Here’s an excerpt from my story on Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel’s decision not to occupy the top floor of the Administration Building. Which means the Board of Commissioners, after vacating the top (ninth) floor, with its spectacular views, will move back to their old digs in the next few weeks. Hackel apparently didn’t like the heat he was getting over a $400,000 plan to renovate the eighth and ninth floors.
Here’s the story:
In golf, they call it a “mulligan.”
In government, these days, they call it “hitting the reset button.”
County officials have decided to reverse a decision made in December and move the Board of Commissioners back to the ninth floor of the Administration Building, leaving the eighth floor vacant for the county executive and his staff.
Late last year, the commissioners agreed to vacate their location on the top floor of the Administration Building in downtown Mount Clemens and give the space to County Executive Mark Hackel. The commissioners had all of their furniture and equipment moved to the eighth floor just before New Year’s Day.
Last month, it was revealed that Hackel had architectural drawings depicting a renovation of the eighth and ninth floors that would cost nearly $400,000.
But on Friday, Hackel said those plans have been abandoned and, under a compromise agreement, new accommodations will be arrived at with a price tag near zero.
“There was an assumption that the executive would be on the ninth floor because of status or appearance or whatever it might have been,” said the former sheriff, who moved up to the executive post on Jan. 1. “This work … will be done in-house. I don’t think there will be much of a cost, if at all.”
The executive said that fashioning functional offices was a low priority for the executive office and the county board. But he wanted to quash the complaints among some commissioners about the potential $400,000 cost of renovations.
Beyond cost factors, some critics said the December move made no sense because the eighth floor was perfectly suited for the executive and his staff.
