Attorney Thomas G. King possesses more than 27 years of experience in representing municipalities and other governmental and quasi-governmental entities in all aspects of municipal and governmental law. Mr. King was employed for 8 years as an assistant and then deputy City Attorney for the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan before joining Kreis Enderle. Since that time, he has continued representing cities, villages, counties, authorities and other governmental entities in all types of matters. He has represented these governmental entities before the trial and appellate courts of the State of Michigan, the Michigan Tax Tribunal, administrative aspects, and numerous federal courts including United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern and Western District of Michigan, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
This representation has included such diverse types of matters as general municipal matters, planning and zoning, collection of taxes, real estate transactions, economic development matters, ordinance preparation, initiative and referendum matters, civil litigation (including municipal liability and zoning matters), ballot proposals, Headlee tax limitation matters, water and wastewater matters, actions seeking injunctive relief and actions involving the Michigan Freedom of Information Act and the Michigan Open Meetings Act. He has also acted as governmental counsel in a number of installment purchase and bond transactions.
Mr. King is also an expert in the collection of real and personal property taxes, water and wastewater service charges and other municipal charges in bankruptcy. As a result of his expertise in that area he was invited to speak on collection of real and personal property taxes in bankruptcy at a Spring Meeting of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section in Washington D.C. He is also a frequent speaker on municipal issues and has presented seminars on real and personal property tax collection, the Michigan Freedom of Information Act and collection claims in bankruptcy.
Mr. King was also lead counsel for the Van Buren County Treasurer in the reported case of the Title Office v Van Buren County Treasurer, 469 Mich 516 (2004) (a case of first impression involving the proper fees which a Treasurer’s office can charge for tax information being requested under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act).
Additionally, Kreis Enderle is a full service firm and its attorneys possess broad experience in different areas of the law that may be beneficial to municipalities including environmental and real estate law, construction law, litigation, pension and benefit issues, criminal prosecution services as well as a host of other areas too numerous to mention. If your municipality or governmental entity is seeking experienced municipal legal counsel backed up by a full service law firm with expertise in many different areas, you should consider the firm of Kreis Enderle, which will put its expertise to work for your benefit.