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With just over a week left as mayor, Mike Duggan is walking away from what is likely to be a major mess for the city of Detroit.
At a news conference Monday, the three-term mayor announced that Detroit police and state environmental regulators are separately investigating two companies believed to have jointly filled hundreds of Detroit demolition sites with toxic dirt—an issue that could cost the city millions of dollars to clean up, Violet Ikonomova of the Detroit Free Press reports.
The Freep goes on to report:
An “intensive” and ongoing criminal investigation into potential fraud by Detroit-based Gayanga Co. has identified 49 demolition sites where the contractor may have used toxic dirt, in addition to 58 the city says it already found contaminated, Detroit Police Deputy Chief Kari Sloan said. Duggan said he requested the police investigation in September after the Detroit Office of the Inspector General found the contractor may have intentionally used backfill from unapproved sources.
Separately, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says it is coordinating with Detroit officials to evaluate the activities of Oakland County-based Iron Horse of Michigan Inc. after Duggan said the city found it sourced potentially toxic dirt to Gayanga and three other contractors responsible for 424 demolitions.
The Detroit Inspector General's Office in September suspended Gayanga from doing work with the city after finding contaminated dirt at 42 of 47 sites where Gayanga filled in demolitions. The dirt exceeded state pollution standards. Of those sites, 62 percent were found “unsafe for direct human contact.”
It's hard to say what the political fallout will be considering the toxic dirt was placed in the ground while Duggan was mayor and Mary Sheffield sat on the city council.
Sheffield takes over as mayor in Jan. 1 and Duggan goes off to put all his efforts into the 2026 run for governor as an independent.
