The Detroit City Council voted Thursday to take day-to-day control back from its state-appointed emergency manager, and Mayor Mike Duggan said he and the council would resume running its affairs later Thursday night, a year and a half after Michigan officials stepped in to rescue the bankrupt metropolis.
"We, Detroit's elected leadership, are determined to do what's in the best interest of our city and remove the emergency manager quickly and responsibly," Duggan and the council said in a joint statement moments after the council voted unanimously Thursday afternoon.
Michigan's Emergency Loan Board appointed Kevyn Orr, a Washington-based bankruptcy attorney, as emergency manager in March 2013 with the city $18 billion in debt. He almost immediately placed the city in Chapter 9 bankruptcy — a process that hasn't yet been completed even though his contract is due to expire Saturday. In an arrangement reached after several days of negotiations, Orr agreed to stay on to oversee the last stages of the bankruptcy process, from which Detroit is expected to emerge sometime next month, but he will no longer run Detroit's daily affairs.
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— M. Alex Johnson
