1963 — The Michigan Constitution is revised to state: “The provisions of the law concerning counties, townships, cities and villages shall be liberally construed in their favor.” Art. 7 §34
For the more than 50 years that we have served municipal clients, our goal has been to enable them to exercise their authority in effective and creative ways for the benefit of their communities.
Bodman’s municipal law and finance attorneys serve as general counsel, bond counsel or special counsel in labor, environmental, litigation and other issues for many Michigan communities. We serve the needs of municipal clients in employment, the environment, zoning, construction, police brutality, pension funds and state boundary commission issues. In addition, we represent private citizens and organizations in their dealings with municipal officials.
With extensive experience in public financings of all sizes, our attorneys have handled transactions totaling more than $11 billion. We represent issuers, institutional bond purchasers, credit enhancers and trustees participating in complex municipal bond issues, including tax increment financing, stadium financing, and water and sewerage financing.
Representative services provided to Municipal Law and Finance Clients include:
Bodman has served as bond, note or underwriter’s counsel on the following recent issues:
A case we litigated to the Michigan Supreme Court established the proposition that counties are not subject to local zoning regulations in the siting of county facilities.
Several counties have used us to negotiate and help resolve disputes over technology contracts.
We have worked with several townships to create wastewater treatment authorities and to negotiate agreements for wastewater treatment.
One of our attorneys has been appointed a Special Master to oversee the operations of the Detroit Water and Sewer System.
We drafted the legislation required for creating, altering and renewing downtown development authorities.