TROY, Mich. – Troy's former city manager, Brian Kischnick, is in federal prison, but his tenure is still casting a long and controversial shadow over the city, and there's a storm brewing between a local political activist, the mayor and other City Council members.
Kischnick was accused of accepting bribes from a contractor and was charged as part of an ongoing FBI public corruption probe.
During a Troy City Council meeting last week, attorney John Kulesz, who helped get Mayor Dane Slater elected, broke ranks.
"My concern is with this council -- in particular, our mayor," Kulesz said.
He believes because of Kischnick, members of the City Council and Slater need to be more transparent about their relationships with the DiLisio Contracting company tied to Kischnick.
"We need to know who replaced Mr. Slater's driveway and how much he paid for it, if anything at all," Kulesz said.
Kulesz filed Freedom of Information Act requests about the driveway and discovered no such permit exists. He moved on to Councilman Dave Henderson, believing he, too, was close to the contractor.
Henderson shot back, reminding Kulesz he'd been interviewed by the FBI and hadn't been charged.
"I despise people that throw barbs and trash my reputation over the reputation of a guy that's spending 30 months in prison," Henderson said.
The mayor told Kulesz he's barking up the wrong tree.
"I've never done anything illegal," Slater said. "I've never done anything wrong. You can go and do your witch hunt however you want to do it. I agree with Councilman Henderson. I don't answer to you. I answer to my family."
"I want answers, simple as that," Kulesz said. "I want the truth."
Slater is out of town, but spoke with Local 4 on the phone. He reiterated that he hasn't done anything illegal or wrong. He said he didn't pull a permit because the work was done by a subcontractor and didn't need one.
He called the entire incident a "politically driven hack."