Derezinski Nominated to Art Commission

At the Aug. 4, 2011 meeting of the Ann Arbor city council, mayor John Hieftje nominated Ward 2 council representative Tony Derezinski to replace Jeff Meyers on the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission. The nomination will require confirmation by the city council at its next meeting.

Meyers resigned in June of this year mid-way through his three-year term, partly over frustration that the mural project he’d championed kept hitting bureaucratic roadblocks. In an interview with The Chronicle, Meyers had suggested that one way to improve the situation is for a city council representative to be appointed to AAPAC – it seems especially appropriate since AAPAC makes recommendations for the Percent for Art budget, he said. [Chronicle coverage: "After Resignation, Who Leads Mural Program?"]

The Percent for Art program is enabled by a city ordinance that allocates 1% of the budget for all city capital projects – up to a limit of $250,000 per project – to the city’s public art program. The Percent for Art program was also a part of the council’s discussion on the evening of Aug. 4, because there is some interest on the part of councilmembers in restricting funds generated through the street reconstruction millage from use in the Percent for Art program. The street reconstruction millage will expire this year, unless it is approved by the general electorate on Nov. 8 this year.

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