FLINT -- Citing the need for Flint to 'pursue a new direction' with its finances, Mayor Dayne Walling has fired the city's finance director Michael Townsend and two other people from within the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Wendy Johnson, Director of the DCED, has also resigned.

The shake-up comes three days after a state review panel declared a financial emergency in Flint, and one week after Walling told NBC25 that Flint's debt had been cut in half. 

Mayor Walling was re-elected Tuesday night, capturing 56 percent of the vote.

The state declared the financial emergency just hours before the polls closed.