Updated: ‘Trivial,’ decries Bernero

MONDAY, Aug. 17 — A Lansing City Council committee prepared to issue a subpoena of the city attorney if she doesn’t show up for a meeting Wednesday, Chairman Judy Brown Clarke said today.

Brown Clarke said the Ways and Means Committee has asked City Attorney Janene McIntyre repeatedly to appear before the committee or provide a memo with the information on health care costs.

Brown Clarke said McIntyre has failed to do either since the requests began in May.

Issuing a subpoena is authorized by the City Charter and requires a simple majority vote of the Council for approval.

Mayor Virg Bernero decried the demand as “trivial” and laughable.

“The notion that City Council would consider issuing a subpoena over such a trivial matter is laughable and once again highlights the extreme dysfunction and misplaced priorities on the 10th floor of City Hall,” Bernero said in a statement released by his chief of staff, Randy Hannan, today.

“Under the City Charter, management of the city’s labor relations is the exclusive responsibility of the mayor, with the sole exception being City Council’s approval of collective bargaining agreements after they have been ratified by city employees,” said Bernero. “The issue in question is reimbursements that were made to a small group of city retirees following a changed interpretation of contract language related to health insurance premiums.  That issue was largely resolved months ago when the reimbursements were calculated and issued.”

McIntyre did not respond to inquiry from City Pulse.

Meanwhile, Internal Auditor Jim DeLine said the law department is seriously delinquent in paying vendors. He said the department, which is run by McIntyre, is more than 90 days’ overdue on $167,584.36 in payables.

“It is highly unusual to withhold payment of a vendor invoice for longer than 90 days,” DeLine wrote in an Aug. 13 report.

McIntyre has not provided any explanation for not paying the bills in a timely manner, he said.

DeLine declined to release the bills, noting that some of the information contained in the billing was confidential.

McIntyre was selected by Mayor Virg Bernero and approved by Council.

She serves in his cabinet, although as city attorney she also serves as the attorney for that Council as well.

If the committee authorizes a resolution for a subpoena, Brown Clarke said an outside attorney will have to be contracted to work with the Council.

Updated at 4:45 p.m. to include a statement from Bernero