Editing Highland Park, Michigan (section)

===Municipal services===
Highland Park is governed under the [[Mayor–council government|council-mayor]] form of government. The mayor is the executive and administrative head of the city, and appoints city officers such as the city clerk, city treasurer, city attorney, and finance director as well as other department heads. The city council consists of five members, two members who are elected [[At-large|at large]] and three who are elected from the city's three [[electoral district]]s.<ref name="charter">{{cite web |title=Highland Park City Charter (2019) |url=https://www.highlandparkmi.gov/Government/Newly-Adopted-City-Charter/CityCharter190507.aspx |website=highlandparkmi.com |access-date=December 14, 2020}}</ref> The at-large member who receives the most votes becomes council president for that term.<ref name="charter"/> The mayor and city council members are [[term limit|limited]] to four consecutive four-year [[term of office|terms in office]], though are eligible to run for office again one year after the conclusion of their fourth consecutive term.<ref name="charter"/> The city levies an income tax of 2 percent on residents and 1 percent on nonresidents.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gibbons|first1=Lauren|title=Michigan State University, city of East Lansing at odds over proposed income tax |url= http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/08/michigan_state_university_city.html#incart_river_home|access-date=August 16, 2017 |work= MLive Lansing|publisher=Mlive Media Group |date=August 16, 2017}}</ref>

However, using the Public Act 72 of 1990, Governor [[John Engler]] appointed an emergency financial manager to take over the city's financial operations in December 2000, effectively relegating the mayor, city council, and other elected public officers to advisory roles. Ramona Henderson-Pearson was appointed the city's first emergency financial manager.<ref name="efm1">{{cite news |url= http://html.clickondetroit.com/det/news/stories/news-20001206-140225.html |title= State Will Manage Highland Park's Finances |publisher= WDIV-TV |date=December 6, 2000 |access-date=January 11, 2010 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120715093738/http://html.clickondetroit.com/det/news/stories/news-20001206-140225.html |archive-date=July 15, 2012}}</ref> In 2002, Henderson-Pearson laid off most city workers. She shuttered several city buildings including the McGregor public library and the old Civic Center buildings on Gerald Street. Her successor, Arthur Blackwell, was appointed in 2005 and fired in April 2009 for over-payments that he received. The third and final emergency financial manager, Robert Mason, returned the city to local control in July 2009.<ref>[http://www.michigan.gov/treasury/0,4679,7-121-1755_1963-213134--,00.html "Mason Named Highland Park Financial Manager"], ''[[Michigan Department of Treasury|Department of Treasury]]''. April 18, 2009. Retrieved on April 29, 2009.</ref><ref name=local>[http://www.pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/page.cgi?g=detailed%2F343151.html;d=1 Treasury EFM Robert Mason Transfers Control Back to Highland Park], Pressbox Press Release, July 17, 2009</ref>

The city administration works out of the Robert B. Blackwell Municipal Building at 12050 Woodward Avenue.

The old Municipal Building at 28‒30 Gerald Street was opened in 1927. Designed by [[Marcus Burrowes]] and Frank Eurich, Jr. in the [[Classical Revival]] style, it was the final element of the Highland Park Civic Center ensemble located on both sides of Gerald Street near Woodward Avenue. It remains as a monument to the rapidly growing and wealthy Highland Park of the 1910s and 1920s. From 1999 to 2001, it also housed the police department, then fell into disuse. As of 2020, it continues to await redevelopment as part of a wider regeneration of downtown Highland Park by means of a [[Tax increment financing]] district,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Highland Park TIFA|url=https://hptifa.com/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611102434/https://hptifa.com/|archive-date=June 11, 2020|access-date=June 11, 2020}}</ref> or potential listing in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

====Police Department====
The Highland Park Police Department was headquartered in a building opened at 25 Gerald Street in 1917. In 1984 the police and fire departments were merged into a [[Public safety department|Public Safety Department]]. The former police and then public safety headquarters building was vacated in 1999. All operations moved across the street into the old Municipal Building, which in turn was vacated in 2001 with all functions moving to the Robert Blackwell Municipal Building. In December 2001, the city police department was formally disbanded, at which time the [[Wayne County Sheriff (Michigan)|Wayne County Sheriff]] Department took over policing the city.<ref name=Binellip183/><ref>[http://www.michigan.gov/treasury/0,1607,7-121-1755_1963-6174--,00.html Smooth Transition Expected in Highland Park], Michigan Department of Treasury Press Release, December 14, 2001</ref> The Highland Park Police Department was re-established on July 1, 2007.<ref>"[http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/PoliceDepartment.asp Police Department] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20131101075221/http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/PoliceDepartment.asp|date=November 1, 2013}}." City of Highland Park. Retrieved on July 13, 2009.</ref><ref name=Police/>

The police administrative offices are located in the Robert Blackwell Municipal Building,<ref name="Police">"[http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/PoliceDepartment.asp Police Department] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20131101075221/http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/PoliceDepartment.asp |date=November 1, 2013}}." ([https://archive.today/20131101075221/http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/PoliceDepartment.asp Archive]) City of Highland Park. Retrieved on November 1, 2013. "The Administrative Offices are located in the Robert Blackwell Municipal Building, 12050 Woodward Ave. Patrol Operations are conducted at the Highland Park Mini Station, located at 14112 Woodward, in the Model-T Plaza. The new Business Liaison Office is currently located at the Shoppes at Woodward Place Plaza, on Woodward Ave. at Sears Ave."</ref> and the patrol station is in a mini-station in the Model-T Plaza strip mall.<ref name="Binellip183" /><ref name="Police" /><!--Binelli wrote "Since its revival in 2007, the Highland Park PD has been headquartered in mini-station at a strip mall"--> It has occupied that facility since 2007. The jail facility there is a makeshift chain-link cage.<ref name="Binellip183" /> The police department has a business liaison office in the Woodward Place Plaza.<ref name="Police" />

====Fire Department====
The village of Highland Park's fire department was established in 1911. It was housed in the first municipal building at 20 Gerald Street, designed by Albert E. Williams and opened in 1911. Given Highland Park's rapid growth and industrialization in the 1910s and 1920s, the police and the municipal government moved to purpose-built buildings in 1917 and 1927, respectively. The first municipal building was expanded and altered several times until it became the headquarters of the Highland Park Fire Department (HPFD), established in 1917.

At its peak, the fire department employed about 84 firefighters and had four fire stations across the city.<ref>"[http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/FireDepartment.asp Fire Department]." ([https://archive.today/20131101075543/http://www.highlandparkcity.us/Services/FireDepartment.asp Archive]) City of Highland Park. Retrieved on November 1, 2013.</ref> One of them was Engine 4, Ladder 3 at 19–21 Sturtevant Street, near Hamilton Avenue (demolished in 2013).<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 30, 2008|title=The Ultimate Sin|url=https://www.nailhed.com/2015/02/the-ultimate-sin.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227060314/https://www.nailhed.com/2015/02/the-ultimate-sin.html|archive-date=December 27, 2017|access-date=June 11, 2020}}</ref>

Highland Park's shrinking population and tax base took its toll. In 1984 the police and fire departments were merged into a Public Safety Department. The fire department again became a separate entity in 2005. By that time, the headquarters building on Gerald Street was deemed uninhabitable. The department moved to an old, 40000 sq. ft. warehouse at 12900 Oakland Park Boulevard, near Oakland Avenue and the Davison Freeway at the edge of the city, where it remained until 2013.

A $2.7 million [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] grant made available by the [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act]] enabled construction of a new, purpose-built station. It was built on the site of the old police headquarters, demolished in 2012, at 25 Gerald Street, across the street from the condemned Fire Department headquarters. The new fire station was opened on September 3, 2013.<ref>{{cite news|last=Stables Battaglia|first=Tammy|title=2.7M Highland Park fire station up and running.|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20130903/NEWS02/309030021/Highland-Park-Fire|access-date=November 25, 2013|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=September 3, 2013}}</ref>