Politics & Government
Troy To Reconsider Making Public City Manager Investigation
City Council fired Brian Kischnick in March, but a 2016 investigation could now become a matter of public record.
TROY, MI – City Council will revisit history on Monday night as it considers – again – whether it should make public a report of an investigation into the behavior of fired City Manager Brian Kischnick.
The report stems back to 2016, when an employee raised questions about expenditures Kischnick had made as city manager. After the independent investigation, City Council voted in in July 2016 to give him a second chance and seal the investigation from the public.
Flash forward to March 2018, when Kischnick found himself in trouble again. This time, it involved criminal charges of assault and battery against him for an altercation with a woman identified as an employee in his office. The two were apparently were returning from dinner together when they got into an altercation.
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Just two days after the March 9 incident, City Council members unanimously voted to fire Kischnick.
On the agenda Monday, the issue before Council members will be whether to waive attorney-client privilege for the 2016 report. If members vote to do so, that report will be available for release to any government entity, the media or anyone who submits a former public information request.
Find out what's happening in Troyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Troy officials, though are torn whether to release the report. Mayor Dane Slater told The Detroit Free Press that the report should remain private and that the city should honor the attorney-client privilege. Making it public, he said, would just be a matter of airing out dirty laundry.
Meanwhile, Councilwoman Ellen Hodorek told The Free Press that the report should be made public as a matter of transparency. In 2016, she was among council members who argued for the report's release.
After Council voted in 2016 to keep Kischnick and not release the report, it issued as statement saying it weighed its contents, as well as "the city manager's demonstrated innovation and creativity, his past record of success and future plans to further the City Council strategies, and also his willingness to remediate."
Image via City of Troy
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