Stories indexed with the term ‘live meeting report’

The council’s June 17, 2013 meeting could include final action on two ordinance revisions. One local law relates to the regulation of digital signs and billboards. The other law regulates the time of day when fireworks are allowed to be set off. While the fireworks regulation is probably seen as somewhat uncontroversial, the council might be inclined to postpone the final vote on digital signs and billboards – as it has done previously.

In addition to possible final votes on those two ordinance changes, several items related to the 15th District Court appear on the council’s agenda. The court handles all civil claims up to $25,000, including small claims, landlord-tenant disputes, land contract disputes, and civil infractions, as well as preliminary exams for felony cases. Salaries for judges are reimbursed by the state, but the court is funded by the city through its regular budgeting process, with other costs borne by the city or by grants.

The council will be asked to approve an adjustment to the city’s current fiscal year’s budget (FY 2013) to bring it in line with actual expenditures. The general fund total budget adjustment is to increase it by $567,000. And of that, a significant part is attributable to the 15th District Court – including $112,000 in salary increases based on an interest in retaining employees, $203,000 due to a “catch up” payment to the law firm that provides indigent representation, and a back-bill for security from Washtenaw County for two fiscal years for $110,000.

Also on the council’s agenda is the authorization of a contract revision for the current year with the law firm that provides indigent representation. The “catch up” payment stems from the firm’s practice of delaying billing until a defendant’s legal costs are thought to be complete – instead of billing along the way. Because that approach doesn’t give a clear picture of the actual current cost of indigent representation, a new contract with the firm for next year (FY 2014) will be based on a flat fee. That $240,000 annual flat-fee contract is with Nassif and Reiser, P.L.L.C. (f/k/a Funkhouser and Nassif, P.L.L.C.), d/b/a Model Cities Legal Services (“MCLS”). Nader Nassif is a board member of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.

The council will also be asked to approve a $160,000 contract with the Washtenaw County sheriff’s office for weapons screening at the Justice Center, the building next to city hall that houses the 15th District Court. The estimated annual cost is based on $25.25 per hour per court security officer.

On the consent agenda – a group of items that are considered routine and voted on as a group – are two other items related to the 15th District Court. One is approval of $30,000 for a Sobriety Court grant program contract with the Washtenaw Community Health Organization (WCHO) to provide mental health treatment to 15th District Court defendants. The second is approval of $65,000 for a Sobriety Court grant program contract with the nonprofit Dawn Farm to provide in-patient and out-patient drug abuse counseling to 15th District Court defendants.

The Dawn Farm item includes a provision that could cause it to be pulled out of the consent agenda for separate consideration. That possibly controversial provision is a waiver of the city’s living wage ordinance for Dawn Farm to provide its counseling services. According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, Dawn Farm employs 70 people, including 15 employees who are paid less than $12.52 per hour with health care coverage, and 18 people who are compensated at rates less than $13.96 per hour without health care coverage. Those are the rates specified in the city’s living wage ordinance. Last fall the council engaged in a vigorous discussion of a living wage ordinance waiver for Community Action Network (CAN), which ultimately resulted in the granting of a waiver at the council’s Nov. 8, 2012 meeting.

Other agenda highlights include revisions to contracts for six unions in the police department, which include a 2% wage increase starting July 1, 2013 and another 1% starting Jan. 1, 2014.

At the June 17 meeting, the council may also vote to adopt revisions to its own internal rules. Among other changes, the revised rules would reduce speaking times for the public from three to two minutes per turn.

Some other agenda items relate to site plans and brownfield plans.

Details of the meeting agenda are available on the city’s Legistar system. Readers can also follow the live meeting proceedings on Channel 16, streamed online by Community Television Network.

The Chronicle will be filing live updates from city council chambers during the meeting, published in this article “below the fold.” The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor city council’s June 3, 2013 meeting agenda features two significant topics that will have an impact on the future of public housing and public transportation in the city.

The council will be asked to vote on a series of resolutions related to a proposed conversion of the city’s 355 public housing units to a project-based voucher system under HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. The council had been briefed at a Feb. 11, 2013 work session on the details of the proposal.

Key steps the council will be asked to take on June 3 include transferring ownership of properties managed by the Ann Arbor Housing Commission (AAHC) from the city of Ann Arbor to the AAHC. Because it involves the transfer of a land interest, approval will require an 8-vote majority on the 11-member council. The properties would eventually be owned by a public/private partnership. The AAHC selected a co-developer earlier this year at its Jan. 10, 2013 meeting.

AAHC is seeking to undertake with this initiative in order to fund several million dollars worth of needed capital improvements. On the RAD approach, they would be funded in large part through low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC).  The council will also be asked to approve a payment in lieu of taxes to the AAHC, so that no property taxes will be owed by AAHC.

The AAHC had originally conceived of converting its properties to project-based vouchers in phases over a few years. The impact of federal sequestration had led AAHC to contemplate converting all the properties this year, to soften part of that impact. However, a hoped-for change in HUD’s rules that would allow the all-in-one-go approach was not made, AAHC learned last week. So “Scenario 3″ described in the staff memo accompanying the council resolution is no longer possible. The negative financial impact of that HUD decision totals around $550,000 over the course of three years.

On the public  transportation side, the council will be asked to approve a change to the articles of incorporation for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The change will admit the city of Ypsilanti as a member of the authority, and expand the AATA board from seven to nine members. The name of the authority would change to Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority. One of the board members would be appointed by the city of Ypsilanti.

The request comes in the context of a demised attempt in 2012 to expand the AATA to all of Washtenaw County. Since then, conversations have continued among a smaller cluster of communities geographically closer to Ann Arbor. Previous Chronicle coverage includes “Ypsilanti a Topic for AATA Planning Retreat” and “Ypsi Waits at Bus Stop, Other Riders Unclear.”

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

Other significant items on the council’s June 3 agenda include a resolution encouraging the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to allocate funding for three police officers. The council will also be considering a final vote on ordinance changes to which it’s already given initial approval: public art (eliminating the 1% capital project budget set-aside); utility rate increases (an annual item); and a reduction in utility improvement charges imposed on first-time connections.

In anticipation of the upcoming July 4 holiday, the council may also take initial action on an ordinance that would restrict use  of fireworks to the hours of 8 a.m. to midnight. The local regulation is only possible as a result of a change in the state law that has been passed by the Michigan House and is expected to be ratified and signed into law before July 4. The item had not yet been added to the city council’s agenda as of 4 p.m. today.

Other agenda items are available on the city’s Legistar system. Readers can also follow the live meeting proceedings on Channel 16, streamed online by Community Television Network.

The Chronicle will be filing live updates from city council chambers during the meeting, published in this article “below the fold.” [Full Story]