Attorney: Woods' Battle Against Grosse Pointe Redistricting Not Likely to Succeed

should not wage a legal battle to fight redistricting that would divide Pointes, city attorney Don Bershback told Council Monday night.

Instead, Berschback said, the money would be better spent to hire a lobbyist to fight for and represent all of the Grosse Pointes in Lansing.

The Woods council , and agreed to spend up to $4,000 for the research and the legal opinion from a law firm experienced in such litigation.

The into two districts. One includes Grosse Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods, Harper Woods and a larger section of Detroit. The other includes Grosse Pointe Farms, City of Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Park and a larger section of Detroit.

Officials have said the division will dilute the Grosse Pointes influence in Lansing.

Berschback told council there is essentially no case law he could find to support such a legal challenge, meaning the chances of winning such a lawsuit are slim. While did file a similar lawsuit more than two decades ago to fight off redistricting, officials did so before the bill was actually signed into law, Berschback said.

He was unable to find the court records related to that particular case, but said he believed it forced the legislators to reach a deal with Grosse Pointe Park before the lawsuit went very far, if anywhere at all, in the legal process.

The bill for this round of redistricting has already been signed into law, and Berschback said there are no existing cases that have already been fought with success to help bolster the argument from the Grosse Pointes.

Spending $4,000 on a law firm, Berschback said, would be a waste of money and would be better spent on trying to hire a lobbyist in conjunction with the other Grosse Pointes to represent the interests of all five communities.

Mayor Robert Novitke said he would have liked to have received a written legal opinion regarding the chances of winning and the findings of the research but accepted Berschback's comments.

Hiring a lobbyist, Novitke said, would be a possibility. All of the Pointes have pooled money to hire one in the past to represent the communities and will likely do it again.

A lobbyist was employed when the state was trying to dissolve all of the municipal courts, when the city airport was trying to expand and when there was an issue with the Pointes have residential only parks, Novitke said.

Councilman Joseph Sucher cautioned that paying a lobbyist does not guarantee that person is truly representing the interests of all those they represent.

Sucher also referenced the exit of the previous lobbyist, who was ousted by the Pointes after it was discovered the lobbyist was not working on behalf of Grosse Pointers' interest but actually against them.

Hiring a lobbyist for one particular issue would be OK, but to essentially keep one on retainer is not a great idea, Sucher said.

Meanwhile, there are still discussions to be had among the officials from all of the Grosse Pointes about ways in which to fight the redistricting. Grosse Pointe — a topic .

In Grosse Pointe Shores, officials are reviewing the idea of seceding Wayne County and joining Macomb County. Council members are awaiting the answers to a few key questions that could determine the final answer before getting too heavily into the study.