Who's your Best and Worst of '09?

When an Executive has a Relationship of a Personal Nature with a Subordinate, the Relationship Matters
Evans exposing city of Detroit to lawsuit with relationship with subordinate
Now that we know there was an attempt to promote Patterson does this relationship matter or is it none of anybody's business.

On the job love affairs ( printed 12/6/09)

How do you deal with rampant rumors and speculation about on the job relationships? Good question. Last Monday on 1200 WCHB radio in Detroit there was a discussion about Chief Warren Evans and an apparent relationship he's having with a Lieutenant on the police department. Both these people are single consenting adults and its really not a topic for discussion at this moment. However that would be altered severely if and when Chief Evans begins to show that officer favor, either through promotions or job assignments when it could be argued that there are more qualified individuals, or through harm of others who may have had a brush with that officer or spoken about the relationship publicly. We should have all learned great lessons from the past 8 years and how intertwining personal relationships with job assignments or career advancing or ending decisions. A persons personal relationship is their own business if and until it began's to infringe upon others or involve public dollars. Mayor Kilpatrick's text scandal had less to do with sexting and everything to do with perjury and the use of public dollars to cover up the lies. In 1998 a Lieutenant from the 1st Precinct was busted for leaving work early and going to his girl friend's house. These situations involved public dollars. If anything that is the property of the city of Detroit such as a vehicle, a cell phone or a rendezvous during work hours takes place then it becomes a public matter

Story from a Detroit News Article: Keep your eyes on this issue.

Towing war in Detroit, Wayne
Some skeptical of vow to review, revamp operations at 2 of county's police agencies
George Hunter / The Detroit News
Detroit -- The change in leadership of Wayne County's two largest police agencies has sparked a war among towing companies scrambling for business.

Allegations of cronyism have long plagued the towing operations of both the Detroit Police Department and Wayne County Sheriff's Office, but the conflict has ramped up since July, when the former sheriff became police chief, and the former chief became sheriff.

Martin's Towing of Brownstown been the county's main tower of vehicles impounded by police for more than a decade, while Boulevard and Trumbull Towing of Detroit for years has gotten a large percentage of the city's towing jobs.

But Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans and Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon both say that's about to change.

The county's handling of police towing contracts is being reviewed by Napoleon amid allegations that Martin's was given preferential treatment during Evans' administration.

Evans also is revamping the city's towing practices because of concerns about the way things have been handled by Boulevard & Trumbull.

Meanwhile, smaller towing companies complain they're being squeezed out of the process.

Lawsuits filed this year by BBK Towing and Tri-County Towing, Detroit companies that were awarded contracts in 2003 to tow vehicles for the Sheriff's Office, say they didn't get any work while Evans was sheriff.

Instead, the suits claim, towing jobs were routed exclusively to Martin's.

"Neither company received one job in six years," said Felicia Duncan, the Dearborn attorney representing BBK and Tri-County.

Napoleon said he canceled a bid for towing contracts shortly after he became sheriff in July because of the allegations raised in the lawsuits.

Since Evans became the city's police chief, Martin's has been towing in Detroit without a contract, a practice that was criticized during a recent Board of Commissioners meeting.

But the 27 companies that tow for the city all have been without contracts since 2002. "They have all expired due to the towing mess that has existed in this city for years," Detroit Police 2nd Deputy Chief John Roach said.

Roach said Martin's recently began working with the city under the umbrella of the Sheriff's Office as part of a multijurisdictional task force that involved Detroit Police. "They're not working for the city," he said.

But Police Commissioner Mohamed Okdie said he asked Assistant Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee for details about the task force and got no answers.

"Who is this task force? What do they do? I specifically asked the assistant chief those questions, but he wouldn't give me an answer," Okdie said.

Okdie also expressed concerns about Evans' plans to revamp the city's towing system. He said the proposal aims to have a single towing company -- Martin's -- which would act as "gatekeeper."

"I have several problems with the way things are going right now in the towing industry," Okdie said.

But Roach insisted Martin's towing has not been given preferential treatment, during Evans' tenure either as sheriff or police chief.

"The idea that Martin's Towing is getting some sort of special treatment is ridiculous," Roach said, pointing out that Martin's had contracts with the county before Evans became sheriff and that the county, not the Sheriff's Office, is responsible for awarding contracts to towing companies.

Suits target tow contracts
Lawsuits, court testimony, and Napoleon's actions point to concerns about the handling of county towing contracts as well.

BBK, Tri-County, Boulevard & Trumbull and Martin's all have contracts with the county for towing, although the lawsuits by BBK and Tri-County claim Martin's was given all the business.

During a deposition in the lawsuit, Wayne County Deputy Chief Scott Gatti, who was in charge of the special operations unit that oversees towing, testified he wasn't even aware that there were other companies with county towing contracts.

When Duncan asked Gatti during the Feb. 27 deposition which tow companies did business with the county, he answered, "To my knowledge, Martin's. That's the only one I have had any ... impound vehicle hearings with their name on it."

On July 27 -- shortly after Napoleon took over as sheriff -- he canceled a request seeking bids on a new towing contract, the day before the deadline.

Reviewing the issues
Napoleon said in a statement that he canceled the request, "in order to allow me the opportunity to review the issues in the pending litigation and examine the towing practices of the Sheriff's Office."

"Having had this opportunity ... I have asked my staff to develop and will be requesting that the county issue an open and competitive solicitation for towing contractors at the first appropriate opportunity."

Vic Martin, owner of Martin's Towing, said he never bid on city towing contracts because the process was "rigged" toward Boulevard & Trumbull.

However, Martin said he plans to bid on the next one -- although he insisted Evans being police chief has nothing to do with that decision.

"I'm putting in a bid because I heard the city is changing the way they do business," Martin said.