Archive for December, 2009

The Monroe Evening News reports on a speech that Howdy Holmes, president of Chelsea Milling Co. – maker of Jiffy Mix products – gave to the annual Monroe County Extension agriculture banquet this week: “He told the story how his grandmother, Mabel White Holmes, developed and introduced to homemakers the first prepared baking mix, in 1930. One day, she peeked inside a young neighbor boy’s lunch bag and found a homemade biscuit prepared by his father. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to invent a mix and make it so easy that even a man could make it?’ she said.” [Source]

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority special board meeting (Dec. 8, 2009): Late Tuesday afternoon at a special meeting, the AATA board heard from two consulting attorneys, as well as heads of three other Michigan transit authorities, on the subject of expanding the geographic scope of AATA service.

Jeff Ammon, a Grand Rapids area attorney who’s been consulting for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, explains legal options for establishing an entity that could expand the geographic reach of AATA service. Millage options use the metaphor of “donut” (upper left) and “layer cake” (middle right). (Photo by the writer.)

The meeting of the full board, with their five guests, came on the heels of a planning and development committee meeting. At that committee meeting Chris White, AATA’s manager of service development, gave highlights from a recently completed survey of Washtenaw County voters on their attitudes towards a possible countywide transportation tax.

Those who said they would “definitely” or “probably” vote yes on a 1 mill countywide millage eked out a 51% majority countywide.

However, Bob Foy, general manager of Flint’s Mass Transit Authority, repeatedly reminded the full board at their meeting: To get a millage passed, you need a product you can sell. In Flint, which is a countywide authority, Foy reported that the last millage was approved with 68% of the vote.

What the expanded transportation product might look like for Washtenaw County is not yet clear. At the planning and development meeting, AATA CEO Michael Ford indicated that AATA would be bringing in a consultant to address that issue.

The message sent at the board meeting by the two consulting attorneys – Jerry Lax and Jeff Ammon – was that there’s a difference between (i) deciding on the legal authority to be formed, and (ii) deciding on the desired service that AATA wanted to offer. When the board knew what countywide service it wanted to provide and how it wanted to fund that service, they said, at that point it would make sense to decide on the legal mechanism for establishing an expanded authority.

That authority could be established legally under either of the state’s enabling acts: Act 55 or Act 196. [Full Story]

On his blog One Step Closer, Ken Wilson – senior pastor of the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor – explores the issue of climate change in the context of his belief in God. He describes his feelings during a meeting he attended between scientists and evangelical Christian leaders: “I felt intense sorrow that there has been such a divide, such a cultural gap, such a history of mutual misunderstanding between Jesus followers in America and people who would call themselves environmentalists. It felt to me like I was sitting on a dividing wall between the two groups, and the wall was falling down, and I was falling with it.” [Source]

A Los Angeles Times column about funding for the University of California system looks at its potential for privatization, and cites UM as a model for becoming a “quasi-private university.” From the article: “UC doesn’t have the same options as many other state systems, observes James J. Duderstadt, president emeritus of the University of Michigan, which he helped shepherd through its transition from full state support. Michigan’s shrinking population of young persons allowed the university to ramp up its out-of-state population paying full freight (now more than 35% of undergraduates) while insulating state residents from rising tuition and fees.” [Source]

Update: As of 8:30 a.m. Thursday, power has been restored to all but about 1,000 DTE customers in Washtenaw County. The majority of customers will be back on line by late tonight, a DTE spokesman said. Meanwhile, classes were canceled Thursday at four Ann Arbor elementary schools: Dicken, Forsythe, Haisley and Wines. In addition, a band concert at Forsythe on Thursday night has been canceled.

As of 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening, about 11,000 DTE customers are without power in Washtenaw County, due to heavy winds, according to DTE spokesman John Austerberry. Given the weather forecast, it’s likely there will be additional outages throughout the night and well into Thursday, he said, adding that all available crews are out and will be working through the night. Customers can report outages online or by calling 800.477.4747. [PDF file of outage area refreshed every 30 minutes.] [Full Story]

The blog of Ann Arbor’s Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School gives an update on the H1N1 flu: “There has been a decrease in the number of reported H1N1 flu cases over the past few weeks in Washtenaw County. As we monitor flu activity in our schools, we have seen a few schools with 10-14% rate of absenteeism due to flu illness. We have not reached the 30% absentee rate that has been seen in other districts across the state….But while the news is good, please know that flu activity in the schools is already higher than what is seen during the peak of many regular flu seasons.” [Source]

The Detroit Free Press previews Wednesday evening’s Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble concert, set for 8 p.m. at the Britton Recital Hall in UM’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance, 1100 Baits, Ann Arbor. The article quotes Devin Kerr, a UM graduate student who’s taking part in the project: “Yeah, it’s probably not (the) most pleasant music at first. You have to be willing to accept noise is a form of music.” [Source]

Ann Arbor City Council meeting (Dec. 7, 2009) Part II: In Part I of the council report, The Chronicle covered a resolution regarding the Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan (HRIMP), the Percent for Art program, and budget issues, including a possible 3% across-the-board wage cut and firefighter layoffs.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) at the start of the meeting, clearly thinking outside the box. (Photos by the writer.)

Councilmembers spent considerable time on those topics, during a meeting that lasted until nearly midnight. But they also acted on a range of other items – Part II of this council report will focus on that remaining part of the agenda.

Two items were postponed – the appointment of council members to various committees, and a resolution to buy new parking meters for Wall Street. The council, with no discussion, also sent the area, height and placement (AHP) project back to the planning commission for further consideration.

Several funding requests were approved, including the purchase of new accounting software, two greenbelt acquisitions and funds for remodeling the city’s 911 dispatch center to accommodate co-location with Washtenaw County’s dispatch center. Council also signed off on additional funds for a Buhr Park ice rink project.

Affordable housing issues came up in two different ways. Councilmembers approved a resolution exempting eligible nonprofit housing providers, such as Avalon Housing, from paying property taxes for up to two years. Council also passed a resolution supporting the efforts of the University of Michigan’s Inter-Cooperative Council to secure federal funding.

At the end of the meeting, council went into closed session to discuss a pending lawsuit the city faces over the underground parking garage next to the Library Lot. When they emerged, they authorized action recommended by the city attorney.

Finally, long-time Pioneer track coach Don Sleeman was honored – over the years, his work has touched the lives of several people connected to city hall. [Full Story]

In our report on the Dec. 7 council meeting, we wrote that John Rubin had identified himself as a rower during his public commentary. He is not a rower and did not say he was. We note the error here and have corrected the orginal report.

Ann Arbor City Council meeting (Dec. 7, 2009) Part I: Based on dialog at the city council’s budget retreat on Saturday, and the absence of any action at Monday’s council meeting to prevent it, layoff notices to 14 firefighters will be sent sometime this week.

Mayor John Hieftje also gave some additional detail on a proposal he’d mentioned at the council’s budget retreat on Saturday: an across-the-board wage cut of 3% for all city employees, which would include councilmembers.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) presents his case for having a plan for the Huron River. (Photos by the writer)

Though the topics of firefighters and wage cuts were mentioned during the council’s communications section of the meeting, what pushed the meeting to nearly midnight were deliberations on two resolutions: (i) a three-year reduction of the Percent for Art program to effectively a “Half-Percent for Art” program, and (ii) acceptance of the Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan (HRIMP).

Both resolutions passed, though the HRIMP resolution was heavily amended. The material effect of the amendment was that it was not technically “accepted” by the council, but rather remanded to the city’s park advisory commission and the environmental commission. [Full Story]

Editor’s Note: After the break begins the next installment of the Washtenaw Jail Diary, written by a former inmate in Washtenaw County’s jail facility on Hogback Road. The piece originated as a Twitter feed in early 2009, which the author subsequently abandoned and deleted. See previous Chronicle coverage “Twittering Time at the Washtenaw County Jail.“

In now working with the author to publish the Washtenaw Jail Diary, The Ann Arbor Chronicle acknowledges that this is only one side of a multi-faceted tale.

We also would like to acknowledge that the author’s incarceration predates the administration of the current sheriff, Jerry Clayton.

This narrative, which we expect will run over a series of several installments, provides an insight into a tax-funded facility that most readers of The Chronicle will not experience first-hand in the same way as the author.

The language and topics introduced below reflect the environment of a jail. We have not sanitized it for Chronicle readers. It is not gratuitously graphic, but it is graphic just the same. It contains language and descriptions that some readers will find offensive. [Full Story]

This PBS Newshour segment describes Ann Arbor as a “life preserver” for Michigan. Ray Suarez interviews UM president Mary Sue Coleman, mayor John Hieftje, and Zingerman’s co-founders Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, among others. [Source] A related online report looks at Ann Arbor’s local media following the close of the Ann Arbor News. [Source]

The PBS Newshour’s Patchwork Nation series runs a two-minute segment on Zingerman’s, interviewing partners Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig. Says Saginaw: “We grew the business here because we didn’t want to do business anywhere else. When we started out, what we wanted was, we wanted to have an extraordinary organization and we felt that, that meant that the owners were going to be on the premises and that you were going to stay focused on what you were doing … We never had a desire to open up anywhere else.” [Source]

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting (Dec. 7, 2009): In a continuation of last Wednesday’s board meeting, commissioners on Monday night approved a contract amendment with Ypsilanti Township, reducing by seven the number of sheriff deputies that will be dedicated to patrolling the township in 2010. Though several commissioners voiced concerns over the deal, only Jeff Irwin voted against the resolution.

Several issues remain unclear, however, including what the township will do regarding sheriff patrols in 2011, and how its decrease in patrols starting Jan. 1, 2010 will affect the rest of the county. Commissioner Kristin Judge said the situation demonstrates that the system of policing in Washtenaw County is broken.

And echoing an idea floated at Saturday’s Ann Arbor city council retreat, commissioner Barbara Bergman said that perhaps it’s time for the city of Ann Arbor to consider contracting its police services with the sheriff’s department, too. [Full Story]

UM president Mary Sue Coleman and Thomas Zurbuchen, director of UM’s Center for Entrepreneurship, will be among those featured on the Patchwork Nation series Tuesday night on the PBS Newshour. The show airs at 6 p.m. on WTVS in Detroit. [Source]

The Ann Arbor School Musings blog has a post about the observance of religious holidays in the schools: “Issues come up every year, and not just in December. Just this week, I felt slightly queasy when I saw the Saline Schools twitter about kids working on wreaths. You might not think of wreaths as Christmas-y, but I do. Poinsettias and trees, too, for that matter. I felt even queasier when I saw that kids from Erickson Elementary in Ypsilanti were singing carols at a Christmas tree lighting in Ypsilanti. Don’t get me wrong – I am happy to help my neighbors put ornaments on their trees, I enjoy listening to other people sing carols or Handel’s Messiah. But. But. … [Full Story]

The Washington Post reports that the H1N1 flu pandemic could be milder than expected. The article quotes Howard Markel, director of UM’s Center for the History of Medicine. “Sometimes Mother Nature throws us a break,” he told The Post, adding that other factors could also play a role. “In 1918 it was really prehistoric medical care. In 1957, we really didn’t have intensive care. In 1968 we were starting to have it but it was nothing like we have today.” [Source]

Writing on her website, Lucy Ann Lance previews her Dec. 12 “The Lucy Ann Lance Hometown Christmas Show” on 1290 WLBY, which will also be live streamed on the station’s website. She shares one of her own Christmas memories: “The year was 1970 and I was 9 years old. She was Velvet, a doll wearing a purple dress with a white sash, & purple shoes, and you could make her hair grow long with a pull of her ponytail. I was so happy that Santa brought her to me, and I couldn’t stop hugging my mom. I still have Velvet, a little worse for the wear, but here nonetheless. I’d give anything to still … [Full Story]

Ann Arbor City Council Sunday caucus (Dec. 6, 2009): At the Sunday night caucus of the Ann Arbor city council, looming budget decisions were front and center as topics, just as they’d been the previous day at the council’s day-long retreat. [Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor City Budget: Cuts Begin Now"]

Residents who attended the caucus expressed concerns about probable firefighter layoffs, possible threats to city parks, and a Monday meeting agenda item approving $895,000 for an accounting system overhaul. In responding to residents, councilmembers mentioned an idea that Mayor John Hieftje had briefly floated at the council’s budget retreat: an across-the-board wage cut of 3% for all city employees.

Besides the accounting system overhaul, the other Monday meeting agenda item residents spoke about was the council’s “acceptance” of the Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan. Representatives of the Huron River Watershed Council encouraged the council to accept the plan. That discussion led to the topic of the city’s Percent for Art program and its legal status. The council has an item on its Monday agenda to reduce the percentage reserved from 1% to a 0.5%.

On the council side, the caucus was attended by Hieftje, Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Mike Anglin (Ward 5), Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3). [Full Story]

A Time magazine article looks at the concept of job-crafting, a process designed to make jobs “more meaningful by empowering employees to brainstorm and implement subtle but significant workplace adjustments.” The article quotes Jane Dutton, a UM business professor who helped develop this process and who says that local autoworkers have benefitted from it: “They come in looking worn down, but after spending two hours on this exercise, they come away thinking about three or four things they can do differently. They start to recognize they have more control over their work than they realized.” [Source]

Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners (Dec. 2, 2009): During a meeting dominated by public commentary from residents protesting the county’s funding of Planned Parenthood, Washtenaw County commissioners passed the 2010-2011 balanced budget with little discussion, ending a year-long effort to wrestle with a previously projected $30 million deficit.

Washtenaw County commissioner Conan Smith, left, confers with county administrator Bob Guenzel before the Dec. 2 meeting of the board of commissioners. To the right is Rolland Sizemore Jr., the board's chair. Smith is chair of the Ways & Means Committee, on which the entire board serves. (Photo by the writer.)

The board also discussed a situation with Ypsilanti Township’s contract for sheriff deputies, which the township wants to amend as of Jan. 1. Commissioners voted to hold a special board meeting on the issue on Monday, Dec. 7, when they are expected to take action on the request to decrease the number of contracted deputies.

Another special meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon, prior to the evening board meeting. Attended by seven of the 11 commissioners, the group discussed the role of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, a Ferndale-based nonprofit led by county commissioner Conan Smith, in handling a federal grant to the county for energy efficiency programs. The issue was not discussed at the evening meeting of commissioners, where the board voted to amend a resolution that authorized the county to apply for the grant. The amendment took out a specific reference to the alliance.

Other items at Wednesday’s board meeting included approval of the placement of a display for the Vietnam-era ship USS Washtenaw, and some questions about the progress of a $4 million weatherization grant that hasn’t moved forward as quickly as some commissioners would like.

There was no mention at the meeting of major news that came out the next day – the retirement of county administrator Bob Guenzel, who will step down in May after 37 years with the county. [Full Story]

Ann Arbor city administrator Roger Fraser talks with city councilmembers about upcoming budget decisions. That possibility includes layoff notices to 14 firefighters to be sent as soon as the week of Dec. 7. Members of the International Association of Firefighters Local 693 stand in the background. (Photos by the writer.)

Unless he receives other direction from the Ann Arbor city council at its Dec. 7 meeting, city administrator Roger Fraser told councilmembers at their Saturday budget retreat that he’ll begin implementing a plan to trim around $3 million out of the current fiscal year budget.

The moves are necessary to balance the FY 2010 budget, which ends June 30, 2010.

Some of that trimming is a matter of accounting for one-time savings – $500,000 had been budgeted for the Pfizer tax refund, but was settled last year so won’t be on the books for FY 2010. Other trimming is a matter of accepting current situations and committing to them going forward, for recurring savings – for example, vacancies from excess reductions of police through the early-out retirement incentive would not be filled.

But some of the trimming would entail cutting positions currently filled – 14 firefighter positions, which account for around $400,000 of the $3 million to be saved in FY 2010. The move to eliminate firefighter jobs had been part of the FY 2011 plan, but would be implemented six months earlier – now.

For FY 2011, the picture gets even worse, with the city facing a $5.4 million shortfall. And looking ahead one year after that, city council will be faced with constructing a budget for FY 2012 that is 30% smaller than the one they approved for FY 2009. [Full Story]