Wayne County exec. consolidating, cutting departments

Executive Warren Evans: 'Too many chiefs, not enough Indians'

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – It's no secret Wayne County's financial woes are significant.

The county needs to hack $70 million this year and do it again next year. Executive Warren Evans and his new team are going after what he calls the low-hanging fruit -- it begins with too many departments.

"There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians," he said during a Wednesday morning news conference.

That's the conclusion Evans and his turnaround team found when they looked into the makeup of Wayne County government. In particular, they concluded three old departments had a lot of overlap and didn't do an especially good job of helping residents.

Those departments -- the Children and Family Services Department, Health and Human Services Department and Veteran Services Department -- will disappear. They will be folded into the newly-created Department of Health, Community Wellness and Senior Services.

"Wayne County still needs to be a first class county and provide services to Wayne County, so the restructuring was critical to make sure that we're still doing the things we need to do for the people we need to serve," said Evans.

The Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE), which gave us the Guardian Building sale and the failed county jail project, will be eliminated. That will get folded into the Wayne County Economic Development Corp.

"In looking over the last several years, I don't think they've done anything noteworthy to justify the expense of keeping it going," said Evans.

Overall, Evans believes this will save $3 million a year and cut out 50 jobs.

As for the Guardian Building, it turns out the county never should have purchased it.

Report: Wayne County made wrong decision to buy Guardian Building


About the Author:

Rod Meloni is an Emmy Award-winning Business Editor on Local 4 News and a Certified Financial Planner™ Professional.