There are two court cases this week that are being closely watched by policymakers and citizens on both sides of the Emergency Manager debate. As the Emergency Management program continues with Muskegon Heights School District getting an Emergency Manager and the Pontiac School District starting the process with a preliminary review, a basic premise of the law is being tested. The argument being presented to the State Appeals Court is that the Treasury's Review Teams, which have gone into fiscally stressed cities and investigated deficits, finances, and operations without public oversight and in many cases recommended the use of an emergency manager, violate the Open Meetings Act. The Open Meeting Act broadly applies to all commissions, councils, or other decision making groups that operate under the authority of state or local government, and prohibits such groups from meeting in secret in most cases. In the court cases, the State has argued that the Review Teams play only an advisory role, and do not make any final decisions, only "recommending" different courses of action. However, the lawsuit brought by Highland Park School Board Member Robert Davis alleges that Review Teams, which have been used for over a decade in Michigan, serve more than an advisory role, and have decision making authority under the Emergency Manager Law that would subject it to Open Meetings Act provisions. The governor, after all, cannot appoint an emergency manager without the Review Team's determination, and the Review Teams have the power to work out (or not work out) binding consent agreements with local units. These determinations can have serious effects on local units and citizens from operational changes to losing local control completely. The case is currently in the appeals process after a circuit court judge ruled that Review Teams must comply with the Act and meet publically.

In April of 2011, the Michigan Legislature was introduced to House Bill 4531; a piece of legislation, that, if enacted, would allow Downtown Development Authorities across the state to borrow and spend money to develop and improve local agricultural markets. For some areas this could mean a broadening of a current farmer's market program to draw more business and attention to local crops and products, and for others could be a much larger project involving building new facilities and creating programs, like farmers markets, from the ground up. Being that agriculture is important to our state's economy, this would seem to be a good idea, though it could prove to be rather costly in some cities.

On their Friday night broadcast, NBC Nightly News featured the City of Pontiac in a special report on municipal fiscal crisis. Pontiac has been under emergency management by the state for nearly three years, losing 10% of its population in the last decade as the city’s employment base, and life, has largely dried up. The City reported a property tax revenue decline of $2.6 million last year (for FY2010), and to add insult, currently owes over $1.8 million in tax refunds to GM. [1] "In a struggling city synonymous with the American car, a fire sale,” reports Kevin Tibbles for NBC News, “Today in Pontiac, Michigan, you can buy the police station, library, golf course, cemetery, even city hall… so far, nothing's sold." [2] The city website has a message that reads “If any person has a suggestion how to address the deficit in a different manner, please submit those suggestions in writing at any time to the Emergency Manager.” [3]