Archive for October, 2013

At their Oct. 2, 2013 meeting, Washtenaw County commissioners postponed a vote to appoint Barb Fuller to the Washtenaw County road commission. She was nominated by board chair Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) to fill a seat vacated by Ken Schwartz when he took over as supervisor for Superior Township on Oct. 1. The position is for the remainder of a six-year term, through Dec. 31, 2018.

Dan Smith (R-District 2) asked whether Rabhi had received a letter of resignation from Schwartz. When it was determined that Schwartz hadn’t officially resigned, Smith moved to postpone action on the appointment until Oct. 16. The vote on the postponement was 6-3, over dissent from Rabhi, Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) and Andy LaBarre … [Full Story]

Washtenaw County commissioners set four public hearings for Oct. 16 to get input on items they’ll be considering at upcoming meetings. The action took place at the county board’s Oct. 2, 2013 session.

Three of the hearings that will take place on Oct. 16 relate to:

• An increase to the Act 88 millage from 0.06 mills to 0.07 mills. The millage would be levied in December 2013 and would raise an estimated $972,635.
• The proposed 2014-2017 budget, which was presented by county administrator Verna McDaniel on Oct. 2. The board is required to approve the $103 million general fund budget for 2014 by the end of this year. [.pdf of draft 2014-2017 budget]
• A proposed ordinance that would allow the county to issue … [Full Story]
  

After postponing action at their Sept. 18 meeting, Washtenaw County commissioners gave final approval to a new countywide micro loan program for small businesses. The action took place at the county board’s Oct. 2, 2013 meeting on an 8-1 vote, over dissent from Dan Smith (R-District 2).

Initial approval had been given on Sept. 4, and the item had been on the Sept. 18 agenda for final approval. However, at that Sept. 18 meeting only six of the nine commissioners were present, and supporters of the program didn’t think there were sufficient votes to pass the measure at that time so a final vote was postponed.

Under the county board rules, a resolution requires votes from “a majority of the members elected … [Full Story]

Washtenaw County commissioners have given final approval to a new way to pay off debt incurred from bonding, typically for public works projects in local municipalities. The vote occurred at the county board’s Oct. 2, 2013 meeting, following initial approval on Sept. 18.

The change will allow local units of government to repay bonds early – via the county’s delinquent tax revolving fund (DTRF), which is administered by the county treasurer. The intent is to reduce interest rate payments while posing no financial risk to the county, according to a staff memo.

The maximum amount of the advance would be $1 million, with a term of 10 years or less. The action would require approval by both the treasurer and the board … [Full Story]

At their Oct. 2, 2013 meeting, Washtenaw County administrator Verna McDaniel  presented a four-year general fund budget to county commissioners, for the years 2014-2017. The board discussed but ultimately postponed giving initial approval to the $103,005,127 million budget for 2014, which represents a slight decrease from the 2013 expenditures of $103,218,903.

A total of 8.47 full-time-equivalent jobs will be put on “hold vacant” status, and a 0.3 FTE position will be eliminated.

The recommended budgets for the following years are $103,977,306 in 2015, $105,052,579 in 2016, and $106,590,681 in 2017. The budgets are based on an estimated 1% annual increase in property tax revenues. [.pdf of draft budget summary]

McDaniel had previously indicated that the county would need to find $3.9 million in … [Full Story]

Authorization to contract with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) for educational services received initial approval by the county board of commissioners at its Oct. 2, 2013 meeting. A final vote is expected on Oct. 16. [.pdf of WISD contract]

For 2013-2014, WISD will provide services to the Washtenaw County children’s services department, as well as the juvenile detention and daybreak residential programs. WISD has been providing summer school sessions for the county since 2004.

The estimated cost for the 2013-2014 year is $531,347. State funding will pick up most of those costs, with the county responsible for an estimated $146,116. Half of that $146,116 will be eligible for reimbursement from the state Child Care Fund, leaving a … [Full Story]

Initial approval to levy an 0.0333 mill tax for indigent veterans services was given by Washtenaw County commissioners at their Oct. 2, 2013 meeting. A final vote is expected on Oct. 16.

The current rate, approved by the board last year and levied in December 2012, is 0.0286 mills – or 1/35th of a mill. It generated $390,340 this year. The new proposed rate of 1/30th of a mill would be levied in December 2013 to fund services in 2014. It’s expected to generate $463,160 in revenues.

According to a staff memo, the additional revenue is needed to address rising claims, the anticipated release of current active duty soldiers, the increased cost of living reflected in claims, continued increases to demand, and … [Full Story]

A proposal to wrap downtown Ann Arbor traffic signal electrical boxes with vinyl imprinted with artwork has received $20,500 of support from the Ann Arbor Development Authority.

Corrected after initial publication: Not an example of a vinyl-wrapped traffic box with artwork by David Spear. This image was included in the Arts Alliance proposal for the PowerArt project. This image was actually hand-painted by Spear.

The proposal was developed by the DDA – working with the Ann Arbor Arts Alliance and the Ann Arbor public art commission. The DDA board action came at its Oct. 2, 2013 meeting.

The art commission voted at its Sept. 25, 2013 meeting to support this first phase of the project with the same amount as the DDA – $20,500. While the first phase of the project would wrap 14 traffic signal boxes, the Arts Alliance is proposing two more phases, for a total of 42 wrapped boxes, and a total cost of $121,000.

The Arts Alliance will administer the project, taking an administrative fee of 30% for the first phase and 25% for the second two phases, if the first phase is judged to be successful. The $41,000 cost of the pilot includes the 30% administrative fee for the Arts Alliance. [.pdf of PowerArt proposal]

Deb Polich, executive director for the Arts Alliance, is married to Russ Collins, a member of the DDA board. Collins did not attend the Oct. 2 DDA board meeting.

The PowerArt proposal from the Arts Alliance indicates that the program was modeled on one that has been implemented in Boise, Idaho, where city officials there contend that vinyl art wraps have helped deter graffiti, even on traffic signal boxes that are not wrapped with art. [Full Story]

Retired judge Charles Nelson will be serving as a full-time visiting judge to absorb the docket of judge Nancy Wheeler on the 22nd circuit court of Washtenaw County, while she is away from the bench for medical reasons. Nelson’s service will start on Oct. 7, 2013 and last one to three months, according to an email sent to court personnel and others by court administrator Dan Dwyer.

Dwyer’s email states that “There are no planned changes to Judge Wheeler’s overall docket schedule while she is away and we anticipate minimal disruptions to these cases.”

A similar arrangement – with Nelson filling in for Wheeler – was announced about 20 months ago on Jan. 20, 2012.

A project to expand the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church at 1717 Broadway St. received a go-ahead from the city planning commission at its Oct. 1, 2013 meeting.

Aerial view of site for the Ann Arbor Christian Reformed Church at 1717 Broadway.

The site plan proposal calls for tearing down five existing buildings and constructing a 12,850-square-foot, two-story addition to the rear of the church. The addition would be used for educational activities at the church, which is located on a 4.3-acre site in Ward 1, southwest of Broadway’s intersection with Plymouth Road.

According to a staff memo, … [Full Story]

Willie Brown ended his days among strangers, his body submerged with theirs in a large vat of preservative liquid in the basement of the onetime University of Michigan medical school that stood on the east side of the present-day Diag.

Origin points for each of the over 100 cadavers donated to the UM in 1881. (Map compiled by the writer from Anatomical Donations Program records. Image links to complete map.)

The 22-year-old had never married or had children. If he kept a diary it apparently was not preserved in a public archive. His parents were from New York state, but even this meager detail was forgotten by the author of his death certificate. Willie was a hired farmhand, without distinctions like membership in the Pioneer Society of Washtenaw County. That group counted as a member his employer, successful veteran Pittsfield farmer Jefferson Rouse.

Ignored in life, Willie commanded intense attention after death from the medical students dissecting his body. They examined and took notes on the body that had helped shear Rouse’s 350 sheep, tend his dozen pigs, and harvest the hops, potatoes, apples, wheat, and Indian corn on Rouse’s 560 acres between Saline and the present-day Ann Arbor airport.

The students may have dissected Brown’s lungs to look for signs of the tuberculosis that killed him. When Willie got sick, he apparently wasn’t cared for on the farm, at least not for long. He went to the county poorhouse, at what is now the southwest corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Platt Road. There among the other nearly 70 residents in 1881, he died.

No friend or relative claimed him, and he wasn’t buried in the unmarked poorhouse cemetery just west of the poorhouse. His body was placed on a wagon that traveled from the poorhouse up the dirt road of Washtenaw Avenue to the medical school. Medical science owed Willie’s contribution to a new 1881 state law that strengthened the up-till-then largely-ignored proviso that the bodies of the unfortunate could be legally delivered to the UM for study. [Full Story]