Former ombudsman leads group trying to save
office
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, February 17, 2006
By Robert Snell
rsnell@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6302
QUICK TAKE
On tap
* A public panel discussion is scheduled for 7-9 p.m. Thursday at the
International Institute.
* Panelists who are ombudsman advocates are Terry Bankert, a former
ombudsman, and Kathie Dones-Carson, president and CEO of the Detroit Black
Chamber of Commerce. Dones-Carson also is a former deputy Flint ombudsman.
* Panelists who favor eliminating the position are Councilman Ehren
Gonzales and Thomas M. Donnellan, an attorney and former Flint District
Judge.
* Visit former ombudsman Terry Bankert's advocacy group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flintcitizen/
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FLINT - A grassroots campaign is using information-age technology to save
the troubled ombudsman's office.
The campaign, led by former ombudsman Terry Bankert, is using a Web log -
or blog - an Internet group and e-mail to rally support and stir debate.
Campaigns on both sides of the issue are intensifying with less than two
weeks before a Feb. 28 ballot initiative. Voters will decide whether to
amend the city's charter to eliminate the 32-year-old ombudsman's office
that investigates citizen complaints.
Bankert hopes the campaign will overcome what he believes will be low
voter turnout and a controversial history that has blurred the office's
effectiveness.
"If we get a good ombudsman appointed and the community stays engaged and
supports and watches that person, we can increase citizens' feeling of
accountability," said Bankert, an attorney who was ombudsman from 1987-94.
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Meanwhile, 76 people - fewer than originally
disclosed - have applied for the position if it survives the Feb. 28 vote.
Applicants include former Saginaw Mayor Gary Loster, former Flint
District Court Magistrate Harrell Milhouse, Flint activist Eric Mays and
Amy Roddy, the Durand clerk and a member of the Durand Board of Education.
The interview process will start Wednesday.
According to the City Charter, if the $70,000-a-year position is
retained, it must be filled by March 11.
The new ombudsman would serve seven years and succeed Jessie Binion, whose
term expired in January.
She took office in 1999, a tenure marked by a prolonged illness that left
her unable to work for almost four years.
Budget cuts over the years have slashed the office's funding from
$500,000 to about $200,000.
Bankert's goal is sharing information in hopes of preserving the office.
He has sent out 1,500 invitations to join an Internet group, where
visitors can learn more about the ombudsman's office.
"It's beginning to hit critical mass," Bankert said. "I simply wanted
to create an option so that people could get information about what they
could lose if the ombudsman office fails."
Bankert's group has 47 members, many of whom swap thoughts and devise
campaign strategies via the Internet.
One member, Flint resident Ted Jankowski Jr., has distributed signs
throughout Flint advocating the cause. He is among candidates who applied
for the position.
"The people of the city of Flint deserve accountability from government
and law enforcement," Jankowski wrote in an e-mail. "I truly
believe that a good ombudsman can make a difference."
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