Professional Legal Services

Posted on by
2

There are no confidentiality claims attached to the following communications, and they are about city business, so I’m going to assume that there will be no objections to my posting these e-mails that have been making the rounds.

On January 6 at 4:43 p.m., Mr. Cooper sent an e-mail to the city council, mayor and finance director, instructing them to look in their mailboxes for documents related to the upcoming budget meeting. His explanation of budget variances included this section about the budget of the city attorney:

Department 229: Legal
Line Item Title: Professional Services
Line Item Number: 101-229-801.000
% of Budget Used: 42.35%
Explanation: This item has been added [to the variance report] due to bills for November and December not being processed due to the retirement of Pat Swider. With the inclusion of these two monthly bills this line item will total $219,057.27, a total budget used of 79%. With all of the services being provided this line item may end up approximately $160,000 over budget based on current usage. The budget for this line item is $275,000 for the fiscal year.

At 9:11 p.m. the same night, Jim Allen sent the following to the city clerk, the mayor, and city council by replying to a notice for the upcoming budget meeting:
Continue reading →

City council 1/24/12: agenda

Posted on by
7

PRELIMINARY MATTERS

  1. Call to order
  2. Roll call
  3. Pledge of allegiance to the flag
  4. Agenda approval
  5. Proclamations/presentations/recognitions/announcements
    1. AUDIT PRESENTATION BY ALAN C. YOUNG & ASSOCIATES, PC. Representatives from Alan C. Young & Associates, PC and Plante Moran will present findings and answer questions regarding the City of Hamtramck, Michigan Financial Report with Supplemental Information for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2011.
    2. Presentation – 2012 Metro Times Hamtramck Blowout Music Festival

Chris Sexon, Metro Times Publisher

  1. Public comments: Agenda items (5 minutes allowed per person)

Non-agenda items (2 minutes allowed per person) Continue reading →

Website Changes

Posted on by
13

We’ve migrated this site to use new software. Please let us know if you have any trouble using it. Comment moderation is a bit different, you may have to post on a couple of articles before the site learns who you are. After that, your comments should go up with no moderation.

As always, please use a valid email address and a consistent name.

Crime: Hamtramck vs. Highland Park

Posted on by

I thought it might be interesting to compare the crime statistics between Hamtramck and Highland Park, but it is apparently not that simple. Hamtramck did not report crime statistics to the FBI in 2000, 2001, or 2004, and Highland Park hasn’t reported since 2000. The following comparison uses statistics for the last year both cities reported, 1999.
Hamtramck (1999)
Population 22,976
0 murders (0 per 100,000)
8 rapes (44.1 per 100,000)
87 robberies (479.9 per 100,000)
164 assaults (904.7 per 100,000)
346 burglaries (1908.8 per 100,000)
579 thefts (3194.1 per 100,000)
742 auto thefts (4002.7 per 100,000)
5 arson (27.5 per 100,000)
City-data.com crime index = 960.9 (higher means more crime, US average = 339.3)
Crime in Highland Park (1999)
Population 16,749
15 murders (77.4 per 100,000)
18 rapes (92.9 per 100,000)
185 robberies (954.4 per 100,000)
279 assaults (1439.3 per 100,000)
367 burglaries (1893.3 per 100,000)
816 thefts (4209.7 per 100,000)
827 auto thefts (4266.4 per 100,000)
City-data.com crime index = 1435.1 (higher means more crime, US average = 339.3)
Since 2000, Highland Park has lost 33% in population, while Hamtramck has been relatively stable, losing only 2.4%. The Highland Park Police Department was reformed in 2007, having been disbanded in December of 2000.
Between 1999 and 2010 in Hamtramck, the rates of murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, and arson increased, while only theft and car theft have decreased.