DETROIT – Wayne County Executive Warren Evans joined Flashpoint Sunday morning to talk about the state of the county after he took over from Bob Ficano. Evans has said that the county's financial situation was worse that Ficano admitted when he took office.
Devin Scillian talked to Evans about plans to improve the county and overcome expensive disasters like the Wayne County Jail project that cost $175 million. Evans said he thinks the county can pull out of the rut without using an emergency manager.
Evans has been meeting with stakeholders to talk about the numbers and devise a plan to dig their way out of the hole.
Evans cited retirement and health care benefits as two of the areas that suffer from cuts.
He said that renovating the old jail and finishing the new one are both possible options.
Evans said that Wayne County is "absolutely not" interfering with Detroit's battle to return from Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
You can watch the full conversation with Evans in the video posted above.
In the second segment, Devin was joined by Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Nolan Finley of the Detroit News, Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press and Representative Debbie Dingell.
The panel addressed Evans' comments about the state of Wayne County and talked about what steps come next.
Devin also asked the experts about Governor Rick Snyder's decision to put the tax to fix Michigan roads to a vote. The panel questioned the decision to leave the tax up to the voters instead of just implementing the plan and fixing the roads.
Finley says the public will always believe that money to fix the roads should come from somewhere else in the budget.
The conversation turned to the ongoing debate about whether or not children should be obligated to get vaccinated decrease the chance of spreading sickness.
Click on the video below to watch the second segment.
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After the break, the conversation about vaccinations continued, with the entire panel chiming in about the importance of making sure kids are being vaccinated.
Finley says he doesn't think people should be forced to vaccinate their kids, but should have to suffer the consequences of refusing to do so. He says unvaccinated children should be held out of public schools so certain sicknesses don't spread.
The panel also addressed those who may not be vaccinated for health or religious reasons.
You can watch the conversation about vaccines in the video below.
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