Governor's declaration in Muskegon Heights sets up process for emergency manager appointment

Governor's declaration in Muskegon Heights sets up process for emergency manager appointment | MLive.com
The next steps also are laid out by law:
The school board or its interim superintendent has until April 17 to request a hearing on the determination of a financial emergency.
That hearing will only consider arguments about whether the financial review team's findings "were supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the whole record," according to a letter Snyder sent to Muskegon Heights Interim Superintendent Dave Sipka.
If a hearing is requested, it will be held at 10 a.m. April 18 in Lansing before state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan.

• Following the hearing, Snyder will decide whether to "confirm or revoke" his determination of a financial emergency.
• If he confirms the the financial emergency, Snyder must then declare the school district to be in receivership and appoint an emergency manager "to act for and in the place and stead of the governing body and the office of chief administrative officer." Among the manager's powers is the ability to modify collective bargaining agreements.
  The school board has 10 business days to decide by at least a vote of two-thirds of its members to appeal Snyder's decision in Ingham County Circuit Court. The court can overturn his decision if it determines the decision was "not supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the whole record," or if it was "arbitrary, capricious, or clearly an abuse or unwarranted exercise of discretion."
• Barring such a court ruling, the emergency manager has 45 days to submit to the state treasurer a financial and operating plan for the district. The plan will be "regularly reexamined" by the emergency manager and state treasurer, and can be modified by the manager.
• Within 30 days of submitting the financial and operating plan, the emergency manager must conduct a public informational meeting on the plan.
• The school district will remain in a financial emergency until the emergency manager declares, and the state treasurer and state superintendent agree, that the emergency has been rectified.