Stories indexed with the term ‘debt’

University of Michigan board of regents meeting (Dec. 17, 2010): Only two regents were physically present at Friday’s board meeting, which had been rescheduled from Thursday so that university officials could attend the funeral of Mark Pescovitz. The husband of Ora Pescovitz, who leads the University of Michigan Health System, died earlier this month in a car accident.

Despite some logistical challenges presented by a conference call format – which allowed the other regents to participate remotely – the board dispatched with its last meeting of 2010 in 20 minutes. They approved the schematic designs for two major building projects: a renovation of the Alice Lloyd Hall student dorm, and an addition to the G.G. Brown mechanical engineering building. Regents also authorized the university to guarantee a portion of the debt to be incurred by Merit Network, a nonprofit that provides Internet services for research, government and educational entities. The debt is related to a $102.9 million federal stimulus grant awarded to Merit.

As an information item, the regents received an annual report on leases that the university holds for space over 50,000 square feet. Tim Slottow, UM’s chief financial officer, reported that leased space compared to a year ago is essentially flat. While some units have moved out of leased space and into the North Campus Research Complex – the former Pfizer site – other leases have expanded. [Full Story]

On a summer cycle of once-a-month meetings, the Washtenaw County board of commissioners were briefed last week about the agenda for their July 7 meeting. Much of the briefing was spent discussing an item that likely won’t be up for a vote – resurrecting the county’s land bank.

The board dissolved the land bank – a tool used to help the county deal with foreclosed and blighted properties – at their March 2010 meeting, but commissioner Ronnie Peterson has pushed to bring it back. He initially proposed putting a resolution on the June meeting agenda, but later agreed to a request by board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. to hold off until July. But at the June 29 briefing, Sizemore and Conan Smith, who chairs the board’s Ways & Means Committee, said they were not putting a resolution on the July 7 agenda either, though discussion on the topic is scheduled for the meeting. Peterson did not attend the briefing.

A range of other items are on the agenda, including a public hearing on possible expansion of the county road commission, and a resolution regarding a transparency initiative that’s been in the works for several months. Led by commissioner Kristin Judge, the effort aims to put more of the county’s public documents, especially financial information, online.

Commissioners expressed some concern over one agenda item: Restructuring the debt for a Dexter Township wastewater system, with the goal of lowering payments – payments the township might otherwise have trouble making. The item led some commissioners to ask for a report on debt held by local townships that’s backed by the county’s credit. [Full Story]

A little less than a week after hearing a presentation from city administrator Roger Fraser on his recommended budget for fiscal year 2010 and a plan for 2011, mayor pro tem Marcia Higgins canceled council’s regularly scheduled Sunday night caucus (April 19). No explanation was provided on the city’s website for the cancellation, which was posted on Friday. At least one citizen was alerted to the canceled meeting by reading a sign on city hall’s door at 7 p.m. Sunday evening.

Council must act to amend the recommended budget by its second meeting in May – or the administrator’s recommended budget is automatically adopted, a provision of Ann Arbor’s city charter. There are thus possibly two more caucus meetings before council makes its decision on the recommended budget, which contains a number of proposed cuts.

One of the possible functions of council’s caucus is to assemble “caucus questions” – questions from council to city staff about issues they are going to be considering. Some council members have contended that electronic mail is a far more efficient method of communication, and that caucus is not an efficient use of their time.

Recognizing  that the work that would otherwise be accomplished at caucus can achieved via electronic mail, The Chronicle asked all councilmembers and the mayor to forward their caucus questions to us, in an effort to move the more mundane and tedious work of council more squarely into public view. We report below the responses we received, plus the questions The Chronicle has identified in connection with the city’s budget – some of which have already been answered. [Full Story]