For the first time, a state appointed emergency manager has permission to void a union contract in a Michigan city. The state Treasurer’s office gave its approval to Pontiac’s emergency manager Monday to void the city’s police dispatchers’ contract. Pontiac’s policing duties are being taken over by the Oakland County sheriff’s department.

Robert Sedler is a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University. He believes the courts would find the decision to void the contract a ‘reasonable’ one.

“What I think makes this reasonable in the Pontiac situation is that it is part of a transfer of law enforcement from the city of Pontiac to the sheriff.”

The Michigan legislature expanded the powers of state appointed emergency managers this year.

There are numerous groups considering legal challenges to the law.