DETROIT — The City Council is both anxious and defiant. Public employees’ unions are bracing for a showdown. Protests and lawsuits are promised. Meanwhile, the mayor has simply stopped talking about what is on nearly everyone’s mind in this troubled city.

All across Detroit, tension is building as a state-appointed emergency manager prepares to take control of the city government on Monday and begin a drastic restructuring of its finances and operations.

“There is anxiety. There is fear of the unknown,” said Yolanda Langston, the president of a Service Employees International Union’s local in Detroit. “We don’t know which way he’s going to go.”

Since Gov.Rick Snyderannounced the state takeover on March 1, there has been a dearth of information about the first steps in the long-awaited turnaround of Detroit.