Comments on: Footing Drain Lawsuit Back to State Court

By: David Cahill

David Cahill — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 12:29:09 +0000

“Jurispudential legerdemain”, eh? For the second time in a month, the City Attorney’s office has been on the losing end of significant rulings. Both times that office has been severely criticized by the federal judge.

By: Jack Eaton

Jack Eaton — Thu, 29 May 2014 14:08:27 +0000

Thank you to the Chronicle for taking the time to attend this hearing. Another thank you for your clarity in writing about legal issues. I look forward to your continued coverage of this litigation.

I agree with Mr. Burdick (comment #1) that Mayoral candidates are well advised to have a good understanding of issues related to the City’s footing drain disconnect program. Anyone who needs a basic primer on footing drain issues in Ann Arbor should read the Chronicle’s excellent article “Backups: Lawyers, Sewers, Pumps”, which is linked in this story.

By: Judith Hanway

Judith Hanway — Thu, 29 May 2014 12:01:00 +0000

It seems that the City Attorney’s office isn’t faring too well in court these days. The City Council and Mayor should question the validity of the legal advice given on the Footing Drain Disconnect Program. It is a program with serious flaws.

By: Alan Goldsmith

Alan Goldsmith — Thu, 29 May 2014 10:13:01 +0000

More below par representation from the City Attorney office. The City needs to settle this case, grasp that their poorly designed disconnect plan is unpractical in some Ann Arbor neighborhoods and that the wise decision is not to spend millions and several years defending the error. With the ongoing campaign for Council and Mayor, the drain disconnect program has gotten next to zero attention. Hopefully with this ruling, all the candidates will address where they stand on this issue, as well as the continued horrible legal representation coming from the City Attorney.

By: Frank Burdick

Frank Burdick — Thu, 29 May 2014 09:16:46 +0000

Welcome back. Now the appropriate Court located in the appropriate County can finally get to work and provide the appropriate ruling and judgement on the “appropriate-ness” of the City mandated Footing Drain Disconnect Program.

Perhaps City Council should take this latest ruling by a Federal Judge into consideration prior to Monday, June 2, 2014. This consideration should be PRIOR to approving the $3.4 million total contract extension to the existing Consultant who has designed, implemented, and inspected the FDD Program described in the litigation noted above.

It will be very interesting to see how our current Mayoral candidates will vote on the Resolution to continue to fund the Consultant. A “yes” vote will invariably imply “support” for the FDD Program and more potential basement flooding and home de-valuations as has been the result of the current program. This should make for an interesting campaign issue.