Wayne County has amassed thouands of records in response to FBI subpoenas

DETROIT (WXYZ) - A secure, locked room has been set up inside the Guardian Building to keep track of all of the records that must be turned over to federal authorities as part of the FBI’s corruption probe into Wayne County.

Assistant Wayne CountyExecutive Alan Helmkamp tells the7 Action News Investigators that the county is working closely with the US Attorney’s office to turn over documents that were subpoenaed last month.

“We have what’s called a rolling production agreement.  And you have to appreciate that we’ve already accumulated thousands of documents, emails, etc. As those documents are gathered and are organized and duplicated, they will be turned over to the feds as we go forward,” said Helmkamp.

The FBI subpoenaed the records shortly afterthe7 Action News Investigators broke the story that former Wayne County Economic Development Director Turkia Mullin got $200,000 in severance from the taxpayers to quit her job to become CEO of Metro Airport. 

According to the subpoenas, county officials originally had until November 9 to produce the documents – or they would have had to appear in front of the grand jury. Helmkamp says the county’s lawyer secured an extension – and “voluminous” records are in the process of being turned over to the feds.

“My understanding is the federal authorities were very, very comfortable with the level of cooperation they’re receiving.  We had them as our guests in this building to see the secure room where the records are being accumulated, the locking, the way we’re handling the duplication," said Helmkamp.

“I think in nearly 24 years in the FBI, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything quite blossom like this, or this much information come to a head so quickly,” Detroit FBI Special Agent in Charge  Andrew Arena.

Arena told Action News last week that he’s had to add agents to the case because there’s so much new information coming in – that struck a chord with Wayne County Commissioner Bernard Parker.  So today in a committee meeting, he introduced an ordinance to allow the Wayne County Prosecutor to establish an independent Inspector General.

“We need to build back the confidence of Wayne County, both with employees and citizens, that there is someone here, a third party, that can be objective, that is not going to be influenced by anyone here, and can investigate all complaints,” said Parker.

The Wayne County Prosecutor does support the idea of an independent Inspector General.  “This is a position that calls for criminal investigative experience and this is what we do each day.  We have a proven record for investigating and prosecuting people who hold positions of public trust and other allegations of corruption,” said Kym Worthy in a written statement.

Parker also introduced an ordinance that would limit the number of Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano’s appointees to reflect 2% of the overall county workforce.  If his ordinance passes – that means Ficano would only be allowed about 80 appointees – a huge decrease from the estimated190 he currently has.

“There are too many appointees; we’ve been talking about that for a long time.  We don’t even know how many appointees there are,” said Commissioner Laura Cox.

The ordinance would also force every appointee to present their salary and job responsibilities to the commission – which Helmkamp called unfair.

“This would require all our employees down to whatever level to come to them, not something that they are having for their own branch in government and the others as well.  So that’s a problem, and it’s in violation of the county charter,” said Helmkamp.

These ordinances are very much in the early stages – they’re going to be discusses, lawyers have to look at them – but the commissioners do want them to go through as soon as possible.