Farmington Mayor Joanne McShane is apparently hopping mad over a draft version of the merger/shared services study funded by Oakland County and conducted by Plante Moran. According to a story in today’s Farmington Observer, McShane somehow found out that Farmington Hills council members had received a copy of the study before Farmington officials (GASP). When she finally got a copy, she found it riddled with… well, favoritism.
It’s impossible to say exactly what was in the study, because it hasn’t been made public yet. That hasn’t stopped McShane from making the discussion of the study public, a move that should infuriate citizens of Farmington and Farmington Hills. No one should be commenting at all on a document citizens haven’t had the chance to see for themselves.
If this draft report has been given to city officials and discussed at a public meeting, it should be available to the public. This isn’t privileged communication with an attorney, it’s a report from a consultant. Residents should be able to judge on their own whether this report is biased, rather than relying on the interpretation of city officials who have pressed hard against and said there is no need for a merger – and who even argued against doing the study in the first place.
Farmington officials have demonstrated a knee-jerk reaction to any criticism of the city as being inaccurate or unfair. City officials should immediately make available copies of the draft report as is, so that residents can draw their own conclusions, before city officials get involved and put their spin on it.
–Joni Hubred-Golden
Michigan Woman Blogger
Google South Lyon, Clawson or Beverly Hills Michigan to check out those city’s websites…. That is what Joanne wants Farmington to be compared against rather then Rochester or Northville…. Ive never heard anyone ever ask “why cant Farmington be more like Clawson” but maybe she is being more realistic. Time to lower expectations.