Episode 5 - Lori Grigg Bluhm, Troy City Attorney

Welcome back to Voices of Troy, a podcast for people in and around Troy, Michigan, brought to you by the Troy Somerset Gazette newspaper. I'm the Gazette Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Neal, and today you'll be hearing my interview with Troy City Attorney, Lori Grick-Bloom. During our conversation, we talk about her upbringing, coming from the small town of Claire, Michigan, to Metro Detroit, a day in the life of the city attorney, what advice she has for aspiring lawyers, and she helps clear up many of the misconceptions people might have about the city attorney's office. Thanks for listening, don't forget to subscribe, and now let's get on with the show. Thank you to Lori Grick-Bloom, the Troy City Attorney for being on the Voices of Troy Podcast. Thank you for inviting me. Absolutely. So, where did you grow up, and when did you know you wanted to become a lawyer? Oh, great questions. I grew up in a very small town in the middle of Michigan, Claire, Michigan. Still have lots of family members there, so I get up there pretty frequently, and I knew I wanted to be a lawyer when I was in high school. I had an opportunity to watch a criminal trial, a murder trial, and after that, I thought, oh, I could do that, so that was my plan. You mentioned Claire, which is very interesting, because just last week, the Twitter world has been, you know, quite loud about where does up north start. And I've heard that Claire is a lot of people's marker for where up north starts. I'm curious, is someone from Claire, do you agree with that? Well, the slogan used to be gateway to the north, so yeah, I think it probably, I saw that article as well, and I think it's right on the line. Okay, interesting. So, how did you get your start in law? We wanted to be a lawyer when you were in high school, and you were exposed to it at an early age, but when did you, so what was the path from there, and how did you get your start into law? So I'm one of those people that went right from high school to college, and then right from college, right to law school, so seven years of continuing education, so yeah, I went to Albion College for my undergrad degree, and then I went right to Wayne State University, so coming, small-term girl coming from Claire to Detroit, where Claire, the population, is about 3,000 and Detroit as much as that. What was that like? A bit of a whirlwind, still being in the same state, but a whole lot different going from rural to urban. Yeah, it wasn't adjustment, but it was one that was easily made, and the job market is much better in the urban communities than what it is up north. Where did you start practicing law first? I started with a small firm in Farmington Hills doing just pretty much everything, personal injury, trust in a state, some family law, you know, that lasted for a couple of years, tax law, all kinds of things like that. That lasted for a couple of years, and then there was an opening with the city of Troy, and I applied for it, and was able to get hired. So it was really the one job before this one, and now you've had this one for how long? It's almost 25 years, so I've been, I'm not the longest serving employee in the city. There are a few of them who have 40 years or more, but I've been there for quite some time, and a bit of a historian as well. Absolutely, and what has the change of Troy been like in being in your position from, what would that be? 95 then? Yeah, actually, I started in the office in 95, so I wasn't the city attorney. I started out as an assistant city attorney, and then was promoted. Actually, my first day was September 11th of 2001, so a very, very memorable day. But we've seen a lot of changes since 1995. Absolutely. I think the thing we hear about most from the residents is overpopulation and overdevelopment within the city, was that something that you saw being talked about even back then? So it's really interesting because with the planning and zoning cases, you go back and you look at a lot of the cases that we rely on, and these are back in the, you know, cases back in the '70s, and the city of Troy. There are a lot of appellate decisions based on the city of Troy and the development in the city. Interesting. So, take me through a day in the life of the Troy city attorney, is every day a little bit different, or do you have a routine that you tend to follow most of the time? Every day is different. I never know what I'm going to, you know, to have happen, you know, and that's one of the benefits of the position is that every day is different, and I'm dealing with a lot of different things. So, our office, a lot of people don't realize that we do the criminal prosecution. For misdemeanor, so those would be drunk driving, assault and battery, you know, shoplifting, that's a big thing that we do. So, I don't do as much with that, but I am a member of our drug therapy court team. There are two drug therapy court teams, and I am a member of that because I believe that it's really, it's making an impact and reducing recidivism, so that's great. So, as far as a typical day, so we do the criminal part of it, and then we also handle any defense of the city in lawsuits, and then I do a lot of advising as well. A lot of citizen inquiries, a lot of questions about can we do this, a lot of contract review, every contract, our office has to review the contracts that the city is going to enter into, and just I never know what's going to happen. I would love to talk a little bit more about the drug therapy team that you're a part of. What can you say to people about what that program does and how it's helping? Yeah, and I need to give kudos to our two judges, and Troy the 52 for District Court, Judge Hardeg and Judge McGuinness, they both run a drug court now, and again, it is so rewarding, and the teams that they have both put together are excellent teams. It's not just a prosecutor and defense attorney on these teams, it is a collaborative group, so you have former persons in recovery, former addicts in recovery, you have counselors that are part of the team, you have a prosecutor, you have a defense attorney, and you have probation officers as well that are part of the team, and really the goal is to focus on the causes of the addiction and to provide tools to deal with the addiction, and we also try and help as much as we can, we get some grants from the state, and so we do try and help with financial barriers that people have. What can be done, obviously on a personal level, it sounds like that's what the focus is, on every individual, every addict is getting help, but what can be done on a perhaps larger level from a state level or maybe even national level with the laws to help curb addiction? Yeah, a lot of different things have been done, I mean, we do have, there are some lawsuits out there, there are class action lawsuits against the manufacturers, and primarily that is challenging, advertising and marketing that was done that really encouraged people to start taking the substances. I think I'm also on the board of the Trade Community Coalition and I've been on that board for a long time, and some of the things that we recommend is to stop people from getting the drugs to start with. Now they're starting, the doctors are starting to limit, you go in for root canal or some minor procedure, it used to be that you get a whole prescription for opioids. Now they're limiting it to one or two, and they're also paying attention to, if you have an addictive personality, then you can stay away from those. There are other drugs that you can take rather than the addictive opioids. You mentioned that was a really rewarding part of the job and something that you advocate for quite a bit, but what are some of the challenges about being a city attorney? You have to know a lot of different areas of law, so that's really difficult because there are attorneys and I have friends that have one specific area, and you know that area inside and out, and for a municipal attorney, there are so many areas of law that our practice touches upon, so there's always a need to be continually educating yourself, and that's probably the hardest part of my job is staying on top of all of the legislation that's proposed in lansing, that's proposed at the national level, and the cases that impact our practice. If you hadn't found this role and hadn't become a city attorney of Troy, is there one specific practice of law that you would have liked to go down that path? You know, I think that this was just such a good fit for me, and I was always interested in giving back, and this does allow me to give back. It allows me to have a part in shaping the city that I reside in, so I'm very grateful for that. I'm curious what you mentioned that you were interested in high school, and that was probably from seeing those cases firsthand, was it also, is there something for you in media that also got your attention, or was it sort of one before the other? Was it your interest, and then quickly following was books or media of some kind? I think it was both, I'm very interested, I'm an avid reader, and I've always been an avid reader, and so I'm a few years older than you are, so my media exposure was different than yours, but yeah, and everything by John Grisham, I've read every book that he's ever written, and Scotch Row, and some of the other great legal writers as well, so. There's a YouTube channel, I'm a big Grisham fan myself, and that's exactly who I was going to name and drop, so I'm glad you did it, and I didn't have to, that was the same for me when I was growing up. There's a guy on YouTube, I think his channel's called Legal Eagle, and he breaks down the truth and falsehoods of media in the way that the law is portrayed. Do you ever find yourself looking at shows that have a legal standpoint in chiming, and that's BS, or actually they kind of got that right, do you find yourself noticing things like that? Oh, absolutely, a civil trial will take, it can take a week, and of course you only have an hour in TV, so of course that's not accurate. Do you still enjoy watching stuff like that, or do you kind of avoid the law and order type shows, or monk, or something like that? I will still watch it, again it's entertainment, and there are some things that they did get right, so that's always good. What is something that is maybe a misconception that people have about the city attorney's office that you would like to clear up, or just something in general that you think that most people don't know about the work you do? Yeah, thanks for that question. Probably the most common misconception is that we get people coming to our counter that want us to appear on their behalf, and I have to tell them politely, no, my job is to represent the city of Troy, and I do take my direction from City Council as far as what types of lawsuits we get involved in, and all of that, that's my client, is the city. That's probably a misconception. We do refer a great number of people to the Oakland County Bar Association, they have a lawyer referral service, where they've actually vetted attorneys that have specialties, so we do refer people to them. We also get a lot of inquiries about landlord tenant issues, which we don't deal with, but we do have some informational pamphlets that are actually produced by the state of Michigan and our representatives. So we do have that, we do have some will and trust information as well, and a lot of times we can refer you to other people. The attorney general, there's got a consumer complaint division. We spend a lot of time referring people to attorney general's office for the state of Michigan as well. And it sounds like you're not pushing people away, you're clarifying, and then trying to steer them in the right direction. Absolutely, and that's really, we are a service organization, and we do attempt to help the residents, however we can, I just, we have to be very cautious that we are working on behalf of the city and doing what, you know, staying within the limits of the charter. Sure. The thing that residents, and we talked about this at the beginning, really talk about a lot is planning and zoning and the changes within that. I'm very curious, and I'll maybe have to jump around a few different ways of asking what I'm getting at, because I'm not sure what it is yet. But the master plan, zoning ordinances, planning commissions, zoning board, all of these things that work, sometimes work well together, and sometimes are conflicting and overriding other authorities, I'm very curious about how that all plays out in reality on a daily basis. So we cover planning commission, we cover zoning, and then obviously, and we had the mayor on, Mayor Baker on the show for the first episode, who mentioned that he wanted to sort of take a look at the master plan and kind of relook at some things. Very curious how all those things work together. And maybe you could help clarify, too, that master plan isn't a legal document, is it? And then planning and zoning have the ability to override previous decisions that that master plan is, or that previous zoning parcel was dedicated to. So I'm curious how all those works together, and is it just really, if you get enough of a consensus, you can change anything? Well, there's always a process for whatever we do. And I'll start with the master plan, and the master plan basically, it is the policy document. And so basically, the way that they created it is basically blobs. Now it's complicated because we have such great technology that we now have parcel boundaries and things that we can overlay on top of it. So it looks like it's specific to each parcel. But really the master plan is the policy document, and that it's just basic general areas, not specific property boundaries that's decided on there. And then you have the zoning ordinance, which is actually the law. So the zoning ordinance, you know, tells you what you can and cannot do, it tells you what the classification is. So it's a law versus a policy. Now I will tell you that our master plan, we are required by the state of Michigan to review it every five years. We're getting close to that, and we're going to probably start the process a little earlier than what we would need to. Because there are some, we've had a little bit of a turnover with the city council as well. And I think that the city council has certainly expressed a desire to maybe look at things and maybe some disagreement with the previous master plan. So it's a long answer, and I hope I addressed what you are looking for. Absolutely. You did. And I can apply it to even the stories that were in the paper this week where shallow Dale residents were kind of voicing concerns before. And I believe there was an improved rezoning request. And that had to do something with the environmental protection zoning that was previously in place. So I got to imagine, and it seems like, especially from our point of view, that those types of issues come up a lot. Is that something that does come up a lot, or does it just seem like it comes up a lot to us? Well, you know, again, the city of Troy has been developing for quite some time and most of the good parcels were developed earlier. Now what we're seeing are the more problematic parcels, if you will, and also we're seeing a lot of larger parcels that are now being sold off and developers are buying those parcels. And of course, they're going to try and maximize the value because the property values in Troy are high. So acquiring property is fairly expensive in the city of Troy because it's a great city. From a legal perspective, is there really much more you can do other than making sure everything that is being changed and looking at, especially from a master plan standpoint, but also from zoning ordinance standpoints is compliant, or is there some sort of opinion that also is requested of you? So I think one of the services that we provide is education. I don't think that most of the citizens of the city of Troy are, is aware of the planning process and the terminology. They get interested in it when it comes close to their homes. And I get that. I understand that. And so I think education is a big part of what we can do. We also will defend the city's decisions, and we have lawsuits that we are handling based on decisions that are made by city council. So because of that, I try and not make any, you know, I try to limit the statements. And I should also now is probably an appropriate time for me to give some kudos to my staff. I don't do this alone. I have a fabulous staff. And two of the staff members, one regularly attends the planning commission meetings and one regularly attends the zoning board of appeals meetings. And the other attorney, we have four attorneys in the office, and the other one attends the liquor committee and the animal control appeals board, and all of these other peripheral boards. But you also attend the city council meetings, so-- I do. Yes. I get to attend the city council meetings, and some of the other meetings as well. And that is a thing. Planning commission on a rezoning is a recommending body. So there is a-- we do provide plenty of opportunity for public input. And you know, it's at the planning commission, because there's a public hearing for a rezoning at the planning commission, and then, of course, city council is the final authority on those types of cases. So you mentioned that, you know, the master plan will be looked at and some things, but let's look forward a little bit more to the next few years. Are there other things within the city attorney's office that are changing? Are there things that you would like to see change and adapt, or is it a little bit more of the same moving in the right direction? What do you see and what are the goals for your office for the next few years? Well, I think one of the big things that's on the horizon for the city is the library knowledge. And we need to figure out how to get the voter input on that. Obviously, we're going to need to go to the voters for, you know, for renewed funding. And so we'll be involved in that. There's also one of the strategies is to reconvene the Charter Revision Committee, and we will be actively involved in that. That's something that we-- it's like the Constitution. The Charter is a Constitution, and you're not supposed to amend it a whole lot at all. You're supposed to really limit your amendments, and we've seen how with past initiatives how it's problematic when you have voter initiated proposals that don't really know what all of the other competing laws are. There are a lot of other laws that may impact a proposal, and it's not just a matter of putting it on paper. There are lots of other things to be worried about and concerned about, and other laws that may impact it. My last question just is, if you have any advice for people who might be listening who are young, aspiring lawyers, maybe their high school students who are really into John Grisham books as well, and wanting to be a lawyer and thinking about that, is there something that you wish you would have known back then that you know now, and what advice would you have for anyone who's considering becoming a lawyer? I wish that I had a more scientific background because there are a lot of patent laws and a lot of patent lawyers that are just so many, the law, there are just so many different areas that you can go into, so I wish that I would have had more of a scientific background. I have a very common lawyer background, I was in English in History Major, and what do you do with an English in History Major, you go to law school, so, but no, I would encourage anyone who is thinking of a career in law to try and do like a shadowing experience or a mentorship experience, I think that those are invaluable, and I will tell you the other thing too is that with the practice of law, there's nothing black and white, it's all gray, and so it does help to take the time and talk with other people, other attorneys, and try and get as many different interpretations as you can because I think that your decisions are going to be much better, so you know, when I was, I was always worried about you know, being a good worker and you know, putting in my time, I think it's valuable to spend the time to really contemplate and to talk with others about their different opinions because I think, again, once you have all of that input, the best decisions are made. City Attorney, Laurie Grigblum, thank you so much for coming on our Voices of Troy Podcast. Thank you. Thanks again to Laurie for being our guest this week. Next week on the show, we'll talk to the original editor of the Troy Somerset Gazette newspaper Cindy Kameh. Until then, thanks for listening, I'm Andrew Niel, have a great week.