DETROIT -- Another hearing is scheduled today in an ongoing dispute between Detroit Mayor Ken Cockrel, Jr. and Detroit city council.

Attorneys for the Council and mayor's office continued talks over the weekend on a lawsuit aimed at stopping Cobo Center from being turned over to a regional authority.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Isidore Torres said Friday that both sides are to report back to him Monday morning.

Torres said Thursday that he was holding off on a decision to allow the two parties to come to an agreement outside of court.

There is no word on whether the judge will announce a decision at today's hearing.

"It's in the interest of the actual litigants, I think it is incumbent to give people the opportunity to see if, based on that, the issues can be resolved," the judge added.

Regional authority chairman Larry Alexander joined discussions Friday in Torres' chambers. Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Alexander to lead the authority, which comprises representatives from the state, city and three surrounding counties.

The council filed the lawsuit last month, challenging Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr.'s authority to veto his rejection of an expansion plan for the downtown Detroit convention center.

The city would be paid $20 million and turn Cobo over to a regional authority, with representatives from the city of Detroit, Wayne County, Oakland County, Macomb County, and a representative appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The deal would also mean a $288 million expansion of Cobo and also would relieve the financially struggling city of about $15 million in annual subsidies.

Granholm signed the deal into law in January. It included a provision allowing the Detroit City Council to reject the deal.

The City Council voted 5-3 to reject the deal on Feb. 24. Council members who voted in favor of rejecting the deal said they felt Detroit wasn't given enough representation on the proposed board.

April 20 is the scheduled date to transfer power to the new authority, which met for the first time last week. The judge promised to rule before then, and Deputy Mayor Saul Green said he's moving forward as if the authority will be in place. "We have to be prepared for April 20. There's an immense amount of work to be done to take it (Cobo) over," Green said.

Monday, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said Detroit politics are getting in the way of business. He said that if the judge rules against the mayor's veto and upholds the council rejection of the authority, future negotiations are likely dead. Patterson said foundational events like the Detroit Auto Show should be moved out to Oakland County, where there is room and a business model to host it.

"You can't do business in Detroit, it's obvious. There's too many self interests, there's too much talk going on, claim of assets ...," Patterson said. "There are several places that can house the auto show ... we have the Rock Financial Showplace, which is prepared to expand to a million to accommodate the show. We've got places like that around the county."

Detroit City Council president Monica smiled outside of court when she responded to Patterson's statements. "You know you don't have options as of right now. If they had the money they would have done it and they've not done it yet, so my position is let's just all work together in the spirit of cooperation," Conyers said.

Cockrel, Local 4 learned, also proposed a leaseback agreement to the council last Thursday behind closed doors to avoid going to court. Council didn't agree to the idea.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano last Friday said the idea has been in talks for the last two weeks, and that the county and Granholm are on board with it.

"As long as nobody has to change the statute and everything else stays the same, all the powers of the authority and everything like that, everybody would be fine with a leaseback," Ficano said.

Granholm spoke in Detroit last Friday. "What I'm saying, is that all of us want to get across the finish line to a renovated Cobo Hall," she said.

Conyers opposed the plan, saying the city would not get an adequate return on its investment in Cobo under the plan. "We're only getting $20 million for parking and they get to keep the rest," said Conyers.

The Detroit City Council voted 5-1 in a special session earlier this month to appoint the director of the council's Research and Analysis Division, David Whitaker, to challenge the mayor's veto of the council's decision to reject the deal in court.

Out of the six council members present, only Sheila Cockrel voted not to challenge Cockrel in court.

"Mayor Cockrel does not have any authority to veto what, in essence was the statute does not allow," said Adam Shakoor, an attorney representing the city council.

"The Detroit mayor has had the veto power since the city's first home rule charter in 1918," said attorney James Noseda, who represented Cockrel.

After Thursday's court proceedings, Conyers said the city council does support making improvements to Cobo.

"We want it (Cobo) to have money from the federal stimulus package," Conyers said. "Once the money comes to us in the city of Detroit it's pretty much ours to do what we will."