomb Township.
Charles R. Towner, Mount Clemens, Mich., for Clinton Township.
Ronald E. Mack, Detroit, Mich., for City of Garden City.
Harry C. Tatigian, Livonia, Mich., for City of Livonia.
Travis, Warren, Nayer & Burgo, Bert Burgoyne, Detroit, Mich., for Canton Township.
Mayor A. Malcolm Allen, Northville, Mich., for City of Northville.
John M. Donohue, Farmington, Mich., for City of Farmington Hills.
Gerald B. Poole, Dearborn Heights, Mich., for City of Dearborn Heights.
Davidson, Gotshall, Kohl, Secrest, Wardle, Lynch & Clark, Farmington Hills, Mich., for City of Birmingham, City of Lathrup Village, West Bloomfield Township, Waterford Township, City of Sylvan Lake, City of Bloomfield Hills, City of Ferndale, City of Novi, Village of Oxford, City of Royal Oak, City of Hazel Park, Pontiac Township, Independence Township, Orion Township, Oakland County D.P.W., City of Pleasant Ridge and City of Utica.
Julio H. Moscone, Utica, Mich., Lonnie R. Snowden, Detroit, Mich., for Royal Oak Township.
Allan G. Hertler, Royal Oak, Mich., for Cities of Clawson and Huntington Woods.
Charles E. Lowe, Plymouth, Mich., for City of Plymouth.
John B. Bruff, Mount Clemens, Mich., for Harrison Township.
Howard E. Snapp, Mount Clemens, Mich., for County of Macomb.
Russell W. Schmidt, Westland, Mich., for City of Wayne.
Parvin Lee Jr., Pontiac, Mich., for Village of Clarkston.
Donald C. Morgan, Detroit, Mich., for Township of Northville and Township of Plymouth.
Lawrence R. Ternan, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for Avon Township.
George E. McKean, John K. Renke, II, Detroit, Mich., for City of Grosse Pointe Farms.
George W. Moore, Highland Park, Mich., for City of Highland Park and Jesse P. Miller.
Gary S. Anthony, Mount Clemens, Mich., for Townships of Washington, Chesterfield & Bruce.
Ronald H. Greve, Roseville, Mich., for City of Roseville, City of Harper Woods.
Lawrence O. Hinkle, Detroit, Mich., for Wayne County Dept. of Health-Air Pollution Control Division, Wayne County Board of Public Works.
Milton E. Higgs, Bay City, Mich., for County of Bay, third party plaintiff.
Robert E. Kleeb, Howell, Mich., for City of Howell.
Alan R. Dominick, Jackson, Mich., for City of Jackson.
ORDER APPOINTING ADMINISTRATOR OF CITY OF DETROIT WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
Upon motion of the plaintiffs herein, this Court issued an Order to Show Cause on October 18, 1978, requiring the City of Detroit to appear before this Court and show cause why it should not comply with the current effluent limitations and other matters specified in such Order as required by the Consent Judgment entered in this Court on September 14, 1977, effective September 9, 1977.
The City of Detroit having filed an answer to the Order to Show Cause, a hearing was conducted on November 16, 17 and 20, 1978 and February 26, 27, March 5, 6 and 7, 1979.
On March 21, 1979, after consideration of the evidence presented at the hearing, of the briefs filed by the parties, and of the report of the Monitor heretofore submitted to the Court, this Court issued its Opinion in which it found that the appointment for the City of Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant of an administrator of operations, empowered to exercise extraordinary remedies in the control, management and operation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, was necessary to achieve compliance with the requirements of the Consent Judgment at the earliest possible date.
This Court has further determined that the appointment of Coleman A. Young, Mayor of the City of Detroit, as administrator of operations would be appropriate in that the administrator would then be a person already familiar with the operations of the City of Detroit and the Water and Sewerage Department and would avoid any radical change in the management of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and would not have the effect of relieving the City of Detroit of its obligations under the Consent Judgment.
1. That Coleman A. Young, Mayor of the City of Detroit, be and he hereby is appointed as administrator of the Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Water and Sewerage Department of the City of Detroit for the purposes of carrying out the obligations of the City of Detroit under the Consent Judgment entered by this Court on September 14, 1977. It is ordered that this appointment as administrator be for a period of one (1) year from the date of this Order, unless and until the administrator requests to be relieved and the Court orders a termination of the administration before said date, or until this Order is otherwise modified or terminated by the Court.
The Administrator shall forthwith procure the services of a person able and experienced in the management and operation of wastewater treatment plants to assist him in carrying out his responsibilities under this Order. This assistant shall be responsible only to the Administrator. To this end, the Administrator may solicit the advice of the parties to this action, the City of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department engineering consultants, the Monitor, or others.
2. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Administrator shall have full power and authority to control, manage and operate the City of Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant, including all of the functions, duties, powers and authority of the Board of Water Commissioners of the City of Detroit, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and any and all departments, boards or other Divisions of the City of Detroit insofar as they affect the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the City of Detroit's compliance with the Consent Judgment, without the necessity of any actions on the part of the Common Council of the City of Detroit when in the judgment of the Administrator the same might unavoidably delay or impede accomplishment by the City of Detroit with the provisions of the Consent Judgment.
3. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Coleman A. Young, Mayor of the City of Detroit, as Administrator herein is vested with the power and authority as provided under Rule 70 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to perform any act necessary to achieve expeditious compliance with the Consent Judgment.
The Administrator shall be entitled to manage, control and deal with all items, assets, properties and articles that constitute or are related to the Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and shall have the authority required or necessary for the complete management and control of the plant, including but not limited to:
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