As of Aug. 15, 2013 the transportation authority will begin using the new name on all official communications and transactions. That’s the date when the filings with the state became official, as well as the date on which the board of the AAATA passed a resolution giving formal notification of the name change. The resolution was passed at the board’s regular monthly meeting.

The board’s Aug. 15 resolution indicates that the organization will continue to use “TheRide” in its marketing and branding. That’s partly a response to the increased challenge of pronouncing the acronym of the new organization letter-by-letter. Suggestions had been made to adopt a convention of calling the AAATA “A3TA” or “Triple-A-TA” – but the board’s resolution indicates only that “The Ride” will continue as the organization’s mark.

The name change reflects a more substantive revision to the articles of incorporation of the AATA, which added the city of Ypsilanti as a member to the authority. The AATA board gave final approval for that change at its June 20, 2013 meeting. The city councils of the two cities had already approved the change. The Ann Arbor city council voted on June 3, 2013 to approve the change in governance, while the Ypsilanti city council took its vote on June 18. Both councils voted unanimously to support the move. [.pdf of new AAATA articles of incorporation] [.pdf of old AATA articles of incorporation]

The change to the articles to include Ypsilanti as a member is  intended to provide a way to generate additional funding for transportation. The AAATA could, with voter approval, levy a uniform property tax on the entire geographic area of its membership – something the AAATA does not currently do. The cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti now levy their own millages, which are transmitted to the AAATA. However, Ypsilanti is currently at its 20-mill state constitutional limit. A millage levied by the AAATA would not count against that 20-mill cap.

While there had been an outside chance that a millage request could be placed on the ballot as soon as November 2013, it now appears likely for May 2014.

The change to the articles of incorporation also gave Ypsilanti the right to appoint a member of the board – which expanded from seven to nine members. Gillian Ream was appointed to the board by the city of Ypsilanti, and cast her first votes as a board member on Aug. 15.

The other additional board seat is to be appointed by the city of Ann Arbor. At the Ann Arbor city council’s Aug. 8, 2013 meeting, Jack Bernard was nominated to fill that spot. The council will vote on that appointment at its Aug. 19 meeting.

Bernard is a lecturer in the University of Michigan law school and an attorney with UM’s office of the vice president and general counsel. He is also currently chair of the university’s council for disability concerns. Given the nature of wrangling over Eric Mahler’s recent appointment to the AAATA board, Bernard’s chairship of that group could be a key qualification. Some councilmembers objected to Mahler’s appointment, arguing that someone who could represent the disability community should be appointed instead.

The articles of incorporation might need to be revised again soon, to accommodate the possible addition of Ypsilanti Township as a member of the AAATA. At the Aug. 14, 2013 meeting of AAATA’s planning & development committee, it was discussed that the township had indicated some preliminary interest in joining the authority.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, where the AAATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

AATA Bus. Advertisements appear on the sides of buses. (Photo illustration by The Chronicle – which consists of applying a graphics filter and digitally adding the word “settlement” to an image that included the original text “out of service.”)

In an email responding to an inquiry from The Chronicle, American Civil Liberties Union attorney Dan Korobkin, who represented plaintiff Blaine Coleman in the case against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, stated: “After the court ruled that AATA’s advertising policy was unconstitutional, AATA made significant changes to its policy based on the ruling and current case law. Both sides decided that a settlement was appropriate, and we ultimately reached an agreement that worked for everyone.”

Korobkin added: “I am able to say that Mr. Coleman did not ask for any payment as part of the settlement, and that the ACLU accepted payment for some of its expenses and attorneys’ fees.”

In 2011, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority had refused to place the ad on its buses as a part of its advertising program. The proposed ad reads “Boycott ‘Israel’” and “Boycott Apartheid” and features an image of a spider-like creature with a skull for a head. [.pdf of image and text of proposed ad]

According to AATA controller Phil Webb, the AATA is currently projecting that its net revenue from the advertising program – which is managed under a contract with CBS Outdoor Advertising – will come to about $276,000 for the fiscal year. This is the first year of the contract with CBS Outdoor. Compared with the previous contractor, CBS is generating about 2.5 times as much revenue to the AATA. [.pdf of billings through May 2013]

The lawsuit was filed by Coleman – an Ann Arbor resident who was represented by the ACLU – over a year and a half ago, on Nov. 28, 2011.

The case had remained in the preliminary injunction phase and had not yet proceeded to trial. Before the settlement, the most recent court action had come in early June, after a four-month pause in activity. In his June 4, 2013 ruling, federal judge Mark Goldsmith did not agree with the ACLU’s argument that the preliminary injunctive relief to which Coleman was entitled should take the form of placing the ad on AATA buses.

On the general motion for a preliminary injunction made by the ACLU, Goldsmith had earlier ruled in the case that the AATA’s policy – under which the advertisement had originally been rejected – was in fact unconstitutional. In light of that ruling, the AATA then changed its advertising policy to remove a “good taste” requirement and to add a clear prohibition against political ads in general, not just those for political candidates.

The AATA then reconsidered the original ad under its revised policy. Under this new policy, which the court has found to be constitutional, the AATA rejected the ad again.

Goldsmith then entertained arguments from both sides on the question: Should further preliminary injunctive relief be granted, beyond AATA’s revision of its advertising policy and the ad’s reconsideration and rejection? The ACLU argued that it would be appropriate to grant injunctive relief by forcing the AATA to place the ad on its buses. The AATA argued that this kind of relief was not justified. And four months after the last briefs were submitted on that question, Goldsmith ruled that the ACLU had not met the criteria for injunctive relief in that form.

But in Goldsmith’s June 4 ruling, he laid out the importance of establishing a clear argument on “viewpoint discrimination” – which he felt that the ACLU had not adequately developed within the frame of its request for preliminary injunctive relief. The ruling seemed to indicate a willingness on Goldsmith’s part to entertain further arguments along the specific lines of “viewpoint discrimination” – if the case had gone to trial.

The ACLU could have proceeded to trial, where one result could have been that the AATA was forced to place the ad or that the case was adjudicated in favor of the AATA. Or the ACLU could have immediately appealed the June ruling on the injunctive relief. After a June 17 status conference between the parties, another status conference was scheduled for June 27. In the interim, however, the AATA board met on June 20 in closed session about the case. And on June 21, at the request of the parties, the case was referred to magistrate judge Mark A. Randon for settlement. A settlement conference took place on June 26.

But the parties did not reach an immediate settlement and the court forged ahead by setting a schedule for a trial. [.pdf of June 28, 2013 scheduling order] The settlement on July 17 came nine days before disclosures were scheduled to be served on opposing counsel as a part of the trial schedule.

In the key earlier ruling in the case, on Sept. 28, 2012, Goldsmith had found the AATA’s advertising policy – in effect at the time when Coleman’s proposed ad had originally been denied – to be unconstitutional. Goldsmith had determined that the ad had been denied on both the “good taste” provision and the “scorn and ridicule” provision of the AATA’s advertising policy. The “good taste” provision itself was ruled unconstitutional. That provision was eliminated from the AATA’s revised advertising policy.

Based on Goldsmith’s June 4 ruling, a main issue at trial – if it had proceeded– would have been whether the AATA applied the “scorn and ridicule” provision in a way that was constitutional.

The AATA would have likely contended that its application of that “scorn and ridicule” provision was constitutional, setting up the argument: Coleman was not damaged by having his ad denied for an unconstitutional reason (“good taste”) – because there was some other, constitutional reason for denying the ad. So the ACLU would have likely made an effort to establish that the denial of the ad was based on an application of the AATA’s “scorn and ridicule” provision that included viewpoint discrimination, and was thus also not constitutional.

However, the settlement reached on July 17, 2013 means none of those arguments will be necessary.

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The specific action taken by the council was to approve changes to AATA’s articles of incorporation. The AATA itself and the Ypsilanti city council will also need to approve the document. Given the unanimous vote of the Ypsilanti city council requesting membership – and the AATA board’s generally positive response to the request – it’s expected those two bodies will also vote to approve the revised articles of incorporation. [.pdf of proposed AAATA articles of incorporation][.pdf of existing AATA articles of incorporation]

Ypsilanti’s request for membership came in the context of a demised attempt in 2012 to expand the AATA to all of Washtenaw County. Since then, conversations have continued among a smaller cluster of communities geographically closer to Ann Arbor.

In addition to admitting the city of Ypsilanti as a member, the revised articles expand the size of the board from seven to nine members. One of the new seats will be appointed by the city of Ypsilanti. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Ypsi Waits at Bus Stop, Other Riders Unclear."]

While the change to the articles will affect the governance of the AATA, the goal of the governance change is to provide a way to generate additional funding for transportation. The AATA could, with voter approval, levy a uniform property tax on the entire geographic area of its membership – but the AATA does not currently do that. The cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti currently levy their own millages, which are transmitted to the AATA. However, Ypsilanti is currently at its 20-mill state constitutional limit. A millage levied by the AATA would not count against that 20-mill cap.

A millage proposal would require voter approval. There’s an outside chance for the AATA to place a millage on the November ballot – if the change to the articles of incorporation are also approved in straightforward fashion by the AATA board and the Ypsilanti city council. Any decision to place a millage request on the November 2013 ballot would need to be made by late August. [Ballot language needs to be certified to the county clerk by Aug. 27, 2013]. But the practicalities of mounting a successful millage campaign mean that a decision to make a millage request would likely need to come sooner than that.

The change in the articles of incorporation also calls for a name change – to the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA). Customary pronunciation of the current name is to sound out each letter: A-A-T-A. One possibility that’s been suggested is to pronounce the new letter sequence Triple-A-T-A.

The Ann Arbor city council’s June 3 resolution on the AATA articles of incorporation was co-sponsored on the agenda by mayor John Hieftje, Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3). Along with Sally Petersen (Ward 2) and Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5), the three have participated in ongoing meetings among the “urban core” communities. The next such meeting is scheduled for June 27 at Pittsfield Township hall, starting at 4 p.m.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Map showing possible expanded transit to Pittsfield Township and Saline. (Graphic provided in March 28 meeting packet for “urban core” communities.)

Hosted by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, the meeting will bring together representatives of Washtenaw County’s “urban core” communities. It’s the next step in a process that began in the fall of 2012, when AATA’s effort to move toward a countywide transit authority was halted.

Since mid-November 2012, the AATA has been working under the direction of an Ann Arbor city council resolution – passed on Nov. 8, 2012 – and has focused on planning improved or expanded services in the “urban core communities.” Those communities include the cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Saline, as well as the townships of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti. Superior Township and Ann Arbor Township might also become involved.

The March 28 meeting packet includes a description of core transit options or “themes,” with estimated annual new costs for each option starting in the year 2019: (1) sustaining current efforts – $180,000; (2) improving efforts within the existing AATA service area – $2.8 million; (3) expanding services to new areas – $3.6 million; and (4) enhancing current services while also expanding geographically – $5.4 million.

Possible expansion into Ypsilanti Township, for example, might include: (1) new and extended routes serving residential and commercial areas, the Ypsilanti District Library and Ypsilanti Civic Center; (2) new ExpressRide service from the township to downtown Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan; (3) a new park-and-ride lot near Huron Street and I-94; and (4) township-wide dial-a-ride services for seniors, people with disabilities, and the general public, including connections to neighboring communities.

Improvements in the city of Ann Arbor include several possible route revisions/additions to the west side of the city, as well as additional improvements to the connections between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

The packet provides an estimated distribution of funding that could be needed from each community that’s involved, depending on whether that funding is based on the number of service hours or the population. The additional cost to Ann Arbor, for example, for just the improvements that are being contemplated within Ann Arbor would be about $2.4 million – if allocated based on service hours. In ballpark figures, Ann Arbor’s current transit millage is levied at a rate of just over 2 mills, which currently generates about $9 million.

The $2.4 million for the set of possible Ann Arbor improvements could be nearly covered by an additional levy of 0.5 mills on Ann Arbor property owners. That rate is in the neighborhood of what a financial advisory group had previously calculated would be required to be levied countywide to pay for transit improvements throughout Washtenaw County. The 0.5 mills could be generated by asking voters to approve a new levy, or by asking them to override the Headlee Amendment, which has over the years reduced the transit millage from its originally authorized 2.5 mills to just over 2 mills.

The goals of the March 28 meeting, according to the agenda, are to reach consensus on a service plan “theme” and to establish two working sub-groups, for finance and governance. The meeting will also address a financial analysis, a benefit analysis, and responses to sidebar issues raised by elected officials over the past few months.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will start at 5 p.m. at the Pittsfield Township Hall, 6201 W. Michigan Ave. At the AATA board’s March 21 meeting, CEO Michael Ford reported that Daniel Cherrin from North Coast Strategies will provide pro bono facilitation on March 28.

The AATA updates its schedule and prints new RideGuides three times a year – in January, April, and August. The cost charged by Grand River works out to about $27,600 per printing. And the staff memo accompanying the resolution indicates that the price bid by Grand River is about $0.36 per booklet. That works out to about 76,600 RideGuides per printing.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The remediation activity dates back to 2010, and will address an in-ground gas leak that was discovered when the AATA upgraded a fuel tank monitoring system. A final assessment report (FAR), based on monitoring wells and ground water sampling, was filed with the Michigan Dept of Environmental Quality on Dec. 15, 2011.

The amount will be reimbursed by the AATA’s insurance carrier, Chartis, which is a subsidiary of American International Group Inc. (AIG). The AATA’s deductible for its policy was $25,000, which the AATA has already expended.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The AATA had originally awarded a $139,451 contract to ThyssenKrupp for the elevator. But when ThyssenKrupp made changes to the scope of the project that had an impact on the price, the AATA decided to rebid the project. The winner of the rebid work was Otis Elevator, which will install an elevator for $108,100.

The board also approved an $80,255 contract with SBD Commercial Interiors for manufacture and installation of custom millwork in the new transit center. The budget had allowed for as much as $120,000 for the work.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Those total expenses would be covered by the following breakdown of revenue estimates: federal funds ($4,276,104); state funds ($9,939,035); local funds ($12,088,861); fare revenue ($7,258,000); and other funds ($91,000).

The AATA’s current year’s budget – for FY 2013, which ends on Sept. 30 – calls for $32,700,181 in expenditures. So the currently estimated expenses for FY 2014 reflect an increase of about $950,000, or about 3%.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

The amount of the transfer was keyed to the cost of a piece of city-owned property that the city sold recently to the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. And the justification for the transfer was based on the council’s recent enactment of a formal policy on the use of the proceeds of city-owned land sales.

The $90,000 piece of land is a six-foot-wide strip on the former Y lot at Fifth and William, immediately to the south of the location for the AATA’s planned new Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor. The $90,000 price was based on an independent appraisal. The AATA board approved its side of that deal this spring at its April 26, 2012 meeting. The city council approved the land sale over a year ago, at its Sept. 19, 2011 meeting. The total parcel area was 792 square feet.

The land sale policy approved by the council on Oct. 15, 2012 had begun as a proposal from Sandi Smith (Ward 1) to allocate 85% of the net proceeds of city-owned land to the city’s affordable housing trust fund. The council originally considered the item at its Sept. 17, 2012 meeting but delayed action. The council eventually opted to adopt a policy that treated land sales on a case-by-case basis – except for the former Y lot at Fifth and William streets, of which the six-foot-wide strip was a part. The enacted policy called for net proceeds from that parcel to be placed in the affordable housing trust fund.

For additional background, see: “City Council to Focus on Land Sale Policy.”

Because the $90,000 piece of property had been a portion of the former Y lot, it was considered by the council in its Nov. 8 action as appropriate in effect to retroactively apply the policy on use of land sale proceeds – by transferring $90,000 to the affordable housing trust fund. The portion of the policy that requires the city to recover its costs associated with the property was not applied – as the city purchased the land for $3.5 million.

The resolution was sponsored by Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), and mayor John Hieftje – although Smith was not able to attend the Nov. 8 meeting.

The six-foot-wide strip of land, and its $90,000 price, has been highlighted in recent council deliberations for a different reason – as a funding source for a transportation connector study. The city of Ann Arbor had been asked to contribute $60,000 to an alternatives analysis study of the Plymouth/State corridor, from US-23 and Plymouth southward along Plymouth to State Street, extending south to I-94. The local match was needed for a $1.2 million federal grant that had been awarded to the AATA for the study.

During deliberations on the $60,000 connector study allocation at the Sept. 4, 2012 meeting, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) had objected to one of the “whereas” clauses in the resolution. The clause mentioned the availability of $90,000 in the general fund from the land sale, which was more than enough to cover the requested $60,000 local match. So the allocation was essentially pitched as a “return” to the AATA of a portion of the land sale price. Kunselman objected that once the $90,000 was in the general fund reserve, it was no longer earmarked as funds to be used for any particular purpose.

When the council eventually reconsidered the decision on Oct. 15, 2012 and wound up approving $30,000 for the study – because the Ann Arbor DDA had in the meantime agreed to contribute $30,000 – it was Higgins who raised the objection about the “whereas” clause. And the clause was amended out before the council’s approval.

The groundbreaking for the AATA’s new Blake Transit Center – which had occasioned the sale of the six-foot strip of land on the southwestern edge of the AATA’s property – is scheduled for Nov. 19. The AATA board gave final approval of a roughly $8 million budget for the transit center at its Oct. 18, 2012 meeting.

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Also added to the meeting’s agenda were two of the seven needed nominations to the new Act 196 transit board: Susan Baskett, who currently serves as a trustee on the Ann Arbor Public Schools board; and Tony Derezinski, who currently serves on the city council. Derezinski will be leaving the council in mid-November, because he did not prevail in his August Democratic primary race. His last city council meeting will be Nov. 8.

While it had been previously assumed that the seven Ann Arbor appointments to the new authority’s 15-member board would serve simultaneously on Ann Arbor Transportation Authority’s board, legal questions about simultaneous service on the two boards led to the Hieftje’s announcement.

An application for all city boards and commissions is available on the city clerk’s website.

Ann Arbor’s seven representatives to the new authority’s board first need to be nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the city council – under terms of a four-party agreement ratified between the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA. Under the terms of that agreement, the AATA’s assets would not be transferred to the new authority, to be called The Washtenaw Ride, until voters approve a funding source for the expanded service to be offered.

The composition of the Ann Arbor contingent on the new authority’s board, as well as Ann Arbor’s eventual participation in the new Act 196 authority, could potentially be impacted by the delay in decision-making past the November election. Three new members will be joining the Ann Arbor city council. For more details and analysis, see previous Chronicle reporting: “Positions Open: New Transit Authority Board.”

This brief was filed from the city council’s chambers on the second floor of city hall, located at 301 E. Huron. A more detailed report will follow: [link]