Detroit Mayor Eager To Return To Office

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit's mayor says he's anxious to get back to work, as city and state leaders begin to put together that special financial advisory board for the city.

Speaking live on WWJ Newsradio 950 Friday morning, Dave Bing said he's feeling better after having surgery earlier this month for a perforated colon, and expects to be back in office by the end of April.

"I'm up, I'm around and I have been for the last week, two weeks, so I'm starting to get my strength back," said Bing.

The mayor said he's happy with the first three people named to Detroit's Financial Advisory Board.

Listen to the complete interview:

"We're very lucky, number one, to get the caliber of talent that those three gentlemen possess. I've known Bob Bowman for 20-25 years and I think we were very, very fortunate to get him. Ken Whipple, I've known him for probably 25-30 years, most of his time when he was at Ford Motor. And I've known Darrell Burks for the last 20 or 25 years," he said.

Bing said he's going through a vetting process to fill the other position and thinks the citizens of Detroit will be pleased with their decisions.

"The key is making sure as we go forward and name additional people to fill out the nine member board, that we get as much diversity, and that's not just in terms of race or ethnicity, it's not just about gender, it's about the experiences people bring to the table and the relationship that I think they have with the State of Michigan as well as the City of Detroit," he said.

Bing said now that the financial stability agreement, also referred to as a consent agreement, is signed, the total focus can now go over to the budget and the budget process.

"It is a work in progress. A lot of people are going to have a lot of input. I think we've got to be reasonable, I think we've got to be flexible, but at the same token, we've got to understand that we're only going to have so much money. This pain is going to be spread around in a lot of different areas. Nobody wants to get cut, we understand that, but there's hard decisions that we're going to be faced with and we will make the hard decisions."

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