Bob Guenzel chaired his first meeting of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board on Wednesday. (Photos by the writer.)

Those included the monthly parking report, which showed use of the city’s public parking trending upward compared to last year, as well as an annual report on the structure-by-structure breakdown of the parking system.

The reports presented to the DDA board at their meeting – together with a recent report delivered to the city’s environmental commission about parking trends dating back to the mid-2000s – provide reason for some cautious optimism. The number of people getting access to downtown Ann Arbor by driving there and parking suggests an overall slight upward trend, despite a reduced number of number of hourly patrons earlier this year.

Also related to parking, the board received a presentation on a communications plan that the DDA is developing, targeted at downtown evening employees. That communications plan is meant to make sure those employees are aware of low cost alternatives to using on-street parking spaces. The communications strategy would be part of a possible plan to extend enforcement hours for on-street parking meetings past 6 p.m. The DDA will present its tentative proposal for revisions to parking policies to the city council at a joint working session of the board and the council to be held on Nov. 14.

In response to some of the individual success stories that were presented in connection with parking alternatives, DDA board member Russ Collins said, “I wonder how this positive message will play in the media.”

Collins’ remark could have applied to much of the rest of the meeting as well. The board took the report on the basic current financial health of the parking system as an occasion to talk about the overall economic strength of the downtown. Despite the recent closing of some smaller stores, board members gave reports of strong performances by other businesses.

That positive report contrasted with public commentary about ongoing problems with aggressive panhandling and drug dealing and other fringe behavior exhibited downtown. Mayor John Hieftje, who sits on the DDA board, described how some response is being developed by the Ann Arbor police department.

The construction updates on the Fifth and Division streetscape improvement project and the underground parking garage on Fifth Avenue converged on the Ann Arbor District Library. The projects will result in modifying the downtown library building’s front porch, to facilitate access from the new east-west mid-block street – Library Lane – into the library.

As the underground parking garage nears expected completion in the spring of 2012, brief discussion unfolded among DDA board members on the near-term use of the top of that garage. Also related to potential development in the “midtown area” was a report from the partnerships committee. A steering committee comprising DDA board members and community members will be leading the effort to explore alternative uses of specific city-owned parcels downtown, including the top of the underground parking structure (aka the Library Lot).

It was the first board meeting chaired by Bob Guenzel, who was elected to that position at the DDA’s last meeting, which he was unable to attend.

Parking

Roger Hewitt gave the regular report on the parking system. [.pdf of monthly parking report and annual structure-by-structure analysis] He highlighted the annual profit-and-loss statements for each structure for the past year.

Hewitt noted that those parking structures that have paid off their debt service are profitable, and those that still have outstanding debt are less profitable. For example, he said, Liberty Square has no debt service as well as less labor expense, because it’s unattended. Liberty Square has an annual net income of $1,852/space.

From the report, the structures with bond payments still associated with them have the lowest net annual income: Fourth & Washington (-$610/space), Fourth & William ($53/space) and Maynard ($517/space). Last year, the public parking system as a whole showed a net annual income of $3,452,389, which worked out to $508/per space.

Hewitt note that the new underground parking structure is planned to be unattended – but that doesn’t mean there will be no staff on site. There’ll be maintenance people on site, for example, he said. For a parking structure to be “unattended” means that there won’t be cashiers, he explained.

Hewitt said the DDA is also looking at converting other specific parking structures to operation without cashiers. The DDA is looking at various ways to decrease operating expenses. Hewitt noted that on-street meters are profitable because there is no labor attached to them. Overall, Hewitt said, the revenue is quite good.

Although revenues in the public parking system have continued to show increases since the national economic downturn in 2008, Hewitt has often noted on the occasion of his regular updates to the board over the last couple of years, and in a presentation to the city council, that the increase in revenue is either steady or only sightly more than what would be expected, given the rate increases that have been implemented with city council approval over the last three years.

In August 2011, revenues were up by 11.93% and the number of hourly patrons (as contrasted with those who have monthly permits) were up 4.86% as compared to August 2010. That was a bright point for board members at the Oct. 5 meeting.

In August 2010, the basic rates for structures, surface lots and meters were: $0.90, $1.10 and $1.20 respectively. In August 2011, the rates were $1.00, $1.20, and $1.20, respectively. So the August increase of nearly 12% in revenues outpaced the rate increase.

By way of background on the rate increases, the DDA sent the proposed rate increase to the city council in February 2009, which the city council did not choose to veto. That schedule has been implemented starting in September of each year, after the start of the fiscal year, which begins in July.

             STRUC                  LOT
YEAR          HRLY    PERMIT       HRLY      METER
FY 2009      $0.80      $125      $1.00      $1.00
FY 2010      $0.90      $130      $1.10      $1.20
FY 2011      $1.00      $135      $1.20      $1.20
FY 2012      $1.10      $140      $1.30      $1.40

-

To provide additional perspective on demand for access to downtown Ann Arbor, as measured by use of the parking system, a compilation of monthly year-over-year comparisons from last year’s DDA board meeting information packets yields the following charts:

DDA parking revenue. The red revenue line for the most recent year shows an overall pattern of slight increases compared to the blue bars of the previous year. (Image links to higher resolution file. Any errors are the responsibility of The Chronicle.)

DDA hourly parking patrons. The red parking patrons line for the most recent year shows an early pattern of slight decreases with slight increases more recently, compared to the blue bars of the previous year. (Image links to higher resolution file. Any errors are the responsibility of The Chronicle.)

In addition to the last two years’ worth of DDA revenue and hourly patron data, it’s useful to look at a report that city environmental coordinator Matt Naud recently completed and presented to the city’s environmental commission. The report was conducted as a condition of the settlement of an environmental lawsuit filed against the city in connection with the underground parking garage on Fifth Avenue, which is currently under construction. ["City Settles Lawsuit, Must Conduct Study"]

It’s important to note that the report compiled by Naud focuses on “garage parking events,” which are not the same as the statistic the DDA tracks called “hourly patrons.” Naud’s study was confined to parking structures, and counted the entry into a garage by a permit holder as a “parking event.” Use of a surface lot was not counted in Naud’s study as a “parking event.” The focus of that study was on the question of how the construction of additional parking structures impact the number of parking events.

The result of the study on its central question could fairly be described as indeterminate. However, the report shows a steady increase from 2005 to 2009 of parking events in downtown Ann Arbor, despite any number of mitigating factors, such as increased bus ridership:

Parking events in downtown Ann Arbor. (Image links to higher resolution .pdf file)

The demand for access to downtown Ann Arbor as measured by the use of the public parking system is likely to be a point of discussion in connection with two current development projects in and near downtown: The Varsity Ann Arbor and Heritage Row.

Heritage Row is a planned unit development (PUD) located one block south of the underground parking garage on Fifth Avenue and outside the DDA district. In connection with Heritage Row, one possibility the city council may be asked to contemplate – at its Oct. 17 meeting – is approval of that project without any on-site parking requirement.

At the Oct. 5 meeting of the DDA board, Roger Hewitt noted that bond costs for the new underground garage will change the revenue and expenditure picture. The underground parking garage on Fifth Avenue between Liberty and William is one of two major construction projects currently managed by the DDA.

Construction Convergence: Library Lane

John Splitt reported on the two major construction projects currently being managed by the DDA: Fifth and Division streetscape improvements; and the underground parking garage. Light poles have been installed on the 200 block of South Fifth, Splitt said. That finishes everything connected to the streetscape improvements except for the block of Fifth Avenue between William and Liberty. That will need to wait until the underground parking garage is complete, he said.

For the parking garage, the east leg is now waterproofed and back-filled with pea gravel. For that east leg section, form work is starting for the surface concrete pouring. [The deck is being constructed from east to west.] For the middle of the garage, more concrete will be poured next week. Splitt said that for the phase under Fifth Avenue, it was hoped to be done as soon as possible. The DDA is pushing Christman Company, the construction manager for the parking garage, to complete that phase by Dec. 31 to get the street opened back up, but Splitt said it could be into January.

John Mouat said he felt that the new Library Lane (a newly constructed east-west mid-block connector between Division Street and Fifth Avenue) always gets forgotten in all of the discussion about the parking garage. He noted that the DDA is now involved in a discussion with the Ann Arbor District Library about the connection from the library to Library Lane. Russ Collins quipped that it should be called “Parker Place,” alluding to AADL director Josie Parker, who was in the audience.

Josie Parker, director of the Ann Arbor District Library, and DDA board chair Bob Guenzel before the Oct. 5 meeting of the Downtown Development Authority.

Parker was asked to come to the podium to update the board on the Library Lane and library building connection. For the moment, she said, because there’s not a new library being built, they’re simply working on redesigning the existing front of the building – which has its public entrance on Fifth Avenue – to get patrons easily from Library Lane to the existing entrance of the building as it is currently located. Part of the plan includes tearing off some elements at the front of the building and redoing them, Parker said. The idea is to reconfigure some of the existing porch area, she said.

When people talk about the Fifth and Division streetscape improvements and finishing up the 300 block of South Fifth Avenue, the library frontage is included in that, Parker said. [The DDA's streetscape project will be paying for this work.] She expressed that the library appreciated very much the library’s inclusion in the planning. The library was grateful for the attention that’s been given, and the effort to accomodate the libary has been tremendous, she said.

The construction work has had a great impact on library workers and patrons, Parker said, but she added that use of the library has not declined during construction on the underground parking garage. Alluding to the downturn in business suffered by nearby businesses like Earthen Jar and Jerusalem Garden – about which their owners have been vocal – Parker allowed that other neighbors have had a different impact.

John Splitt noted that it might not be possible to finish the sidewalk on both sides of Fifth Avenue before spring, but completion of the east side first – the library side – is the goal.

During the discussion of the underground parking structure, Sandi Smith asked what the plan was currently for the surface of the deck. Would it be surface parking? Splitt clarified that surface parking on top of the underground garage would be located primarily in the center section of the deck [viewed from east to west, not top to bottom] and that section would not be finished until the spring.

The top of the underground parking garage is one of five city-owned parcels that the DDA is currently considering for alternative uses – under the direction of the city council given in April 2011. The others are the former YMCA lot, the Palio lot, the Kline lot, and the bottom floor of the parking structure at Fourth and William.

Future Use of Midtown City-Owned Parcels

Joan Lowenstein reported on the the planning process to frame the redevelopment of five city-owned parcels in the downtown that the DDA will be considering.

The partnerships committee had worked on a goals statement for the midtown planning project, she said. [Midtown is the name of one of downtown's zoning overlay character districts, which includes Fifth Avenue as a civic corridor.] Committee members had discussed the idea of forming a leadership steering committee to shepherd the project. That committee would work directly with DDA staff.

Members of the committee who’d agreed to serve in that capacity include: Brittany Affolter-Caine (Ann Arbor SPARK director of talent enhancement); Ron Dankert (former DDA board member and broker with Swisher Commercial); Bob Galardi (retired Ann Arbor Public Schools administrator); Stas’ Kazmierski (managing parter at ZingTrain); Kirk Westphal (film producer, founder of Westphal Associates and member of the Ann Arbor planning commission); Tony Lupo (formerly director of sales and marketing at Salon Vox, now brand manager at New York-based Oribe Hair Care); Nancy Shore (director of Ann Arbor’s getDowntown program); Hillary Murt (member of Michigan Theater board, and former owner of Pen in Hand); and Bonnie Valentine (director of sales and marketing with the Whole Brain Group).

The first meeting of the steering committee will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 3 p.m. at the DDA’s offices, 150 S. Fifth Ave. Lowenstein said the meeting will be open to the public. Serving on the committee for the DDA will be Lowenstein, Sandi Smith and John Mouat.

Lowenstein described how the partnerships committee had discussed what the deliverables will be for the planning project, which included a defined role for the area, a framework plan and a set of future goals, and a decision-making matrix, all in one document. The idea is also to look at alternative scenarios for achieving development, Lowenstein said – RFPs (requests for proposals) in addition to other options.

Lowenstein also reported that a communications subcommittee of the partnerships committee had been created, consisting of Russ Collins and Newcombe Clark. The goal of the communications subcommittee is to develop a toolbox of resources to communicate with the public and with each other.

Clark reported out that the communications subcommittee will aim to increase DDA visibility and public awareness of what the DDA does and how it adds value. The approach will be both reactive and proactive, he said. The plan is to involve professionals who know how to do public relations and communications. The initial work plan will be to bring in professionals and see what they think the DDA should do. The subcommittee will report out every month. Once the subcommittee has created a toolbox, staff will use it, he said. Collins said he felt that the subcommittee could make good progress for the benefit of the board and the downtown.

Commenting on the midtown development plan, Sandi Smith allowed that it seemed like it was taking a long time, but she saw no reason to rush. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Downtown Planning Poised to Pause"]

Downtown Behavioral Issues

During public commentary John Teeter, manager at First Martin Corp., introduced himself by saying that First Martin managed 10 different properties in the DDA district. He wanted to share with the board some of issues the real estate company has been suffering thorough with respect to crime and panhandling. He stressed the importance of separating perceptions from the reality – perception is actually a separate issue from the actual problem, he said. The problem, he said, is not homelessness. It’s things like urinating and defecating in elevators. He said that compared to the past 13 years, the problem is worse now than it’s ever been.

The problem is not the local homeless population, Teeter said. Rather, the problem is aggressive panhandling and drug dealing. He described the Ann Arbor community as having been generous with its resources for this part of the population. But just because the community offers more robust support services, he cautioned, doesn’t mean this behavior should be tolerated downtown. He said that one solution would be to apply pressure with police, but he recognized the challenge of doing that in the current fiscal climate. The police force needed to be given sufficient tools and manpower. He ventured that maybe some stronger ordinance language would help.

Teeter told the board that he was not there just to complain. First Martin is trying to help things, he said. First Martin takes care of picking up trash at Liberty Plaza six days a week. [The park is immediately adjacent to a First Martin property]. He said that First Martin also takes care of some upkeep at Wheeler Park and the corner at Depot and Main. Because much of the problem is drug- and alcohol-related, Teeter said, First Martin will be donating $1,000 to the Dawn Farm outreach program.

Diana Neering, chief development officer at the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, addressed the board to present the DDA with the annual Robert J. Delonis Community Service award. Neering thanked the DDA for its recent support in the form of a grant. [At the DDA board's Oct. 6, 2010 meeting, a year earlier, a $218,050 grant from the DDA's housing fund was awarded for improvements at the association's Delonis Center on Huron Street. The money was to pay for new washers and dryers, lockers and chairs, an emergency generator, energy conservation measures, medical equipment and software.]

Neering then shared a shelter success story about a man who had come to the Delonis Center shelter and how the shelter staff had helped him.

Also realated to the shelter, in his report out from the Downtown Citizens Advisory Council, Ray Detter began by saying that the construction of the Delonis Center would not have happened without Bob Guenzel (then Washtenaw County administrator and now chair of the DDA board) and the strong support of Leah Gunn (currently a Washtenaw County commissioner and DDA board member).

As newly elected chair, Guenzel was prepared to proceed with the agenda after public commentary. But mayor John Hieftje interjected that he’d previously suggested adding an agenda item to allow board members to respond to public commentary, and he felt that this was very good time to do that. With Guenzel’s indulgence, Hieftje then reviewed a meeting the day before held by the downtown marketing task force, when Teeter had expressed many of the same sentiments he’d expressed during public commentary.

Chief of police Barnett Jones had been there, Hieftje said, as well as representatives of the downtown merchant associations. He had then met later with the chief and deputy chief of police, and he felt that they’d come up with some good ideas. He indicated that some new things will be announced in the next few weeks.

One strategy will be that community standards officers will be issuing tickets in alleys for dumpster violations. They’ve sent out notice to merchants saying that they’ll be looking for violations starting in November. Also being considered is stepped up enforcement of the city’s graffiti ordinance. Hieftje said he figured that businesses will push back, but that the merchant associations have said they’ll support the city’s efforts at enforcement. Hieftje said he wanted to make sure everybody gets adequate warning of the stepped up enforcement.

Hieftje said the perception is worse than the problem itself, but is equally meaningful. He went on to describe Ann Arbor’s issues as relatively minor compared with other cities. Other than the unsolved sexual assaults, it’s been a good year with respect to crime stats, Hieftje contended.

Guenzel asked Hieftje if the downtown marketing task force was again meeting monthly. Hieftje indicated it was and that they had a schedule of nine times a year with no meetings in the months of July, August, and December. He said it was nice to have city council members (Sandi Smith and Sabra Briere) and DDA members present for the most recent meeting.

Business Climate Downtown

Russ Collins offered a comment on the relative downtown vitality in Liberty-State area. [Collins is executive director of the Michigan Theater, located near the intersection of Liberty and State.] In August, Collins noted, systemwide parking use was up significantly over a year ago – revenue was up 12% and the number of hourly patrons was up 5%. Collins added that the Michigan Theater had had an unusually strong August. Roger Hewitt, who owns the Red Hawk Bar & Grill and Revive + Replenish downtown, said his two businesses had also had a strong September. He allowed that five University of Michigan home football games can affect things – positively.

Adding to the positive message, Hieftje reported that during the downtown marketing task force meeting the previous day, South State Area Association president Tom Heywood had said that despite the challenges faced by some smaller establishments, business is booming. Hieftje said Heywood had contended at the meeting that the new CVS pharmacy on South State had generated the highest amount of sales per square foot in that chain.

Collins continued with the theme that the right business can succeed in downtown Ann Arbor, by noting that when the John Leidy Shop closed, the Michigan Theater had looked to put a penny candy store in the space – as an extension of something the theater already did, which is to sell concessions. But his organization’s business and market analysis found that such an enterprise was not supportable. He was therefore not surprised when the candy store that set up shop there found it difficult – the Michigan Theater’s business planning would have forecast that outcome, concluded Collins.

Sidewalk, Street Repair Millage

Guenzel asked DDA executive director Susan Pollay if there was an update on the situation with the sidewalk millage. Pollay reviewed how there’d been a general discussion at the operations committee meeting about the two millages on the November ballot: 2 mills for street, and 0.125 mills for sidewalk repair. The DDA’s understanding is that the city will take over repairs previously assigned to property owners, except inside the DDA district, where there will be restrictions. Millage money would be spent on sidewalks inside the DDA district, only if they are adjacent to single-family houses or duplexes. Guenzel confirmed with Pollay that the city’s expectations of the DDA are still being checked out.

Hieftje then commented that he did not feel city councilmembers are out in the community saying that the city absolutely needs the millage or that it’s essential. The sidewalk millage merely offers residents a choice, he contended, of having the city take over the responsibility for sidewalk repair. Everybody who was given notice under the last five-year cycle of the sidewalk repair program will have to pay, Hieftje contended – no one gets a free ride. He reported that the city council’s resolution of intent on the use of the sidewalk and street repair millage funds was still pending before the council.

Public Art, Design

The previous night’s meeting of the Downtown Citizens Advisory Council, said Detter, had begun with the group’s attendance at the dedication of the new fountain designed by German artist Herbert Dreiseitl. Detter described how more than 200 people attended to celebrate the water sculpture, where mayor John Hieftje gave a speech. Former chair of the city’s public art commission, Margaret Parker, as well as the current chair, Marsha Chamberlin, had also made remarks, he said. He said the CAC had for years supported the city’s Percent for Art program.

Detter recounted how in the 1990s, three CAC members had worked with Jan Onder and Parker on the downtown public art committee. With guidance from local architect Dick Mitchell, they had injected art into the Fourth and Washington parking structure, he said. Detter described how one of the meetings took place in Espresso Royale, and how a man who’d overheard their conversation about what they wanted to do had come over to say he wanted to give the group $25,000. Detter identified the man as the owner of the Amadeus building. When former DDA chair Reuben Bergman had passed away, Detter said, another $13,000 had been donated. Within a matter of a few month, Detter said, Onder had raised another $85,000.

After the dedication ceremony for the fountain on the municipal center plaza, Detter said, the CAC discussed The Varsity at Ann Arbor project. [The same evening as the dedication, the city planning commission voted to recommend approval of The Varsity; it will now be forwarded to the city council. Detter spoke during public commentary at that meeting.] Detter noted that it was the first project to be reviewed by the newly-established design guidelines board. The board had identified design elements that were present and lacking in the project. The board did a good job, he said. He noted that the review by the design guidelines board is mandatory, but compliance is voluntary. He said the developer did a good job in making improvements to the design.

Detter concluded by saying that the city’s commitment to good building design and public art will make the pedestrian experience better.

New Chair

Bob Guenzel, former Washtenaw County administrator, opened the meeting by saying, “I went away and got elected chair of this group!” He was absent from the board’s Sept. 7, 2011 meeting. Roger Hewitt responded to Guenzel by saying, “That’s how it works, Bob!”

The board had been without a chair because board member Gary Boren, who had been elected to that post by his board colleagues at their July 6, 2011 meeting, was not nominated by mayor John Hieftje for reappointment to the board after his term expired on July 31. Boren was replaced on the board by local attorney Nader Nassif.

Adopting a more serious tone, Guenzel said it’s a great honor to chair the DDA board and said he felt it would be a good year.

On the Horizon

The board’s Oct. 5 meeting included a presentation from DDA planning and research specialist Amber Miller and getDowntown director Nancy Shore on low cost alternatives for evening employees to use on-street parking spaces. At a Nov. 14 joint working session with the Ann Arbor city council, the DDA board will be presenting a proposal to the council for changes to parking rates and policies, which could include extension of enforcement hours past 6 p.m.

The board also received an update on the status of the getDowntown program and the go!pass, which had been presented to the DDA’s transportation, operations and communications committe the previous week. [See Chronicle coverage: "Also Discussed by DDA: getDowntown, Parking"]

Present: Nader Nassif, Newcombe Clark, Bob Guenzel, Roger Hewitt, John Hieftje, John Splitt, Sandi Smith, Leah Gunn, Russ Collins, Keith Orr, Joan Lowenstein, John Mouat.

Next board meeting: Noon on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the DDA offices, 150 S. Fifth Ave., Suite 301. [confirm date]

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The sum of one panhandler's afternoon collection on Dec. 31, 2010 on the sidewalk next to Border's Bookstore on East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor. (Photo by Dave Askins.)

Now that the task force is roughly halfway through that six-month period, The Chronicle attended its December meeting to check in on the group’s work.

You buy local, think global, pay it forward, recycle. You’re a good person.

So how do you respond to a panhandler? Is opening your wallet helping someone in need? Or is it enabling an addiction? Can you look the other way and still consider yourself compassionate?

At the Dec. 15 meeting of the city’s panhandling task force, three paid consultants gave their perspective on the issue – as panhandlers. Geoffrey Scott said he enjoys talking to the people almost as much as he appreciates the money they give him.

But one member of the city’s panhandling task force says people don’t realize the damage they do in the name of kindness.

“Unfortunately, panhandling hurts a delicate economy, which is like a delicate ecosystem,” says Brian Durrance, secretary of MISSION, which supports people who are homeless in Ann Arbor. “And if you have an invasive species that comes in and damages it, it will be altered. Ann Arbor survives because it’s an attractive place for people to come who have money and are willing to spend it. And as they’re spending that money, they are being taxed. And that money is used to help people of all kinds. Panhandlers are not contributing to that system, and particularly the aggressive ones are destructive.”

That’s because it takes some extra effort to get downtown, says Durrance. And merchants spend a lot of money trying to get people there. And if people are put off by aggressive panhandlers, they’ll go elsewhere.

The three panhandlers who spoke at the task force’s December meeting were each paid $20 – or about what they might have collected on the streets during that time.

When task force members learned that Durrance had paid the three out of his own pocket, they pitched in to reimburse him, cheerfully calling it “another example of panhandling.” That line settled well with Tate Williams, who after the meeting said we’re all panhandlers from time to time.

“The word panhandling is thrown out there to keep people in a different class,”said Williams, co-founder and resident of a tent community in Ann Arbor called Camp Take Notice. “I can guarantee that over half of that room has solicited the private sector for campaign funds. They asked people for money; i.e., panhandling. Other people there have written grants asking other entities for money; i.e., panhandling. And everyone has opened their wallet at lunchtime and said, ‘Oh, I’m a buck short … Got a buck?’”

Still, Williams agrees that aggressive panhandling is a serious issue that can scare visitors and deter commerce. Particularly problematic are the aggressive younger panhandlers who come to Ann Arbor during the summer.

Geoffrey Scott was the most vocal of the three panhandlers who spoke at the meeting. Scott, who says his drinking has made a mess of his life, lives in a parking structure and panhandles all day long, mostly at the corner of State and Liberty. ”I specifically say I need a quarter for the bus,” says Scott, who contends he does not act aggressively. “After you’ve talked to 200 people, you have the money you need.”

Among Scott’s observations:

• Panhandlers come to Ann Arbor because there is money here, and because it’s home to a bunch of rich college kids with soft hearts, and because it’s known to be a liberal city with plenty of support services for the needy.
• The money he makes is not used for food. “If you don’t know how to find food in Ann Arbor, something’s wrong with you … No one’s hungry.”
• The best money is made on expressway ramps.
• You’ll make a lot more money if you say you’re a Vietnam vet. Scott is not a veteran in that sense. “I say I’m a street vet,” he says. “That’s true.”
• The colder you look, the more money you make. “If you can cry, all the better.”
• Some panhandlers choose it as a profession. Others feed drug addictions.

Durrance says every panhandler he’s ever met has been mentally ill.

“We find that most of the panhandlers are suffering from one kind of drug addiction or another, and underneath all of that is a mental illness problem which is not being dealt with,” he says. “So they started with a mental illness that is not being dealt with. They self-medicate. They’ve developed addictions. And they are surviving in the way anyone would survive – by doing what they can do. And panhandling is one of the ways they survive.”

Durrance says the best way to help panhandlers is not to give them cash, but to help them get needed mental health services, which should be a higher priority at the federal level.

People need to know that Ann Arbor is rich in social services, so that panhandlers’ shelter, clothing, and food needs are already met, Durrance says.

He thinks the merchants themselves should be the educators, and the city should try to support those merchants. They could pass out cards listing the food and shelter help available, put up signs in their windows, collect money to help provide services for those in need, use the media to help educate students.

This past summer, Boise, Idaho launched a program called “Have a Heart, Give Smart,” using posters and leaflets to encourage people to donate to charity rather than panhandlers. Panhandling was down 10% within a few months.

Some may wonder why it’s wrong for one person to ask another person for spare change. Durrance explains it this way: When a street musician performs for tips, he’s offering something in return. The merchants, too, are paying into the tax system, which supports services for everyone. ”Panhandlers are not offering anything in return,” he says. “They’re simply taking.”

It’s wrong to assume that the homeless are panhandlers, he says, noting that most homeless people are just trying to quietly get by. They come to Ann Arbor for its excellent social services, but they’re more likely to collect cans than ask for handouts.

The problem isn’t so much evident in the fall and winter as in the spring and summer, when transient young people move here for a while, says Peter Ludt, general manager of Espresso Royale and a board member of the State Street Area Association. Ludt also serves on the panhandling task force.

The kids panhandle on State Street and on the Diag, often aggressively, and get involved in drinking and drugs. They would take over Espresso Royale’s outdoor café on South State Street, soliciting money from people walking by, and use the bathroom, leaving bottles and drug paraphernalia.

At one point last summer, Ludt began locking the bathrooms.

“In the spring and summer, you can’t walk from one end of State Street to the other without being solicited several times,” he says. “Customers have said they don’t feel comfortable walking down State Street. And that’s a problem for the city of Ann Arbor when citizens or students or visitors don’t feel comfortable walking down a street.”

Ludt agrees that the task force needs to educate both the panhandlers about the social services available to them, and the public – especially college students – about the reasons to not hand out money. ”It’s a cycle,” he says, referring to the alcohol and other drugs that panhandlers buy with the money they’re given. “People who think they’re helping panhandlers are really just hurting them further.”

First Ward city council representative Sabra Briere, who chairs the task force, says the city’s 2003 panhandling ordinance specifically targets those standing in certain locations, or who are aggressive. It doesn’t target everyone asking for a hand-out. From the city’s ordinance:

9:70. Solicitation.
Except as otherwise provided in Chapters 79 and 81 of this Code, it shall be unlawful for any person to solicit the immediate payment of money or goods from another person, whether or not in exchange for goods, services, or other consideration, under any of the following circumstances:
1. On private property, except as otherwise permitted by Chapters 79 and 81, unless the solicitor has permission from the owner or occupant;
2. In any public transportation vehicle or public transportation facility;
3. In any public parking structure and within 12 feet of any entrance or exit to any public parking structure;
4. From a person who is in any vehicle on the street;
5. By obstructing the free passage of pedestrian or vehicle traffic;
6. Within 12 feet of a bank or automated teller machine;
7. By moving to within 2 feet of the person solicited, unless that person has indicated that he/she wishes to be solicited;
8. By following and continuing to solicit a person who walks away from the solicitor;
9. By knowingly making a false or misleading representation in the course of a solicitation;
10. In a manner that appears likely to cause a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities to feel intimidated, threatened or harassed;
11. Within 12 feet of the entrance to or exit from the Nickels Arcade, located between State Street and Maynard Street; the Galleria, located between S. University and the Forest Street parking structure; and the Pratt Building, located between Main Street and the Ashley parking lot; or
12. From a person who is a patron at any outdoor cafe or restaurant.

Because budget cuts have cut down on the number of police officers walking the streets downtown, merchants and residents have begun complaining more about panhandlers. Briere said it’s clear the task force can’t put more police on the streets – which is what merchants on the task force originally wanted. There’s a push to get more residents downtown, which requires making them feel safe and comfortable there.

“If we can’t do it by having a strong police presence because of budget issues, then we have to come up with some other way,” she says.

Members of the task force were selected to represent different parts of the community. In addition to Durrance, Ludt and Briere, members include Raymond Detter, Maggie Ladd, Susan Pollay, Mary Jo Callan, Charles Coleman, Paul Sher, Maura Thomson, Barnett Jones and Mary Campbell.

Briere hopes the task force will somehow ensure the panhandlers’ basic needs are met and educate people that giving money to panhandlers does not solve poverty or help them get back on their feet.

“It’s tough to figure out how to meet the needs of people who frankly don’t want their needs met,” Briere says. “It’s easy for us to think we’re all doing enough. It’s easy to fear that if we do too much, we’ll become a magnet for people seeking support. I don’t have any good solutions. We’re just trying to work on ways to treat people humanely in our community.”

How does Briere react to panhandlers?

“I’ve done a number of things, like everybody else,” she says. “I once gave a panhandler my yogurt. It depends on the panhandler. The guy people call Crutchy – I’ve been known to give him a quarter. I’ve also been known to say no when approached by people I don’t know. I’ve pointed people to help.”

Doesn’t that quarter contradict her advice? “I’m not noble,” she says. “I’m human.”

About the author: Jo Mathis is an Ann Arbor-based writer.

Members of the Washtenaw County street soccer team, which competed in Washington D.C. this summer at the Street Soccer USA Cup. David Altherr, far left, also was picked to play for the U.S. team at the 8th annual Homeless World Cup in Rio, Brazil in September. They were on hand to promote a Dec. 10-11 fundraiser. (Photos by the writer.)

At some points during the debate there was a fair amount of confusion. A vote to eliminate per diem payments initially passed, but commissioner Ronnie Peterson then indicated that he’d intended to vote the opposite way. Because he’d voted on the prevailing side, parliamentary rules allowed him to bring the issue back for another vote – he switched his vote to no, and the resolution failed to pass. Ultimately, none of the proposed cuts won enough support to enact.

A resolution to set the cost of a police services unit (PSU) received little discussion – aside from some public commentary from Ann Arbor Township supervisor Mike Moran, and a response by commissioner Jeff Irwin. A PSU is the term used for a sheriff’s deputy who is hired on a contract basis to serve local townships and other municipalities. The board gave initial approval to set the cost at $176,108 and is expected to take a final vote on the issue at their Dec. 1 meeting. They’ll wait until next year to tackle the more contentious question of how much the county will charge contracting municipalities per PSU – an amount that will likely be lower, offset by a county general fund contribution.

In other budget-related matters, a public hearing on revisions to the 2011 budget drew only three speakers – including two representatives from local nonprofits who urged commissioners to consider the impact of any cuts they might contemplate for human services. The board also authorized soliciting bids for an internal audit, and discussed holding a special meeting in December to start setting priorities for upcoming budget discussions.

As he had during the Nov. 8 administrative briefing, board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. expressed frustration with the management of the Washtenaw County Road Commission, and said he wants the board to address that issue. There’s a vacancy on the road commission board, a group that’s appointed by the county board and that has oversight for the road commission operations. Other county commissioners said they’d like to hold public interviews for the job – seven people have applied.

Also on Wednesday, members of the county’s Street Soccer team, the SSPORT, came to the meeting to ask commissioners to participate in the 24-hour Soccerthon, a fundraiser to be held at WideWorld Sports Center starting on Friday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. The team is part of the county’s homeless project outreach team (PORT), which provides mental health and other support services to the local homeless population. The players had participated in the third annual Street Soccer USA Cup this summer in Washington D.C., and one of the players, David Altherr, had been picked to play for the U.S. team at the 8th annual Homeless World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September.

During Wednesday’s meeting the board also passed a resolution declaring Nov. 14-20, 2010 as National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Former county administrator Bob Guenzel, chair of the nonprofit Washtenaw Housing Alliance, was on hand and told the board to expect a re-energized effort related to the county’s Blueprint to End Homelessness. He announced that the WHA has hired a new executive director to lead that effort – Julie Steiner, who has served as executive director of the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Washtenaw County at Alpha House.

Police Services Cost

The police services steering committee (PSSC), appointed by the county board, has been working for more than a year to determine the true cost of putting a sheriff’s deputy on patrol. Commissioners had received a presentation on that issue at their Nov. 4 working session, when sheriff Jerry Clayton reviewed the PSSC proposal, which recommended setting the cost of a police services unit (PSU) at $176,108. A PSU is the term used for a sheriff’s deputy who is hired on a contract basis to serve local townships and other municipalities. The amount includes direct costs like salary and fringe benefits, as well as indirect costs and overhead. [.pdf of chart with details of itemized costs Additional backup documentation: cost analysis formulas; overview of fringe benefit rates; overview of cost allocation plan (CAP)]

A discussion at that Nov. 4 working session revealed a divergence of perspectives – a split that emerged again during a discussion at the board’s Nov. 8 administrative briefing. During the working session, Clayton had told commissioners it’s important to agree on the cost of delivering police services, before moving on to the question of price – or what the county will charge for that service, presumably a lower amount. He also outlined several policy issues that the board needs to address, including what metrics they’ll use to determine future adjustments in cost and price. Current contracts for the 74 deputies paid for by local municipalities expire at the end of 2011.

Police Services Cost: Public Commentary

At the Nov. 17 meeting, Ann Arbor Township supervisor Mike Moran spoke during public commentary, echoing some of the comments he’d made at the Nov. 4 working session. He said he wanted to reiterate that the PSSC subcommittee – the group that had done most of the research in determining the cost recommendation – had worked very hard to keep out political differences and other disagreements that had historically been part of these discussions. He believed they’d done a very fair job of that. Moran said he wanted to respond to some comments that commissioners Jeff Irwin and Barbara Bergman had made at the working session.

Moran objected to what he characterized as Irwin’s desire to include the county’s 12 general fund deputies – deputies who are paid for out of the general fund, not from contracts with other jurisdictions – into the cost calculation. Likewise, Moran didn’t think the county’s cost allocation plan (CAP) should be added in, either. The CAP is an amount charged to each department for things like the county attorney and administration. Not a single dollar of that would change if you had 20 contract deputies or none, he said. Moran said there was the sense among committee members that the CAP had been allocated unfairly, in regards to the sheriff’s department, but that was an issue they’d decided to leave until another day.

Police Services Cost: Commissioner Response

Irwin responded to Moran’s comments, saying he agreed that the committee had done good work, and that it was a good jumping off point for discussions. Regarding CAP for the sheriff’s department, he said his recollection was that the county paid most of those costs, not the contracting jurisdictions. He said he didn’t think the 12 general fund deputies should be included in the cost formula either, but that it should be indicated as part of the county’s overhead for the sheriff’s department.

Finally, Irwin noted that one of the points he’d made most strenuously at the working session was something that Moran didn’t address: The cost of the county’s detective bureau. The work of the detectives is related to the contract deputies, he said – using an incremental cost model, the more contract deputies you have, the more detectives you’ll need to handle the cases generated by those deputies. He said it’s an indirect cost that should be reflected in the recommendation, but isn’t.

Police Services Cost: Commissioner Deliberations

There was little discussion on this item. Commissioner Leah Gunn suggested a friendly amendment, adding in a reference to the total cost of $176,108 per police services unit (PSU). The original resolution mentioned the cost of $168,584 per deputy, plus $7,524 in overhead.

Outcome: The board gave initial approval to a resolution that sets the cost of a police services unit (PSU) at $176,108. The board is expected to take a final vote on the cost issue at its Dec. 1 meeting. The board still needs to decide how much the county will charge contracting municipalities per PSU – an amount that will likely be lower, offset by a county general fund contribution.

Commissioner Per Diem, Travel & Mileage

During the Nov. 17 meeting, Leah Gunn introduced a resolution to eliminate per diem, travel and mileage reimbursement for commissioners. She began by noting that that she had unsuccessfully introduced a similar resolution in 2009. This time, she also included a provision to pay for newly elected commissioners to take a “Commissioner 101″ course. She indicated that she had talked to residents around the county, and had found widespread support for these cuts.

Wes Prater immediately moved to table the resolution, a motion seconded by Rolland Sizemore Jr. That motion was defeated by a 5-6 vote – voting against it were Gunn, Jeff Irwin, Mark Ouimet, Ken Schwartz, Barbara Bergman and Conan Smith.

The subsequent debate on this resolution lasted more than an hour, with additional attempts to table it, and moments of confusion that resulted at one point in a vote reversal by commissioner Ronnie Peterson.

Jessica Ping began discussion by pointing out that she wanted to table it because she isn’t going to be on the board next year – she didn’t seek re-election, but her sister, Alicia Ping, won an uncontested race for that position, representing District 3. It is important that the new commissioners weigh in, she said. Ping also noted that unlike some of the urban districts, her district included nine municipalities – it’s the biggest district, geographically. She observed that six commissioners represented districts that only had one municipality in it. [There are four commissioners representing different areas of Ann Arbor, for example.] Some commissioners can ride their bikes to meetings in their district, she said, adding, “I can’t ride my bike to Manchester!” Ping also felt it was important for commissioners to keep up to speed on issues by attending conferences, but added that they should report back to the board about what they learned.

Prater said he couldn’t support Gunn’s resolution, saying it was, in part, too late. The board had already addressed this issue when they voted to create flex accounts, which cap each commissioner’s spending at $3,550 per year. It allows commissioners to decide how they want to spend it, either on per diem, travel or other authorized items. Prater also pointed out that the last time commissioners had seen an increase in their salaries was January of 2001. If you calculated cost-of-living increases, by not taking raises over that period, the board has saved the county over $300,000, he said.

Prater also noted that if they approved this resolution, they’d be changing the rules for the incoming commissioners, who ran for office assuming they’d get per diem, travel and mileage. And he supported Ping’s observation about travel – as liaison to the road commission, he said, he attended around 45 meetings for that each year. A round trip from his home to the road commission was 30 miles, he said. “I’m just pointing that out.”

Ken Schwartz also said he wouldn’t support the resolution, saying that it didn’t take into consideration the different types of districts in the county, and the different needs of commissioners.

Kristin Judge argued, as she has in the past, that commissioners shouldn’t have to suffer a financial loss to do their job. It wasn’t good to create a situation in which only independently wealthy people could run for office. They need to make it possible for anyone to run for office, she said, whether it’s a newly graduated student – a reference to Yousef Rabhi, a Democrat in his early 20s who was recently elected to represent District 11, and who attended Wednesday’s meeting in the audience – or someone who is independently wealthy.

Commissioner Per Diem, Travel & Mileage: Mileage

There was then a discussion, leading to some confusion, regarding Barbara Bergman’s desire to retain mileage reimbursements. To do that, a motion was eventually made to amend out the reference to mileage. The amendment effectively left in place the mileage reimbursement.

Jessica Ping, right, talks with her sister Alicia Ping before the start of the Nov. 17 county board of commissioners meeting. Jessica Ping represents District 3, a seat that Alicia Ping won in an uncontested Nov. 2 election.

In deliberations on the amendment, Ping said that until this election cycle, there wasn’t clarity about what commissioners could be reimbursed for. During the last budget cycle, she said she’d been asked by the county administrator to make presentations about the budget to municipalities in her district. She was asked to represent the county, yet those types of meetings weren’t on the official list of meetings that commissioners can be reimbursed for attending, she noted. It’s really important to review the list of what meetings are allowable, she said, and not to take away mileage reimbursement. Every commissioner who represented a large geographic district “got nailed” by the media and the public on this issue, Ping said. [She was alluding to allegations that emerged prior to the Nov. 2 election, charging that Mark Ouimet and other commissioners had been inappropriately reimbursed for ineligible expenses. See Chronicle coverage: "County Commissioner Expenses Debated"]

Ping concluded by saying that she has nothing to lose, since she didn’t seek reelection. But it was an important issue for commissioners to consider.

Judge and Bergman both agreed, saying that representing the county in the way that Ping described should be reimbursed.

At this point, Irwin pointed out that nothing they’d just discussed related to the resolution they were considering. From Ping’s perspective, the amendment would actually be an improvement, he noted, since it would leave mileage reimbursement in place. He observed that changing the rules for what meetings qualify for reimbursement is a separate issue. He voiced support for the amendment.

Schwartz said it was his understanding that under current rules, you couldn’t request a per diem for attending a meeting that wasn’t part of the approved list, but that you could get reimbursed for mileage. Smith said that was an incorrect understanding – mileage should only be reimbursed for qualified meetings.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to amend out the item on mileage from the resolution.

Commissioner Per Diem, Travel & Mileage: Per Diem

Sizemore said if someone sought to serve on the county board because of the compensation, then “you’re messing yourself up from the beginning.” He said he appreciated the amount of work that Gunn, Smith and Judge had put into this topic. The work that commissioners do goes beyond the number of meetings they attend, he observed. It includes all the phone calls you get, or the times when you go out to dinner with your wife and someone comes and sits down at your table for 20 minutes to talk about a county issue.

As a point of information, Gunn reminded commissioners that issues of compensation are made before the new board takes office. So if they want to eliminate per diems, they must do it now, not in January. She reiterated the major budget challenges they’d be facing, noting that they’ll be asking employees and others to make big sacrifices. “This is a symbol of us biting the bullet and saying we’re going to do our part as well,” she said.

Irwin asked that they consider the resolution’s remaining three parts separately: 1) eliminating per diems for attending meetings, 2) eliminating travel compensation, including registration and hotel costs for conferences, and 3) paying for the “Commissioner 101″ course that new commissioners attend.

Gunn moved to vote on the item that would eliminate per diems.

Prater repeated his previous comments about the fact that commissioners hadn’t received a raise since 2001. [In addition to their $3,550 flex accounts, commissioners earn $15,500 annually, plus fringe benefits. Officers receive higher pay: $18,500 for the board chair (Rolland Sizemore Jr.), $16,000 for the board vice chair (Mark Ouimet), $16,500 for the Ways & Means Committee chair (Conan Smith) and the working session chair (Jessica Ping).]

Prater said he’d reviewed his calendar for the years when he served as board chair, in 2005 and 2006. He had attended about 140 meetings in both of those years, with very little compensation. He said the board has done its part in cutting costs, but the per diem is justified. “That’s my position, and I’m not ashamed to say it,” he concluded.

Smith said he opposed per diems. Already, commissioners are well-compensated for the hours that they put in, he said. As for serving on other boards and committees, “I feel that’s what I’m paid to do,” he said.

Peterson said he shared Prater’s concerns. He wondered whether anyone would want to serve on other committees and boards, if they eliminated per diem payments. Perhaps they should consider eliminating having commissioners serve as liaisons to other boards, committees and commissions, he said.

Commissioners then voted on the motion to eliminate per diem. The motion passed on a 6-5 vote, with support from Ouimet, Peterson, Smith, Bergman, Gunn, and Irwin.

It then emerged that Peterson had intended to vote against the motion. Because he cast a vote on the prevailing side, he could bring back the motion for reconsideration – which he did, after some discussion clarifying his position.

Outcome: The motion to eliminate per diem failed upon reconsideration. Voting against it were Peterson, Judge, Prater, Sizemore, Schwartz, and Ping.

Commissioner Per Diem, Travel & Mileage: Travel

Peterson clarified that the flex accounts cap expenses at $3,550 per commissioner. He pointed out that the board faces a large deficit in 2012 and 2013, and that they as a board should set the tone. He said he’d be interested in looking at eliminating travel for the entire county staff – he’d support having a travel moratorium for everyone. If they’re going to talk about cuts, “let’s be real,” he said, and put everything on the table. Peterson said that sometimes he felt like he was the only one who spoke for the people in the county who were struggling. If the other commissioners cared about those people, they’d be talking about the overall budget.

From left: Washtenaw County commissioners Rolland Sizemore Jr., Jeff Irwin, Barbara Bergman, Leah Gunn, Ronnie Peterson.

Gunn replied that she took great umbrage at the suggestion that the rest of the board doesn’t care about the struggles of county residents. Her resolution was about setting the tone, she added, and about sending the message to the public and employees that commissioners were willing to share the sacrifice. “But obviously, we’re not,” she said.

Prater said he had asked the administration to review conferences and travel expenses for employees, and that it would be handled in the internal audit.

Peterson then moved to table the item on travel, and Judge seconded the motion. The motion to table failed, with support only from Peterson, Judge and Smith.

Prater asked Curtis Hedger, the county’s attorney, whether this was a policy they could change at any time throughout the year. Hedger said that only mileage can be changed, since it’s considered reimbursement, not compensation. Items regarding compensation must be set before the start of the next term, in January. Prater then argued that they should vote the resolution down, and work on a policy when the new commissioners come on board.

Smith pointed out that if they voted it down now, then even if they set a policy on it next year, it wouldn’t take effect until the start of the next term, in 2013. Responding to a query from Peterson, Smith said that if it were voted down that evening, someone from the prevailing side could bring it back at their Dec. 1 meeting. But since they only have one meeting scheduled in December, it would need to be considered at both the Ways & Means committee as well as the regular board meeting. [Typically, items are given an initial vote at the Ways & Means committee meeting, which immediately precedes the regular board meeting. If approved, they are then considered at the regular board meeting two weeks later.]

Schwartz observed that another possibility would be for someone to bring back a new resolution on the same topic – Hedger confirmed that this would be possible.

At this point, Gunn called the question – a parliamentary move that forces a vote. Only three commissioners – Gunn, Bergman and Ouimet – voted in support of eliminating travel expenses, and that motion failed.

Outcome: The motion to eliminate travel expenses failed, with support only from Gunn, Bergman and Ouimet.

Commissioner Per Diem, Travel & Mileage: “Commissioner 101″ Course

Gunn’s resolution included a provision to pay for newly elected commissioners to take a “Commissioner 101″ course, which is offered through the local Michigan State University extension program. Judge pointed out that the county typically pays for these courses. Irwin said that in that case, the motion should be ruled out of order, since it addresses something the county already does. He also noted that it related directly to the previous clauses, which had been voted down.

Gunn agreed, and withdrew the motion.

Overall outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to amend out consideration of mileage from the resolution. A later vote on the item to eliminate per diem payments initially passed, but Peterson indicated he had intended to vote the opposite way. The item was brought back for reconsideration – Peterson changed his vote, resulting in its failure to pass. Voting against it were Peterson, Sizemore, Ping, Prater, Judge and Schwartz. A vote on the item to eliminate travel expenses also failed – getting support only from Gunn, Bergman and Ouimet. Gunn withdrew the provision to pay for newly elected commissioners to take a “Commissioner 101″ course, when it emerged that this was already standard practice.

County Budget Issues

In addition to the resolution regarding commissioner per diem, travel and mileage, several other budget-related items were handled during Wednesday’s meeting.

County Budget Issues: Public Hearing on 2011 Budget

At the board’s Nov. 3 meeting, commissioners took an initial vote on a resolution making adjustments to the 2011 general fund budget. Among other things, the resolution directs county administrator Verna McDaniel to make proposals for cutting $1,034,988 out of the original budget of $98,493,155. During that meeting, commissioners discussed some of the proposed changes, and voted to set a Nov. 17  public hearing on the 2011 budget revisions. The board is expected to take its final vote on the 2011 budget changes at their Dec. 1 meeting.

Three people spoke at the budget hearing on Wednesday, including two people representing local nonprofits, who urged commissioners not to cut county funding to human services agencies.

Angie Moore, agency administrator for the Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan, described the range of services offered by the center, providing a safety net for people who are experiencing emotional or financial crisis. Those services include personal and financial counseling, job coaching, divorce support, legal clinics and more. Moore said the center serves about 600 people each year, regardless of insurance or income, and provides referrals to about 3,000 others who call for help. In this economic downturn, those needs are increasing, she said, and more services are required. The center employs 3.75 full-time staff, with no health benefits, Moore said. They understand the county’s budget crunch – the center itself takes hit after hit, she said, while demand just increases. Moore urged commissioners, when making their budget decisions, to take into account the small nonprofits that serve residents who don’t attend these board meetings.

Joan Doughty, executive director of the Community Action Network (CAN), said that Moore’s comments had captured what many nonprofits are experiencing. CAN is a small nonprofit that’s looking at expansion, she said. It works with families in low-income, under-served neighborhoods – a new subsidiary, CAN Southeast, specifically addresses the needs of southeast Ann Arbor. Two years ago, CAN took over operation of the Bryant Community Center, and they quickly discovered that flooding was a serious issue in that area, and had been for decades. [See Chronicle coverage: "Water Main Project Set for Bryant Area"] The reason that no one on city council knew about it is that the people in that community didn’t have a voice, she said. Most nonprofits that work with at-risk populations represent people without a voice, she added – these are people who can’t come and sit through a county board meeting in order to speak about their issues. Doughty told commissioners that every cut they make in their budget will hurt much more than ever before. She thanked them for considering that.

Thomas Partridge, a regular speaker during public commentary, criticized Republican governor-elect Rick Snyder, saying it was wrong to tell the populace that the solution to Michigan’s economic crisis is to eliminate the business tax. He urged the Democratic leadership on the county board and in the state to heed a call to unity.

County Budget Issues: Other Public Commentary

Mike Fried, who made an unsuccessful bid for the District 11 county board seat in the August 2010 Democratic primary, spoke during public commentary with some suggestions for dealing with a 2011 budget deficit. Among his suggestions were giving incentives to departments that can cut costs – incentives like giving them priority for IT or other services, or setting aside funds for mini-grants that they can bid on. Fried also urged commissioners to think about other sources of revenue, and suggested the possibility of supporting a centralized grant-writing position, or tapping resources at the University of Michigan. Directing his comments to the two commissioners who were elected on Nov. 2 to the state legislature – Republican Mark Ouimet and Democrat Jeff Irwin – Fried suggested that the state provide a mechanism on its tax forms that would allow residents to donate money to their local government. Finally, he noted that openness is key, because they’ll need the trust of the people as they make these difficult budget decisions.

County Budget Issues: Setting Priorities

On every agenda is a slot for commissioners to identify items for current and future discussion. Kristin Judge said that she and Ronnie Peterson were hoping to set a special meeting for Dec. 8, to start setting priorities as they head into budget discussions for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years. Barbara Bergman thought that priority-setting was important, but wanted to wait until the four newly elected commissioners were sworn into office in January, so that they could take part. She said it was inappropriate to do it before then.

Judge responded by saying that the new commissioners could attend the Dec. 8 meeting – she agreed that it was important for them to be included.

Peterson then gave a lengthy statement, expressing frustration that they had spent over an hour debating an issue that amounted to around $30,000 annually – the commissioners’ per diem, travel and mileage expenses. That is roughly the equivalent of an entry-level clerk’s job, he pointed out, while they were facing a budget deficit in 2012-13 of $20 million. People’s livelihoods are at stake, he said, whether it involves receiving services from the county or being employed by the county. He urged his colleagues to start addressing the budget shortfall as early as possible.

County Budget Issues: Internal Audit

During Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the finance department to issue a request for proposals (RFP), soliciting bids from firms to perform an internal audit on the county’s finances. Kristin Judge thanked county administrator Verna McDaniel and deputy administrator Bill Reynolds for their work on the project, saying she hoped it would move forward quickly. The audit would begin by reviewing existing internal controls, followed by a risk assessment to identify which departments to examine first.

Jeff Irwin asked how much the audit would cost. McDaniel said they wouldn’t know until responses to the RFP came back.

Money Purchase Pension Plans

Without discussion, the board voted to give final approval to transfer pension funds that have accumulated for commissioners in a Money Purchase Pension Plan (MPPP), moving the funds to a 457 deferred compensation program of their choice before the end of 2010. Commissioners are currently the only county employees who are enrolled in the MPPP – the county pays Prudential $10,000 annually to administer the plan. In addition, the county contributes 7.5% of each commissioner’s salary to the MPPP, or a total of $13,200 annually.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved transferring commissioners’ pension funds from the Money Purchase Pension Plan into a 457 deferred compensation program of their choice.

Appointments: Road Commission

As an item for current or future discussion, Rolland Sizemore Jr. stated that he was unhappy with the management of the Washtenaw County Road Commission, and he wanted the board to address it. [This was a topic he'd also raised at the board's Nov. 8 administrative briefing.] The staff isn’t responsive, and they don’t return phone calls from residents, he said. Perhaps it’s time to look at different management, he said.

Wes Prater observed that there are a number of boards and commissions that need to have members appointed, including the road commission board. When was the county board going to address that? he asked. In the past they had conducted public interviews for the road commission board, and he hoped that they would do the same this time.

Sizemore said he’d asked deputy administrator Bill Reynolds to review all of the roughly 60 county appointed boards, commissions and committees, to see if any of them could be eliminated or combined. He wanted to wait until that process is completed – likely in early 2011 – before making appointments.

Kristin Judge suggested conducting interviews for the road commission board as part of a Dec. 8 special meeting. Ronnie Peterson said he didn’t understand the need to wait – if there were appointments they could make now, they should do it, he said.

By way of background, there are three members of the road commission board, who are appointed by the county board of commissioners. The road commission has its own budget – funded by the state – and operates independently from the county. A public hearing on the road commission’s 2011 budget is set for Dec. 9.

One of the three current road commissioners – David Rutledge – was elected to the state House of Representatives on Nov. 2, for District 54. The other current commissioners are Doug Fuller and Fred Veigel. That leaves one vacancy on the board. Seven people have applied:

• Mary Beth Day of Grass Lake, chair of the Washtenaw County Conservation District.
• James Drolett of Pinckney, a planning and zoning administrator for the city of Chelsea, and former Dexter Township supervisor.
• Scott Hummel of Dexter, an elementary school physical education teacher in Dearborn and golf course supervisor for the Leslie Park Golf Course in Ann Arbor.
• Roger Kappler of Sharon Township, former CEO of Hines Industries and former Sharon Township trustee.
• Jeffrey Alan Lewis of Pittsfield Township, chief of the Milan police department and a former 20-year veteran of the Ypsilanti police force.
• Jackson Morris of Pittsfield, a retired Ann Arbor Public Schools teacher and administrator who also served for a decade as Pittsfield Township supervisor.
• Kenny Siler of Manchester, owner of Pleasant View Farms and president of the Washtenaw County Farm Bureau.

In addition, Sizemore has plans to nominate current county commissioner Ken Schwartz, a Democrat representing District 2 who was defeated in the Nov. 2 election by Republican Dan Smith. This possibility has not been floated publicly during any of the recent discussions at county board meetings, but in a phone interview with The Chronicle, Sizemore said he felt that Schwartz was the best person for the job.

Sizemore said that Schwartz – whose district covers northeast Washtenaw, including the townships of Superior, Salem and Northfield – is familiar with the county, having previously served on the board of Superior Township and as an attorney for Augusta Township, in addition to his work as a county commissioner. Schwartz also understands what the board of commissioners wants from the road commission, Sizemore said, adding that the tough economy requires a different kind of management in the road commission. [Steve Puuri is the current managing director of the road commission.] “I know I’ll take heat for it,” Sizemore said, “but it’s the right thing to do.”

There is precedent for this kind of move. The county board appointed Wes Prater to the road commission when Prater lost the election for his county commissioner seat in 2006. He resigned from the road commission during his 2008 campaign for the county board – he won that election, and has served as the board’s liaison to the road commission since then.

Road commissioners, who earn a base salary of $10,500, are appointed to six-year terms. Earlier this year, commissioner Jeff Irwin unsuccessfully lobbied to expand the number of road commissioners from three to five. That expansion might be another strategy pursued by county board members next year.

PORT Street Soccer

Several members of the county’s Street Soccer team, the SSPORT, attended Wednesday’s meeting. The group is part of the county’s homeless project outreach team (PORT), which provides mental health and other support services to the local homeless population. The players had participated in the third annual Street Soccer USA Cup this summer in Washington D.C., where they received the Fair Play Award. One of the players, David Altherr, had been picked to play for the U.S. team at the 8th annual Homeless World Cup in Rio, Brazil in September.

Sara Silvennoinen, the team’s coach and a county PORT staff member, encouraged commissioners to participate in the 24-hour Soccerthon to be held at WideWorld Sports Center starting on Friday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the SSPORT team, she said. [To register, groups must have a minimum of 12 people to play for 1 hour. Minimum donations are $200 per group or $10 per person for groups of 20 or more. To register, contact Linda Bacigalupi at bacigalupil@ewashtenaw.org or Sara Silvennoinen at silvennoinens@ewashtenaw.org.]

The soccer team got a round of applause, and several commissioners praised both the team and PORT. Leah Gunn said she didn’t play, although her granddaughters are “fantastic” soccer players. She said she’d just write a check to support the team. “You make us proud,” she said. Conan Smith said he’d try to attend: “It may be embarrassing for all involved, but I’ll show up.”

Washtenaw Housing Alliance: Homeless Awareness Week

Former county administrator Bob Guenzel, who retired in May, was on hand to receive a resolution declaring Nov. 14-20, 2010 as National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, presented to him by current county administrator Verna McDaniel.

Former county administrator Bob Guenzel, right, talks with Patrick Barrie, executive director of the Washtenaw Community Health Organization, prior to the start of the Nov. 17 meeting of the county board of commissioners.

Guenzel is chair of the nonprofit Washtenaw Housing Alliance, a consortium of more than two dozen groups working to end homelessness. In comments to the board, he announced that WHA has hired Julie Steiner as its new executive director, effective Dec. 1. He told commissioners to expect a re-energized effort related to the county’s Blueprint to End Homelessness. Steiner has served as executive director of the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Washtenaw County at Alpha House, a family homeless shelter. Also taking part in the presentation was Ellen Schulmeister, CEO of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, who has been serving as interim head of the WHA.

Steiner told the board that it was an exciting time, and she’d keep them informed about the WHA’s progress.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn, Kristin Judge, Jeff Irwin, Mark Ouimet, Ronnie Peterson, Jessica Ping, Wes Prater, Ken Schwartz, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Conan Smith.

Next board meeting: The next regular meeting is Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 220 N. Main St. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting. [confirm date]

Signs on the trail to Camp Take Notice. (Photos by the writer)

Last year, The Chronicle reported the commentary on those events from Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County: “It’s simple physics,” she said. “People have to be some place, and if people don’t have a place to be, they will find a place to be.”

The state police paid a visit, taking names but making no arrests. Later one of the campers, Caleb Poirier, would be arrested on charges of trespassing on the Michigan Dept. of Transportation property. Poirier was represented by David Blanchard of the law firm Nacht & Associates, P.C. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in support of Poirier, and the charges against the camper were eventually dropped. The camp’s current location is off Wagner Road near I-94.

In the course of the past year, members of the community – some homeless campers, some not – who organized in support of the tent encampment under the name Michigan Itinerant Shelter System Interdependent Out of Necessity (MISSION) have achieved more than simply a successful legal defense of one of their members. They were a key force in prompting the city of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County to consider allocating emergency shelter funds for the winter of 2009-10.

And their recent achievement of official nonprofit status as a 501(c)(3) organization means that the goal of finding land sponsors to host the camp legally appears a bit more realistic. A student with the University of Michigan Law School who’s working with MISSION has sketched out a model for how liabilities could be handled by defining appropriate relationships among the land sponsor, MISSION and the homeless camp. The group heard a presentation on legal issues last Friday morning at the Washtenaw County Annex on Fourth Avenue.

But it’s all still a matter of physical laws. UM physics doctoral student Brian Nord, who’s president of MISSION’s board, compares Camp Take Notice to a gas and MISSION to a relief valve: “As long as the environment within camp is positive and community-driven, the methods of CTN can be fluid and operate as a gas. However, the established societal regulations and more so the prejudices act as a maximal container of this fluid. MISSION, the valve, has to evolve itself to consistently advocate for the rights of the individual, while appearing as part of the establishment to the camp.”

As The Chronicle noted a year ago, “This is a story that does not yet have an end, nor will it likely ever have one.” But it is now time for an update.

A Brief Review of the Past Year

In the course of the past year, the phrase “Camp Take Notice” has appeared in more than 20 different Chronicle articles, many of them reports from public meetings when supporters have addressed a public body during public commentary in support of the camp.

One of those occasions was the Nov. 5, 2009 Ann Arbor city council meeting when the council voted to approve $159,500 in emergency shelter funds, which came the day after the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority had approved $20,000 to pay for additional shelter beds. The money helped expand the number of spaces available in the Delonis shelter warming center by 25 beds and added another 25 spots to the rotating shelter program.

The resolution had come before the city council after a presentation at its Oct 19, 2009 meeting from Mary Jo Callan, the director of the city/county office of community development. Underpinning the presentation had been a series of meetings by a working group that had met several times, beginning last August. That group included Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Ellen Schulmeister (director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County), Susan Pollay (executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority), Jennifer L. Hall (housing program coordinator in community development), Andrea Plevek (human services analyst), Deb Pippins (program administrator for the Homeless Project Outreach Team, or HPORT), and mayor John Hieftje.

While publicity around its September 2009 eviction had helped provide momentum for the emergency shelter funding, Camp Take Notice itself did not receive direct benefit from that additional funding.

As spring approached, and the camp faced eviction from their new location near I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Brian Nord addressed the county board of commissioners. From The Chronicle’s report of the March 3, 2010 county board of commissioners meeting:

Though there are open beds in the county’s rotating shelter system, Nord said that for a variety of reasons, that isn’t an option for many Camp Take Notice residents. [The rotating shelter, which operates during the winter month, is a partnership between the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and 15 local congregations. This year, the number of beds in the rotating shelter system was increased from 25 to 50 through emergency funding by the city of Ann Arbor and the county.] If Camp Take Notice is disbanded, Nord said its residents will seek outdoor shelter elsewhere, in a place likely less accessible to those offering supportive services. The camp is a refuge, he said, something that many residents don’t find in traditional shelters.

Nord pointed out that the county is about halfway toward meeting its bricks-and-mortar goal of having 500 beds for the homeless, as specified in the 2004 Blueprint to End Homelessness. He also noted that they’re six years into the 10-year plan. Allowing outdoor rotating shelters, with supportive services, may be a way of reaching that goal until the county emerges from its economic downturn.

Responding to Nord’s comments, commissioner Kristin Judge praised the efforts of MISSION, saying she’d met with them and found them to be a heartfelt group who really cared about the condition of the homeless. She asked for the administration to give the board an update on the status of the Blueprint to End Homelessness at some future meeting.

At the county board’s May 5, 2010  meeting, commissioner Kristin Judge made a plea to the public for land sponsorship for the camp – the camp had been evicted from a new spot near  I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road the previous week and had relocated to its current spot near Wagner Road.

Among the barriers to land sponsorship – by communities of faith or other organization – are questions about legal liability. If a church were to allow the tent community to set up on their land, does that entail a legal responsibility by the church for the campers’ well-being? Would the relationship be the same or different from a landlord-tenant relationship? If a camper were to cause damage to an adjacent property, would the church incur liability for that damage? If there is a legally-defined relationship, then who are the parties? Would it be the church and the individual campers? Or would the relationship exist between the church and the camp as a group?

Some of those questions are starting to get answers. The basic question about the entity with whom a land sponsor would have a legal relationship is answered in the form of MISSION, because it has now received its official 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Last week, The Chronicle tracked the work of the group over the course of three days – a MISSION board meeting on Tuesday, a Camp Take Notice camp-wide meeting out at the camp on Thursday evening, and a meeting of board members with a UM law student and her advisor on Friday morning.

MISSION Board Meeting

The MISSION board meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library. Last week, the board was initially in danger of failing to achieve a quorum, but eventually enough members trickled in to conduct business.

MISSION Meeting: Pre-Meeting Small Talk

While they waited, Caleb Poirier gave an update from camp to those who were already present – Brian Durrance, George Lucero, Emilio Lucero, Kristen Muehlhauser, and Peggy Lynch. Poirier described how he’d spent much of the day sewing up a split seam in the big tent that is planned to become a communal gathering place – it’s been a two-week project, he said. The tent is 40 x 20 feet.

Lynch is a relatively new volunteer for the group. She’s a parishioner at St. Mary student parish at the University of Michigan. So while they waited, Lynch described for the others how she was interested in involving her congregation with the group, but initially wanted to observe and listen to understand what the group actually needed: “We’ll follow your lead, ” she said.

By way of example, she said that thinking about infrastructure for the camp, if there were no lights, her first thought was “Let’s get you lights!” But Lynch said she was not sure if installation of lighting at the camp would be worth it, if it wound up alienating the camp’s neighbors – she wanted to make sure that the considerable generosity of the St. Mary parish was channeled in a direction that the camp actually needed. She was concerned that they did not create infrastructure that caused a building inspector to appear.

However, any possible annoyance of neighbors with lighting is not a practical risk, given the relatively remote, out-of-the-way location of the current camp. And the fact that the camp is without permission occupying land belonging to MDOT means that inspections for building codes are a moot point. But Lynch’s basic point that she wanted to tread lightly on the camp’s direction was appreciated by the group.

Durrance noted that as far as what the camp needs, winter is coming – and a communal area that’s heated and lighted would be a welcome addition. Lynch wanted to know if the idea was to have a communal area where people could stay warm if the weather brought life-threatening cold. Durrance told Lynch that it was more the idea of a community center where people could come together – a place where they could get their cell phones charged, for example. He noted that one of the huge challenges for the homeless was finding a way to keep their cell phone batteries charged.

A brief discussion ensued about a marine battery-powered LED lighting system and the possibility of purchasing a wood burning stove.

Lily Au gave a brief report out from a recent meeting of the Washtenaw Urban County, noting that there’d been sentiments expressed at that meeting suggesting that law enforcement needed to be notified about the existence of Camp Take Notice. Au reported that Mary Jo Callan, director of the city/county office of community development, had indicated that the camp enjoyed the support of a nonprofit organization. [For the Chronicle's report on that meeting of the Urban County, see "Urban County Reallocates Housing Funds"]

MISSION Meeting: Agenda Items

With a quorum achieved, the meeting came to order, with Kristen Muehlhauser chairing it and Lotus Yu taking minutes.

The agenda included reports out from the camp, which was ground that the group had already partially covered. They addressed the issue of a central “office tent” where new arrivals could be greeted. The tent that Poirier had been sewing is planned for such a community-type facility. Muehlhauser wanted to know if they needed to schedule a work party to erect the ridge pole for the tent.

Poirier characterized the previous week’s camp-wide meeting as “sedate – not too terrible as far as they go.” He noted that there’d been good attendance, but he was still trying to get the last 1/5 of the campers to attend.

A camper-made flyer for Camp Take Notice from last year was passed around during the Aug. 24 MISSION board meeting.

On the question of a camp flyer, there is not a current version, but a copy of a camper-made flyer from last year was handed around – it was a visual riff on the Uncle Sam “I want you!” poster. Lynch suggested that she knew of a graphic artist who might be willing to tackle the project.

The deadline for submissions to Groundcover News was announced as Aug. 25. Poirer said he’d try to write something and submit it for the following day.

Lucero, as the treasurer, reported out on the group’s finances. It was a brief report: $157 was the current balance, which would drop to $127 when the check he’d just written cleared.

A section of the agenda on policy updates was postponed at the request of board members Brian Nord and Erika McNamara, who could not attend the meeting.

Lotus Yu gave an update on funding requests. The first application from MISSION as a nonprofit organization will be to the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for bus tokens. Yu told the group that the application would be going in the mail the next day. Yu also described some larger grants that MISSION might want to consider applying for – from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. Lily Au gave the group an update on how Busch’s and Kroger organize their fundraising opportunities.

Also related to fundraising, Lynch mentioned the possibility of the St. Mary parish steering the proceeds from their Advent Giving Tree to the group. She also noted that her employer, Masco Corporation, offers a cash match of up to $500 for time that employees donate to nonprofit causes. Lynch stressed the importance of coming up with a budget for specific items that the camp needed.

Upcoming events announced included a meeting sponsored by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority at the Center for Independent Living on Sept. 26 from 4-6 p.m. to get feedback as the AATA develops its transit master plan. On Sept. 11, homeless advocate Mark Horvath – of InvisiblePeople.tv and Hardly Normal – will be visiting Detroit. A brief discussion focused on who might host Horvath.

Poirier wrapped up the evening by suggesting that the meeting that night had been a very comfortable-sized gathering, but that when there are more people who attend, he knew that people can get frustrated as the fight for “air time.” To address that, he indicated that he’d be convening smaller meetings focused on specific topics on different days of the week.

Camp Take Notice Camp Meeting

Camp-wide meetings take place on Thursdays around 8 p.m. This time of year, especially in the woods where the camp is located, that means that darkness is already starting to fall.

Camp Take Notice meeting agenda from Aug. 26, 2010.

The brief orientation of The Chronicle by campers as they gradually trickled into the common area put the camper population at a bit over 30 people.  Some of them who arrived at the meeting had just disembarked from the #9 AATA bus, which stops on Wagner Road near the camp.

Caleb Poirier noted that “about a third of us are here – do we know where the rest of us are hiding?” Some people left the circle of chairs to coax some other campers to join the meeting.

By the time the meeting convened, there were around 25 people seated in the circle, including non-camper members of the MISSION board.  Acoustics were a challenge. The noise from the highway traffic – I-94 on one side and M-14 on the other – resulted in frequent requests for people to speak louder.

One business item was to allocate the funds from a $50 gift card that had been donated. There was a fairly straightforward consensus that $25 of that should be put towards the weekly garbage pickup. Discussion of the other $25 included a suggestion that the possibility of a “movie night” be explored, by bringing a DVD player and screen out to the camp. The suggestion was met with a Bronx cheer from across the circle, which caused the suggester to slam his walking stick down in the middle of the gathering – it careened crazily in the center of the circle of chairs, but caused no damage, as he retreated to his tent. Poirer declared that “both responses were inappropriate.”

And the meeting moved on through the printed agenda.

Receiving some discussion was the idea of providing some kind of fixed stair at the entrance to the trail just past the guardrail – it’s very steep and when snow comes, it could be very difficult to navigate. One agenda item provided an opportunity for campers to thank fellow campers. Poirier collected thanks for his work sewing up the rip in the community tent, which still needs to be set up. He also received an appreciative word for writing a letter of recommendation for someone. Poirier dished out thanks to a camper just for attending the meeting after spending the day laying concrete.

As the banner indicates, a camp-wide community meeting takes place every Thursday at 8 p.m. Last Thursday's meeting was attended by around 25 campers.

Toileting received discussion in the form of a proposal to acquire porta-potties. The steep incline at the trail head would be a challenge for installation. Poirier focused on the importance of people not doing their business out in the woods, leaving toilet paper lying around. He noted that it’d be the No. 1 reason people would try to use to shut down the camp – campers are supposed to bury their waste or double-bag it and pack it out to the trail head for the weekly garbage pickup. Poirier warned his campmates that he’d be collaring someone every day to help him police the area by picking up individual dumps, but offered a choice: “You can hold the shovel, or the bag.”

Towards the end of the meeting, a review of camp quiet hours was reviewed: Monday through Thursday, quiet hours start at 11 p.m.; on Friday and Saturday, they start at midnight; on Sunday it’s back to 11 p.m.

UM Law Clinic Meeting at The Annex

Friday morning in a second floor conference room in Washtenaw County’s Annex Building on Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor, MISSION board members, along with Washtenaw County commissioner Kristin Judge, received an update on legal issues that would be involved in land sponsorship of Camp Take Notice. University of Michigan law student Erika Jost, along with her advisor on the project, Southfield attorney Warren Dean, gave the background.

Jost identified the three kinds of entities for whom liability issues could arise: the land sponsor, MISSION, and the individual campers. The relationship between the land sponsor and MISSION, and between MISSION and the campers, would need to be defined legally, she said. It would be important, she noted, for the camp to have an enclosed area, with a single entrance and exit.

The kind of agreement Jost described to the group was a sub-licensing agreement as opposed to a lease agreement. Lease agreements, she noted, would bring along with them all of the associated landlord-tenant rules. Licensing is a way, she suggested, for keeping as much liability as possible off the land sponsor.

One issue that MISSION needed to be mindful of, Jost said, was how much control the camp exerted over the lives of individual campers and whether a “dependency relationship” was created between the camp and the individual campers. To the extent that a kind of institutionalized schedule was imposed, or services like job training or job searches were provided, liability could accrue to MISSION.

Peggy Lynch, who volunteers for MISSION, wondered if referrals by the camp to other community services would also have liability consequences. Jost didn’t think so. Judge noted that the community had job training and job search resources, and that it made sense to steer campers to places where that kind of service was already provided.

Jost also ticked through some other issues that should be part of a licensing agreement – there would be a certain amount of expected wear and tear on the land resulting from a moderate number of tents pitched there. In connection with land impact, Dean suggested that the potential environmental damage that a camp could cause to the land – in terms of actual pollution – was an issue unlikely to arise, but that should be addressed.

The group also discussed the issue of background checks for campers and possible screening. Jost said that from the point of view of the land sponsor, the less they know, the less liability they have. Robert Braun suggested that the basic screening out of people who simply wanted to party, versus those who were trying to get their life together, is an important consideration. Jost suggested that the issue might be addressed at the level of camp rules. Individuals not following the rules could be “ejected.” That meant, however, that the camp probably needs the ability to eject people, if necessary, not just from the camp area, but also from the land sponsor’s entire property.

That led to a discussion of the relationship between the camp and law enforcement officials who might be seeking individuals who live at the camp. The consensus seemed to emerge that from a practical point of view, the camp should not be supporting criminal behavior, and from a public relations point of view, it is important not to be perceived that way.

At the meeting, Judge gave an update on her efforts to identify potential land sponsors. She also indicated that transportation support for the camp might be found with the Western Washtenaw Area Value Express (WAVE). The camp is in the WAVE’s area of service and campers may qualify for door-to-door service.

In response to a query from Lily Au, Judge also gave a realistic assessment of the Washtenaw County budget in the coming year. She noted there were some board members who might support eliminating all of the $4 million that is currently budgeted for nonprofits, and even that kind of approach would not erase the currently projected $16 million deficit. The issue, she said, is which county services are mandated by the state and which are not.

Out of the roughly $100 million budget, Judge said, $66 million covers mandated services. Some of the non-mandated expenditures are still seen as essential she said, if they help reduce the costs of mandated services. As an example of an non-mandated, but still essential service, she cited JPORT, which is a program that provides mental health assistance to those in jail as well as in the community. Judge entertained the idea of including MISSION in the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, given its recently achieved nonprofit status.

As Keegan Cisowski knits, he pulls yarn from a metal trash can he's adapted to hold his skeins. (Photos by the writer.)

Last Thursday, The Chronicle spent part of the evening in the living room of Couzens Hall – with a couple dozen members of a knitting club: Scarves with a Purpose (SWAP). The purpose is to provide homeless people with scarves.

It’s an idea that club president, UM freshman Melanie Hebeisen, brought with her from her hometown in Northbrook, Illinois, near Chicago. Hebeisen and her mom started the concept in Northbrook, and that effort has spawned four other chapters, counting the UM club.

Why scarves? It’s a choice driven in part by the fact that new recruits to SWAP typically don’t know how to knit. They’re mostly like Kinnard Hokenhull, who saw one of the SWAP knitters in his dorm making a scarf, and figured he’d like to learn how. 

Kinnard Hockenhull, UM freshman, knits a scarf.

Once the initial set of stitches is cast onto a needle, most people can be taught the basics of knitting the same kind of row over and over again until enough length has accumulated to call it a scarf.

Achievement of a completed scarf is tracked by SWAP on a chart posted on the dorm’s wall – actual gold stars next to names. If there’s  any temptation to knit a scarf too short, in order to accelerate accumulation of gold stars, it can be held in check by the prevailing skill level in the group: Most of them need help to take the finished project off the needles without causing the whole thing to unravel.

That help comes from either Hebeisen or Elizabeth Kuiper, second in command of the club, and Hebeisen’s next-door neighbor at Couzens. Hebeisen had not originally planned to start a SWAP chapter at UM when she arrived on campus last fall. But when she discovered that her next-door neighbor was also a knitting enthusiast, that nudged her towards introducing the SWAP concept.

Another nudge came from the Michigan Community Scholars Program, one of 12 living/learning programs at the University of Michigan, which all fall under the umbrella of Michigan Learning Communities. The idea behind the learning communities is to tie together students with similar interests – like German language, or health sciences. For the Couzens Hall Community Scholars Program, the common interest is social justice.

Melanie Hebeisen, president of SWAP.

Associate director of  the Community Scholars Program, Wendy Woods, told The Chronicle in a telephone interview that the program tries to challenge students to think about ideas that have been successful in their hometowns that they might introduce at the university – which is essentially the path that Hebeisen took in starting a SWAP chapter at UM.

The UM SWAP chapter has enjoyed some financial support through a mini-grant from the Community Scholars Program – used for yarn and needles.

The SWAP knitters accumulate lots of 60 scarves before handing them off to a homeless shelter. Here in Ann Arbor, the main shelter is the Delonis Center on West Huron Street.

On Thursday night as the knitters recalled the trip to Delonis to drop off their scarves, they conceded that the experience was not as rewarding as they’d hoped. The staff at the shelter desk didn’t seem like they’d been apprised of the background to all the scarves. The students’ conclusion was that they needed to talk to Wendy Woods and David Schoem, director of the Community Scholars Program, about how to develop more of a relationship with Delonis.

Danielle Kostrzeba, UM senior in psychology.

Does the Delonis Center even need scarves? Absolutely, says Ellen Schulmeister, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, which operates the center. Reached by phone, Schulmeister said that the center hands out hats, gloves and scarves to people on a routine basis. Without the scarves from donors like SWAP, she said, the center would need to purchase scarves, or else the center might not have a scarf for someone who needed one.

The knitting sessions in the living room of Couzens have an educational component beyond increasing students’ knitting skill. On Thursday, SWAP knitter Michael Jacobson had found a short video clip online, illustrating the point that the prevailing stereotypical concept of a homeless person as an old man on the street doesn’t necessarily hold true. Women and children, Jacobson told his knitting colleagues, are actually more likely to end up in poverty. When the video clip concluded, Jacobson ended the silence by declaring, “Now we’re all sad. Keep knitting!”

Liz Kuiper (left) inspects the work of Michael Jacobson (right) and determines that it needs to be substantially unraveled for a fresh start.

The group knitting in the Couzens Hall living room also clearly serves a social purpose for the knitters. Senior UM student Danielle Kostrzeba, who’s also a resident advisor, called knitting together a stress reliever. Kostrzeba is a psychology major who’ll be graduating this spring and heading into a nursing program.

Next year, there will be no knitting in the Couzens Hall living room. Those $49 million in renovations that Tim Slottow described at the regents meeting will close the dorm for the year. The Community Scholars Program will be housed instead at East Quad.

Bethany Nagle (back to camera) shows the SWAP knitters some possible designs for club T-shirts for next year.

Finished scarves are tagged with a card that includes a description of the SWAP program and the name of the knitter.

Larry Kestenbaum, Washtenaw County clerk, listens to a public commentary speaker at Wednesday's meeting of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners. Kestenbaum presided over the meeting until the board elected its chair for the new year. Rolland Sizemore Jr. was re-elected unanimously to his second term as chair of the board.

The board loosened its rules regarding public commentary, discussed – but ultimately rejected – an attempt to change the flex account method for managing its own portion of the budget, and got an update on the search for a replacement for retiring county administrator Bob Guenzel.

A job posting will be made for that position on Monday, Jan. 11, with the possibility of making a new hire as early as Feb. 3.

The board also heard from an advocate for the homeless during public commentary, who urged the board to take more of a leadership role in addressing that issue.

Commission Leadership

Because it was the first meeting of the year, Larry Kestenbaum presided over the meeting until Rolland Sizemore was elected chair of the board. The county clerk chairs the year’s first meeting until a chair is elected.

By custom, the chair serves for two consecutive years. Rolland Sizemore Jr. was first elected as chair of the board a year ago – he was nominated again on Wednesday, prompting commissioner Conan Smith to ask, “Does he really want that job?” Sizemore was re-elected unanimously, followed by a round of applause from his colleagues.

Also re-elected unanimously: Mark Ouimet, board vice-chair; Conan Smith, chair of the Ways & Means Committee; Jessica Ping, chair of the working session; and Ken Schwartz, working session vice-chair.

The only dissenting vote cast during the elections was by Barbara Bergman, who voted against the re-election of Kristin Judge as vice-chair of the Ways & Means Committee. Bergman said that Judge had made a personal, unprovoked attack on her, and that it did not demonstrate leadership behavior. She did not elaborate. Judge was re-elected on an 9-1 vote (commissioner Ronnie Peterson was absent).

County Administrator Search

Rolland Sizemore Jr. gave an update on the search for a new county administrator. Bob Guenzel, who has served in that post since 1994, in December announced plans to retire in mid-May.

Sizemore said that he, Conan Smith and Jessica Ping met in mid-December to talk about a process. [The three commissioners hold the board's leadership positions: Sizemore is board chair; Smith is chair of the board's Ways & Means Committee; Ping chairs its working session.] The process set by that group – and approved by the board at Wednesday’s meeting – calls for the position to be posted online on Jan. 11, with candidate interviews to take place at the board’s Jan. 21 working session, which is open to the public.

There was some discussion about whether to update the job description, with a decision to handle via email this week any suggestions for change . [.pdf of current county administrator job description]

Ken Schwartz wondered whether the proposed timeline was too ambitious. But Wes Prater spoke about the need for urgency, given the budget situation. Even though they just passed the two-year budget last month, Prater said, they have a lot of work to do, including keeping an eye on revenue and adjusting the budget accordingly as the next two years unfold. Several others agreed that the process needed to move forward – a vote to approve the proposed timeline was unanimous.

Though anyone will be eligible to apply, the board is not conducting a broad search and it’s expected that there will be internal candidates for the job, including deputy county administrator Verna McDaniel. A vote on the new hire could happen as soon as the board’s Feb. 3 meeting.

Board Rules & Regulations

Approval of the board’s rules and regulations is an action item at the group’s first meeting of each year. This year, commissioner Jeff Irwin raised three issues.

Irwin proposed eliminating the requirement that public commentary for the Ways & Means Committee be related to an item on the agenda. This rule was imposed a year ago by the board, with Irwin and Rolland Sizemore Jr. dissenting. The Ways & Means Committee, on which the entire board serves, meets immediately prior to the regular board meeting. The meeting often lasts several hours.

From The Chronicle report of the Jan. 7, 2009 board meeting, when this rule was introduced:

Irwin said he thought people should be able to read the phone book for 5 minutes if they wanted to, though he’d prefer they didn’t. He said the board generally gets very few people at its public comment sessions, and that he didn’t want to restrict it in any way. “We need to keep our doors as open as possible.” He also noted that the Ways & Means Committee meeting can last for two hours or more before the board meeting begins, thus forcing someone to wait who wants to speak on a topic that’s not on the agenda.

In fact, a member of the public did read from the phone book in 2009, in protest of the rule. At the board’s Dec. 2, 2009 meeting, Janelle Baranowski spent part of her time during public commentary reading from the “Violins” category of the yellow pages. She urged commissioners to change the rule, saying that otherwise she’d attend each meeting and do the same thing. “It’s a mighty thick phone book, so please don’t make me go there,” she said at the time.

On Wednesday, the board unanimously approved Irwin’s motion to strike the following sentence from their rules and regulations:

E. Comments from the public during Citizen Participation shall be germane to items on the agenda or the commenter shall be ruled out of order.

However, his colleagues were much less supportive of another motion: To increase the time allotted to public commentary during the Ways & Means Committee meeting from three minutes to five minutes. [A year ago, commissioner Conan Smith had proposed limiting commentary at Ways & Means to three minutes per speaker, rather than five. Previously, citizens were allotted five minutes each at both Ways & Means and the regular board meeting – there are two opportunities to speak at each of those meetings. The board approved Smith's motion, with Irwin and Sizemore dissenting.]

On Wednesday, Irwin proposed increasing the time limit back to five minutes. However, his motion was not seconded and did not move forward to a vote.

Irwin then expressed some reservations about the commissioners’ flex accounts. During budget discussions in 2009, commissioners addressed their own compensation. From The Chronicle’s report on the board’s June 3, 2009 meeting:

The commissioners first considered a resolution to cut their own piece of the budget by 11.3%, and to create “flex accounts” that would pool previous line items for per diem, travel, and convention/conference expenses. The budget calls for $3,550 per commissioner for these flex accounts. The total budget for commissioners after the reduction is $532,885, an amount that includes salaries ($177,387), consultant fees ($55,150 for a lobbyist in Lansing), fringe benefits ($41,979) and an amount to cover administrative expenses (called the Cost Allocation Plan, at $143,462), among other things. The resolution also includes new guidelines for administering the flex accounts.

This resolution is the third iteration of an attempt to cut the commissioners’ budget, following two resolutions presented at the board’s May 20 meeting that did not receive sufficient support to pass. There was little discussion on the issue at Wednesday’s meeting.

Outcome: The motion carried, with Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn and Jeff Irwin voting against it.

[.pdf file of current rules and regulations relating to commissioner flex accounts]

On Wednesday, Irwin described the new flex accounts as “a Rube Goldberg kind of solution to a problem that didn’t exist,” and said he’d vote against the rules and regulations as a whole if the flex accounts remained in place.

Kristin Judge said the flex accounts mean that commissioners are more accountable for their spending than in the past, and that she plans to disclose her spending publicly. As an example, she said that previously there was no limit on the amount of per diems that commissioners could request. Now, their spending on per diems or other items can’t exceed $3,550, unless they get board approval for additional funds. If some commissioners have money in their account that they don’t spend, others can request to use those funds.

Wes Prater noted that the commissioners had done their part in reducing their portion of the budget. But Irwin responded by saying the amount of the budget wasn’t an issue – it was the methodology for managing it. Smith reasoned that the change simply added more flexibility, allowing commissioners to spend their allocated dollars based on their own priorities. He said they would receive quarterly reports throughout the year, and if the new system didn’t work, they could change it.

Agreeing with Irwin, Barbara Bergman moved to amend the rules to remove the following sections:

2. Should a Commissioner choose not to expend his/her full share, the balance will revert to a sub account of the CFA known as the ‘General Flex Account Fund” (GFAF), which may be used by other Commissioners once they have exceeded their allotted amount.

6. Commissioners must obtain majority Board approval to draw from the GFAF, once their allotments have been depleted.

The motion failed, with support from only four commissioners; Bergman, Irwin, Leah Gunn and Mark Ouimet.

The board then approved its rules and regulations, as amended, with Irwin and Smith dissenting.

[.pdf file of the complete board rules and regulations, as revised at Wednesday's meeting]

Items for Future Discussion

Several commissioners raised issues that they’d like to bring back for further discussion at future meetings.

Jason Brooks, seated, was praised at Wednesday's board of commissioners meeting by board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. for his work on behalf of the board. Brooks is deputy clerk, and is the official recordkeeper for the board. Behind him are commissioners Kristin Judge and Conan Smith.

Prater called for a look at the county’s internal financial controls. Given the budget situation – the county faces declining tax revenues and had to cut expenses to deal with a projected $30 million deficit in 2010 and 2011 – he said that having tight controls would be even more critical in the coming years. He clarified that he wasn’t saying there was anything wrong with the county’s current financial management.

Kristin Judge asked that the board have a discussion to set priorities. She also asked that the working sessions begin to include discussions about policy changes. Board rules dictate that policy changes be first introduced at working sessions, she said, adding that policy discussions aren’t typically initiated at those meetings, which often focus on staff reports.

Conan Smith said he’d like to examine the employee compensation structure, looking specifically at the equity between union and non-union compensation. He noted that this issue arose during the 2009 budget discussions.

Leah Gunn asked that they revisit the issue of getting the board out of the Money Purchase Pension Plan (MPPP). [Commissioners are the only county employees still participating in this defined contribution plan. Other county employees have been moved to the Washtenaw County Employees’ Retirement System, known as WCERS, a defined benefit plan.] A resolution to eliminate the county’s contribution for commissioners to the MPPP was pulled from the board’s Nov. 18, 2009 agenda, at Wes Prater’s request. Prater had asked that the item be moved to the board’s Jan. 20, 2010 meeting.

Several commissioners said they hope to discuss ways to reorganize county departments and services, in light of budget cuts. Also related to the budget, Mark Ouimet said they all needed to be sensitive to revenue projections in the coming months. It was important for both the current and future county administrators to track revenues closely and keep the board informed, he said, because that would set all of the board’s actions in motion. They need to be aware of what they can and can’t do, he said, based on county revenues.

Public Commentary

Two people spoke during the time set aside for public commentary.

Brian Nord: Speaking on behalf of the homeless advocacy group MISSION, Nord thanked civil rights attorney David Blanchard, University of Michigan law student Jen Coleman and the Michigan ACLU for their work on behalf of Caleb Poirier. Poirier – who is part of the local Camp Take Notice – had been arrested for trespassing on public property. Poirier had just been trying to survive, and his situation is the tip of the iceberg, Nord said. Though the county prosecutor dropped the charges against Poirier, Nord wondered how much money in general was being spent to prosecute the homeless. It’s indicative of a system with misplaced priorities, he said. Support from the public has been strong – people are ready to get “off their keesters” and take action, Nord said. The issue deserves a more coordinated community response, he said, and Nord urged commissioners to take a leadership role. Referring to the county’s Blueprint to End Homelessness, “if the blueprint is still our guide,” he concluded, “then it needs an architect and it needs a carpenter.”

Tom Partridge: Speaking during the two times allotted for public commentary, Partridge identified himself as a Democrat and a potential candidate for elected office in 2010. He urged commissioners to start making substantive reforms, including an expansion of the board and the creation of positions that are elected on a countywide basis, rather than within specific districts within the county. He said the board’s chair and vice-chair should be elected to those positions by voters, not by the board. And reflecting on the fact that no county or city leaders had appeared recently on any of the three major TV network’s weekend public interest programs, Partridge said that showed there was a lack of leadership among local officials. Regarding the search for a new county administrator, Partridge said the person should be hired on a contract basis, with the goal of making that job an elected one, as it is in nearby counties. As he often does, Partridge called for an expansion of countywide and regional transportation, health insurance, lifelong education, affordable housing and aid for the homeless.

Response to Public Commentary

Commissioner Jeff Irwin thanked Brian Nord for his comments on the plight of the homeless, and said he was glad that county prosecutor Brian Mackie had used his authority to drop charges against Poirier. Irwin said he agreed with Nord about the use of resources – he noted that county administrator Bob Guenzel had worked hard on the Blueprint to End Homelessness and on the building of the Delonis Center, a homeless shelter, but said there are now more people in need than there are resources to help them. The community needs to come together, Irwin concluded, and that can only happen if people like Nord speak out.

Larry Kestenbaum, Washtenaw County clerk, was presiding over the meeting during Partridge’s first public commentary turn. Kestenbaum clarified that the board did not have the authority to make the kind of changes that Partridge suggested, in terms of expanding the board and changing the way that members were elected. State law requires that an apportionment committee look at the composition of the board every 10 years – that process will likely begin in 2011, Kestenbaum said.

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn, Jeff Irwin, Kristin Judge, Mark Ouimet, Jessica Ping, Wes Prater, Ken Schwartz, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Conan Smith

Absent: Ronnie Peterson

Next board meeting: The next regular meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 220 N. Main St. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting. No advance sign-up is required.

The board also got an update on the 2009 budget, made appointments to more than a dozen commissions and committees, and approved emergency funding to help provide shelter for the homeless during the winter months. Details on these and other agenda items after the break.

2009 Budget Update

County administrator Bob Guenzel had prepared a PowerPoint presentation to give commissioners an update on the 2009 budget. But when he asked whether they wanted the short or long version of the report, several called out, “Short!” – as a result, his remarks were brief and did not include the formal presentation.

First, some background: In early 2009, Guenzel had projected a $3.3 million deficit for this year’s $103.7 million general fund budget, in addition to a significantly larger deficit for 2010 and 2011. In June, he made recommendations to the board for a first phase of cuts and other strategies to address the deficit through 2011. [See June 3, 2009 Chronicle coverage: "Opening Up the County Budget"]

At Wednesday’s board meeting, Guenzel credited the early implementation of those first-phase cuts for eliminating the deficit in 2009. He also cited cost-cutting efforts by the sheriff and the county courts. Sheriff Jerry Clayton, for example, reduced his department’s budget by about $500,000 this year. In addition, the county’s Community Support and Treatment Services (CSTS) department, working with the Washtenaw Community Health Organization, was able to eliminate $1.5 million from its budget this year, through early implementation of  2010/2011 cuts.

Additionally, among the budgeted 2009 expenditures that weren’t made during the year were $100,000 for north/south commuter rail  (WALLY) and $600,000 that had been set aside for the jail expansion.

Guenzel said that by the second quarter of 2009, he had anticipated a general fund surplus of $250,000 for the year. However, as of Sept. 30 – the end of the third quarter – the county’s 2009 surplus is projected to be $300,284. He’ll report on the final outcome of the 2009 budget in early 2010.

2010-2011 Budget

County administrator Bob Guenzel had requested that commissioners pass the budget on Nov. 18 both at their  Ways & Means Committee meeting and at the regular board meeting that same night. However, the board voted on it only in Ways & Means, a committee on which all commissioners serve. They are expected to take a final vote at their Dec. 2 board meeting. Given that there were several amendments made on the same day as their meeting, some commissioners said didn’t feel comfortable making a final vote until they had time to thoroughly review the finished version of the document. [.PDF file of proposed 2010/2011 budget, with revisions noted]

2010/2011 Proposed Budget

Commissioners asked several clarification questions, but otherwise spent most of the time in their budget discussion thanking the county staff for its hard work, and praising county employees – both unions and non-union employees – for making sacrifices to deal with what had been a projected $30 million deficit over two years. Jennifer Watson, the county’s budget manager, was given special recognition by several commissioners for her patience in responding to their requests for information.

Several commissioners noted that the deficit had been eliminated without massive layoffs – the budget calls for a net loss of fewer than 20 jobs. But they also expressed concern for the next budget cycle, saying that the worst wasn’t likely over. Property tax revenues are expected to continue to fall – the general fund budget of $103.7 million is anticipated to drop to $99 million in 2010 and $98.5 million in 2011.

In addition to the general fund budget, the board voted on two other budget-related resolutions: Changes to compensation for non-union employees, and authorization to negotiate a new agreement with the county courts.

Changes to Compensation and Benefits for Non-Union Employees

This summer, county administrator Bob Guenzel proposed pay cuts and changes in medical benefits for non-union employees in 2010 and 2011, including a 3% salary cut in 2010 and a 2% cut in 2011. The cuts were estimated to save about $2.3 million over the two-year period and affect nearly 300 of the county’s 1,350 employees. [See previous Chronicle coverage: "Opening Up the County Budget" and "Pizza, Payroll and Budget Pain"]

Later in the year, the county negotiated concessions with 11 of the 17 bargaining units for labor unions representing the majority of county workers. Members of five AFSCME units – the largest union of county employees, representing about 650 workers – ratified an agreement in early October. Additional details from The Chronicle’s coverage in October:

Workers represented by AFSCME will forgo a planned 3% pay raise in 2010 and agreed to no raise in 2011. In addition, they agreed to eight “banked” days in 2010 and another eight in 2011. These are unpaid days that each year are a combination of four predetermined dates selected by the administration, and four “floating” days, arranged between the employee and supervisor. They differ from furlough days primarily in the way that the county distributes the pay cuts associated with the unpaid time off, spreading the cuts over 26 pay periods. Each employee’s bi-weekly paycheck will be reduced by about three hours of pay for full-time workers throughout the year.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board approved a change in the compensation for non-union workers, with an intent to more closely align them with the compensation of unionized employees. Instead of pay cuts, non-union employees will have a wage freeze. Non-union workers now will also have eight furlough days per year – similar to the banked days for union workers – and will forego merit pay. [AFSCME workers continue to receive so-called step increases as well as increases based on longevity on the job.]

According to a cover memo accompanying the board resolution, the proposed changes in non-union compensation – which commissioners ultimately approved – represent 91% of the originally projected savings. The remaining 9% – about $324,000 over two years – will be achieved through attrition of non-union jobs.

Terminating the Memo of Understanding between Washtenaw County and Its Courts

With no discussion, the board also approved authorizing Guenzel to send a notice to the 22nd Circuit Court, 14a District Court and Washtenaw County Probate Court, ending a Memorandum of Understanding that governs the relationship between the courts and the county related to the budget, personnel and other issues. The current memorandum went into effect in January 2004. [.PDF of 2004 Memorandum of Understanding]

The county is responsible for funding these three courts, which are otherwise autonomous. From a cover memo accompanying the Nov. 18 resolution that commissioners passed:

At the most recent meeting of County Administration and the Courts to discuss budget issues, the County Administrator notified the Courts that he would ask the Board of Commissioners to terminate the Agreement by giving the one year’s written notice required under the Memorandum of Understanding. It is important to note that the Courts did not object to the County’s termination of the Memorandum of Understanding, and, in fact, stated that they looked forward to renegotiating a new Agreement with the County during the one-year termination notice period. … This will give the County and the Courts a full year to renegotiate a new Agreement which is more germane to the current economic climate.

The general fund budget that is expected to be given final approval by commissioners on Dec. 2 specifies a combined budget for the courts of $13,003,383 in 2010 and $13,191,513 in 2011.

Funds for the Homeless

At Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners were asked to appropriate $250,000 from funding already earmarked in the 2009 budget for supportive housing services. Of that, $175,000 will be used for an emergency response to increasing demand for service for the homeless during the winter months.

Commissioner Ken Schwartz asked Mary Jo Callan, head of the county-city community development department, to explain how that funding would be used. In response, Callan gave some data on some indicators of the economy. The September 2009 unemployment rate is 9.3%, and more people are living in poverty. At least 1,200 residents were evicted in Washtenaw County last year – and that’s probably a low estimate, she said. Food Gatherers has reported a 35% increase in demand for food since last October, and the Humane Society of Huron Valley has seen a 50% increase in the number of people surrendering their pets because they can’t afford to pay for food and care.

In general, there is a huge demand for services, Callan said, including need from people who’ve exhausted all of their other options. The $175,000 in emergency funding won’t solve these problems, Callan said, but it will provide supportive housing to 10 homeless families – “starting tomorrow, if this is approved.”

For 12 months, each of the 10 vouchers will cover a $900 subsidy for rent and utilities, in partnership with Avalon Housing and other agencies. Families will be asked to contribute 30% of their income as well. The remaining money will pay for supportive services to the families, which might include access to job training and mental health services, depending on the needs of each family.

Callan said that while $17,500 per family sounded like a lot, it was an investment in preventing a downward spiral that could lead to demand for other government-funded services, like incarceration or emergency hospitalization.

Schwartz said that $175,000 could provide housing for a lot of people who’ll be on the street this winter, rather than support just a few families for a year. It was unsustainable, he said, to expect the county to take care of families at that cost.

Callan replied saying that this was just one part of a broader initiative, partnering with the city and the Downtown Development Authority. [Earlier this month, the DDA approved $20,000 in funding for the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and Interfaith Hospitality Network. The city approved $159,500. The funds will help pay for beds and case management plus staff support for 25 additional beds at the Delonis Center, 25 additional beds in the rotating shelter program, and housing vouchers for eight families. See Chronicle coverage: "Support for the Homeless Shelter" and "DDA Buys Shelter Beds"]

Callan pointed out that the situation was especially dire for families that are homeless. There’s not a facility that can be temporarily expanded to house families, she said. To create a shelter to house families during the winter months would cost the same as using housing vouchers and providing supportive services for an entire year, she said. The latter alternative maximizes stability and dignity, she said.

Several commissioners voiced support for the funding – and in fact, it later passed unanimously as part of the board’s consent agenda. [.PDF file of resolution and cover memo] But some expressed caution as well. Wes Prater said the county needs to do more planning to handle a situation that’s only going to get worse. “Before this winter’s over, we’re going to see something that we’ve never seen in our lifetime,” he said, noting that the weather in November had been mild, thankfully, but that won’t last. “We’re going to have a really really bad time.”

Ronnie Peterson said that this wouldn’t be a short-term crisis – he believes it will be another three or four years before things bottom out in the economy. He wanted to make sure the county tracked the effectiveness of the programs that are intended to help lift people out of homelessness.

Callan said that the staff is requiring people who receive help from these funds to report what happens in their lives, following this assistance. She said the current effort is a humanitarian response to a crisis situation, and that it’s part of a broader initiative to deal with the underlying causes of homelessness. [See .PDF file of county report: "Blueprint to End Homelessness"]

Appointments

Every year at about this time, the board chair nominates people to fill openings on more than a dozen county committees, boards and commissions. Typically, the board of commissioners holds a caucus at a separate meeting prior to the vote, to discuss the nominations. This year, that caucus was scheduled for Nov. 11, but was canceled.

During Wednesday’s meeting, board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. read aloud the names of his nominations. Not citing a reason, Conan Smith asked that the vote on the Accommodations Ordinance Commission be postponed. In addition, Sizemore did not make nominations for the Community Action Board or the Workforce Development Board, deferring those until the Dec. 2 board meeting.

Sizemore made the following nominations, which the board approved unanimously without discussion:

• 800 Mhz Project Oversight Committee: Paul Bunten, Alan D’Agostino, Jerry Zapolnik
• Agricultural Lands Preservation Advisory Committee: Julie Frost
• Area Agency on Aging Executive Board: Thomas Miree
• Brownfield Redevelopment Authority: James Harless, Suzanne Heiney
• Building Authority: Edward Goldman
• Citizen’s Advisory Council for the Juvenile Drug Court: John Palladino
• Criminal Justice Community Collaborative: Steven Copeland
• Economic Development Corp.: Michael Simon
• Emergency Medical Service Commission: Shoshana DeMaria, Robert Domeier, Ed Dreslinski, Thomas Ensign, Rick Erickson, Richard Fleece, Peter Forster, Ron Mann, Frederick Model, Corey Nygaard, Roger Simpson, John Steinke, Jerry Zapolnik
• Environmental Health Code Appeals Board/Public Health Advisory Committee: Kathleen Fojtik Stroud
• Local Emergency Planning Committee: Rebecca Benedict, Pat Ivey and Sandra Lopez
• Natural Areas Technical Advisory Committee: John Russell
• Parks & Recreation Commission: Janice Anschuetz, Jimmie Maggardrt and Robert Marans
• Public Works Board: James Dries and Eugene Glysson

Apportionment Report

In April, Raman Patel, the county’s equalization director, gave an annual report to the board describing the county’s total equalized (assessed) value of property. That report is crucial because it gives an indication of how much revenue the county will receive from property taxes. [See Chronicle coverage: "Washtenaw County: Equalize This"]

This chart, included in the county's apportionment report, shows how property taxes are administered in Michigan. (Image links to larger file.)

On Wednesday, the equalization and property description department was back, this time with its apportionment report, which gives details of the 2009 taxable valuations for property in the county, by municipality. The report also includes the amount of millages levied and the dollar amounts collected in taxes. [.PDF file of 2009 apportionment report]

Patel couldn’t make the meeting and Dick Steffens, a management analyst in the department, was on hand for questions. Aside from a clarification question from Wes Prater, the only other commissioner to query Steffens was Kristin Judge, who wanted to know what property values might look like for the next tax cycle. She said she was assuming values would be lower.

Steffens paused, indicating he was hesitant to prognosticate. “If I make a comment,” he quipped, “my boss will kill me.”

Accomodation Tax

As part of its consent agenda, the board approved a new five-year agreement with the Ann Arbor Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Ypsilanti Convention & Visitors Bureau, from 2010 through 2014. The agreement will increase the county’s share of the accommodation tax revenues from 5% to 10%. The county collects a 5% room tax from local hotels.

The additional revenue coming to the county will be used by the county treasurer to help administer and enforce the accommodations tax ordinance. [See Chronicle coverage in the report of the Nov. 11 administrative briefing.]

Curtis Hedger, the county’s corporation counsel, said that the contracts provided to commissioners as part of the Nov. 18 agenda were not the final versions. He plans to provide those by the next board meeting. There will be only minor changes, he said. For example, the contracts currently call for a six-month termination clause, and the bureaus are requesting a year.

Though the leaders from both bureaus – Mary Kerr of the Ann Arbor CVB and Debbie Locke-Daniel of the Ypsilanti CVB – attended Wednesday’s meeting, they did not make a presentation to the board.

Items Pulled from the Agenda

Two items originally on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting were pulled: a vote on eliminating the county’s contribution to the Money Purchase Pension Plan (MPPP) for commissioners, and a presentation by Sheriff Jerry Clayton.

Money Purchase Pension Plan

Background: Over the years last year, retirement benefits for most county employees have been shifted from the MPPP, a defined contribution plan, to the Washtenaw County Employees’ Retirement System, known as WCERS, which is a defined benefit plan. In defined benefit plans, retirees receive a set amount per month during their retirement. In defined contribution plans, employers pay a set amount into the retirement plan while a person is employed. The most common of these defined benefit contribution plans is the 401(k).

The county hopes to eliminate the MPPP completely. Commissioners are the only current county participants, contributing 7.5% of their salary on a pre-tax basis and receiving a 100% employer match. The county also contributes to a voluntary employee beneficiary association (VEBA) on behalf of each commissioner.

At Wednesday’s meeting, commissioner Wes Prater asked that the MPPP resolution be removed from the consent agenda – he then asked that it be postponed to the second board meeting in January. He noted that since the change wouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2011, there wasn’t any rush. [By law, commissioners can't change their salary and benefits during the middle of their terms. Elections will be held in November 2010, with new terms beginning in January 2011.]

The motion to postpone the item passed, with dissent from commissioners Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn and Jeff Irwin.

Recommendation of Policy for Adding Deputies

Sheriff Jerry Clayton had been expected to make a presentation related to adding contract deputies that would be paid for by Scio Township. [See Chronicle coverage: "Sheriff Suggests Way to Add Deputies in Scio"] However, that item was pulled from Wednesday’s agenda, and Clayton did not attend the meeting.

Misc. Commissioner Communications

During the section of the meeting set aside for items of current and future discussion, commissioner Kristin Judge said she’d like to have a working session on Thursday, Dec. 3 related to budget issues. Though they’ll be finalizing the 2010/2011 budget soon, next year would be a working year, she said, and she’d like the board to be more proactive in giving the administration more guidance about the board’s priorities. Judge mentioned a retreat that the board held in April, but noted that they didn’t emerge from that half-day meeting with any specifics. [See Chronicle coverage: "Budget retreat focuses on broad goals, not specific cuts"]

Commissioner Ken Schwartz said that he generally agreed with the need to be proactive, and said he’d also like to focus on maximizing revenues from federal programs, so that the county can deliver housing and other services using federal funds.

Commissioner Jessica Ping, who chairs the board’s working sessions, said she’d look at the schedule and see what dates were available to put that topic on the agenda. Conan Smith reminded Rolland Sizemore Jr. that Sizemore had talked about holding another board retreat. Sizemore joked that they should move it to Florida.

Public Commentary

Rick Monier: Identifying himself as a resident of Dexter Township, Monier said he objected to the county’s 800 megahertz tower being constructed on the former Chelsea landfill in Lyndon Township. Many people had spoken out against building the tower on that site, he said, but it was moving ahead anyway. It made more sense to put the equipment on an existing tower, rather than build a new one, he said.

During the time set aside for commissioners to respond to public comment, Mark Ouimet, who represents that area on the county’s west side, said he’d been to several meetings regarding the new tower, and had hoped to reach an agreement to address residents’ concerns. He said he was disappointed that hadn’t happened. “It’s a shame that it’s gotten to this point, because it has been very frustrating to the folks who live around that tower,” Ouimet said.

The 800 megahertz project, funded by a millage that passed in 2006, is building a countywide communications network that will allow police, fire, and EMS agencies – as well as organizations like the Washtenaw County Road Commission and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority – to communicate via one system.

Thomas Partridge: Partridge, a resident of Scio Township, spoke during all four available times for public comment. He said the board needed to take steps to make the boardroom more accessible for people using walkers or wheelchairs who might want to speak during public commentary. He also asked the board to postpone the vote on the budget until at least the third week in December, saying that they needed to give it greater thought. The proposed cutbacks, he said, would imperil local residents. Partridge also noted that on this same evening, the board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority was discussing plans to expand public transit service countywide [See Chronicle coverage: "AATA Adopts Vision: Countywide Service"]. He said that residents would get better service if public transportation were handled by a department of the county government, not a separate agency.

Janelle Baranowski: Speaking after the second public commentary by Thomas Partridge, at the end of the Ways & Means Committee meeting, Baranowski began by saying that she wanted every commissioner to look at her while she spoke. She criticized them for treating Partridge with disrespect, noting that some of the commissioners were talking with each other during his public commentary. Commissioners are elected by the citizens, she concluded, and those citizens deserve their respect. [Baranowski has applied for the Community Action Board and the Workforce Development Board. As reported earlier in this article, when board chair Rolland Sizemore Jr. announced his appointments during the board meeting, he postponed action on those two boards, saying that he'll announced those appointments at the Dec. 2 meeting.]

Present: Barbara Levin Bergman, Leah Gunn, Jeff Irwin, Kristin Judge, Mark Ouimet, Ronnie Peterson, Jessica Ping, Wes Prater, Ken Schwartz, Rolland Sizemore Jr., Conan Smith

Next board meeting: Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 220 N. Main St. The Ways & Means Committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [confirm date] (Though the agenda states that the regular board meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., it usually starts much later – times vary depending on what’s on the agenda.) Public comment sessions are held at the beginning and end of each meeting.

Left to right: Brian Nord and Caleb Poirier (back to camera), who are both advocates for Camp Take Notice, a self-governed encampment of homeless people. Also Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Mayor John Hieftje. (Photo by the writer.)

Ann Arbor City Council meeting (Nov. 5, 2009): Meeting on Thursday due to the elections, instead of in its usual Monday slot, Ann Arbor’s city council moved ahead on two major initiatives that will eventually have a significant impact on Ann Arbor residents.

The council approved a memorandum of understanding with the University of Michigan to move forward on joint development of the Fuller Road Station, which offers the university an alternative to construction of a parking deck on Wall Street. The first phase of the project is anticipated to be completed in mid-June 2012.

Also given a green light was a conversion to single-stream recycling – a single cart will be distributed to residents to replace the twin totes currently used for curbside pickup. The new carts will be rolled out in June 2010.

A more immediate impact will be made by a council decision to allocate a combined $159,500 to the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and the Interfaith Hospitality Network – the funds will increase the sheltering capacity by 50 spots for individuals through the winter, starting Dec. 1, and provide housing vouchers for eight families for a year.

In other business, the council approved an agreement with Pittsfield Township and a deed restriction regarding the airport property, and approved the consolidation of the city of Ann Arbor’s master plans. In a special meeting held just before the regular meeting, the council went into closed session to review the performance of the city attorney and the city administrator. The outcome of that review was to accept the offer from both of them to maintain the same base salary they currently earn, without the one-time bonus they’ve been given the past few years.

Councilmembers also bid farewell to Leigh Greden (Ward 3), who was attending his final meeting after a narrow, 6-vote  defeat in the August Democratic primary by Stephen Kunselman. Kunselman was unopposed on the November ballot.

Support for the Homeless Shelter

The council considered a resolution that awarded a $30,500 contract with the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and a $129,000 contract with Interfaith Hospitality Network. The money was to provide case management and staff support for 25 additional beds at the Delonis Center and 25 additional beds in the rotating shelter program, as well as housing vouchers for eight families.

The council had received a presentation on the homelessness crisis at its Oct. 19 meeting from Mary Jo Callan, who is head of the county/city community development department. She had alerted them to the likelihood that a funding request would be coming to them at a subsequent meeting. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Increased homeless sheltering effort needs volunteers"]

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, at its Nov. 4 meeting, had authorized $20,000 to cover the “hard costs” – i.e., the actual beds – in connection with this initiative, which is seen as a short-term solution in the face of approaching winter weather.

During public commentary reserved time at the start of city council’s meeting, two people spoke in support of the funding. Brian Nord, an advocate for a self-governed homeless encampment called Camp Take Notice, expressed his support for the short-term measure to be considered by the council, but asked, “What about the long-term tomorrow?” He indicated that he’d be working to help the people out there that he knew would still be out there – in tent communities or under bridges – to find a “warm, flat place to lie down.”

Seth Best introduced himself as a former resident of the Delonis Center for part of last year. With winter approaching, he said, the funding that council was being asked to authorize was important – he’d spent last winter in the cold because there was no room for him at the Delonis Center, he said.

Council deliberations

Council deliberations began with Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who co-sponsored the resolution with her Ward 1 colleague, Sabra Briere, and Mayor John Hiefte. She clarified the dollar amount, amending the language to reflect a total appropriation from the housing fund balance of $159,500 throughout the resolution.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) said that to her, the amount seemed like a drop in the bucket. “What else are we doing?” she wanted to know. Mary Jo Callan allowed that it was a drop, but pointed out that it was one piece of the whole strategy of intervention. She said that a large part of that strategy was preventing homelessness in the first place, through the mortgage foreclosure prevention program. She also said that there was around $800,000 available through the HPRR (Homelessness Prevention & Rapid Rehousing) program, which would be used to help keep people in their homes.

Higgins pressed Callan: “What about people who are already homeless?” Higgins suggested it was time to start looking at things differently. “It’s time to start to look outside the box.”  She suggested exploring partnerships that might not be “normal partnerships.”

Hieftje reiterated some of the background for the resolution that council was considering – it’d come about from a working group that had met several times beginning in August. That group included Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Ellen Schulmeister (director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County), Susan Pollay (executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority), Jennifer L. Hall (housing program coordinator in community development), Andrea Plevek (human services analyst), Deb Pippins (program administrator for the Homeless Project Outreach Team, or HPORT), and Hieftje.

Hieftje also drew the distinction between “affordable housing” (units that have low enough rents to make them accessible to low-income people) and “supportive housing” (units that come with case management services to support people who have more challenges, in addition to limited funds).

Briere observed that government is not here to solve all problems, but that it is able to focus on a crisis.  Briere’s remarks could be seen as a response to the frequent criticism that the city has yet to replace the 100 units of affordable housing that were lost when the old YMCA at Fifth and William streets was demolished.  It’s not good enough for many people, she said, that the city had maintained 219 units of affordable housing and constructed 60 additional units. But, she said, “It’s never good enough.” The council needed to find ways to diminish need, she said.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved the emergency funding to increase sheltering capacity for individuals and provide housing vouchers for families.

Single-Stream Recycling

After hearing a presentation at a recent work session about single-stream recycling, the council considered a resolution that approved $3.25 million for an upgrade to the city’s material recovery facility (MRF) and  $102,950 in consulting fees for Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) to implement single-stream recycling. The program would provide residents with a single cart to replace the two totes currently used for curbside collection – one for paper goods and the other for containers. It also includes an incentive program that rewards people for putting out their recycling cart for pickup. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Work Session: Trains, Trash, and Taxes"]

Public comment on single-stream recycling

Kevin Bolon: A Ph.D student at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, Bolon spoke against the move to single-stream recycling. He reported that he’d spoken with representatives of Westland, a community where single-stream recycling had been implemented, and had not been impressed with the technical capabilities. Ultimately, they have people who do the sorting, with the aid of magnets and electrical currents, he said. He expressed concern that the quality of the recycled goods would suffer and affect the price that the MRF could get for them, citing as an example that office paper from UM could be spoiled and degraded in value.

Bolon expressed skepticism that the barrier to Ann Arborites diverting more of their waste stream away from the landfill was really the need to put their recyclables into two different containers. He questioned whether the ability to implement a reward system was dependent on a single-stream approach. He suggested that a reward system could function based on alternating weekly pickups for containers and paper.

Council deliberations on single-stream recycling

During council deliberations, Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) asked the city’s solid waste coordinator, Tom McMurtrie how confident he was that recycling rates would increase in a single-stream system. McMurtie said that moving to a single-stream system would be accompanied by the ability to process more kinds of materials – almost all types of plastics, with the exception of #3 tubs. What would really boost the recycling numbers, however, was the incentive program, McMurtrie said.

Jim Frey of RRS told the council that average annual weights were now around 400 pounds per household and that in 25 other communities where systems were in place that are similar to the one Ann Arbor was seeking to implement, the per-household figure ranged between 700-1,200 pounds. Hohnke noted that Ann Arbor had a “proud tradition” of being ahead of the curve in the area of recycling, so he asked if the 25 comparable communities included any that had a long tradition of recycling like Ann Arbor. Frey’s answer: Yes. Ann Arbor’s recycling rate was great, he said, but it could be higher.

Hohnke then asked if it was possible to achieve the increased recycling rates without investing in infrastructure upgrades at the MRF: Why can’t we just mix the streams and process the material with the current MRF capabilities? Answer: The anticipated increased volume, together with the mixed stream material, would require better automated sorting equipment. Frey also noted that no other communities are trying to implement a rewards program with a two-tote system.

Hohnke then declared his support for the program, saying it was a small step forward. He contended that it would make lives easier because it wouldn’t be necessary to separate the materials at the household level.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) reported over 100 emails on the topic from constituents with only about 5 of those against it. Those opposing the initiative, she said, were concerned about the degradation of paper quality that could result in diminished sale value of the paper. McMurtrie addressed Smith’s concern by saying that technology has evolved significantly in the last 10-15 years, which allowed the achievement of a 5% residual rate.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) asked about a concern that #7 plastics aren’t actually worth very much, and wasn’t it better to discourage the creation of them. She wanted to know what would happen to the new kind of  plastics that would now be accepted. McMurtrie explained that it was, of course, always their wish to reduce the amount of waste, but they needed to deal with it once it’s there. Frey reported that there is an emerging market for the material and that it was actually worth more per ton than paper.

Briere asked McMurtrie to address complaints about the carts: (i) storage space is a problem, with some households now expected to make room for a garbage cart, a yard waste cart, and a recycling cart; and (ii) they’re too heavy and unwieldy for some people to manage. McMurtrie said he recognized that there could be space constraints.

Mayor John Hieftje got confirmation from McMurtrie that the blue automated carts that had been rolled out a few years ago for trash collection had, in fact, reduced costs. An apparent increase in cost was due to the increased capital expense incurred on initial investment in the program.

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) asked how the proposed system would affect personnel. Answer: At the MRF, the increased volume would be handled through improvements in automated equipment, so that more material would be processed with about the same number of people. On the collection side, he said, there would be savings in the form of the elimination of one route out of seven.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) asked for clarification on the rewards program. McMurtrie compared it to a frequent-flyer program – people got points for putting out their carts and credit for the weight collected on the whole route. In other communities, the average annual reward was worth around $240, with a maximum of a little over $500.

The new carts will be available in June/July 2010. The old totes can be recycled.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the contracts necessary to implement a single-stream recycling program.

Fuller Road Station

The council considered two resolutions related to the Fuller Road Station, a project that was presented at its recent work session, and for which the council had already authorized a contract with the firm JJR for $541,717. Of that original contract, the University of Michigan’s share had been $327,733.   [Previous Chronicle coverage: "UM helps start analysis phase for Fuller Road transit station" and "Work Session: Trains, Trash, and Taxes"]. Formerly known as FITS (Fuller Intermodal Transit Station), the project has been divided into two phases.

Fuller Road Station Phase One (Image links to higher resolution .pdf file)

The first phase of the project will include a bus transit center with covered passenger boarding areas and an indoor waiting area, a parking structure for 1,020 vehicles, covered bicycle hoops and lockers. Phase One will also include on-grade parking for an additional 50 vehicles, and infrastructure to support a possible future bicycle station. If built, Phase Two would include a train station.

One council resolution added $111,228 to the professional services agreement with JJR, while the other was a memorandum of understanding with the University of Michigan outlining how the partnership would work.

Some key points from that memorandum:

• The funding burden will be proportionate to the allocation of spaces: 78% for UM, 22% for the city of Ann Arbor.
• The December 20, 1999 agreement between the city and the university on the Forest and Willard parking structure, which was a joint city-university project, will be a model for the yet-to-be negotiated parking agreement for Fuller Station.
• An agreement by UM to suspend Wall Street as presently authorized and programmed is baked into the memorandum.
• Phase One is intended to be ready for use by June 15, 2012.

Public comment reserved time included a rendition by Libby Hunter of lyrics set to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” which was critical of the Fuller Road Station as merely a UM parking structure.

Council deliberations

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) described the memorandum as the next step moving forward, specifying “who brings what to the table.” Sabra Briere (Ward 1) said she supported the shared vision of the city and the university, and was pleased by the collaboration on solutions to traffic and congestion.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1) wanted clarification on how much the memorandum bound the two parties. Specifically, she wanted to know whether it was the city’s or the university’s policies that would prevail with respect to issues like the required public participation, the living wage, and the Percent for Art program. Jim Kosteva, the university’s director of community relations, was on hand to give an unambiguous answer: “This is a city project on city-owned land.”

Fuller Road Station Phase Two (Image links to higher resolution .pdf file)

Smith also reiterated a concern she’d expressed previously that the design of the Fuller Road Station be “significant.”  Her remarks connected to a sentiment expressed by Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) that the station would be a new welcome center for the city.

Mayor John Hieftje elicited from Eli Cooper, the city’s transportation program manager, a description of a “bicycle station,” which could be a part of Phase Two, if it is built. Cooper explained that such a facility would include indoor, monitored storage, lockers, and showers.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) inquired of Cooper what his confidence level was about trains ever running along that route and the construction of Phase Two. She noted that he’d been hesitant to commit at the council’s work session. Was he just being careful, or was it something else, she wondered. Cooper allowed that he preferred to be careful.

He did note, however, that SEMCOG (the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments) still planned to have demonstration east-west rail service up and running by October 2010. Cooper also said that the level of excitement and enthusiasm at the federal level when Phase I is complete would likely increase. Ann Arbor, he reminded the council, was the second-busiest Amtrak station between Chicago and Detroit (after Chicago), but he didn’t want to oversell it.

Derezinksi alluded to the fact that the Fuller Road Station is part of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for establishment of a high-speed rail corridor. If the Detroit-Chicago corridor is chosen as a high-speed rail corridor, Cooper said, then there would be federal dollars available for improvements needed for the dedicated track.

Derezinski  wanted to know how the station would connect to downtown. Cooper said that in the short term, there would be AATA buses available to provide the service. In the future, the Fuller Road Station reflected a possible opportunity to connect a regional system to a high-capacity local system – in the form of the north-south connector, which is currently being studied in a four-way collaboration among the city of Ann Arbor, UM, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, and the Ann Arbor DDA.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) and Briere both expressed concern about automobile access to the station. Cooper assured Higgins that during construction and undertaking of the improvements to the Fuller-Maiden Lane intersection, traffic would continue to flow. It’s not clear that Higgins was completely convinced that access would be easy: “That doesn’t give me a lot of confidence,” she said. Cooper replied that he heard her concern “loud and clear.”

Briere’s worry was for the section of Fuller Road east of the VA hospital – it narrows from that point eastward. Cooper said that improvements at the Geddes-US-23 and Geddes-Earhardt intersections, as well as the synchronization of signals, should allow the existing system to accommodate demand.

Outcome: Both resolutions in support of the Fuller Road Station passed unanimously.

Argo Dam Attorney Fees

An item on the consent agenda authorized payment of $38,000 to pay the law firm Bodman LLP for representing the city in a contested case dispute with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The item was separated out from the consent agenda at the request of Leigh Greden (Ward 3), on behalf of Margie Teall (Ward 4), who had not arrived to the meeting by the time the consent agenda was considered.  [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Still No Dam Decision" and "Finally a Dam Decision on Argo?"]

After brief discussion of when to slot it into the agenda so that Teall could address it when she arrived, Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) suggested that the proper mechanism would be to lay the item on the table and then, at some point after Teall’s arrival, take it off the table and consider it. [Editorial note: From a parliamentary point of view, this is a classic application of a tabling motion – unlike the arguably inappropriate application of such a motion at the council's previous meeting. At that meeting, the motion to table the resolution to repair the Argo Dam toe drains stemmed not from a desire to deal with other matters first, but rather from a desire to avoid voting on the resolution.]

Later in the meeting after Teall arrived, she got clarification that the money for the attorney fees would be paid out of the fund that pays for maintenance and operation of the city’s dams – the water fund. Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) asked where the money in the fund came from. City administrator Roger Fraser explained that it came from the sale of water – that is, from residents’ water bills.

Fraser indicated that while there’d been discussion of putting the maintenance and operation of Geddes and Argo dams into the parks and recreation budget instead of the water fund, at this time it was the water fund that currently supported those dams. The maintenance and operation of those dams is built into the fee structure for water, he said. In response to a question from Higgins, he allowed that changing the funding to the parks and recreation budget should have an effect – how much was hard to say – on calculating the water rate structure.

Outcome: The resolution to spend $38,000 on legal fees related to the city’s dispute with the MDEQ over Argo Dam was unanimously approved.

Airport Wells and Layout Agreement

Also related to the city’s water system were two of three resolutions related to the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport. They related to the need to construct a new raw water transmission main from wells located on the airport property. One resolution authorized the contract for the existing water main’s repair – it was described as in danger of imminent failure. That contract was worth $1,087,393. The other resolution authorized deed restrictions required by the Federal Aviation Administration in connection with the work.

City administrator Roger Fraser explained that the wells were used for temperature modulation of the city’s main water source, which is the Huron River. The chemical processes work best within a specific temperature range, so the well water is used to raise the river water temperature in the winter and cool it during the summer to get the city’s drinking water to within the optimum range.

The third airport-related resolution approved an agreement with Pittsfield Township that resolved a years-long legal dispute over the application and enforcement of building codes and zoning ordinances on the property. The measure had appeared on the agenda earlier in the year, but was pulled without council consideration.

The earlier version of the agreement had been controversial, because of a clause governing notification of the township of pending airport activity. According to Kathe Wunderlich, who works with the Committee for Preserving Community Quality, the CPCQ had signed off on the final wording before the council on Thursday night:

4. If a modification of the Airport Layout Plan is proposed, Ann Arbor will give notice to Pittsfield’s Building Official or such other person as Pittsfield designates in writing, of the intent to modify the Airport Layout Plan at least 30 days before authorizing a professional services agreement for the modification. At least 30 days before submitting a modification of the Airport Layout Plan for approval by the Michigan Aeronautics Commission or the Federal Aviation Administration, Ann Arbor will provide Pittsfield’s Building Official with copies of the documents to be submitted to those bodies. After approval of a modified Airport Layout Plan by the Michigan Aeronautics Commission or the Federal Aviation Administration, Ann Arbor will provide Pittsfield’s Building Official with a copy of the proposed modification at least 30 days before the Ann Arbor City Council meeting at which it is to be submitted for approval.

In council deliberations, Leigh Greden (Ward 3) gave credit to Pittsfield Township supervisor Mandy Grewal and to Sue McCormick on the city’s side for getting some resolution to the dispute – McCormick is the city’s director of public services.

Outcome: All three resolutions related to the airport were unanimously approved by the council.

Planning: Master Plan Consolidation and CVS

The council considered a resolution that consolidated the city’s master planning documents into a single document. The consolidation was not meant to change the substance of any of the documents, with those kinds of changes intended for a subsequent phase of the process.

Former planning commissioner Ethel Potts expressed concerns during the public hearing on the matter, saying that some of the changes were in fact substantive. She challenged councilmembers to take one of the area plans and identify those elements they thought were most important and then to try to find those elements in the consolidated version.

Also during the public hearing, Karen Sidney expressed the concern that consolidation and simplification might become a one-size-fits-all strategy. What makes Ann Arbor strong, Sidney said, was the diversity of housing options.

During his turn at the public hearing, Thomas Partridge said that the city council should turn back  approval of the consolidation for the same reason that President Obama would have turned back a similar proposal back when he got his start as a political organizer in the disadvantaged areas of Chicago.

During council deliberations, city planner Jeff Kahan said that the integrity of the various area plans had been respected, with particular attention paid to the central area plan. He reported that Ray Detter, of the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council, had agreed that the consolidated document didn’t step on the toes of either the downtown plan or the central area plan.

An additional, but separate planning-related resolution considered by the council was the approval of the site plan for the new CVS pharmacy on State Street. Sandi Smith (Ward 1) said she was pleased that the historical front of the building would be preserved. She said that the need for a downtown pharmacy was tremendous.

Outcome: The consolidation of the city’s master plans and the CVS site plan were unanimously approved by the council.

Attorney and Administrator Performance Review

The city council held a special meeting an hour before its regular meeting started in order to undertake a performance review of the city attorney, Stephen Postema, and the city administrator, Roger Fraser. The Open Meetings Act has a provision that can allow for that review to take place in a closed session. And in fact, the council undertook that review in a closed session – one at which Postema was told by Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) that they’d conduct without him to start.

While the council was in closed session discussing his performance review, city administrator Roger Fraser signed some forms for students in a government class to attest they'd been there. (Photo by the writer.)

The council went into another closed session towards the end of its regular meeting – this time to “discuss pending litigation and attorney/client privileged communication and/or land acquisition.” discuss the performance evaluations of the city attorney and the city administrator. After returning to open session, Leigh Greden (Ward 3) then introduced two resolutions from the floor, to approve the employment contract for Postema and Fraser, respectively.

According to Greden, both Postema and Fraser had volunteered to accept no increase in base salary and no one-time cash payment as they’ve been given in previous years when there’d been no increase in their base salary. The only revision to their contracts was a clause that allowed them to cash out an additional 120 hours of accumulated paid time off before June 30, 2010.

Last year, Fraser earned $145,354 and Postema made $142,000. They received lump-sum payments of $3,640 and $3,900, respectively.

In describing their compensation, Greden said that they hadn’t received an increase in four years. The city administrator made less that the superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools, the CEO of the AATA, and the county administrator, Greden said. The city attorney, Greden contended, could make 2-3 times his salary as city attorney working in the private sector.

Greden’s Final Meeting

Having been defeated in the August Democratic primary by Stephen Kunselman, Leigh Greden attended his final city council meeting on Thursday – for at least another year, barring unforeseen circumstances – as a Ward 3 representative.

Leigh Greden (Ward 3) delivered farewell remarks at Thursday's council meeting. (Photo by the writer.)

Towards the end of the meeting, his council colleagues took turns summarizing his service to the city – a common theme was the hard work and energy he brought to the position. Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) got a laugh out of Greden when he suggested that he figured he’d be seeing Greden around – in coffehouses and in church. Christopher Taylor, Greden’s Ward 3 colleague – who earned a seat at the council table by defeating Kunselman in the August 2008 Democratic primary – said that Greden had not shirked his duties to council after losing the primary, but rather had “sprinted to the finish and accelerated through the tape.”

Margie Teall (Ward 4) fought back tears in saying farewell to Greden: “You are smart, and smart enough to get us all in trouble.”

Neither Mike Anglin (Ward 5) nor Sabra Briere (Ward 1) made remarks during the round of farewells.

In giving his own farewell, Greden began by allowing that it had come too late, but that he owed an apology for the emails he’d sent during Ann Arbor city council meetings. “I owe you each an apology,” he said, continuing, “I owe a particular apology to Mike Anglin and Sabra Briere.” [Among the emails sent by several members of the council during city council meetings, some of Greden's were particularly disparaging of Anglin and Briere. See Chronicle column: "Email and Open Meetings"]

Greden thus became the first councilmember to give an apology in council chambers during a council meeting for emails sent during previous meetings. The city council emails are still the subject of pending litigation that alleges some of the exchanges violated the Open Meetings Act.

Stephen Kunselman will be formally installed as a councilmember at the council’s next meeting on Nov. 16, along with Anglin (Ward 5), Higgins (Ward 4), Rapundalo (Ward 2), and Briere (Ward 1). But he will likely appear in a council seat at a work session scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9 – the Ann Arbor city charter specifies that “Such term shall commence on the Monday next following the regular city election at which such officers are elected.”

Communications from Council

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) announced that the Malletts Creek coordinating committee had made a recommendation to increase stormwater control when adding more than 200 square feet to a building. There would be a public meeting to present and discuss a proposal to amend the city’s stormwater ordinance, Hohnke said. The meeting will take place Thursday, Nov. 19, from 7-9 p.m in council chambers.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) announced that a planting of 52 trees would take place at Virginia Park on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 7 at 9:15 a.m.  More information is online at the Ann Arbor Tree Conservancy.

Public Comment

Several speakers address the council on a range of topics. Among those not mentioned already in the report:

City Priorities: Global Warming

Kermit Schlansker began by saying that the city’s first job is to fight global warming and that three minutes was too short a time to describe everything the city needed to do. Yet he ticked through several suggestions, including the planting of 100,000 trees. He specifically suggested planting fruit and nut trees in parks – smaller, cheaper trees.

Pedestrian Safety

Kathy Griswold addressed the council during public commentary reserved time and again at the conclusion of the council’s meeting, when speakers can address the council without reserving time. She expressed disappointment that the council had undertaken no action during their meeting, which she’d asked for at the start of the meeting [as well as at several previous council meetings and caucuses.] The matter of concern to Griswold is a mid-block crosswalk across from King Elementary School that she contends should be moved from mid-block to the street intersection.

Affordable Housing and Economic Stimulus

Thomas Partridge called on the council to use all available funding to stimulate the economy of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and the entire region. He contended that funds should be spent not on buying land for the greenbelt but rather on people’s needs, like affordable housing in the city.

Library Lot

Alan Haber delivered remarks to the council that were similar to those he’d made the previous day at the meeting of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. He was speaking for the Ann Arbor Committee for the Commons, which was advocating for the space above the proposed underground parking structure to become open space, a focal point for community gathering. Haber invited anyone interested to come to a meeting at 310 S. Ashley starting at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8.

Palestine

Henry Herskovitz alluded to his remarks at the previous city council meeting in October, when he’d suggested that there was a fundamental difference between the U.S. and its ally Israel, and that this difference was rooted in the separation of church and state. The U.S. honored that separation, but Israel did not, he had said. He reported that his characterization of a fundamental difference between the U.S. and Israel had been met with the criticism that the two nations were not really all that different when considered in the context of the U.S. “ethnic cleansing” of native Americans. In response, Herskovitz said that he and others had come up with several reasons why this context did not warrant drawing a parallel between the two countries. Among them, he said, was the fact that Israel’s creation came after the U.N. declaration that no land should be taken from indigenous people. Another of the several reasons, he said, was that the U.S. Constitution provided justice for all, with no special privileges for any one particular ethnic group.

Ann Arbor Housing

Based on his remarks, Sacha Platt lives in an Avalon Housing unit. He said that he’d had his life threatened several times over the last three years by another tenant. He reported that a fellow tenant had called the police 32 times with a complain about noise, that this had resulted in a criminal conviction, and that this had wrecked his plans to attend law school. He had asked for mediation, but had not received any satisfaction.

Stadium Bridges

Arnold Goetzke spoke to the council, criticizing their failure to consider an at-grade crossing for the intersection between Stadium Boulevard and State Street, instead of replacing the bridges there. He told them he’d been to Lansing that day for the hearing by the Local Bridge Advisory Board, where Ann Arbor had been awarded no money for the Stadium bridges replacement. [See Chronicle coverage: "State Board: No Funding for Stadium Bridges"]

Present: Mike Anglin, Sabra Briere, Tony Derezinski, Leigh Greden, John Hieftje, Marcia Higgins, Carsten Hohnke, Stephen Rapundalo, Sandi Smith, Christopher Taylor, Margie Teall. [Teall and Derezinski arrived somewhat late and were not there for the initial roll call of council.]

Next council meeting: Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 2nd floor of the Guy C. Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building, 100 N. Fifth Ave. [confirm date]

Leigh Greden, who chaired the meeting as fourth in the line of mayoral succession, did not at any point abuse the temporary power by saying, "Everybody show me your hands!" Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) are in fact sussing out which version of the Argo Dam resolution the city clerk had circulated. (Photo by the writer.)

Ann Arbor City Council meeting (Oct. 19, 2009): A city council whose ranks were reduced by four members – due to family medical issues and personal illness – tabled a resolution on Argo Dam that would have expressed the body’s intent to keep Argo Dam in place and to perform necessary repairs mandated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The tabling came only after long deliberations, which included a recess, and focused mainly on the question of tabling versus postponing until a date certain.

Several people spoke during reserved public commentary time on the issue of Argo Dam. But the dam question was somewhat overshadowed for some in the audience by a presentation on homelessness at the beginning of the meeting from Mary Jo Callan, who’s director of the combined county-city office of community development. Said one speaker during public commentary: “After hearing the stats on homelessness, I’m ashamed to be standing here talking to you about Argo Dam.”

The presentation on sheltering the homeless – especially during the winter – included a specific call to action from Ellen Schulmeister, director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. She asked community members to start conversations at their churches, synagogues, mosques or other community groups about how they might be able to provide volunteer support and space to expand the current rotating shelter program. Schulmeister asked that the conversations begin now, “So that when we ask, you’re ready to go.”

In other major business, the city council authorized the expenditure of $100,000 for removal of five failing beams on the East Stadium bridge over State Street – beams which run under a portion of the bridge currently closed to traffic. The work is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 15 through Tuesday, Nov. 17 and will require the closing of State Street during the work.

The council also approved the next step in the creation of a Business Improvement Zone (BIZ) along Main Street between William and Huron streets.

“These people are not strangers. They are our neighbors.”

Background to the presentation on the homeless

Mary Jo Callan’s presentation to city council on the specific strategies that are under consideration to increase sheltering capacity short-term – as well as to increase the number of affordable housing units in the longer term – came in a context of recent heightened community awareness of the plight of the homeless population in and around Ann Arbor.

Slide from a presentation given at city council's Oct. 19 meeting showing the faces of the homeless.

That awareness has come in part from publicity surrounding a tent community, Camp Take Notice, which was evicted in September from its location behind Arborland, as well as from an area just north of the park-and-ride lot at Ann Arbor-Saline and I-94, where it had re-located. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Laws of Physics: Homeless Camp Moves"]

The city council has also heard from advocates for the homeless at public commentary during some of its recent meetings. And a public demonstration in front of the Delonis Shelter last week called attention to the arraignment of a homeless camper on charges of trespassing. [Stopped.Watched. item: "Delonis Center on Huron"]

Callan’s presentation stemmed in part from a series of at least three meetings held in late September and early October among key community leaders and staff to explore alternatives to address the situation. The meetings included Sabra Briere (Ward 1), Sandi Smith (Ward 1), Ellen Schulmeister (director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County), Susan Pollay (executive director of the Downtown Development Authority), Jennifer L. Hall (housing program coordinator in community development), Andrea Plevek (human services analyst), Deb Pippins (program administrator for PORT), and Mayor John Hieftje.

Camp Take Notice, which hews to a principle of self-governance, has asked local churches to sponsor the camp in the form of land use. Discussion at the series of meetings reflected some of the obstacles to the support of encampments as part of a community strategy of sheltering those without homes. Besides concerns about the necessary sanitation infrastructure (chemical or composting toilets) and fire hazards arising from attempts to heat tents, there are worries about legal liability. Still, at least one congregation locally is exploring the possibility of responding to the camp’s request.

Callan’s presentation to council acknowledged the homeless camps in and around town, putting the total estimated numbers at anywhere from 30 to 80 people. The residents of such camps had a variety of histories, Callan said. Some people have been through the existing shelter system and are still homeless, while others are unwilling to follow program guidelines on sobriety, and still others do not want to participate in a shelter program at all.

The strategy that Callan presented was not centered around homeless camps. After sketching out a fairly grim statistical picture, Callan described some short-term expansions of the existing shelter system, plus longer-term affordable housing solutions. Total estimated cost of the short-term solutions could reach close to $200,000 for a full year of implementation.

Statistics on the growing crisis and existing capacity

Callan projected numbers on the wall showing the increased demand on area shelters: The number of single adults has increased 20% from 919 to 1,106; the number of chronically homeless adults has grown 33% from 179 to 238; and the number of families has risen 29% from 368 to 474, which reflects an increase in total family members from 1,162 to 1,359.

Those numbers have had an impact on organizations that provide shelter. The Interfaith Hospitality Network has received a 16% increase in calls for shelter, but perhaps more significantly, the group has seen a 52% increase in length of shelter stay. SOS Community Services has seen a 22% increase in requests for housing crisis services. The Salvation Army has served 11% more people at its shelter and seen a 30% increase in assistance requests for the newly unemployed. The Shelter Association of Washtenaw County has served 44% more people.

The current local shelter inventory presented by Callan includes 159 beds and 50 places for single adults in the winter only:

Shelter Association of Washtenaw County
     Delonis Center – 50 beds (individual adults)
     Delonis Center – 25 chairs serve as warming center
     Winter Rotating Shelter – 25 overnight spaces (individual adults)
Salvation Army: 35 beds (families and individual adults)
SOS: 6 family units/24 beds (families only)
Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN):  6 family units/24 beds (families only)
Ozone House: 6 beds (youth only; ages 10 to 17)

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Proposed short-term action

The proposed short-term actions, which Callan acknowledged are only temporary, have as a goal to keep more people safe during the approaching cold weather. As Ned Staebler put it later in the meeting, the effort is partly to make clear that “This is not the kind of place where we let people freeze to death on the streets.” [Staebler, who recently announced his candidacy for state representative in the 53rd District, chairs the Housing and Human Services Board.]

There are two components to the short-term strategy – one for individuals and one for families.

The first is to increase by 50 spaces the sheltering capacity for individual adults. This is proposed to be accomplished, Callan said, by (i) increasing the number of winter rotating shelter spaces from 25 to 50, and (ii) adding 25 beds to the Delonis Shelter. The increase in Delonis beds would be accomplished by moving the warming center to community kitchen space through the winter.

Cost for the single-individual component of the short-term strategy would be $25,000 for the winter, or $55,000 for the full year.

The second component of the short-term strategy is to provide housing vouchers (a rent subsidy) for 10 additional families. Callan explained the conceptual difference in the approach to families versus individuals by pointing out there is no equivalent to the Delonis Center for families. So there’s no existing family shelter facility where some additional space can be eked out. A temporary shelter-type response would entail creating a new group shelter space and support structure. [One possibility considered and rejected in the course of the three meetings of community leaders and staff was to remodel the Ann Arbor Community Center].

Instead of temporarily sheltering families for a short time all at one location, the idea of vouchers is to allow families to provide for the potential of longer-term stability in housing that could be permanent – at least through a complete school year, so that children would not need to switch schools. The cost of rent vouchers for 12 months would be similar in cost to a group shelter for 4 months, Callan said. She described the plan to work with the nonprofit Avalon Housing, the Ann Arbor Housing Commission, and private landlords to fill vacant rental units.

Cost of the family component of the short-term strategy would be $45,000-$55,000 for the winter, or $140,000-$155,000 for a full year.

In responding to Callan’s presentation, Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), who also serves on the Housing and Human Services Board, asked Callan to address the other increased costs that are incurred with increased numbers of homeless people. Callan said she could not offer a dollar amount, but that there were additional costs associated with public safety, incarceration, and mental illness interventions.

Leigh Greden (Ward 3) drew out for emphasis the part of Callan’s presentation where she discussed the longer-term measures that the city had undertaken: Since 2005 there had been 58 new units of supportive housing created, and 161 units maintained. Greden asked her to explain what “supportive housing” is. Callan clarified that while “affordable housing” meant that it was accessible to poor people, “supportive housing” was accessible to those who had more challenges related to housing stability than just financial issues. Supportive housing, she said, was for people who needed help through life skills training, case management services, or psychiatric services.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1), in addition to clarifying what the cost of the proposed short-term solutions would be, drew out the specific ways that community members can provide their assistance to meet the immediate short-term need. Ellen Schulmeister, director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, identified the rotating shelter expansion as an area where community volunteer help would be needed. Currently, congregations at different churches take one-week shifts staffing temporary warming shelters at their churches. The Delonis Shelter checks in people before they’re transported to the churches.

Ned Staebler, who spoke to council in his capacity as chair of the Housing and Human Services Board, responded to Smith’s question of specific ways people could help by suggesting that they look to whatever nonprofit or community group they were members of. Staebler, in his previous remarks to the council, had characterized the homeless population this way: “These people are not strangers. They are our neighbors.”

A funding request for the short-term proposal could come before the city council at its Nov. 5 meeting.

Artist's conception of what the Huron River would look like if Argo Dam were removed. (Image links to higher resolution file.)

Argo Dam

Eight of the 10 speakers who signed up for reserved time to speak during public comment at the start of the council meeting addressed the issue of Argo Dam. [For preview Chronicle coverage, see "Finally a Dam Decision on Argo?" ] Notable among those who spoke in favor of keeping the dam in place was Bob Johnson, former Ward 1 representative to the city council. Laura Rubin, executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council, spoke in favor of the dam’s removal and for a formal public hearing by city council on the issue.

Rubin showed the council an artist’s rendering of the river with the dam removed. That prompted some commentary from speakers who weighed in for keeping the dam, who questioned whether the river would follow the same course downstream from the dam that it currently does.

For council’s part, their deliberations focused exclusively on the question of process, as opposed to the dam-in/dam-out question. At the beginning of the meeting, the dam resolution was moved forward on the agenda, to the slot just after the consent agenda, in consideration of the many attendees who were in council chambers for that item alone.

Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), one of the sponsors of the resolution, began by indicating he’d be moving to postpone it until the first council meeting in December. But before making the motion for postponement, he said he wanted to set the record straight with regard to some specific issues. On the question of adequate public input, he recalled how the subject has been talked about for nine years, and ticked through the various points of public process along the way, summarizing by saying that there’d been “quite a lot of dialogue.”

Sue McCormick, the city’s director of public services, had delivered an update to council at its Sept. 8 meeting. Rapundalo reported that after that update, Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), who was the lead sponsor of the resolution, had begun communications with himself and the mayor to try to be proactive about addressing infrastructure issues identified by the MDEQ – the toe drains in the earthen berm, which needed repair or replacement.

The desire to fix the basic infrastructure and to “clear the decks” with the MDEQ had been the only motivation behind the resolution, Rapundalo said. He expressed discomfort with the idea of going to court with MDEQ, saying that there were many higher priorities for the city to deal with, such as the approaching budget season. [At the budget and labor committee meeting immediately prior to the council meeting, councilmembers and Tom Crawford, CFO for the city, began calendaring the process, with the idea of slotting in certain elements slightly earlier than last year. For example, the council's budget retreat may be convened in December instead of January, as it was last year.]

Rapundalo also indicated that he wanted a public hearing attached to the meeting when the resolution would be considered.

There was mild confusion when Rapundalo expressed some frustration that the most recent version of the resolution was not reflected in the council’s packet, despite assurances from staff that it had been updated. Subsequent sleuthing at the table indicated that the version he’d sent via email 20 minutes earlier was accurately reflected in the online packet.

When it appeared that the updated text would not be read into the record, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) weighed in to point out that the newly revised council rules on electronic communications required that the language be read aloud, and Rapundalo then did so.

Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who was a co-sponsor of the resolution, then addressed the issue of whether there should be a public hearing on it. She said that from her point of view, the expectation of a public hearing had always been attached to a resolution on the dam-in/dam-out question – which this resolution was not. This resolution, she contended, was not meant to decide the longer-term issue, but was meant to address the shorter-term maintenance issue.

Based on the original text of the resolution posted with Friday’s agenda addition – which meeting attendees may have had in mind – Smith’s contention could have been somewhat confusing. But given the revision that Rapundalo read aloud, her remarks make more sense. Here’s the revised version with some emphasis added:

Resolution Pertaining to Argo Dam [Revised]

WHEREAS, The City of Ann Arbor has for years owned and maintained several dams along the Huron River, and
WHEREAS, Studies of the Huron River have raised the question of the need to manage the river and each of the impoundments created by these dams, and
WHEREAS, The Argo Dam and Argo Pond have recently become the focal point for considerable discussion about the “pros and cons” of keeping the Argo Dam in place, and
WHEREAS, The Ann Arbor community enjoys many recreational opportunities and environmental attributes created by the existence of Argo Pond within the Huron River system, and
WHEREAS, The best interests of the Ann Arbor community will be served by preserving the Argo Dam at this time given its sound structural integrity, and
WHEREAS, The Argo Dam includes several associated structural features, including the “headrace embankment”, which has drawn the concern of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for safety reasons related to the adequacy of toe-drains which are designed to drain seepage from the headrace, and
WHEREAS, Repairs to the headrace embankment could be completed for a small fraction of the cost of removing the entire dam, and therefore be it

RESOLVED, The Ann Arbor City Council declares its intent to maintain the Argo Dam and Argo Pond for the time being and allow staff to develop and implement specific strategies to mitigate any infrastructure deficiencies with the headrace embankment and thereby satisfy the MDEQ’s requirements, and
RESOLVED, The Ann Arbor City Council directs the City Administrator to take actions in support of this declared intent, including identifying a timetable and necessary funding sources to support the infrastructure improvements.

The original resolution differs mostly by ordering and the lack of temporal qualifiers:

Resolution Pertaining to Argo Dam [Original]

WHEREAS, The City of Ann Arbor has for years owned and maintained several dams along the Huron River;
WHEREAS, Studies of the Huron River have raised the question of the need to manage the river and each of the impoundments created by these dams;
WHEREAS, The Argo Dam and Argo Pond have recently become the focal point for considerable discussion about the “pros and cons” of keeping the Argo Dam in place;
WHEREAS, The Ann Arbor community enjoys many recreational opportunities and environmental attributes created by the existence of Argo Pond within the Huron River system;
WHEREAS, The Argo Dam includes several structural features, including the “headrace embankment”, which has drawn the concern of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for safety reasons related to the adequacy of toe-drains which are designed to drain seepage from the headrace;
WHEREAS, Repairs to the headrace could be completed for a small fraction of the cost of removing the entire dam; and
WHEREAS, the best interests of the Ann Arbor community will be served by preserving the Argo Dam and all the amenities associated with the dam,

RESOLVED, The Ann Arbor City Council declares its intent to maintain the Argo Dam and Argo Pond and directs the City Administrator to develop specific strategies to mitigate any infrastructure deficiencies with the headrace embankment to satisfy the MDEQ’s requirements, and to take actions in support of this declared intent, including identifying a timetable and necessary funding sources to support the work.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) asked for a recess in order to adequately assess the language of the resolution, pointing out that the most recent revision had been emailed only 20 minutes ago, and that even the original text of the resolution had come relatively late – on the previous Friday.

Hohnke’s request for a recess was granted by Leigh Greden, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor John Hieftje, Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), and Margie Teall (Ward 4), who precede him in the line of mayoral succession.

On return from the recess, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) weighed in against the idea of postponing, saying that tabling the resolution instead was the proper thing to do.  The resolution as it was written, Taylor contended, clouded the intended effect, which was to decouple the issue of the dam-in/dam-out question from the issue of needed repairs to the earthen berm. Instead of decoupling those two issues, Taylor said, the language of the resolution intertwined them.

Taylor was concerned that by postponing the resolution to the first meeting in December, there would not be an opportunity to alter the language so as to make clear to the public what the language would be for the resolution on which the public hearing would be held. He sketched out how the tabling would allow council to bring back the resolution at a subsequent meeting, revise the language in a way to clarify that the two issues of dam-in/dam-out versus the need to repair were decoupled, then postpone to a certain date with the attached public hearing – something he allowed was a “tortured process.” But, he concluded, “That’s what happens under circumstances such as these.”

In a  follow-up to an emailed query after the meeting, Taylor wrote to The Chronicle that what he had in mind was a single resolution for a future council meeting that would achieve alteration of the language in a way that would be transparent as to council’s intent concerning the fate of the original resolution: “I think there should be a single resolution to de-table [the original resolution], amend, postpone to a date certain and hold a related PH [public hearing] on that date. This resolution should appear in the initial packet [of meeting materials].”

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) echoed Taylor’s sentiments, saying that by postponing the resolution, the issue of whether to keep the dam in the longer term was coupled with the intent to repair the berm. She said she’d rather not see those issues coupled.

In light of Taylor’s comments, Smith then clarified with city attorney Stephen Postema that it was possible to amend the language of the resolution in the future, whether it was postponed or tabled. [Taylor's point, however, had seemed to be about the timing of the alteration of the language, not about the possibility of altering the language per se.] She then said she felt she’d rather vote down the postponement and vote down the resolution itself, and then bring back a different resolution with clearer language.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) queried Smith about her preference: Did she want to decide the resolution tonight? Answer: Yes. Smith said she’d vote no on tabling, postponing and the resolution itself.

For his part, Hohnke said that his preference was to table the resolution, saying that the phrase “for the time being” was incredibly unclear for a resolution of this magnitude.

Rapundalo, arguing for the postponement instead of the tabling, suggested that to achieve the timing of the alteration of language that Taylor wanted in advance of a public hearing, a second postponement could be moved. Tabling it, Rapundalo contended, makes it “out of sight, out of mind. We want to keep it on the front burner … The greatest failure is that council hasn’t acted.”

City attorney Stephen Postema advised that to execute Rapundalo’s suggestion of two successive postponements – one to get the language right, and the second to postpone to the date when council planned the public hearing and its vote – it would be best to unlink the public hearing from the postponement that council was at that moment considering.

Rapundalo was able to unlink the hearing from the postponement, only because Briere moved to suspend the council rules to allow him to speak a third time. Typically, motions to suspend the rules apply generally to all councilmembers, but this one was specific to Rapundalo, which prompted him to quip, “I feel honored!”

Greden weighed in last saying he was against the postponement, adding that the council should either table it or vote on the resolution and vote it down. The roll call vote had only Rapundalo in support of postponing to December.

Smith then moved to table the resolution.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to table the resolution on the Argo Dam.

Stadium Bridges

A recent report from a engineering consultant, who was asked to perform an extra inspection of the East Stadium bridges, recommended removal of five beams supporting the section of the bridge (the southern lanes) that has been closed to traffic. They are no longer performing their designed function, the report states, and leaving them in place poses the potential hazard of falling pieces of concrete to traffic traveling on State Street under the bridge. The winter freeze-thaw and the use of de-icing salts would tend to exacerbate that potential hazard.

Before council were two resolutions concerning the bridges. One was to authorize the city administrator to enter into a construction contract to remove the five beams (up to $100,000) and the second was for an agreement to relocate power lines near the bridge to be out of the way of construction cranes ($340,000).

Michael Nearing, a city engineer and senior project manager, explained to the council that the beam removal was out for bid with three different companies.

Homayoon Pirooz, project management manager with the city of Ann Arbor, apprised the council that the beam work was planned in a way to have a minimal impact on Stadium Boulevard traffic. Pirooz indicated that it was planned for a Sunday through Tuesday. [It's now planned specifically for Sunday, Nov. 15 through Tuesday, Nov. 17] After the work is done, the traffic pattern on the bridge will be the same as it is now. What will be different is that concrete barriers will prevent cars from driving off the new southern edge of the bridge, as opposed to the current orange barrels that provide a visual cue not to traverse the southern lanes.

At Mike Anglin’s (Ward 5) request, Pirooz reminded the council of the funding possibilities. The TIGER grant for which the city has applied could fund the entire $21 million cost, but there’s intense national competition for those grants. [TIGER stands for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, a federal program.] Notification on the outcome of the TIGER grant application will come no later than Feb. 17, 2010, but it could come sooner. There’s a  federal highway re-authorization bill that has support for earmarks from Ann Arbor’s Congressional delegation. And finally, the state’s Local Bridge Program offers a chance for as much as $2-3 million, Pirooz said. There’s a meeting on Nov. 5 of the Local Bridge Program administrators – Ann Arbor will make a presentation at that meeting, and funding will be determined then.

Leigh Greden (Ward 3) added that there are also various other alternative funding sources the city is exploring with the help of state Rep. Rebekah Warren.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve both resolutions related to the Stadium bridges.

Ed Shaffran, who's one of the leaders of an effort to establish the BIZ on Main Street. (Photo by the writer.)

Business Improvement Zone

[See previous Chronicle coverage on the proposed BIZ between William and Huron streets on South Main, based on last week's city council work session: "Trains, Trash, and Taxes"]

Before the council was a resolution to support the creation of a business improvement zone by authorizing the city clerk to begin public notifications associated with the next phase in the process, which city administrator Roger Fraser described as “not one of the most swift,” saying that he admired the perseverance of the people involved.

Two people spoke during time reserved for public commentary at the beginning of the meeting. Bob Dascola, who owns a barbershop on State Street, said that his family had been in business in Ann Arbor for more than 70 years. In support of the BIZ he cited the example of Boulder, Colo., where a business improvement district, which is similar to a BIZ, had so well enhanced the downtown area that it had put a mall out of business on the edge of town.

Lee Adams introduced himself as a masters of urban planning student at the University of Michigan who had interned at a BID in Washington, D.C. He spoke in favor of the council’s initiation of the next step in the process for creating a BIZ on Main Street. He said the fact that Main Street was iconic – as evidenced by the recent American Planning Association designation as a Great Street – meant that it was worth continued investment. A BIZ would help business retention and growth, plus provide a unified voice for business owners, as well as economies of scale for services.

Leigh Greden (Ward 3) noted that supporters of the BIZ in the audience “looked content.” They were not asked to the podium to answer questions, nor did they wish to communicate additional information to the council.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to authorize the next step in the creation of the BIZ on South Main.

Planned Unit Development (PUD) Proposals

The council considered two different PUD rezoning proposals. The first related to a Briarwood Circle location where two four-story hotels, consisting of 227 rooms and 227 parking spaces, are proposed.

The second, for Casa Dominick’s, concerned a consolidation of properties under one zoning classification on Monroe Street, and addresses existing zoning nonconformities. The expanded PUD district comprises four areas (A, B, C and D) for regulation purposes. Areas A and B will permit restaurant; residential; grocery, prepared food and beverage sales; classroom and educational instruction; beauty salon; general, medical and dental office uses. Area C will permit hotel and residential use. Area D will permit artists and craft studios with sales and residential use.

Public Commentary

Thomas Partridge: Partridge spoke at the public hearings on both PUD proposals. He asked the council not to approve any zoning changes until there were ordinance changes and amendment to the PUDs to assure access to public transportation to the sites and a requirement that developers pay into a fund to finance development of affordable housing on adjacent sites.

Earl Ophoff: Ophoff, of Midwestern Consulting, spoke in connection with the Briarwood Circle hotel project, essentially just to establish that he was present and available to answer questions when the council took up the matter for a vote.

John Barrie: Barrie spoke on behalf of the owner of Casa Dominick’s. He described the zoning revision as addressing the land’s transitional function between the University of Michigan campus, which surrounds it on three sides, and the residential neighborhood to the south. The rezoning, he said, would allow for slightly greater density and would consolidate all of the restaurant uses on one property.

Outcome: The council unanimously approved both PUD proposals.

Communications from Council

In his communications from council, Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) noted that council’s recent revisions to its rules didn’t constitute an ethics policy. He indicated that in the next couple of weeks, there would be a policy brought forward to fill that gap.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) called attention to a fundraiser for Meals on Wheels to be held at the Big Boy on Plymouth Road on Nov. 5 from 5-9 p.m. The public can participate by going to the restaurant and eating during that time period, with tips going to the nonprofit.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) reported that the Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee had held a workshop the previous day, which was facilitated by skatepark designer Wally Hollyday.

Public Commentary: End of Meeting

Often there are no members of the public who choose to address the council at the end of its meeting. At this meeting, however, five people made remarks to the council.

Thomas Partridge: Partridge noted that he’d called repeatedly for the last decade for the city to join with other municipalities to facilitate regional transportation, but had repeatedly been disappointed by the 7-member Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board. He alluded to the “AATA’s war against disabled people,” and said that the focus should not be on high-speed rail or service to the airport, but rather on basic bus service.

Tim Hull: Hull introduced himself as a graduate student in the school of information at the University of Michigan and expressed concern about the proposed changes in bus service as a result of the new Plymouth Road park-and-ride lot. He told council that while the AATA is proposing to continue weekend service on Route #2 on Green Road as far south as the park-and-ride lot, the weekend service on Route #2 on Green farther south and on Glazier Way and Earhart is proposed to be discontinued. He asked council to consider a focus by the AATA on residents as contrasted with commuters, and suggested that they look for future AATA board members who lived within the AATA service area.

Kathy Griswold: Griswold thanked councilmembers for the work they’d done so far on getting a crosswalk installed at the intersection of Waldenwood and Penberton drives, which would move it from its current mid-block location. She asked that action be taken within the next few weeks, while the concrete season lasts.

Jacob Djakovic: [spelling unconfirmed] He described an outdoor architectural tour beginning and ending at Liberty and Maynard streets, which he’d like to offer people for a fee. He was trying to make sure that in setting these tours, he did not violate any local laws. He’d heard some reaction that Nickels Arcade, for example, might not be a suitable location through which to lead a tour. He asked for any advice on relevant policies that might help him prepare.

Edward Vielmetti: Vielmetti told the council that on Oct. 6 he’d requested under the Freedom of Information Act all records related to sidewalk repair, including communications with the homeowner, for an address on Gott Street. He thanked the city staff, saying that the sidewalk had been repaired about 10 days after he’d made the request.

Present: Mike Anglin, Sabra Briere, Leigh Greden, Carsten Hohnke, Stephen Rapundalo, Sandi Smith, Christopher Taylor.

Absent: Tony Derezinski, John Hieftje, Marcia Higgins, Margie Teall.

Next council meeting: Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 2nd floor of the Guy C. Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building, 100 N. Fifth Ave. [confirm date]

Collection bin at Eberwhite Elementary's Sock Hop on Friday.

When Jane Ferris led her class of first-graders through their math lesson on Monday, they counted underwear and socks – not their own, but a batch donated at a sock hop held Friday at their school, Eberwhite Elementary.

Once tallied, the items will be added to donations from around the county, part of the Education Project for Homeless Youth‘s Sock Drop Drive to provide basic clothing for kids whose families can’t afford it on their own.

Peri Stone-Palmquist, coordinator for the Education Project, said this is the first time they’ve done this type of clothing drive, and that the economy is a factor: A lot more people are asking for basic clothing, while local thrift shops don’t have as much, because of the higher demand. And, she added, “who wants to get underwear at a thrift shop?”

The drive, which runs through February, is collecting unopened packages of underwear and socks in all sizes. The goal is to provide enough for 300 homeless children countywide.

Here’s where you can make drop-offs:

• The front desk of the Teaching and Learning Center at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, 1819 S. Wagner in Ann Arbor (between Liberty and Scio Church): Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
• Morgan and York, 1928 Packard, Ann Arbor: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sundays, noon-6 p.m.
• Mast Shoes, 2517 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor: Monday-Wednesday, Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
• Beezy’s Café, 20 N. Washington, Ypsilanti: Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.

The sock hop at Eberwhite was a natural fit. Stone-Palmquist had mentioned the drive to Jennie Hale of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, which had given the Education Project a grant to buy shoes for homeless children. Hale is the mother of a 5th grader who attends Eberwhite, and thought the school’s annual sock hop – this year called the Decades Dance – would be a great place for them to collect the clothing. She contacted Natalie Davidson, who coordinated this year’s dance, as well as PTO officers Trixi Packmohr and Molina Serr.

The tally from that event? 450 pairs of socks, and 350 pairs of underwear. (Trixi Packmohr, who provided The Chronicle with those figures, noted that it’s still a rough estimate. We’d guess it’s close enough to make a story problem out of it: How many total articles of clothing did they collect?)

Jennie Hale and Laura Hopkins sell tickets to the Decades Dance and take donations of underwear and socks at Eberwhite Elementary on Feb. 6.