(WXYZ) — For months, the 7 Investigators have been looking into how your tax dollars are being spent in Michigan’s wealthiest county: Oakland County.
We’ve exposed everything from highly paid public officials with lucrative side jobs to allegations of ethical violations.
Watch Heather Catallo's video report below:
Oakland County has consistently delayed getting us public records and now, one elected leader says the same thing is happening to him.
Orion Township supervisor says he, too, has had to file his own public records requests.
After the 7 Investigators asked Chris Barnett to sit down for an interview, he told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo how he was threatened to withdraw his public records request or else lose his chance to meet with Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter’s financial team.
Barnett says his fight for transparency started in 2024.
“We are a customer — no one has called us, no one has met with us,” Barnett said during an Oakland County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee meeting in November 2024.
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Barnett says he and other elected officials have been forced to communicate with county leadership by going to public comment during county meetings.
“I’ve been asking for this information for months and months,” Barnett said during another finance committee meeting on March 25, 2026.
Barnett says he’s had to visit public comment at least eight times recently to get answers from Coulter and County Commission Chair Dave Woodward.
“If we could fire the county completely, we would do it. And I will tell you, to a point, there are probably at least 30 of the 62 municipalities that would do the same, if they could,” Barnett told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.
Barnett is not alone. In late 2024, other local leaders told commissioners and Coulter’s financial team that their lack of notice and transparency about a huge cost increase to their new sheriff’s contracts was imploding their budgets.
“Just like the assessing contract, just like the fire dispatch contract — we got 35 days to make a decision. We’re partners here. We’re your customer here. We really feel you’re doing us disfavor by cramming this down our throat,” said Commerce Township Supervisor Larry Gray in 2024.
“To suddenly come back and say there is no other option, seems tyrannical,” Independence Township Supervisor Chuck Phule said back in 2024 as well.
“This is one example in the last year and a half. There are five different times that the county has treated us unfairly and poorly. And the last thing I want to do — no disrespect — is to sit down with the news and do a story like this. I want them to be responsive to our needs,” Barnett said.
Barnett says the 12 communities that contract with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office love the service the deputies provide. But Barnett says cities, villages and townships were promised new numbers about the actual sheriff’s contract costs by the end of 2025 — numbers Barnett says he needs in order to pass a new millage to pay for policing.
“We just want the information. So what that means here in my community is my police millage has expired. I have to pass a new police millage. That's how we pay for our police services. And we have no idea, frankly, what we are asking our residents,” Barnett said.
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Barnett says a key point of contention is how much on top of the Consumer Price Index the county would charge townships like his. Coulter’s team recommended 2% on top of CPI.
“Two percent. That’s the recommendation,” said Oakland County Chief Financial Officer Brian Lefler during his team’s presentation on the sheriff’s contracts in 2024.
“So our recommendation was CPI plus 2%,” said Oakland County Deputy CFO Sheryl Johnson during the same meeting.
Woodward, D-Royal Oak, echoed Coulter’s team: “In the future, CPI plus 2%.”
But at the last minute, commissioners changed that 2%, instead voting to make it a CPI plus 6% increase.
Oakland County Commissioner Charlie Cavell, D-Ferndale, suggested the CPI plus 6% to cover rising health care costs. But that 6% jump shocked supervisors like Barnett.
Barnett says that could be a difference of $1 million for his community for Orion’s next police millage.
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He also says local governments were promised an analysis of the actual 2025 costs to see if the county really needed that full 6% on top of CPI increase.
“Frankly, they have kept us out of this process and they have not done, again, what they said they would do,” Barnett said. “They promised us they would have information to us in November with a true-up, what these costs actually were, because they cannot charge us more for the service than it cost them. So they're supposed to go through and say, did we guess right or did we guessed wrong? They did not do that in November, December, January — I asked for an update. They promised me it'd be early February. Then the CFO from the county said February 23rd, we'll have that information to you,” Barnett said.
He says he still does not have the information.
“How long have you been asking for a meeting with Executive Coulter?” Catallo asked.
“Since November of 2024, when this first happened,” said Barnett, who provided multiple text messages with Coulter to back that up.
Barnett says he’s asked Coulter at least eight times for a meeting to get the actual costs for policing.
“They have not performed. They point fingers at each other. Woodward says it's fiscal services who reports to the county executive. The county executive's team, Fiscal Services, says Dave Woodward, the chair the board, has to bless the rates,” Barnett said. “I've been threatened and I frankly am concerned about some of the opportunities and funding sources that come from the county if they will be harmed by me speaking out. But that said, I've had dozens of local leaders on both sides of the political aisle reach out to me and thank me for standing up. Because that's the way I was raised.”
Barnett says now he’s been forced to file a Freedom of Information Act request with Coulter’s staff to get access to the public records that show the actual cost for his sheriff’s services.
The township supervisor says being forced to file a FOIA does not match Coulter’s recent announcements that the county will be more transparent following several 7 Investigations about county spending and top leaders having side jobs.
“There is rising frustration. Someone is not doing their job. And at the end of the day, there are two people that are leading the county: A county executive, Dave Coulter, and a county board of commissioners, Dave Woodward,” Barnett said. “And at end of day, if their directors and their direct reports are mired with controversy and other jobs and other things, it's their responsibility to resolve those issues and hold people accountable. And I don't see that happening.”
Late last week, Barnett says Coulter told him he could either have his meeting with Coulter and his team to go over the actual sheriff’s contract costs, but only if Barnett withdrew his FOIA request.
Saying that crossed a line, Barnett said he wanted the public records request fulfilled. Shortly after that, Coulter canceled a previously scheduled meeting that had been set for Tuesday morning.
Executive Coulter’s Communications Director Teresa Recinto released this statement to us:
“Oakland County values its relationship with Orion Township, including its longstanding contractual arrangement for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services to keep the township’s residents safe.
"After a thorough review of prior contracts between the county and communities for law enforcement services provided by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, the county determined that the rates that had been paid by those communities were lower than the county’s costs for providing the services. This meant that in effect, communities with their own police departments were subsidizing costs for those which contract with the county those services. In 2024, the county Board of Commissioners adopted new rates to more closely align with anticipated costs.
"The County Executive never threatened Supervisor Barnett. He offered to provide the contractual rate information in either a meeting or a FOIA request and the supervisor chose FOIA, as is his right. Either way, the county has offered him the opportunity to discuss the information provided once he has reviewed it. While the supervisor continues to make baseless accusations, the county stands ready to provide him with all the financial information used to help set the rates."
The 7 Investigators asked Recinto why the county is saying it’s ready to provide the information but instead canceled the Tuesday meeting, where the information was supposed to be provided. We have not received an answer to that question.
If you have a story for Heather Catallo please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com