From left: AAATA strategic planner Michael Benham, Ed Vielmetti (background) and CEO Michael Ford, talked after the meeting.

The board barely achieved a quorum – with six of 10 board members attending. Anya Dale presided over the meeting in the absence of board chair Charles Griffith.

The board received some updates on the preparations for implementing that expanded service plan. And three of the board’s July 24 voting items were related at least indirectly to the additional services: a plan for acquiring 20 new buses; adjustments to the current fiscal year’s operating budget; and a tweak to the AAATA’s mission statement.

The mission statement was modified to highlight “accessible” as the kind of transit services that the AAATA aspires to provide. The change to the mission statement also reflected the addition last year of the word “area” to the name of the organization. That name change came as the result of adding the city of Ypsilanti as well as Ypsilanti Township as members of the authority. Previously, the city of Ann Arbor had been the sole member. The additional services will be paid for with a millage levied on property owners from all the member jurisdictions.

The fiscal 2014 budget ends Sept. 30. Revenues were adjusted to reflect the millage revenue. Of the additional $4,543,695 in local millage revenues, $3,850,000 is being put toward next year’s FY 2015 budget. Adjustments to this year’s budget include changes to reflect the hiring and training of 11 new bus drivers, bringing the total to 138 drivers. An operations supervisor, two new vehicle mechanics, an additional service crew member, and a human resources administrative assistant will also be added.

The additional 20 buses the AAATA is acquiring for the service expansion are spread over the next three years, with two to be acquired this year, 11 in FY 2015 and 7 in FY 2016. The buses for FY 2015 and 2016 will be paid for with the additional local millage funds, while the buses this year will tap a federal grant with matching state funds. A public hearing was held on the federal grant application that will include those two buses.

Potential future expansion of services – in addition to those to be implemented starting Aug. 24 – was also reflected in a voting item on the board’s July 24 agenda. The board approved an increase in the contract with SmithGroupJJR from $105,200 to $800,000 – to continue study of north-south commuter rail options between Howell and Ann Arbor. An earlier phase of the study for the WALLY (Washtenaw and Livingston Railway) project identified a segment of the Ann Arbor Railroad right-of-way, between Liberty and Washington streets, as a preferred location for a downtown Ann Arbor station. A portion of the work is being paid for with a $640,000 federal Transportation, Community and System Preservation (TCSP) program grant.

The final voting item on the board’s agenda was a $234,360 contract with GZA GeoEnvironmental to perform environmental cleanup work at the AAATA headquarters building at 2700 S. Industrial Highway. The cleanup, which involves contamination from a gasoline leak that was identified in 2010, is covered by insurance.

At its July 24 meeting, the board also heard its usual range of updates, reports and public commentary, much of which highlighted the idea of accessibility.

AAATA Mission Statement

The board considered an update to the organization’s mission statement – to reflect the new name of the organization and a few other concerns. The proposed modified mission statement, which reflected board discussion at its June 10 retreat, read as follows [added words in bold, deleted words in strike-through]

It is the Mission of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority to provide accessible useful, reliable, safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective public transportation options for the benefit of the Greater Ann Arbor Area Community.

The mission statement had been last affirmed over five years ago at the AAATA’s Feb. 18, 2009 board meeting.

The word “useful” was critiqued by some board members at the June retreat as too modest an attribute, and they argued for “valuable” instead. Ultimately, the consensus was that this positive, goal-oriented attribute could be incorporated through adding the word “benefit.”

Inserting the word “accessible” was championed at the retreat by board member Jack Bernard. He works in the office of the University of Michigan’s general counsel and serves on the university’s council for disability concerns.

The insertion of the word “area” in the mission statement reflects the geographic expansion of the AAATA’s jurisdiction in 2013 to include the city of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township – as well as the formal change of the authority’s name to include “area.” [.pdf of memo on AAATA mission statement]

Mission Statement: Public Commentary

Thomas Partridge addressed the board’s mission statement. He said it needed to be expanded – to serve the needs of the most vulnerable riders. The operating budget needs to have additional funding to greater serve the most vulnerable riders in terms of disabled persons and senior citizens in particular, he said. And the board needs to answer how, with the passage of the millage, service will be targeted to the disabled people and seniors. Partridge did not see those priorities in the existing materials and the existing applications to the FTA for formula funding. He also questioned whether existing funding could be used to continue planning for a true countywide transportation system. Such a system is certainly needed to serve those areas of the county that do not have existing bus service, senior ride service, or paratransit handicap ride service, he said.

Mission Statement: Board Discussion

Roger Kerson reported out for the performance monitoring and external relations (PMER) committee. He noted that the revised mission statement was on the board’s agenda. He pointed out that there had been some debate about the use of the word “useful.” He urged the board to take a careful read of the proposed new language, saying that the issue should not be re-debated at every meeting – the board should adopt a mission statement that it really likes.

During question time, Jack Bernard talked about the image of the “service star” in some of the marketing materials and how it matches up with the mission statement. He asked that the board continue to think about how that star is going to look after the mission statement is adjusted. He put a plug in for “accessibility” to be added into that graphic.

When the board came to the item on its agenda, Kerson was asked to read aloud the new mission statement, which he did. Larry Krieg said he rather lamented the demise of the word “useful” but was willing to live with a mission statement as it stands. He felt it would require too much revision of planned materials to change it now. In some ways, usefulness is so fundamental to the mission of any transit organization that it almost goes without saying. So Krieg could live without saying it, as long as the AAATA remembers that it needs to be useful to the community – that is why it’s there.

Jack Bernard thanked his board colleagues for including the word “accessible.” He also appreciated the fact that the word had not been relegated to the end. So often, accessibility is relegated to an afterthought at the end of the statement. Putting it at the beginning heralds that all the programs, services and buses are to be accessible to all – people who have disabilities, older passengers, kids, people with resources and people who don’t have a great deal of resources. It’s the entire community that they are trying to serve. So he commended the board for stepping up to this and including the word “accessible.”

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to adopt the new mission statement.

Mission Statement: Accessibility

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that during public commentary at the planning and development committee meeting, there had been a request for additional information at bus stops to aid passengers. The AAATA is considering redesigning its bus stops and changing the size of the signs to provide more information on each side of each sign, he said.

During question time, Jack Bernard thanked Ford for talking about the expansion of information at the bus stops. He felt it was a very important thing. But as the organization thinks about doing that, he wanted to encourage people to be aware of a general trend across organizations: When more information is provided, the font tends to be shrunk. He encouraged the AAATA, as it thinks about the real estate of the sign, to understand that there’s a cost associated with shrinking everything down – because it ends up not having a great deal of utility.

Bernard asked that a QR code be included, as more information is added on bus stops signs. That would enable somebody to get that information and then enlarge it or get expanded information using a mobile device. Those QR codes are a very efficient way to drive people to information that they want, which can not be included on the sign. He allowed that not all riders have a smartphone, so essential information still needs to be included on the physical sign. Increasingly, however, riders are connected with mobile devices.

Ford responded to Bernard by saying that staff just had a meeting about QR codes and signage, and they discussed issues of color contrast, placement and height. So Ford welcomed Bernard’s comments.

During public commentary time at the conclusion of the meeting, Ed Vielmetti responded to Bernard’s suggestion about QR codes. A local example of where that’s being done is the University of Michigan’s transit system, he said. There are QR codes on a number of the university’s bus stop signs. You put your phone up to it, it beeps, and it gives you a link to information that is specific to that individual stop – so it is not general information about the system, or general information about the line that you’re on, but rather it’s information relevant to your exact location. That is immensely helpful, Vielmetti said, especially if you are in an unfamiliar spot wondering where the bus goes, or when the bus coming, or if it is even running right now. It’s not a trivial exercise to assemble real-time, pinpoint information for thousands of stops, he ventured, but he called it a worthwhile goal.

Also during public commentary at the end of the meeting, Thomas Partridge told the board that he had attended the AAATA’s meetings numerous times over more than a decade, pleading for greater assistance for the most vulnerable riders – including handicapped riders and senior citizens. He questioned whether the board and administration of the AAATA comprehended and absorbed the full range of difficulties that disabled people and senior riders have in using the system.

Earlier in the meeting, during his report from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that a new web developer has been hired on staff: Preston Stewart. Kerson felt it was a good transition to bring the web project in-house so that the AAATA is not at the mercy of a contractor. If you think about the core functions of the agency, Kerson said, the ability to communicate regularly with its customers in an efficient and up-to-date manner is not an add-on – that is a core function. He called Preston’s previous experience very impressive.

Bernard said he was thrilled to hear that a new web developer had been hired. It remains continually important for the website to be accessible. He said that strides have been made, but the website was not yet completely accessible. He hoped that the web developer would be provided any support that he needed to make the AAATA website as accessible as it can be. Bernard asked if the new web developer had any experience in accessible websites. Ford was not sure, but said the AAATA was focused on that issue.

New Buses

The board considered a change to its capital and categorical grant program – in order to acquire new buses needed to implement expanded services. The services will be funded by the new millage that voters approved earlier this year on May 6, 2014. The expanded services are scheduled to begin on Aug 24.

The plan is add a total of 20 new buses over the next three years to the AAATA’s existing fleet of 80 buses. Total cost for the vehicles is $9 million.

The initial service expansion will not require many additional buses – as expanded services focus on extended hours of operation. But over the five-year service expansion, new route configurations and higher frequency services will require the additional vehicles. By year, here’s how the bus acquisition breaks down:

• 2014: 2 buses for service expansion. Federal grant and state matching funds ($1,016,250). [Tentative: clean diesel.]
• 2015: 11 buses for service expansion. Local funds from new millage ($4,903,300). [Tentative: clean diesel.]
• 2016: 7 buses for service expansion. Local funds from new millage ($3,187,100). [Tentative: clean diesel.]

A tentative decision appears to have been made to specify the drive train on the new buses as conventional clean diesel, as opposed to the hybrid electric technology used by 52 of the current 80-bus fleet. However, no final decision has been made on the technology choice. The incremental cost per bus for the hybrid technology is nearly $200,000.

Minutes from the board’s July 8, 2014 planning and development committee show that AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black has indicated a final decision on the type of power unit for the buses needs to be made by November or December of 2014 – and certainly no later than February of 2015. The battery packs for many of the existing hybrid buses are reaching the end of their projected life, and the AAATA is also weighing the hybrid-versus-conventional diesel decision for replacement of those buses.

Among the issues to be weighed for the hybrid-versus-conventional diesel decision are fuel savings and noise reduction associated with hybrids. At the AAATA’s June 10 meeting, Black reported that for the newer clean diesel models, there is not a significant difference in the fuel economy. Some of the AAATA’s existing hybrid buses have had some transmission problems, which have resulted in a cost of $50,000 per bus. Even though that cost has been covered under warranty, the manufacturer is looking toward reducing the warranty coverage.

The board’s planning and development committee is supposed to receive a report on the hybrid-versus-diesel issue at its August meeting.

Outcome: When the board reached the voting item on its agenda, there was no additional discussion. The board unanimously approved the amendment to the capital and categorical grant program.

New Buses: Federal Grant Application

While most of the new buses needed for the expansion of service will be purchased with new millage funds, at least two buses will be purchased with federal grant money. A public hearing was held on the federal grant applications, which essentially mirrored the capital and categorical grant program already approved by the board last year, with the exception of some “livability” funds that the AAATA had been awarded a few months ago.

Chris White, AAATA manager of service development, explained that the public hearing was about the FY 2014 program of projects. The program of projects and the public hearing notice had been published in the Ann Arbor News twice. And it had been posted on the AAATA website for the last 30 days. No written comments had been received either by mail or by email at that point, White said. He then reviewed the entire program.

The projects in this program come directly from the capital and categorical grant program that was adopted by the board in December 2013 – with one exception, White said. When the AAATA was developing the capital and categorical grant program, a process was used that was open to the public. That included three meetings of the planning and development committee, and the board meeting at which the program was actually adopted. Any additional comments received that night would be included in the record for the Federal Transit Administration to review, White said.

White explained that the amounts in the program – Section 5307 ($6,457,306), and Section 5339 ($752,049) funds – are formula funds that are allocated to the Ann Arbor urbanized area. The southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is now the designated recipient for those funds, but the RTA has given the AAATA the authority to program that money and to make applications directly to the Federal Transit Administration for those funds. Livability Section 5309 ($813,000) funds are discretionary, White said.

There was also an amount for 5307 carryover ($622,969), White said. Those are funds from last year that the AAATA did not program. The funds are available to the AAATA for the two years following their appropriation. So the AAATA always uses up the money, but not always in the year that the funds are appropriated.

The total program is for the use of a total of $7,521,000 in federal funds. The total amount available is $8,645,324, so about $1.1 million will be carried over into FY 2015, White said.

White then reviewed the items in the program – nine small “expansion buses.” These are buses that AAATA will purchase that the paratransit contractor now provides for A-Ride service, White explained. So these buses are not to expand A-Ride service, so much as for the AAATA to provide that service directly, he clarified.

The second item on the list of projects is three large buses for expanded service. Those buses will use the federal Livability Section funds – the discretionary funds that the AAATA received. The AAATA had been informed that it had received approval for funds during the year – just a couple of months ago. And they were not included in the capital and categorical grant program, because the AAATA didn’t think it had the funds for the buses at that time.

White noted that this item was labeled as “up to three large buses.” He explained the $813,000 was actually not enough for three full buses – it’s enough for two buses and a fraction of a bus. The AAATA must record “up to three” in order to spend the entire amount, White said. Those are buses for the AAATA’s expansion for the five-year transit improvement program. The millage funds that were approved by the voters were programmed to buy expansion buses. Most of those buses will still be purchased from the local funds, White said. The livability funds would help the AAATA purchase two and a fraction of those buses.

All the other items on the program of projects are being paid for with the Section 5307 formula funds – computer-aided reservations dispatch for A-Ride, computer hardware and software, bus components (for hybrid buses), bus stop improvements (a Super Stop on Washtenaw Avenue), capital costs of subcontracted service, preventive maintenance and operating assistance.

New Buses: Federal Grant Application – Public Hearing

Jim Mogensen told the board that he thought it would be helpful in the future to have an issue paper that explains how the formula funds work. Is it because of the amount of service that we have? It seems that what is happening, Mogensen said, is you find out how much the funds are and then you figure out how to allocate the money in these various categories. But for someone who doesn’t have that information, it’s a little unclear how that would work. The other thing that would be helpful to know is what happens if for some reason federal money doesn’t come through. How would that impact how the funds are sorted out?

Tom Partridge questioned whether the existing formulas are sufficient to serve the most vulnerable paratransit riders. He said he heard no significant amounts being dedicated to extending and expanding the service that is available to handicapped riders or senior riders and other people who are disadvantaged in the community. He called on the AAATA to take steps before sending this on to the federal government. He called on the Federal Transit Administration to give priority for expansion of transit services for senior and handicapped riders.

FY 2014 Budget Adjustments

The AAATA fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept 30. At its July 24 meeting, the board considered an amendment to the budget for FY 2014 fiscal year to increase total expenses by $41,597 – from $34,073,795 to $34,115,392.

The proposed change also reflects adjustments to incorporate proceeds from the new millage, approved by voters on May 6, 2014. Of that additional $4,543,695 in local millage revenues, $3,850,000 is being put toward next year’s FY 2015 budget. Although that net amount of the expense adjustment is small, the infusion of new millage funds was offset by several hundred thousand dollars that were not spent this fiscal year for north-south commuter rail study.

It’s not uncommon for public bodies to make adjustments to the budget toward the end of the fiscal year.

The AAATA’s proposed amended budget reflected a number of changes related to the new millage and the service expansion that it will pay for. Among those changes are the hiring and training of 11 new bus drivers, bringing the total to 138 drivers. An operations supervisor, two new vehicle mechanics, an additional service crew member, and a human resources administrative assistant will also be added. [.pdf of detail on FY 2014 budget amendment]

The fares collected under the AAATA’s agreement with the University of Michigan are under budget for the year, because the proportion of the $1-per-ride fare booked as cash has decreased. A federal grant – which is recorded as federal operating assistance – has increased.

In the report to the board treasurer, AAATA controller Phil Webb reported an $81,254 surplus. But the report also noted an unrestricted net asset reserve amount of 2.64 months. The board’s reserve policy is to maintain at least the equivalent of a 3-month operating reserve.

FY 2014 Budget Adjustment: Public Commentary

Jim Mogensen addressed the board during the board’s first opportunity for public commentary at the start of the meeting. He said he’d always been very impressed with how detailed the information is about the operating budget. The AAATA presented both the standard operating budget and the extended notes. Because people are trying to understand how this all works, he suggested that materials also include a discussion of how the money is flowing in. For example, in the category of “special fares” – which related to the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University – it would be helpful to have that broken out so that people could see how the total number is determined. He suggested that the board figure out a way to include that kind of information in the extended notes on the budget.

FY 2104 Budget Adjustment: Board Discussion

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that the proposed budget revision includes the new millage funds and the expansion of service. The total amount of the adjustment is small because the AAATA spent less in a different area – namely, the north-south rail study. There were a few hundred thousand dollars not spent on that project in this fiscal year. So even though there is more than $42,000 going to new activities, the net effect is the increase that is included in the budget. The committee had discussed with staff the fact that the board wants to track as carefully as the AAATA can exactly how the new millage funds are used for the new service – so that the AAATA can report to voters on that in an ongoing way, he said.

The committee had reviewed financial reports. Budget-wise, the organization is under budget on both revenues and expenses, so that matches up fairly well, Kerson said. The news on performance reports is that over the year, ridership is down overall as a result of the severe winter weather. People stay home and work at home or make other arrangements so that they don’t have to travel, and that impacts the quantity of service that gets delivered, he said.

AAATA board member Eli Cooper.

When the board came to the voting item on its agenda, Eli Cooper stressed that the amendment of the budget is a positive aspect of the effort, which is a culmination of the efforts that led to the successful millage. The budget amendment is needed, to incorporate resources to sustain the new services that are being offered. The AAATA needs to be able to account for the resources that have been bestowed on the organization, and they need to be vigilant to ensure that the pledges made with respect to the five-year service plan are kept. Those pledges should be kept in a way that is consistent with the mission statement – in a cost-effective manner.

The budget is a planning instrument expressing the AAATA’s plan as it moves forward, Cooper said. It’s not merely an item where the board says: Yep, the numbers all add up and we’re going to approve that. So Cooper asked that the board take a moment to reflect on the value and the meaning of the budget – as a device that reflects all the hard work and that prepares a platform for the services to be delivered in a manner that is fiscally responsible. That’s one of the challenges the AAATA as an authority does well with, Cooper said, and it needs to continue to do well with that. So Cooper was pleased to speak in support of this amendment to the operating budget – because of the work done in the last six months, the last year, and even before that.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the budget adjustments.

North-South Rail Study (WALLY)

The board considered an $800,000 contract with SmithGroupJJR for additional study of north-south commuter rail project. [.pdf memo for July 24, 2014 WALLY resolution]

Planning and work for north-south commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Howell in Livingston County has been going on for several years in a project that has been called WALLY (Washtenaw and Livingston Railway). The AAATA appears to be transitioning to a project label that incorporates “N-S Rail” as part of the description.

About two years ago, at its Aug. 16, 2012 meeting, the AAATA board approved the award of a $105,200 contract to SmithGroupJJR for “station location and design services” in connection with the WALLY project. The board’s authorization at that time included an option to increase the contract scope at a later date. That’s what the board’s July 24 item was proposed to do – increasing the total amount of the contract from $105,200 to $800,000.

Of that $800,000, a significant portion will be covered with a federal grant received by the AAATA in 2012 under the federal Transportation, Community and System Preservation (TCSP) program. The federal grant award of $640,000 requires a $160,000 local match, which will be made by the Howell Downtown Development Authority, the Ann Arbor DDA and Washtenaw County – equaling a total of $143,000, with the remaining $17,000 to come from the AAATA.

The initial $105,200 contract with SmithGroupJJR was focused on a station location study and is now largely complete. The conclusion of that station location study was to identify a segment of the Ann Arbor Railroad right-of-way, between Liberty and Washington streets, as a preferred location for a downtown station.

The scope of the additional work under the contract considered by the AAATA board on July 24, 2014 will:

• Thoroughly examine alternatives/supplements to N-S Rail service such as express bus, bus-on-shoulder and HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) options.
• Complete the evaluation of boarding areas (stations) in terms of locations, costs and required features.
• Estimate operating and capital costs at a much finer level of detail, taking into account new service concepts, rail right-of-way work, ownership changes, and railcar acquisition that has taken place since 2008.
• Undertake a more rigorous approach to demand estimates in full compliance with FTA New Starts / Small Starts requirements.
• Incorporate “green” concepts and operating principles.
• Be accompanied by a robust public involvement effort aimed at informing stakeholders and testing public support for the service, governance and funding elements of the plan as they evolve.

The timeframe for the second phase of the study is about 18 months.

North-South Rail Study (WALLY): Board Discussion

In his report out from the planning and development committee, Larry Krieg noted that there was a federal grant of $640,000 to undertake the study. He noted that the city study would include not just the possibility of a rail corridor, but also the use of express buses, and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on US-23. The study would take about 18 months, he said, and the federal portion covers 80% of the cost. Several organizations – including Washtenaw County, the city of Ann Arbor, the Howell Downtown Development Authority – had contributed to the local match for that. Krieg concluded that the study had received a lot of support from around the region.

In his report out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson also commented on the north-south rail feasibility study. He felt that including express buses in the scope of the study is a very good idea – so that the AAATA would have a good sense of what the cost and time alternatives are.

Kerson said he was personally a big fan of trains and noted that the reason the board had a quorum for the meeting was because of the efficiency of DC Metro – which had gotten him from his meeting in Washington, D.C., that morning to Union Station, and then to another train to get to his plane. But that system had cost taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. And WALLY would cost millions and millions. “We can have a bus for thousands of thousands of dollars,” Kerson said, and probably have it in a matter of months, instead of years.

The AAATA had hit a home run with its service between downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport, he said, so the AAATA now knows how to provide that kind of service. AirRide is receiving very high marks for convenience and rider experience. So that’s in the AAATA’s inventory now of services it can deploy. Kerson wanted to see side-by-side from the feasibility report what it will take moneywise and timewise. He also wanted the study to find out people’s opinion about the different kinds of service. He felt that if people are exposed to that type of express bus service, they would really really like it, and it could be done in a cost-effective manner.

Outcome: When the board came to this item on the agenda, there was no additional discussion. The board voted unanimously to approve it.

Environmental Cleanup Work

The board considered a $234,360 contract with GZA GeoEnvironmental for environmental remediation work at the 2700 S. Industrial Highway headquarters of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority.

The need for the work dates back four years to 2010, when an in-ground gasoline leak was discovered during an upgrade to the fuel tank monitoring system.

The $25,000 insurance deductible through Chartis, the AAATA’s insurance company, has already been paid through previous work associated with this contamination. The current work – up to the $234,360 amount of the contract – will be reimbursed by Chartis for the total project price.

The work includes the following:

1. Installation of new monitoring wells.
2. Perform baseline groundwater sampling.
3. Chemical analysis of groundwater samples.
4. Anaerobic biodegradation bench scale study.
5. Soil and dewatering excavation.
6. Collection of excavation verification of soil remediation sampling.
7. Introduction of selected bioremediation enhancement materials.
8. Backfill restoration and concrete replacement.
9. Groundwater sampling (will occur a year after remediation activities has been completed).
10. Completed summary report that will be filed with MDEQ for satisfactory closure of incident.

Environmental Cleanup Work: Board Discussion

During his report out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted there are procedures and equipment in place to prevent that kind of leak from happening again.

AAATA controller Phil Webb

Larry Krieg asked for clarification of the word “gas” in the report. Was it natural gas, diesel fuel, or gasoline? AAATA maintenance manager Terry Black explained that it was gasoline. There had been a connection on a tank that had probably been seeping for several years, he said. And it had previously been undetected.

Eric Mahler asked about the contingency costs. If the additional work is not necessary, he wondered if the money would be returned to the AAATA. AAATA controller Phil Webb explained that the AAATA would pay only for the work that was done. If additional work is needed, then there would be an additional negotiation about how that would be paid for. Webb also pointed out that it’s part of the insurance coverage the AAATA has. So the AAATA had worked with the insurance company on this project – which has been approved by the insurance company. The AAATA would be reimbursed through the insurance claim.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the contract for the environmental work.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its July 24 meeting, the board entertained various communications, including its usual reports from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, the planning and development committee, as well as from CEO Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: Title VI Compliance

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the planning and development committee had heard from members of the public during public commentary at its meeting on the issue of Title VI compliance. The AAATA is close to completing the new requirements under Title VI, Ford reported. The full board had approve the Title VI policy earlier in the year, he noted, and the five-year transit improvement program will provide consistent service in the member jurisdictions, starting with the service improvements in August.

The performance monitoring and external relations committee was also working on revisions to service standards that would need to be approved by September, Ford noted. With those elements in place, Ford continued, the AAATA would be submitting all of its materials in October to the Federal Transit Administration about how the AAATA is meeting Title VI standards. The performance monitoring and external relations committee would be working throughout fiscal year 2015 on service standards, which are not required, but would be updates to Title VI material.

Jim Mogensen said that the previous week he’d attended two public meetings. The first was a University of Michigan’s regents meeting. His topic was public transit and the university. It was a topic that he talked to the regents about a couple of years ago, he said. At that time, he had said: Look, I’m probably gonna file a Title VI complaint against the AAATA – because there are structural issues the university needs to pay attention to when they merge their own transit plans with the AAATA’s. He’d suggested that because outside people would be looking in [to review Title VI compliance], one of the things the university should consider is providing transit out to its East Ann Arbor medical center. What he had not told the regents is that he had decided not to speak to the regents again until he actually filed the complaint. So he had not spoken to the regents for a couple of years.

He told the AAATA board to remain calm – because he had not actually filed a Title VI complaint yet. But he felt it was time to revisit the situation. The M-Ride agreement – between the University of Michigan and the AAATA – is being re-authorized next year and there was a year to figure it all out. So he suggested to the regents that this continues to be an issue – even with the new transit millage, because it is based on property taxes. And if you evaluate service based on municipal capacity, that will always be a challenge.

He suggested that the M-Ride agreement should be linked to the full actual fair, which is $1.50 – whereas the agreement now is for UM to pay $1 per ride. His suggested approach would recognize that what is happening was: People affiliated with the university have their fares paid by the university. The idea would be to tie it to the full fare. So, over the longer term, if fares for the general ridership went up, they would also go up for university affiliates, and would be linked to the university’s use of the transit system.

The second meeting that Mogensen had attended the previous Thursday was the WeROC (Washtenaw Regional Organizing Coalition) meeting. He brought up the Title VI issue up with WeROC – which had worked in support of the public transit millage. So Mogensen wanted to convey to the board that this was something he was working on, and that he was not working on it just by himself. He asked the board to please not short-circuit the idea before it’s given the opportunity to happen. Because sometimes, when you put ideas forth, things actually happen, Mogensen said.

Comm/Comm: Construction Detours; On-Time Performance

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that there have been some challenges with construction and detours throughout the city. He ventured that everyone had felt the pinch of that. Some of the routes of been impacted by traffic backups, he reported, which affected the AAATA’s customer satisfaction and on-time performance. They’re doing everything they can to mitigate those issues, but it’s a difficult slog, he said.

AAATA board member Roger Kerson.

Traveling right now in Ann Arbor is a pain in the neck because of all the construction, Roger Kerson noted during his report out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee. That’s true whether you’re walking, riding a bus, or in a car. And that is impacting the AAATA’s ability to meet on-time standards. They’re doing the best they can, but when virtually every major artery and every major entrance and exit to town has construction, and the buses just can’t move.

Kerson was surprised to hear about the situation on Pontiac Trail, where the AAATA literally cannot run the buses down the street and has to stop and turn around and have a detour. Obviously that is going to impact people there quite a bit, he said, but added: “We are at the mercy of the construction project.”

During question time, Larry Krieg asked about the difficulty in achieving on-time performance. He asked if any of the methods the AAATA was using to do the best it could, were impacting budget. Ford replied that they were actually suffering in that area. They are adding buses, and according to AAATA manager of transportation Ron Copeland, the estimate of the additional cost is $4,000-$5,000 a week. There is not a lot of bandwidth available to the AAATA, Ford said, and so they’re trying to do the best they can – trying to communicate as best they can with customers, and to get them where they need to go, as efficiently as they possibly can. He allowed it is costing the organization money to do that.

Comm/Comm: Public Comment – Compliments

Ed Vielmetti addressed the board during the first opportunity for public comment. He introduced himself as an Ann Arbor resident. He told the board that he rides the bus from time to time. As he’d look through the board packet before coming to the meeting, he noticed some of the statistics that were gathered and reported with respect to complaints about drivers and service – as well as compliments about drivers and service. He was surprised to see that the number of compliments was just 41. When he rides the buses, people are generally friendly with the bus driver and say hello and they seem to be cheerful about the whole process – especially in the summertime. Since he had never registered a formal compliment, Vielmetti wasn’t sure what the process was for doing that. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to send an email or fill out a form at the transit center. He had no clue about how he would add one to the number of compliments. He asked the staff to figure out what needed to be added to signage or to the RideGuide to let people know how they can report on how the ride went, and to encourage people to give positive comments.

Comm/Comm: BTC Public Art

During his report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the planning and development committee had requested a summary of the evolution of the Blake Transit Center art project and the details on the warranty of the artist’s work. Issues of durability and the warranty had been discussed with the artist as a result of the PDC request, Ford said, and that agreement would be committed in writing. The AAATA is also documenting the award of the art project to this particular artist.

During his report out from the planning and development committee, Larry Krieg noted the committee had received an update on the artwork that was funded as a part of the new Blake Transit Center. The artist, Roberto Delgado, made a visit to Ann Arbor and had made photographs of the distinctive parts of the region so that those images can be incorporated into the artwork. The final artwork would be made of tile and would be vandal-resistant, Krieg said. Sue Gott had urged the AAATA to set aside funds for the maintenance of the art, saying that any outdoor artwork would require maintenance.

Comm/Comm: Art Fair Ridership

During his report to the board, Michael Ford noted that the Ann Arbor art fairs had taken place the previous week. Ridership for the AAATA’s art fair shuttle from Briarwood to downtown was up over 30% compared to last year, he reported. There were about 79 riders per service hour and the weather was great. He thanked everyone who was involved in the process.

Present: Eric Mahler, Eli Cooper, Roger Kerson, Anya Dale, Jack Bernard, Larry Krieg.

Absent: Susan Baskett, Sue Gott, Charles Griffith, Gillian Ream Gainsley.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

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From left: Commissioner Dan Smith (R-District 2), county treasurer Catherine McClary, and commissioner Conan Smith (D-District 9). The treasurer’s office is instrumental in a new approach to helping local municipalities pay off bonds backed by the county, which received initial approval on Sept. 18. (Photos by the writer.)

Even so, a wide range of resolutions were passed – mostly with no discussion. The absence of three commissioners also led to non-votes on two items originally on the agenda, out of concern that there would not be sufficient support to pass them.

During the meeting, the board postponed a final vote on a countywide micro loan program for small business. Under the county board rules, a resolution requires votes from “a majority of the members elected and serving” in order to pass – that is, five votes. Supporters of the resolution weren’t certain they could achieve that number. A resolution regarding the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law had been pulled from the agenda earlier in the day for the same reason.

Opponents of the “Stand Your Ground” resolution – which called on the state legislature to repeal the law enacted in 2006 – had been expected to appear at the meeting in force, prompting county administration to add extra security. However, after the resolution was pulled, only a handful of people attended to speak against it, as did one supporter.

In another resolution that addressed a statewide issue, commissioners voted to direct staff to explore options – including possible legal action – to help set cleanup criteria in Michigan for the carcinogen 1,4-dioxane. In part, the item relates to a 1,4 dioxane plume stemming from contaminants at the former Gelman Sciences plant, west of Ann Arbor.

Dan Smith (R-District 2) stated “present” during that vote, rather than voting for or against the resolution – because board rules do not allow for abstention. After the meeting, corporation counsel Curt Hedger told The Chronicle that he’d be looking at the board rules to determine how Smith’s vote will be recorded. Hedger pointed out that the resolution needed five votes to pass, which it garnered even without Smith’s vote.

Commissioners also gave initial approval for a new approach to paying off debt incurred from bonding – typically for public works projects in local municipalities. The proposal would 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 and the county’s debt burden. In a related resolution, commissioners gave initial approval to restructuring debt held by Bridgewater Township, using this new approach.

Several items that received initial approval at the board’s previous meeting on Sept. 4 were passed in a final vote on Sept. 18 with minimal discussion, including: (1) strengthening the county’s affirmative action plan, as well as other nondiscrimination in employment-related policies; (2) authorizing a range of grants administered by the county’s office of community & economic development, as well as a resolution that would give blanket approval in the future to nearly 30 annual entitlement grants received by the county; (3) adding three new full-time jobs for stewardship of the county nature preserves; (4) adding a new 10-bed treatment program for female teens in the county’s youth center that will create a net increase of 5.46 jobs; and (5) budgets for the county’s public health and community support & treatment service (CSTS) departments.

And after postponing action on Sept. 4, the board voted to create a 13-member community advisory group to look at options for the county-owned Platt Road site in Ann Arbor. The Sept. 18 resolution was much more general in its direction than the one that was debated on Sept. 4, stripping out most of the details related to a previous focus on affordable housing.

Also on Sept. 18 as an item of communication, Yousef Rabhi updated the board on plans to fill a vacancy on the county road commission, which will result from the recent appointment of current road commissioner Ken Schwartz as Superior Township supervisor. Applications for the road commissioner job are being accepted until Sept. 25, with the county board likely making an appointment at its Oct. 2 meeting.

1,4 Dioxane Cleanup

A resolution on the Sept. 18 agenda gave direction to the county staff to explore options – including possible legal action – to help set cleanup criteria for the carcinogen 1,4-dioxane in Michigan.

Map of Pall-Gelman 1,4-dioxane plume, by Washtenaw County. Black arrow added to indicate baseball field at West Park. The yellow region is the estimated plume area where the 1,4-dioxane concentration is greater than 1 ppb. That area encroaches well into the city of Ann Arbor and extends outside the well prohibition zone (red border).

In addition to its broader implications, the resolution is meant to address the 1,4 dioxane plume stemming from contaminants at the former Gelman Sciences plant in Scio Township, which is now closed. [.pdf of county resolution]

The Ann Arbor city council passed a resolution on Sept. 3, 2013 related to the 1,4-dioxane issue. However, the city council resolution makes no mention of legal action.

In contrast, the resolution passed by county commissioners includes passage that:

…directs the County Administrator, Corporation Counsel and other appropriate county staff to work in collaboration with the County Water Resources Commissioner to explore other actions available to the County, including but not limited to legal action, meeting with and petitioning the MDEQ and EPA to aid in setting appropriate cleanup criteria for 1,4-dioxane in Michigan, including the Pall-Gelman plume and without site specific criteria for the Pall-Gelman plume and to cooperate with other local units of government to ensure protection of public health and the environment; …

The history of Gelman Sciences and its 1,4-dioxane contamination goes back 40 years. The company was based in Scio Township and later acquired by Pall Corp. The Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality’s current 1,4-dioxane generic residential drinking water cleanup criterion was set at 85 parts per billion (ppb). But an EPA criterion set in 2010 was for 3.5 ppb.

The MDEQ was supposed to re-evaluate its own standards by December 2012, based on the EPA’s 2010 toxicological review. It missed that deadline, and is anticipated to miss a new deadline set for December 2013.

There was no board discussion on this item.

Outcome: Five commissioners voted in support of this resolution, so the resolution passed. When his name was called in the roll-call vote, Dan Smith (R-District 2) responded by saying “Present.” Three commissioners – Felicia Brabec (D-District 4), Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) and Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6) – were absent.

Responding to queries from The Chronicle after the meeting, Pete Simms of the county clerk’s office – who is responsible for recording votes and keeping the board’s official minutes – indicated that he would need to consult with corporation counsel Curtis Hedger about how to record Smith’s response. Hedger told The Chronicle that he would be looking into the question.

The board rules – adopted on Jan. 2, 2013 – state, in relevant part:

O. VOTING:
Every member who shall be present, including the Chair, when a motion is last stated by the Chair, and no other, shall vote for or against the motion unless the member has a conflict of interest, in which case the member shall not vote.

Dan Smith has been an advocate for allowing board members to abstain on certain votes. He was successful in adding a new rule in February 2012 that stated: “Commissioners may abstain from voting on resolutions that express support or opposition and otherwise take no action.” The question of abstaining from votes has related primarily to resolutions on state or federal issues, over which the county board has no control.

However, the composition of the board changed in the November 2012 elections, which also reflected redistricting that decreased the number of commissioners on the board from 11 to 9. And on Jan. 2, 2013, Conan Smith proposed an amendment to delete the rule that allowed commissioners to abstain. After debating the issue, the board voted 5-4 in favor of Conan Smith’s amendment – so abstaining from a vote is no longer allowed.

New Approach to Bond Debt

A proposal for a new way to pay off debt incurred from bonding – typically for public works projects in local municipalities – was on the Sept. 18 agenda for initial approval. The proposal would 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 of commissioners. Several other criteria for using a DTRF advance are proposed:

• The approval of an advance would be considered only for the county’s own indebtedness, and would result in a reduction in the County’s bonded indebtedness.
• The local unit receiving the benefit agrees to contribute at least 10% of the outstanding principal amount of the debt toward the reduction of the bonded debt and to amend its contractual agreement with the county to include a new payment schedule and new interest rate(s).
• A refunding bond analysis must be performed to examine the potential for savings by selling refunding bonds.
• The estimated cost of issuance for a refunding bond is 25% or greater than the estimated interest savings from the refunding bond sale.
• The local unit has a bond rating in the top two tiers of a standard rating service, or if the local unit is too small to warrant a rating, a review of the most recent audit of the local unit shows that they are not experiencing fiscal stress.
• The interest rate of the advance will be determined by the county treasurer and will exceed the rate of return received by the county treasurer in her/his pooled accounts.
• The amended contract with the local unit will provide a process by which the county treasurer can adjust the interest rate.

In a related resolution, commissioners were asked to give initial approval to restructuring debt held by Bridgewater Township. The township owes $585,000 on $1.095 million in bonds issued in 2004 to fund a sewer system. County treasurer Catherine McClary has agreed to lend the township money to pay off the bonds. The township will repay the treasurer’s office at a lower interest rate than it was paying for the bond debt, which was averaging 4.1%. The rate will provide a greater rate of return than the treasurer is currently getting on investments, according to a staff memo.

The amount of the advance from the treasurer’s office is $430,000, loaned to Bridgewater Township over nine years at a starting interest rate of 2%. The township will use an additional $172,000 to pay down the existing principal on its bond debt. The transaction will cost about $6,000 in legal fees, which the township will pay. [.pdf of staff memo on Bridgewater Township debt]

New Approach to Bond Debt: Board Discussion

Deliberations were brief. Regarding the broad policy resolution, Dan Smith (R-District 2) noted that every year, the county’s auditor tells the board that an audit means something very specific. So Smith proposed amending out the phrase “the most recent audit” and substituting in the phrase “recent financial reports.” It was considered a friendly amendment.

Ron Smith, Bridgewater Township supervisor, received a round of applause from commissioners for his work on a new approach to paying off debt.

Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) thanked everyone involved in developing this proposal. It’s a very creative way of reducing the county’s debt as well as the debt load for other local units of government.

He thanked the officials of Bridgewater Township for their leadership, as well as county treasurer Catherine McClary, public works director Dan Myers, and water resources commissioner Evan Pratt. Rabhi noted that this proposal was reviewed at length at the board of public works, on which he serves.

Alicia Ping (R-District 3) also thanked staff and officials for their work. She noted that sometimes the out-county townships don’t feel that they get a lot of attention or service from the county. “This is one way that the county is able to step up and help out,” Ping said.

Outcome: Both resolutions were unanimously given initial approval, to be considered for a final vote on Oct. 2.

Platt Road Advisory Committee

After postponing action at its Sept. 4, 2013 meeting, commissioners considered a new resolution on Sept. 18 to create a 13-member advisory group to look at options for the county-owned Platt Road site in Ann Arbor, where the old juvenile center was located.

The original resolution brought forward on Sept. 4 was developed with guidance from commissioner Andy LaBarre (D-District 7), who represents the district where the property is located. It called for a nine-member committee with the following composition:

• 2 county commissioners
• 1 Ann Arbor city councilmember
• 2 residents from the adjacent neighborhood
• The executive director of the Ann Arbor Housing Commission [Jennifer L. Hall]
• The director of Washtenaw County parks & recreation [Bob Tetens]
• The director of the Washtenaw County office of community and economic development [Mary Jo Callan]
• The Washtenaw County infrastructure management director [Greg Dill]

During deliberations on Sept. 4, the committee structure was amended to include four additional Washtenaw County residents, including at least one with real estate experience.

The idea of an advisory committee to help with the dispensation of this property – at 2260 and 2270 Platt Road – was first discussed at the board’s July 10, 2013 meeting. It was included in an overall strategic space plan for county facilities, which proposed demolishing the former juvenile center and exploring redevelopment of the site for affordable housing, alternative energy solutions, and county offices. Details of how the advisory committee would be appointed, as well as the committee’s formal mission, was an item to be worked out for a board vote at a later date.

Andy LaBarre (D-District 7) talks with Bob Tetens, director of Washtenaw County parks & recreation.

On Sept. 4, a debate on the advisory committee proposal lasted about an hour, with concerns raised about the resolution’s focus on affordable housing. A staff memo listed several elements that would be explored, including: (1) affordable rental housing by the Ann Arbor housing commission; (2) an affordable housing green demonstration pilot project; (3) connection to the adjacent County Farm Park; (4) ReImagine Washtenaw Avenue design principles; and (5) other identified community priorities, such as geothermal, solar panels or community gardens.

According to that staff memo, this visioning work will be funded by $100,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, with funds to support the development of affordable housing. The money was part of a $3 million federal grant awarded to the county in 2011 and administered by the county’s office of community & economic development (OCED).

On Sept. 4, several commissioners expressed interest in exploring a broader set of options, beyond affordable housing – including the possible sale of the property. Ultimately, the item was postponed. Board chair Yousef Rabhi had directed Greg Dill, the county’s infrastructure management director, to work with commissioners and staff to bring forward an alternative resolution on Sept. 18.

However, when the Sept. 18 agenda was posted online, the resolution remained unchanged, aside from the amendment made on Sept. 4.

A couple of hours prior to the start of the Sept. 18 meeting, LaBarre emailed commissioners and The Chronicle with a substitute resolution that he brought forward during the meeting. It was much more general in its direction, stripping out most of the details related to the affordable housing focus. In addition to the composition of the community advisory committee (CAC), the new resolution’s main directive was stated this way:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Commissioners directs the CAC to provide recommendations to the Board of Commissioners relative to disposition, including an alternatives analysis; and preferred methods of community engagement for the Board of Commissioners to undertake during the disposition process;

The resolution also set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2013 for the committee to deliver its analysis and recommendations to the board. [.pdf of substitute resolution]

Platt Road Advisory Committee: Board Discussion

There was scant comment on this item. Conan Smith (D-District 9) thanked LaBarre for the new resolution, saying that it reflected the concerns that had been raised on Sept. 4.

Outcome: The resolution passed unanimously.

The appointments to this committee have not yet been made. In conversation with The Chronicle after the Sept. 18 meeting, LaBarre and Rabhi indicated that they were in the process of identifying possible participants. It’s unclear whether the appointments will be made by Rabhi, as board chair, or whether he will nominate members to be confirmed by the board as a whole. The resolution indicates that the appointments will be made directly by the board chair. This differs from the typical appointment process, which entails nominations by the chair, followed by a confirmation vote of the board.

Non-Discrimination Policy

Commissioners were asked to give final approval to reaffirm and update the county’s affirmative action plan, as well as other nondiscrimination in employment-related policies. [.pdf of staff memo and policies] The primary change adds a prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

During public commentary on Sept. 4 – when an initial vote was taken – community activist Jim Toy and Jason Morgan, a board member of the Jim Toy Community Center, had spoken in support of the changes. No one from the public addressed the issue during the Sept. 18 meeting.

The resolution’s three resolved clauses state:

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners reaffirms its intent to prohibit discrimination in Washtenaw County against any person in recruitment, certification, appointment, retention, promotion, training and discipline on the basis of race, creed, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, height, weight, religion and political belief.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners shall strive to promote a workforce that welcomes and honors all persons and that provides equal opportunity in employment.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners directs the Human Resources / Labor Relations Director to update the Affirmative Action Plan, as well as policies Prohibiting Discrimination in Employment, Sexual Harassment, and the County’s Statement of Equal Employment Opportunity to reflect the Boards commitment and reaffirmation described herein.

Non-Discrimination Policy: Board Discussion

Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) made a minor amendment, which was accepted as friendly, to add in the word “sex” in the list of categories that cannot be discriminated against. He said it had been inadvertently edited out in the initial resolution.

Outcome: Changes to the non-discrimination policy were given final approval in a unanimous vote.

Change to Grant Approval Process

On the Sept. 18 was resolution that gives blanket approval in the future to nearly 30 annual entitlement grants received by the county totaling an estimated $8.8 million, beginning in 2014. Currently, each of those grants requires separate annual approval by the board. The item – one of several resolutions related to the office of community & economic development, which administers these grants – had been given initial approval on Sept. 4, 2013.

According to a staff memo, the entitlement grants are awarded on a reoccurring basis based on pre-existing state or federal allocation formulas. They require board approval as individual items, which “ends up consuming a significant portion of Board and staff time throughout a given year, as formula grants are on a variety of different fiscal years, and are awarded at several different points throughout the year. Furthermore, the piecemeal nature of the resolutions does not provide a holistic overview of the continuum of services provided to the community by OCED,” the memo states. [.pdf of staff memo regarding blanket grant approval]

There are several categories of grants that will continue to require a board vote, even with this blanket approval. Those categories include:

• competitive grants;
• grants that are not based on pre-established federal or state funding formulas or entitlement formulas;
• new grants, or ones that have not been previously awarded to or administered by OCED;
• grants that would require a county general fund appropriation in excess of the amount approved by the county board in the budget;
• grants that would require a change in OCED position control;
• grants more than $100,000 or 10% more than the anticipated amount, whichever is greater.

There was no discussion on this item.

Outcome: Commissioners gave final approval to authorize blanket approval for entitlement grants.

Federal & State Grants: Office of Community & Economic Development

Several items on the Sept. 18 agenda related to funding for programs managed by the county’s office of community & economic development, totaling nearly $2 million. They had been given initial approval on Sept. 4:

• $88,263 from the federal dislocated worker training (DWT) national emergency grant [.pdf of staff memo for DWT grant]
• $16,277 in federal funding for the Michigan Works! Service Center Operations [.pdf of staff memo for Michigan Works funding]
• $50,000 in federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) employer-based training foundation funding [.pdf of staff memo for TAA funding]
• $287,860 in federal Dept. of Energy weatherization funding [.pdf of staff memo for weatherization funds]
• $274,792 in federal Emergency Solutions Grant funding. The total program budget is $412,188, which includes $137,396 of in-kind matching contributions. The program supports the Housing Access for Washtenaw County (HAWC) partnership between Salvation Army, the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Washtenaw County. [.pdf of ESG staff memo]
• $516,156 in federal Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds [.pdf of CSBG staff memo]
• $21,828 in discretionary funds from the federal Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) to provide free income-tax preparation for low-income residents [.pdf of discretionary CSBG staff memo]
• $703,214 in federal funding for a senior nutrition program, with a total budget of $873,372. Additional funding comes from a USDA reimbursement of $100,001 and in-kind contributions of $70,157. [.pdf of senior nutrition memo]

There was no discussion on any of these items.

Outcome: All resolutions related to these grants were given final approval.

Staff for Natural Areas Stewardship

Final approval authorizing three new full-time jobs for stewardship of Washtenaw County’s nature preserves was on the Sept. 18 agenda.

Evan Pratt, Washtenaw County water resources commissioner.

The positions include: (1) a park laborer with a salary range of $31,507 to $41,766; (2) a park associate/principle planner with a salary range of $40,253 to $61,195; and (3) a stewardship coordinator, with a salary range of $43,373 to $56,586.

The additional jobs reflect a change approved by the county board nearly a year ago. At their Sept. 19, 2012 meeting, commissioners voted to amend the Natural Areas Ordinance No. 128, which established the county’s natural areas preservation program in 2000. The change removed a previous restriction that only 7% of millage funds could be used for management or stewardship. The goal was to use $600,000 per year for management and stewardship. Of that, roughly $240,000 would be used for ongoing stewardship activities, and $360,000 would remain to be invested in a dedicated reserve for long-term land stewardship.

According to a staff memo, the county’s parks system manages more than 4,500 acres of land in 13 parks and 22 preserves. In addition to the 556 acres of property already “actively” managed in the nature preserves, the staff also have active stewardship responsibilities for another 372 acres of prime natural areas within the county parks system. Overall, staff has identified 1,868 acres – or roughly 42% of the system’s current total acreage – as core conservation areas.

Funding for these new positions would be paid for entirely from the countywide natural areas millage, which was initially approved by voters in 2000 and renewed in 2010. The current 0.2409 mill tax raises roughly $3.5 million in annual revenues, and runs through 2021.

There was no discussion among commissioners about this item.

Outcome: Final approval was given to create these stewardship jobs.

CSTS Budget

Commissioners were asked to give final approval to the 2013-14 budget for the community support and treatment service (CSTS) department, from Oct. 1, 2013 through Sept. 30, 2014. The $34.96 million budget includes $29.598 million in revenue from the Washtenaw Community Health Organization (WCHO), which contracts with CSTS to provide services for people who are mentally ill and developmentally disabled. Other revenue comes from the Haarer bequest ($165,192), a contract with the county sheriff’s office ($246,846), smaller contracts with other entities, and fee-for-service billing. [.pdf of CSTS budget]

The budget calls for putting six full-time positions and two part-time jobs on “hold vacant” status. Those positions are currently unfilled.

The resolution also authorized county administrator Verna McDaniel to approve a service agreement with the WCHO, which is a separate nonprofit that’s a partnership between the county and the University of Michigan Health System.

Initial approval was given on Sept. 4, and there was no discussion about this item on Sept. 18.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously voted to approve the CSTS 2013-14 budget.

Public Health Budget

The Sept. 18 agenda included a resolution giving final approval to the public health department’s $10.796 million budget for 2013-14, from Oct. 1, 2013 through Sept. 30, 2014. The budget includes $3.553 million in an appropriation from the county’s general fund, and $243,226 from the department’s fund balance. [.pdf of staff memo regarding public health budget]

As part of the budget, the public health department is proposing a net increase of 1.5 full-time equivalent positions. That results from eliminating 4.5 FTEs and creating 6 new positions. In addition, 5 positions will be put on “hold vacant” status, effective Oct. 1.

The resolution also included a proposed fee schedule for vaccines and clinic visits. [.pdf of proposed fee schedule] The minimum fee is proposed to be raised from $30 to $40.

There was no discussion of this item. Initial approval had been given on Sept. 4.

Outcome: The board unanimously gave final approval to the public health budget and fee schedule.

Trial Court Child Care Fund

The board was asked to give final approval to 2013-2014 state child care fund expenditures of $9,425,785 for the trial court’s juvenile division and county dept. of human services. About half of that amount ($4,712,892) will be eligible for reimbursement from the state. [.pdf of budget summary]

According to a staff memo, the child care fund is a joint effort between state and county governments to fund programs that serve neglected, abused and delinquent youth. Part of this year’s funding will support a new 10-bed treatment program that will be housed in the county’s youth center facility, opening in November of 2013. From the staff memo:

The treatment program in its initial phase will exclusively provide treatment services to females aged 12-17 using an integrated therapeutic treatment model. The program will offer a short-term 90 day option as well as a 6 to 9 month long-term treatment option. The second phase of treatment programming will expand services to males aged 12-17.

The new program is expected to generate revenue from out-of-county treatment referrals.

The expenditures will result in a net increase of 5.46 jobs. A total of 10.46 full-time equivalent positions will be created, and 5 FTEs will be eliminated.

Commissioners did not discuss this item, which had been given initial approval on Sept. 4.

Outcome: The board gave final approval to the trial court child care fund.

Stand Your Ground Repeal

A resolution urging the state legislature to repeal Michigan’s “Stand Your Ground” law was part of the Sept. 18 online agenda that had been posted on the county’s website on Friday, Sept. 13. But in a phone conversation with The Chronicle on the morning of Sept. 18, board chair Yousef Rabhi confirmed that he had decided to pull the resolution from the Sept. 18 meeting agenda.

Rabhi expected that at least two commissioners on the 9-member board – Felicia Brabec (D-District 4) and Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) – would be absent. [It turned out that Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6) also did not attend the meeting.] And Rabhi expected that three other commissioners would vote against the resolution. Because of that, it would likely only garner four votes in support. Under the county board rules, a resolution requires votes from “a majority of the members elected and serving” in order to pass. With an anticipated 4-3 vote, it would fall short of achieving the 5-vote majority needed.

The resolution urged state legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder to repeal Public Act 309 of 2006 and Public Act 319 of 1990, and “to adopt common-sense gun regulations such as improved background checks, strengthened gun-free zones, and limits on the sale of high-capacity magazines.” [.pdf of proposed resolution originally on the Sept. 18 agenda]

A few opponents of a resolution to repeal the Michigan “Stand Your Ground” law attended the Washtenaw County board’s Sept. 18 meeting.

It was similar to a resolution passed by the Ann Arbor city council on Aug. 8, 2013. Activists have been calling for the repeal in the wake of a Florida verdict in the Trayvon Martin case that was handed down in mid-July. Three people had spoken at the county board’s Sept. 4 meeting, urging commissioners to take action.

However, opponents rallied after hearing about the proposed resolution. Michigan Open Carry Inc., an advocacy group based in Lansing, encouraged people who live near Ann Arbor to attend the Sept. 18 meeting and protest the resolution. A post on the group’s Facebook page stated: “We understand the County Building does not contain a court, but we have not verified this. If it is indeed not a court, open or concealed carry would be lawful and the county building would be covered under preemption.” There is no court in the building where county commissioners hold their meetings, at 220 N. Main St. in downtown Ann Arbor.

There were reports that buses would be transporting protesters to the meeting, and the county administration ordered extra security. Two sheriff’s deputies were on hand before the start of the meeting, as was an Ann Arbor police officer, whose patrol car was parked in front of the county administration building.

Having heard about the decision to pull the resolution off the agenda – the county administration posted a notice on its website earlier in the day – only a few opponents showed up to the meeting.

Stand Your Ground Repeal: Public Commentary

A resident from Manchester told commissioners that research by John Lott and others shows that when there are more responsible gun owners, there is a decrease in crime. Just the mere presence of a weapon can be a deterrent, he said, adding that he speaks from first-hand experience in Detroit. The resolution proposed by county commissioners isn’t in the best interest of the public, he said, and he urged them to vote against it.

George Lawrence of Whitmore Lake asked when the resolution would be brought back for a vote. Alicia Ping (R-District 3), who was chairing the ways & means committee meeting, indicated that it’s unclear when that will happen. “Don’t bring it back,” Lawrence told the board.

Robert Dick disputed some of the claims made in the resolution. It states that “Stand Your Ground” laws increase murder rates, but he pointed to a substantial decrease in murders since 2006, when the Michigan law was enacted. He provided a handout to commissioners with an analysis relevant to the issue, saying that after they read it, they might not be as happy to have their names associated with the resolution.

A resident of Lodi Township disputed the resolution’s assertion that Michigan’s “Stand Your Ground” law puts an unreasonable burden on prosecutors. He said that if Michigan repeals the law, the criminal justice system will operate on the “duty to retreat” legal doctrine, which he argued violates civil and constitutional rights. “Duty to retreat” also imperils citizens, he said, because it mandates that a citizen give ground to an attacker, “elevating the criminal’s rights above the victim’s rights.” It also denies the victim’s rights to be or remain in any legal location, he said. Therefore, the “duty to retreat” doctrine violates a citizen’s 14th Amendment rights to life, liberty and equal protection under the law.

“Duty to retreat” also requires citizens to tell police, prosecutors and juries why the fear of imminent death, great bodily harm or sexual assault was honest and reasonable, which violates a citizen’s 5th Amendment right to remain silent, he said. It also assumes a citizen is guilty until proven innocent, which violates the 4th Amendment right to due process. He argued that “duty to retreat” endangers citizens, if they have to pause and evaluate possible escape routes rather than focusing on how to survive an attack. If the victim does survive the attack, they’ll find themselves attacked later by the prosecutor. “Duty to retreat” adds insult to injury, he said, but Michigan corrected that injustice with a “stand your ground” law. He urged commissioners not to cede the public square to violent criminals, nor to ask Michigan to violate its citizens’ rights.

Judy Bonnell-Wenzel of Ann Arbor was the only person who spoke in support of the resolution on Sept. 18. By and large, she said, it’s the color of your skin that makes people think they should be afraid of you. Unfortunately in America, “there’s something in the air” that needs to be eradicated from our collective psyche, she said, “and that is racism.”

Stand Your Ground Repeal: Commissioner Follow-Up

Every agenda includes a slot for commissioner follow-up to public commentary. Andy LaBarre (D-District 7) thanked Judy Bonnell-Wenzel for coming to the meeting and speaking out. He said she’s a constituent of his and someone he’s known for several years, who is active in a lot of causes that he believes in.

Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) also thanked Bonnell-Wenzel as well as all the other residents who’d come to the meeting. It’s always good to hear from citizens on any issue, he said. Rabhi clarified that the “Stand Your Ground” resolution had been removed from the agenda and therefore wouldn’t be debated during the meeting.

It’s unclear when the item will be brought forward again. Initially, Rabhi had indicated that he would put the resolution on the Oct. 2 agenda. However, that night the board will be presented with a draft budget for 2014-2017, which is expected to be the focus of the meeting.

Micro Loan Program for Small Business

The Sept. 18 agenda included a resolution on a new countywide micro loan program for small businesses. The item had received initial approval on Sept. 4, 2013, and was on the agenda for a final vote on Sept. 18.

Commissioner Alicia Ping (R-District 3) and county administrator Verna McDaniel.

The resolution would authorize the county’s office of community & economic development to contract with the Center for Empowerment and Economic Development to manage this program. CEED already handles a smaller micro loan program focused on the eastern side of the county. [.pdf of CEED micro loan proposal]

Micro loans would range from $500 to $50,000, for businesses that can’t get conventional financing. CEED has a $5 million borrowing capacity from the U.S. Small Business Administration, and expects to make $300,000 in micro loans in the next two years in Washtenaw County. The county would provide $45,000 out of revenues from levying the Act 88 millage. Of that amount, $35,000 would be used to seed a loan loss reserve fund and $10,000 would be designated for initial operating costs.

To be eligible for a micro loan, businesses must be based in Washtenaw County and have been turned down by two financial institutions for loans over $20,000. Other requirements include: (1) a business plan for businesses that are less than 3 years old; (2) a marketing plan for businesses that are 3 years or older; (3) two years of financial statements and tax returns; and (4) a personal financial statement.

The county is allowed to levy up to 0.5 mills under Public Act 88 of 1913, but currently levies a small percentage of that – 0.06 mills, which will bring in $696,000 this year. It’s used for programs run by the county’s office of community & economic development, and to fund the county’s MSU extension office. Act 88 does not require voter approval. It was originally authorized by the county in 2009 at a rate of 0.04 mills, and was increased to 0.043 mills in 2010 and 0.05 in 2011.

Last year, Conan Smith (D-District 9) of Ann Arbor proposed increasing the rate to 0.06 mills and after a heated debate, the board approved the increase on a 6-5 vote. [See Chronicle coverage: "County Board Debates, OKs Act 88 Tax Hike."] Increasing this tax was one of several revenue options that the county commissioners discussed at their Aug. 8, 2013 working session, as part of a broader strategy to address a projected $3.9 million budget deficit in 2014. [See Chronicle coverage: "County Board Eyes Slate of Revenue Options."]

The county has identified economic development as one of its main budget priorities.

Micro Loan Program for Small Business: Board Discussion

Andy LaBarre (D-District 7) made a motion to postpone the item until the board’s Oct. 2 meeting.

He did not state a reason during the meeting and there was no discussion on the item.

Outcome: Commissioners voted to postpone a final vote on the micro loan program until Oct. 2.

When queried after the meeting by The Chronicle, LaBarre indicated that with three commissioners absent – Felicia Brabec (D-District 4), Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) and Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6) – it was unclear whether there were sufficient votes to pass the measure. Under the county board rules, a resolution requires votes from “a majority of the members elected and serving” in order to pass – that is, five votes. The resolution regarding the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law had been pulled from the agenda for the same reason.

When an initial vote was taken on Sept. 4, Dan Smith (R-District 2) had cast the only dissenting vote against this program. He objects to using taxpayer dollars for a program where funds are allocated without the opportunity for input at public meetings, and believes there are other avenues that small businesses can use for financing.

Hearing for Indigent Veterans Services Tax Hike

No one spoke at a public hearing held on Sept. 18 to get input on a proposed increase to the Washtenaw County tax that supports services for indigent veterans and their families.

The current rate, approved by the board last year and levied in December 2012, is 0.0286 mills – or 1/35th of a mill. 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.

The county is authorized to collect up to 1/10th of a mill without seeking voter approval. That’s because the state legislation that enables the county to levy this type of tax – the Veterans Relief Fund Act – predates the state’s Headlee Amendment. The county first began levying this millage in 2008. Services are administered through the county’s department of veterans affairs.

Increasing this tax was one of several revenue options that the county commissioners discussed at their Aug. 8, 2013 working session, as part of a broader strategy to address a nearly $4 million projected budget deficit in 2014. See Chronicle coverage: “County Board Eyes Slate of Revenue Options.”

The board will likely take an initial vote on this tax increase at its Oct. 2 meeting.

Appointments

There was one appointment on the Sept. 18 agenda: April Baranek, representing Washtenaw County on the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office (SEMREO) Community Alliance for a term ending Dec. 31, 2014.

Conan Smith (D-District 9).

Conan Smith (D-District 9) thanked board chair Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) for making the nomination. He described the alliance as a collaboration of six local units of government that work together on energy financing for local government projects and for community energy-efficiency projects. It took a long time to create the alliance, he said. The bylaws had to be reviewed by the state attorney general’s office and authorized by the governor’s office, which happened over the summer. He felt that the alliance would do great work.

Outcome: The appointment of April Baranek was approved unanimously.

By way of background, this alliance dates back to 2010. The county board voted initially to join the Southeast Michigan Regional Energy Office (SEMREO) – a separate entity from the SEMREO Community Alliance – at its March 17, 2010 meeting. At the time, SEMREO was a division of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, a Ferndale-based nonprofit that’s led by Conan Smith. Smith abstained from the March 17, 2010 vote, following conflict-of-interest concerns raised by other commissioners. SEMREO later split off from the Michigan Suburbs Alliance as a separate organization, but Smith serves on its board of directors.

Washtenaw County became involved in the SEMREO Community Alliance in 2011. On Aug. 3, 2011, the county board voted to join the SEMREO Community Alliance and approved the original interlocal agreement. The alliance was created in order to pursue certain grant funding that’s not available to municipalities directly. It includes six partners: Washtenaw County, and the cities of Lathrup Village (in Oakland County); Sterling Heights and Roseville (in Macomb County); and Lincoln Park and Southgate (in Wayne County). [.pdf of original interlocal agreement] Smith was absent from the Aug. 3, 2011 meeting when the Washtenaw County board voted to join the alliance.

At the county board’s Feb. 6, 2013 meeting, Smith was also absent for the vote to amend the SEMREO Community Alliance interlocal agreement, arriving at the meeting after the vote had been taken. However, he asked the board if he could record affirmative votes for all items that he had missed – which included the SEMREO Community Alliance item. None of the other commissioners objected.

Communications & Commentary

During the evening there were multiple opportunities for communications from the administration and commissioners, as well as public commentary. In addition to issues reported earlier in this article, here are some other highlights.

Communications & Commentary: Road Commission

Dan Smith (R-District 2) asked board chair Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8) for an update on the Washtenaw County road commission.

Rabhi reported that Ken Schwartz, a former county commissioner who currently serves as one of the three county road commissioners, has been appointed by the Superior Township’s board of trustees to replace former supervisor Bill McFarlane, who resigned recently because of health issues. The appointment was made at the township board’s Sept. 16, 2013 meeting.

According to a post on the township’s website, Schwartz’s term as supervisor begins Oct. 1 and ends at noon on Nov. 20, 2014. The elected office will be on the ballot for the August 2014 primary and the November 2014 general election.

Although the township notice indicates that trustees had interviewed three candidates – Schwartz, current trustee Alexander Williams, and Evert Van Raden – the decision to appoint Schwartz had been anticipated. In an email sent to county commissioners on Sept. 6, Rabhi wrote that he had directed staff to prepare a notice for the potentially vacant seat on the road commission, if Schwartz were appointed supervisor. [.pdf of Rabhi's email] That notice was posted on the county’s website on Sept. 17.

Applications for the road commissioner job are being accepted until Sept. 25, 2013, with the county board likely making an appointment at its Oct. 2 meeting. The position would be for the remainder of a six-year term, through Dec. 31, 2018. Applications – including a letter of interest and resume, with a home address – should be sent to Peter Simms of the county clerk’s office, P.O. Box 8645, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107. Applications can also be submitted via email to simmsp@ewashtenaw.org, or via fax to 734-222-6528.

In his Sept. 6 email, Rabhi indicated that several members of the community had already expressed interest in the road commissioner job, and that he had received one formal letter of interest. He wrote: “I urge you to keep an open mind and give each qualified candidate that applies full consideration.”

Other current road commissioners are Doug Fuller and Fred Veigel, who also is a member of the county’s parks & recreation commission. The salary for road commissioners, which is set by the county board, is $10,500 annually.

At the Sept. 18 county board meeting, Rabhi said he hoped to bring forward a nomination at the board’s Oct. 2 meeting.

Alicia Ping (R-District 3) asked whether the board was definitely going to fill the vacancy. Rabhi said he’d like to replace Schwartz, and didn’t think that would preclude the board from discussing whether to expand the number of road commissioners or absorb the road commission into the county operations. “But I’d like to view that as a separate process,” Rabhi said.

Dan Smith suggested talking about this more at length when the vacancy is actually in effect – after Oct. 1. However, he said, he’d be a little concerned about confirming someone to fill a partial term that’s more than three years, without more clarity about the board’s future direction regarding the road commission.

Conan Smith wondered what the process would be for commissioners to ask questions of the candidates. Rabhi suggested contacting the candidates directly.

Communications & Commentary: Hiring Freeze

During public commentary at the start of the meeting, Doug Smith reminded commissioners that at their Sept. 5, 2013 working session, he had urged the county to implement a hiring freeze until Jan. 1, 2014. He said he’d also asked commissioner Felicia Brabec (D-District 4) to put an item on the Sept. 18 agenda about that issue for discussion, “but she apparently has decided not to do that.” [Brabec was absent from the Sept. 18 meeting.]

From left: Commissioner Kent Martinez-Kratz (D-District 1) and Doug Smith.

Vacancies don’t need to be filled before Jan. 1, he said – it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do. He has a friend who works for the county, who told him that her supervisor wants to fill all the vacancies in the department before Jan. 1 “because it would be unfair to the new employees to miss out on the pension plan.” Those supervisors should be looking out for the taxpayers well-being, Smith said.

By way of background, current employees participate in a defined benefit pension plan, which will be closed to new employees at the end of 2013. Employees hired starting Jan. 1, 2014 will be part of a defined contribution plan instead. The long-term liabilities of the county’s pension plan and retiree healthcare costs are a concern, and prompted efforts earlier this year to push for a major bond proposal that was ultimately dropped.

During his Sept. 18 public commentary, Smith also asked for an appeal to his most recent request under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The response given to him by the county’s FOIA coordinator is illegible, he contended. “They need to stop playing games in giving me things that are illegible, that they know are illegible.”

Communications & Commentary: Budget Update

Felicia Brabec (D-District 4), who as chair of the board’s ways & means committee also serves on the county’s budget task force, was absent from the Sept. 18 meeting. Vice chair Alicia Ping (R-District 3) gave a budget update on Brabec’s behalf. The draft budget is in the final stages of preparation, and will be presented to the board on Oct. 2.

The board’s priority committee meetings are completed, with draft outcome statements related to five areas: heath and human services, economic opportunity, mobility and civic infrastructure, environmental impact, and internal labor force. [The work of those committees was reviewed at a board working session on Sept. 19, which will be covered in a separate Chronicle report.]

The administration will also a 2013 third-quarter budget update to the board in November.

Present: Andy LaBarre, Kent Martinez-Kratz, Alicia Ping, Yousef Rabhi, Conan Smith, Dan Smith.

Absent: Felicia Brabec, Ronnie Peterson, Rolland Sizemore Jr.

Next regular board meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. The ways & means committee meets first, followed immediately by the regular board meeting. [Check Chronicle event listings to 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 commentary is held at the beginning of each meeting, and no advance sign-up is required.

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Map of Pall-Gelman 1,4-dioxane plume, by Washtenaw County. Black arrow added to indicate baseball field at West Park. The yellow region is the estimated plume area where the 1,4-dioxane concentration is greater than 1 ppb. That area encroaches well into the city of Ann Arbor and extends outside the well prohibition zone (red border).

The vote was taken at the board’s Sept. 18, 2013 meeting with three of the nine commissioners absent: Felicia Brabec (D-District 4), Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) and Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6).

Dan Smith (R-District 2) stated “present” during the vote, rather than voting for or against the resolution. After the meeting, corporation counsel Curt Hedger told The Chronicle that he’d be looking at the board rules to determine how Smith’s vote will be recorded. Hedger pointed out that the resolution needed five votes to pass, which it garnered.

The Ann Arbor city council passed a resolution on Sept. 3, 2013 related to the 1,4-dioxane issue. However, the city council resolution makes no mention of legal action.

In contrast, the resolution passed by county commissioners includes passage that:

…directs the County Administrator, Corporation Counsel and other appropriate county staff to work in collaboration with the County Water Resources Commissioner to explore other actions available to the County, including but not limited to legal action, meeting with and petitioning the MDEQ and EPA to aid in setting appropriate cleanup criteria for 1,4-dioxane in Michigan, including the Pall-Gelman plume and without site specific criteria for the Pall-Gelman plume and to cooperate with other local units of government to ensure protection of public health and the environment; …

The history of Gelman Sciences and its 1,4-dioxane contamination goes back 40 years. The company was based in Scio Township and later acquired by Pall Corp. The Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality’s current 1,4-dioxane generic residential drinking water cleanup criterion was set at 85 parts per billion (ppb). But an EPA criterion set in 2010 was for 3.5 ppb.

The MDEQ was supposed to re-evaluate its own standards by December 2012, based on the EPA’s 2010 toxicological review. It missed that deadline, and is anticipated to miss a new deadline set for December 2013.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Map of Pall-Gelman 1,4-dioxane plume, by Washtenaw County. Black arrow added to indicate baseball field at West Park. The yellow region is the estimated plume area where the 1,4-dioxane concentration is greater than 1 ppb. That area encroaches well into the city of Ann Arbor and extends outside the well prohibition zone (red border).

The goal would be to improve the cleanup standard for 1,4-dioxane by at least a factor of 30. The direction, which was given at the council’s Sept. 3, 2013 meeting, includes exploring actions related to the Pall-Gelman plume as well as without site specific criteria for the Pall-Gelman plume.

The council passed a resolution that was slightly different than the one originally on the agenda. The council’s deliberations lasted more than 30 minutes and focused on a possible postponement to make the resolution stronger. The motion to postpone, however, failed on a 4-5 vote on the 11-member council. Voting against postponement were Margie Teall (Ward 4), Chuck Warpehoski (Ward 5), Mike Anglin (Ward 5), Sabra Briere (Ward 1) and mayor John Hieftje. Councilmembers Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) were absent. [.pdf of resolution as amended and approved] The resolution was sponsored by Briere, Warpehoski and Hieftje.

The history of Gelman Sciences, which caused the 1,4-dioxane contamination, goes back 40 years. The company was based in Scio Township and later acquired by Pall Corp. The MDEQ’s current 1,4-dioxane generic residential drinking water cleanup criterion was set at 85 parts per billion (ppb). But an EPA criterion set in 2010 was for 3.5 ppb.

The MDEQ was supposed to re-evaluate its own standards by December 2012, based on the EPA’s 2010 toxicological review. It missed that deadline, and according to the council’s resolution, is anticipated to miss a new deadline set for a year later in December 2013.

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]

David Helisek, at the podium, presented highlights of the audit report to the AATA board on March 21, 2013. (Photo by the writer.)

About the audit report, Plante Moran’s David Helisek told the board: “Hopefully, you found it somewhat boring.” By that he meant there were no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies to report. And his firm had struggled even to find suggestions for improvement in controls and processes. In the category of a suggestion was a recommendation to formalize a policy on user access to IT systems. And one question was left over from the previous year’s audit – on the legal basis of the AATA’s investment in heating oil futures as a hedge against possible price increases in diesel fuel. The AATA has inquired with the state of Michigan on that issue, but has not received an answer.

At the meeting, the board also rescinded a $119,980 contract it had authorized with PM Environmental – because of a failure on the AATA’s side to go through the standard procedure for bidding out the contract. The contract is for remediation of contaminated soil at the AATA’s headwaters on 2700 S. Industrial Highway. That contract will now be re-bid, and PM Environmental will have an opportunity to participate in that process.

In a final voting item on its agenda, the board authorized a four-month extension to the current pricing agreement the AATA has with Michigan Flyer – to provide AirRide service between downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro airport. The extension will allow negotiations to take place on a new arrangement, which is being considered in the context of at least two factors. Ridership on the service, launched last year in April, has exceeded projections. And Michigan Flyer may be eligible for a federal grant that could increase the number of trips per day. The current service is hourly.

The board also heard a range of updates from its committees and CEO Michael Ford. Among the most significant was about a meeting scheduled for March 28 among representatives of Washtenaw County’s “urban core” communities that have, for the last few months, been engaged in discussions with AATA about expanded transit in a much smaller geographic footprint than the entire county.

FY 2012 Audit

The board was asked to accept the result of AATA’s fiscal year 2012 audit report. [.pdf of FY 2012 audit]

There were no significant deficiencies found in the audit, which resulted in an “unqualified opinion” from the audit firm of Plante Moran. A question remained from last year’s audit – about the legal basis for the AATA’s investments in heating oil futures. The AATA has inquired with the state of Michigan seeking a legal opinion on the issue, but has not yet heard back.

The auditor also had some suggestions for implementing a formal policy on user accounts for information technology (IT) systems.

The AATA’s basic financial picture at the end of FY 2012 was as follows:

2012
ASSETS
$17,109,000 Current assets
 37,094,000 Capital assets, net
 54,203,000 Total assets
LIABILITIES
  1,619,000 Current liabilities
  1,233,000 Noncurrent liabilities
  2,852,000 Total liabilities
NET ASSETS
 37,094,000 Invested in capital assets
 14,257,000 Unrestricted
 51,351,000 Total net assets
===========
$54,000,000 Total liabilities and net assets

-

The AATA operates on a fiscal year that runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The audit is due to be submitted to the state of Michigan within 180 days of the end of the fiscal year. That deadline translates to the end of March.

FY 2012 Audit: Auditor Presentation

AATA controller Phil Webb introduced auditors David Helisek and Alicia Davis of Plante Moran.

Helisek said it was great to be before the board again. He reminded the board that last year had been the first time he’d appeared before them. [Plante Moran was awarded the auditing contract at the board's Sept. 15, 2011 meeting.] On that occasion, he’d presented the audited financial statements for FY 2011. This year he was there to present the statements for FY 2012.

Helisek distinguished between the financial statements themselves, which are a comparative statement between this year and last year, and the communication to the board, which is charged with governance of the organization. The letter to the board, he noted, is a required communication under the auditing standards. He told the full board that he and Davis had met with the performance monitoring and external relations committee of the AATA board the previous day. The committee and the auditors had gone over the statements in detail for about 45 minutes to an hour, he said, covering highlights and answering questions from committee members.

The number one highlight, Helisek said, is the opinion. Plante Moran was once again able to give the AATA an “unqualified opinion,” he reported. That’s the highest level of assurance that an auditing firm can give to a set of financial statements, he explained. It means that the statements, as presented fairly, represent the financial position of the AATA as of Sept. 30, 2012. That’s the opinion that the AATA should strive for on an annual basis, he continued, and as a result of the audit procedures, it’s the opinion that Plante Moran had given.

Helisek also noted that the report included a supplemental schedule of federal awards. Any entity that receives and spends in excess of $0.5 million in federal awards during the year is required to have a federal compliance audit – to ensure that the federal awards comply with laws and regulations related to those specific federal grants. For the federal awards audit, he reported, Plante Moran also had given the AATA the equivalent of an unqualified opinion.

Helisek then turned over presentation to Davis, who went over the highlights of the financial statement. She began on page 6 of the report by looking at a comparative financial statement based on the prior year, but focused her comments on fiscal year 2012. For the fiscal year 2012, the AATA ended with just over $54 million in total assets. The majority of the assets held by the AATA, she said, are related to amounts invested in capital purchases – a little over 70% of the asset value, or $37 million. The total “current” assets are about $17.1 million, most of which is composed of cash investments and receivables. She pointed out that on a comparative basis, as of the end of 2012, grants receivable were a little bit higher than last year. She attributed that to a difference in timing compared to last year, and the way the grant money was collected. As a result, there was less money in the bank. She described it as a “collection pending” issue.

Moving from assets to liabilities, she said, the key highlight is that there is no long-term debt. She described that as “fantastic.” The AATA has about $14.2 million viewed as unrestricted – to be used at the AATA’s discretion. It’s important to be mindful of the fact that this includes property tax revenue, Davis cautioned, which is levied on July 1 every year. So while the AATA has some money in the bank, a large amount of that is already earmarked to get the AATA through the current budget year. She told the board that they were in solid financial position with some cash reserves, but reminded the board that some of that has “already been spoken for.”

On the income statement, Davis highlighted the fact that operating revenues were up about 13%, or $670,000 compared to the previous year. Total operating expenses were a little over $32 million. That reflected a roughly $3 million increase in operating expenses, she said. That had an impact on the operating loss compared year-over-year, she noted. The largest source of revenue consists of local and state revenue, she pointed out – totaling close to $22 million for fiscal year 2012. That total did not include capital amounts that are received from the federal and state government.

The change in net assets, before considering any capital contributions, was roughly negative $5 million. There was a significant capital contribution received during the year – about $10.5 million, most of which was investments in the AATA’s fleet. She estimated that about 98% of that was funded by federal and state sources. When the capital contribution is added to the equation, the result is a net change in the net asset figure of about positive $5.6 million for the year. Summarizing the year-to-year comparison, Davis said AATA started out at $45.7 million and wound up with $51 million in net assets at the end of the year.

Moving to page 8, Davis reviewed the statement of cash flow. She highlighted the third line from the bottom, which indicates a net decrease in cash of about $2.2 million. She assured the board that this simply relates to the fact that some of the cash had not “come in the door” before the end of the fiscal year. Because the receivable balance was higher, the cash inflow was lower. She described the rest of the statements as mostly boilerplate language, which does not change from year to year. There are some informational schedules that the state requires to be included – but Plante Moran does not audit that portion of the report.

Davis then moved to the federal awards audit. She noted that pages 40 and 41 were essentially another version of the opinion on the basic financial statements. On page 42 there is an opinion on the federal awards audit, which is also clean, she told the board. Everything had been done properly and in accordance with all the rules and regulations. On page 44 she highlighted the total federal awards of about $11.6 million, which was a significant increase compared to the $5 million spent last year. Much of that she attributed to investments in the fleet.

Davis pointed out that on page 46 is a summary of all the results – on the financial statements and on the federal awards audit. “This is the best that it could look,” she told the board. There was an unqualified opinion on both audits, with no material weaknesses or deficiencies on either audit.

Audit: Preliminary Board Discussion

Board chair Charles Griffith invited questions from the board.

Board treasurer David Nacht reported that he’d had some conversation with the auditors before the meeting. He told the auditors that Plante Moran is a well-respected audit firm – which audits other transit agencies, as well as other governmental entities, nonprofits, and businesses. Obviously, Nacht continued, the opinion on the audit was unqualified, which means that the AATA is doing what it is legally supposed to do, and is in accordance with the accounting standards that apply to a transit authority.

But Nacht wondered about best practices. Based on the audit firm’s experience with other entities, he wanted to know what their overall sense was. “Could we use some work? How do you feel about our entity?” Davis told him that they always had an eye out for suggestions they could make to their clients. As they do the audit, reviewing internal controls and really digging into things, they always look for recommendations they could make to the board. “I tell you, we had a really tough time coming up with anything, because you guys have some really sound internal controls, checks and balances in place,” Davis said.

She noted that there were some minor suggestions that Helisek would cover – but it had been tough to come up with those suggestions. In about 95% of the audits done by the firm, there is a third letter that’s issued, which is a report on internal controls, including a report on significant deficiencies. It’s rare that they would not find something, she told the board – because there are just so many transactions that go through an organization. But there was no deficiency letter for the AATA, she noted.

Audit: Additional Presentation

Helisek returned to the financial statements and the net asset number. Of the multiple components in the net asset figure, the most significant is the number of capital assets, he said. A lot of that is the fleet. So around 75% of it is capital, not liquid, and not something that the AATA can spend money on for operations. He also reiterated the point Davis had made about property taxes, which are reported as revenue as of Sept. 30. That means the collection cycle does not come around for another nine months. So you have to keep that in mind, he said – not only looking at the audit, but also as the AATA assembles its budget on an ongoing basis.

Related to the federal awards audit, the two major programs the auditors tested covered about 97% of all the AATA’s federal expenditures. Helisek allowed that they don’t have a choice on what they audit, but he did observe that 97% is an extraordinarily high coverage level for this year’s audit.

Helisek reminded the board that the previous year the accounting firm had recommended an adjustment to the way property taxes are reported. There’d also been some other suggestions last year that Plante Moran thought the AATA should implement. This year’s letter is pretty boilerplate, he said. There’s nothing really remarkable to point out in this year’s letter. “Hopefully you found it somewhat boring. Boring letters are good letters,” he said. During the course of the audit, nothing rose to the level of a significant deficiency in terms of the internal control structure. The AATA is living by the control system and is able to produce a financial statement that merits an unqualified opinion, Helisek concluded.

Helisek told the board that he and Davis were excited by the fact that the one main suggestion they had made last year had been implemented by the AATA. That suggestion related to Public Act 217 of 2007, which requires quarterly reporting of investment activities to the board. It’s his understanding that as a result of that suggestion, an investment report is now presented quarterly to the board.

This year the one suggestion that Helisek had to report to the board related to general controls for information technology (IT) user accounts. In terms of best practices, he suggested a formalization of a policy related to adding, modifying, and terminating user rights in the system. The existing policy is adequate that an unqualified opinion could be issued for the audit, he said. But he suggested a formal policy that included the handling of user rights.

Audit: Additional Board Discussion

During question time Eli Cooper noted that a question had been raised in the report about the AATA’s policy on investing in heating oil futures. He wanted to know if the AATA had yet heard anything from the state of Michigan that would help settle the issue. Controller Phil Webb told Cooper that no reply had yet been received.

Board treasurer David Nacht took the opportunity to explain that the practice of investing in heating oil futures have been used for quite some time by the AATA. The futures are purchased as a hedge – just as farmers would use the options market, he explained. Nacht described the strategy as having been quite successful. The board is keenly aware of the question about whether this is allowed under the state of Michigan’s regulations. The AATA has made the case that it is not gambling, but has asked for a legal opinion, Nacht said. He was comfortable as treasurer that it’s definitely a prudent financial practice. And he hopes that the state will confirm that the practice conforms with regulatory practices as well.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to accept the audit.

Audit: Current Operations Report

Reporting out from the board’s performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson presented highlights from the monthly operations statement. He noted that the new advertising contractor is performing better than the previous one. From the notes to the monthly statement:

Advertising [revenue] is over budget for the year by $111,000. CBS Outdoor, our new bus advertising contractor, has been paying us our annual minimum on a monthly basis. In February, we recorded the amount $74,800 earned during the 5.5 months of the contract, but not yet paid. We will receive this amount (and more) in September 2013 at the end of the 1st contract year.

Revenue from University of Michigan passengers through the MRide program is not as great as expected, Kerson reported. UM ridership is not dropping, Kerson explained, but it’s not growing as much as projected. According to the notes in the monthly report, the original ridership projection was revised only after the budget was adopted, and the unfavorable difference for the year is projected to be $160,000.

Kerson also noted there’s a gap in the reserves of about $300,000. At the Feb. 21, 2013 board meeting, it was reported that AATA is operating with a level of unrestricted fund balance that equates to about 2.88 months of operating expenses. Board policy is to keep a minimum of a 3-month reserve on hand.

By way of background, the AATA’s portion of the $166 million in state operating assistance took a roughly $800,000 dip last year – compared to what AATA expected at the time the AATA set its budget. The reduction in funding relates to the way the state’s formula applies when spending is reduced by other transit agencies in the AATA’s category.

The AATA is hopeful that the “placeholder” bill SB 126 would eventually restore the $800,000.

Kerson noted that AATA staff have been directed to come up with a contingency plan in the event that the legislature does not act as expected.

AirRide Airport Service

The board was asked to extend for another four months the current pricing agreement it has with Michigan Flyer to provide bus service between downtown Ann Arbor and the Detroit Metro airport, known as AirRide.

AirRide Weekly Boardings: April 2012 through March 2013.

The current agreement has a yearly not-to-exceed cost of $700,000 per year, running for two years starting April 1, 2012. As the second year of the agreement is approaching, Michigan Flyer has indicated a willingness to renegotiate the arrangement in the context of a Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) grant that Michigan Flyer might be awarded. The grant could support four additional trips from East Lansing to the airport, which would also stop in Ann Arbor.

The agreement the board was asked to approve at its March 21, 2013 meeting will extend the current pricing arrangement until the negotiations on the options offered can be completed. The cost during the four-month extension is not to exceed $230,000, based on current annual costs.

The weekly ridership for the hourly service between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro airport now averages more than 1,000 passengers a week, with some weeks reaching 1,400 riders.

AirRide Airport Service: Board Discussion

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson noted that the AATA is involved in renegotiating the contract for the AirRide service with Michigan Flyer. There’s an open question about whether Michigan Flyer will receive a federal grant, so there’s not enough information right now to renegotiate the contract for a full year, Kerson said. That’s why the proposal before the board was to extend it just for four months. He said it seemed like a good idea all the way around.

He noted that after almost a full year of operating the AirRide service, it is now possible to assess more completely how it’s working out. About 23,000 people had ridden the service at a net cost of Ann Arbor property tax dollars of around $80,000, he said. Kerson concluded that the expansion of service between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro airport was being done in a very cost-effective way.

And during his oral report to the board, CEO Michael Ford provided recent ridership numbers for the AirRide service. In connection with the spring break for University of Michigan, 1,476 rode the service during the week of Feb. 24. And 1,438 people rode the service the following week of March 3. Ford indicated that the AATA was pleased with the progress and wanted to continue the working relationship with Michigan Flyer for that airport service.

When the board reached the AirRide item on the agenda, Ford described the AATA as in the middle of negotiations with Michigan Flyer. He noted that there is a grant that Michigan Flyer might receive, but it’s not yet clear whether the grant will be awarded. The AATA is also working on different service-delivery scenarios with Michigan Flyer to see if anything can be changed to make it most effective in the future. Ford felt that a four-month period for a contract extension would be helpful to achieve that.

Board treasurer David Nacht observed that the AirRide contract is a transaction where money is not only spent, but revenue is also received. He noted the board policy is that a vote must be taken on any contract that is more than $100,000 – and the policy applies even if there is offsetting revenue.

Nacht picked up on the optimistic figure that Roger Kerson had given earlier in the meeting about 23,000 passengers in the first year of service at a net cost of $80,000. Nacht said that in general terms, AirRide is not only carrying a lot of people; it was also a useful and invaluable component of the financial health of the AATA going forward, he said.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the four-month extension.

Soils Contract

The board was asked to rescind the award of a $119,980 contract with PM Environmental – because of a failure on the AATA’s side to go through the standard procedure for bidding out the contract. The contract is for remediation of contaminated soil at the AATA’s headwaters on 2700 S. Industrial Highway.

The board had originally approved the soil remediation contract at its Feb. 21, 2013 meeting. That action essentially extended the scope of work of the contract that PM Environmental already had for the site assessment work. However, the evacuation and remediation work was supposed to be bid out separately. From an AATA staff memo:

AATA processes require that a second RFP be issued for the soil remediation, to ensure full and open competition. AATA, therefore requests the Board to rescind this unexecuted contract with PM. AATA has notified PM with our intent to issue a new RFP so that they will not begin any work or incur any costs. AATA will publish a new RFP, to which PM is free to respond.

The remediation activity dates back to 2010, and will address an in-ground gas leak that was discovered when the AATA upgraded a fuel tank monitoring system. A final assessment report (FAR), based on monitoring wells and ground water sampling, was filed with the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality on Dec. 15, 2011.

The costs for the work will be reimbursed by the AATA’s insurance carrier, Chartis, which is a subsidiary of American International Group Inc. (AIG). The AATA’s deductible for its policy was $25,000, which the AATA has already expended.

Soils Contract: Board Discussion

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson said, “I guess we goofed on the soil remediation contract.” There was testing and analysis, and a rebid should have been completed before the remediation was actually done, but the AATA had not done that, he said.

When the board reached the soil remediation contract item on the agenda, CEO Michael Ford reported that there was a two-step process that was not followed – but the AATA had caught it in time, before any contracts were executed. The AATA needed to go back out and open the contract for a competitive bidding process. Ford noted that some checks and balances didn’t happen internally that should have happened. For that reason, the contract needed to be rescinded. The bottom line was there was a misstep, he said, it had been caught, and steps have been taken to ensure that the appropriate checks and balances would apply in the future to avoid the need to rescind contracts.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to rescind the contract.

Future Transit Planning

Two future initiatives factored into comments and reports during the March 21 meeting: (1) a reduced-scope effort to expand AATA services in the communities adjoining Ann Arbor; and (2) the formation of a four-county regional transit authority (RTA) during the state legislature’s lame duck session of December 2012.

Future Transit Planning: Urban Core Communities

By way of background, the AATA had led an effort to expand the governance and funding base for the AATA to a newly incorporated transit authority that would cover all of Washtenaw County. But the Ann Arbor city council voted to opt out of the newly incorporated Act 196 authority late last year – effectively bringing to a close that particular approach to expanded transit services in Washtenaw County.

However, the council gave direction to continue discussion with several communities immediately adjacent to Ann Arbor. The AATA has engaged in talks with communities about a new transit authority with possible members to include the cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Saline, as well as the townships of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti. Involvement with the townships of Superior and Ann Arbor is also a possibility.

Since mid-November 2012, the AATA has been working under the direction of the Ann Arbor city council’s resolution [passed on Nov. 8, 2012] and has been focused on planning expanded services in the “urban core communities.” That has included meetings with elected representatives of those communities. One recent meeting held on March 16 included Ann Arbor city council representatives as well as representatives from Ypsilanti Township.

Future Transit Planning: Urban Core – March 28

CEO Michael Ford reported at the AATA’s March 21 board meeting that staff are working to finalize the agenda for a meeting of urban core community representatives on March 28 starting at 5 p.m. at the Pittsfield Township Hall, 6201 W. Michigan Ave. The agenda will include a financial analysis, a benefit analysis, and responses to sidebar issues raised by elected officials over the past few months. Three service themes will be presented to facilitate discussion and decision-making among urban core elected officials, Ford said. Daniel Cherrin, from North Coast Strategies, will provide pro bono facilitation on March 28, Ford said.

During question time, board chair Charles Griffith asked if the meeting scheduled for March 28 has been publicly noticed. Ford indicated that the urban core partners are helping with that effort. Mary Stasiak, AATA manager of community relations, reported that the communication had been done through individual websites and newsletters. Ford indicated it would be an open meeting.

Roger Kerson raised the question: What would happen if more than four AATA board members (a quorum) attended? Some back-and-forth – including some additional discussion at the end of the meeting – established that if more than a quorum of any AATA board members attended, the standard Michigan Open Meetings Act requirements would be followed, including a formal agenda that included public commentary. Added on March 23, 2013, after initial publication: [.pdf of March 28 meeting materials]

Future Transit Planning: Telling D.C. About It

During his oral report to the board, Ford reported that in late February he had traveled to Washington D.C. He met with Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Congressman John Dingell, and staff members of Sen. Carl Levin. He’d also met with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s representatives in Washington, and with Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration.

Ford told the board that in meeting with those people, he’d highlighted the record ridership AATA had shown for the 2012 calendar year, and explained how AATA is transitioning from countywide transit master planning to a more narrowly focused effort on the “urban core.” Ford noted that he had also continued to meet with local area and community leaders to discuss the urban core to support expanded fixed route and commuter service.

Future Transit Planning: Urban Core – Title VI

During public commentary, Jim Mogensen offered a perspective on the “urban core” process. The desire to preserve, improve, and expand transportation service, he noted, is about preserving, improving, and expanding AATA’s service, not the service of the partners. And that’s why he felt the process needed a Title VI analysis. He told the board that he was glad that the March 28 meeting would be open to the public – but he hoped that any documents related to the meeting could be made available in advance, noting that the meeting location is not served by public transit.

Related to Title VI, during his oral report to the board, CEO Michael Ford followed up with some issues raised at the previous board meeting. Regarding the Title VI requirements from the Federal Transit Administration, he summarized by saying that the AATA had been given a due date of Nov. 1, 2014 to submit documentation to the FTA to demonstrate compliance with Title VI – that there is no discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, low-income persons, or persons with limited English proficiency.

Future Transit Planning: RTA

Legislation authorizing a southeast Michigan regional transit authority (RTA) was passed late last year. The geographic area includes the city of Detroit, and the counties of Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb and Oakland. On the RTA front, Ford reported at the AATA board’s March 21 meeting that staff had met with the two Washtenaw County appointees to the board – Liz Gerber and Richard Murphy – to discuss the mechanics of state funding and the need to establish an understanding of how the funding process would work between the AATA and the RTA.

AATA staff had also met with Shanelle Jackson, the Michigan Dept. of Transportation director of outreach and strategic relations for the RTA, as well as with representatives from the Detroit Dept. of Transportation and SMART – as part of the AATA’s effort to further AATA’s outreach with RTA partners. Ford had met with Paul Hillegonds, the governor-appointed, non-voting chair of the RTA board. Ford had shared information with Hillegonds about the range of service the AATA offers, how the AATA is funded, the transit master plan and the urban core planning process.

According to Ford, Hillegonds expressed that it would be important for the RTA board to show that the RTA has value for the AATA, Ann Arbor, and Washtenaw County. Hillegonds gave some assurance that AATA federal funds are protected through separate urbanized areas – but understood that the AATA would like RTA board resolutions on several processes, including state funding, and the budget.

The RTA board will be holding a planning workshop on March 28, Ford reported. The first RTA board meeting will be held on April 10. Both are open to the public, Ford said. The RTA workshop will be held just before the AATA’s “urban core” meeting, so Sarah Pressprich Gryniewicz will be attending the workshop on behalf of the AATA and will bring back a full report, according to Ford.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its March 21 meeting, the board entertained various communications, including its usual reports from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, the planning and development committee, as well as from CEO Michael Ford. The board also heard commentary from the public. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: Website

Ford reported that external testing on the website is now complete. Three focus group sessions had been held at the Ann Arbor District Library, and there are some other people that staff still wants to meet with. But feedback from the 20 participants will be used to address specific areas of focus. The launch is expected in May, although Ford indicated a bit of hesitation about specifying that May would be the month for the scheduled launch. [The project has taken longer than expected. The board had authorized the implementation of the new website at its Aug. 24, 2011 meeting.] Ford concluded with a seemingly less-than-certain: “You heard it here!”

Comm/Comm: Blake Transit Center

Due to the poor spring weather, Ford said, construction work on the new Blake Transit Center is about two weeks behind schedule. Additional bids include some for artwork, furniture, walkways, and redesign of bus shelters on Fourth Avenue.

Comm/Comm: AAPS

Ford reported that the AATA is continuing to work with Ann Arbor Public Schools on transportation solutions. This year, students in some areas are using AATA buses, with the school district paying the fare. Next year, students in additional selected areas could use existing AATA services. That would allow the elimination of some school bus routes, he said.

Comm/Comm: WCC, EMU

Ford indicated that an agreement is being worked on with Washtenaw Community College. The college has asked for a stop to be installed on the south side of its campus, and the AATA is working with the college to resolve that agreement by the end of the month.

Included in Ford’s written report to the board, but not highlighted at the board meeting, are discussions that are taking place between Eastern Michigan University and the AATA to implement a program similar to the University of Michigan’s MRide program, which allows university affiliates to board buses by swiping their ID cards, without paying a fare. The cost of the rides would be paid by EMU, just as UM pays for rides taken by its students, faculty and staff.

Comm/Comm: DDA Support

Ford reported that the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority had appropriated funds to support the getDowntown program and the go!pass program. [The vote to authorize $610,662 came at the DDA board's March 6, 2013 meeting.] Ford noted that DDA board members had deferred a decision on supporting the Canton and Chelsea express services right now – until they had a bit more information about how that service fit with the DDA’s mission.

Comm/Comm: WALLY

A possible north-south commuter rail service known as WALLY (Washtenaw and Livingston Railway) is currently in a phase of station design. [The AATA received a federal grant last year, at its Aug. 16, 2012 meeting, to proceed with station location design.] Ford described how the work on station location design is proceeding.

The project is currently undertaking station location studies for five communities: Ann Arbor, Whitmore Lake, Hamburg Township, Genoa Township and Howell.

Ford reported that he’d met with Ward 5 Ann Arbor city councilmembers Chuck Warpehoski and Mike Anglin to give them some advance information on WALLY station design. A robust public involvement process is being planned, he said, with a list of stakeholders being developed to include in the preliminary outreach.

Eli Cooper also reported from the planning and development committee that the station design planning work in connection with the WALLY project is now underway.

Comm/Comm: Washtenaw Avenue

Eli Cooper reported that the planning and development committee had received a presentation on Reimagine Washtenaw. He described it as a study to change the character and utility of the corridor that runs from the Stadium/Washtenaw split in Ann Arbor, five miles east to the city of Ypsilanti. It includes organizing land development into activity centers, he said. The project also looks at aligning transit services with the activity centers and ramping up the level of transit service.

The AATA is critical to the success of the Reimagine Washtenaw program, Cooper said. There was some discussion of a grant award to the program for a travel demand management study. Smart Growth America has come in and is providing particular expertise and guidance to several large business operations along the corridor, on how to apply transportation management strategies, Cooper said.

Comm/Comm: Bike Share

Reporting out from the planning and development committee, Eli Cooper said the committee had received a brief presentation from the Clean Energy Coalition on an anticipated bike share program. Cooper characterized the interaction at the committee meeting as “good dialogue,” saying that AATA staff had been asked to make a recommendation to the committee for its April meeting.

The CEC is seeking support for the bike share program from the University of Michigan, the city of Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority and the AATA.

Comm/Comm: Route 12A, 12B Service Changes?

Reporting out from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Roger Kerson said that of the current service changes being considered, the one involving the most passengers relates to Routes #12A and #12B. The idea would be to arrange the scheduling so that the routes are not running at the same time – with the idea that better coverage could be achieved.

Comm/Comm: LAC Report

Rebecca Burke reported from the AATA’s local advisory council (LAC), a group that provides input and feedback to AATA on disability and senior issues. At the council’s most recent meeting, Clark Charnetski had given a background presentation on the regional transit authority (RTA), she said. And Richard Murphy, one of two Washtenaw County appointees to the RTA board, has been invited to the next meeting of the LAC. They’re waiting to see if he’ll be able to attend. The group had also received a presentation from Nick Sapkiewicz of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS).

Comm/Comm: Misc. Public Commentary

Thomas Partridge addressed the board during public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, calling on them to expand transit. He ventured that millions of dollars have been spent on studies and surveys – surveys that have indicated a positive reaction on the part of the public to expanded transit. He accused the board of undertaking a strategy to expand transit countywide that it knew was doomed to failure. He complained about setting up the March 28 meeting of the urban core communities out of sight of the Community Television Network.

Partridge’s turn came at the end of the meeting after board chair Charles Griffith had checked for additional speakers after Jim Mogensen had addressed the board. Griffith asked: “Anybody else?” Partridge responded with: “I am anybody else,” and then took the podium.

Present: Charles Griffith, David Nacht, Eli Cooper, Roger Kerson, Anya Dale.

Absent: Jesse Bernstein, Sue Gott.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor [Check Chronicle event listings to confirm date]

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The remediation activity dates back to 2010, and will address an in-ground gas leak that was discovered when the AATA upgraded a fuel tank monitoring system. A final assessment report (FAR), based on monitoring wells and ground water sampling, was filed with the Michigan Dept of Environmental Quality on Dec. 15, 2011.

The amount will be reimbursed by the AATA’s insurance carrier, Chartis, which is a subsidiary of American International Group Inc. (AIG). The AATA’s deductible for its policy was $25,000, which the AATA has already expended.

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library at 343 S. Fifth, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

MDEQ is also accepting written public comment on the remediation plan through April 30, 2012. A copy of the plan can be viewed online at ftp://ftp.deq.state.mi.us/deq-outgoing/ with the user ID deq-public-ftp and the password Jumbl355#.

A copy of the construction permit application can be viewed online by searching for the file #11810066, then clicking on the folder icon for details. Copies of the plan and permit application also can be viewed at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave.

A representative from DTE Energy, which owns the MichCon property, gave an update on the project at a March 12, 2012 Ann Arbor city council working session and at a March 20, 2012 meeting of the city’s park advisory commission.

Creatures in West Park will not be able to participate in the November millage vote, even though they apparently can get their ducks in a row. A parks millage that's up for renewal helped pay for some of the recent renovations to the park, including the boardwalk, bandshell plaza and entry stairs. (Photos by the writer.)

The park maintenance and capital improvements millage, a six-year tax, brings in about $5 million annually and accounts for about 45% of the parks budget – including the entire funding for the natural areas preservation (NAP) program. Voters will likely be asked to renew it at 1.1 mills from 2013-2018, assuming the city council votes to put the millage on the Nov. 6 ballot at that rate. PAC chair Julie Grand – who has served on a working group to strategize about the renewal – said concerns about the economic climate are a major reason why an increase isn’t being recommended.

During the millage discussion, city councilmember Mike Anglin said he supports the millage but has concerns about Fuller Park, noting that talks regarding Fuller Road Station aren’t over. Parks manager Colin Smith pointed out that no millage funds have been or would be spent on Fuller Road Station. Grand cautioned against connecting the millage renewal to Fuller Road Station, saying it’s important to inform the public clearly about what the renewal means.

To provide that information, the city plans to hold four public forums in April, and a public hearing on the millage will be scheduled for PAC’s April 17 meeting. The city also plans to launch a website in early April with more information about the millage.

Also at the March 20 meeting, commissioners got a mid-year update about the open space and parkland preservation millage, which funds the greenbelt program and park acquisitions. Fuller Road Station was a backdrop to this discussion too, when commissioner Gwen Nystuen asked about protections that are afforded land acquired through this millage.

Land acquisition also came up in two other contexts during the meeting. The future of property owned by MichCon – located north of Broadway Street, between the Huron River and the railroad tracks – was part of the discussion during an update on environmental cleanup at the site. A DTE Energy representative indicated that senior management sees the potential for redevelopment there, but no plans are finalized. It’s expected that DTE Energy, which owns the property through its MichCon subsidiary, will eventually sell the site.

And speaking during public commentary, Ann Arbor resident Larry Baird advocated for the city to acquire land to fill gaps in the Border-to-Border Trail, which roughly follows the Huron River. Specifically, he characterized a connection between Bandemer Park and Barton Nature Area as the top priority, and urged the city to focus more on this project than on high-speed rail.

In the agenda’s one action item, commissioners recommended awarding a $79,980 contract to Michigan Recreational Construction Inc. to handle renovations at Placid Way Park. The resolution also recommends an additional 10% contingency of $7,998 for a total project cost of $87,978. The 1.32-acre neighborhood park is located on the city’s north side near the larger Dhu Varren Woods Nature Area and Foxfire South Park. The project would be funded from the park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

Park Maintenance & Capital Improvements Millage

Commissioners were briefed on plans to put a renewal of the city’s park maintenance and capital improvements millage on the November ballot. The presentation was given by parks and recreation manager Colin Smith and Matt Warba, the city’s supervisor of field operations, and mirrored a similar one given to city councilmembers at their March 12 working session. The 1.1 mill renewal would run for six years, from 2013-2018.

Warba began by describing the history of what were originally two millages: one for capital improvements dating back to 1983, and a second one for maintenance. They were each levied at around 0.5 mill apiece for a total of 0.914 mills, until changes were made in 2006.

By way of additional background, here’s a timeline of the more recent millage history:

• 2006-Oct-03: The Ann Arbor city council passed a resolution setting administrative policy on the planned use of parks maintenance and capital improvements millage monies. The policy stipulates a range of 60-80% for maintenance, with the remainder for capital improvements. It also stipulates that general fund support for parks will decrease only in concert with the rest of the general fund budget. In addition, an annual 3% increase in funding for natural area preservation (NAP) programs was stipulated.
• 2006-Nov-07: Ann Arbor voters approved a single, combined parks maintenance and capital improvements millage with 56% support. It replaced two separate millages, which were previously levied at around 0.5 mill apiece for a total of 0.914 mills. The single millage that replaced the two separate taxes – one for maintenance and one for capital improvements – was approved by voters at a rate of 1.1 mill for six years.
• 2010-May-17: The city council revised the 2006 administrative policy to eliminate NAP’s automatic 3% increase, and reset NAP funding to levels proportionate with other programs.
• 2011-May-16: The city council revised the 2006 administrative policy to allow non-millage funds to count as general fund support for the parks for purposes of the policy that requires general fund support.

The millage raises about $5 million annually, and is one of two primary sources for the $11.75 million parks system budget, with the other main source coming from the city’s general fund. The millage pays for capital projects and park planning, forestry, NAP and operational maintenance. The general fund covers core services, Smith said, including mowing, snow removal, utilities and daily operations of general fund recreational facilities.

A breakdown of the FY2012 Ann Arbor parks and recreation budget. (Links to larger image.)

From the general fund, about $3.59 million supports parks administration and general fund recreational facilities (as distinguished from so-called enterprise funds for facilities that are intended to become self-supporting, like the golf courses and farmers market). Another $2.3 million funds general park operations, and about $500,000 is transfered from the general fund to support golf operations.

From the millage, $2 million supports millage-related park operations, $1.6 million is earmarked for capital projects, $981,389 is allocated to forestry, and $698,569 goes to NAP.

Smith and Warba walked through an example of how the millage is being used to fund a specific project – improvements at Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm. [A detailed report on that project was part of the commission's Feb. 28, 2012 meeting.]

The millage casts a wide net, Smith said, and is incredibly important to the care and well-being of the city’s parks.

Warba reported that city staff started meeting in January to evaluate how the existing millage is working and to strategize about how best to communicate its uses. In addition, a working group of park commissioners – including PAC chair Julie Grand and city councilmember Christopher Taylor, an ex-officio PAC member – met to talk about levels of funding and whether current funds are sufficient for the park system’s needs.

The staff consensus is that a straight renewal makes the most sense, Warba said. It provides consistency and a sufficient level of funding. Every recreational facility has received some kind of upgrade within the past five years, even if it’s been behind-the-scenes infrastructure, he said.

The existing millage generates an average of $5 million annually, Smith said, totaling about $25 million over the past five years. The current fund balance is about $4 million, with roughly $2 million of that earmarked for renovations to the ballfields that were recently approved. That leaves about $2 million to cover emergency repairs throughout the system’s 157 parks, which Smith said he felt was adequate. An example of a project that might be covered is the restoration of Plymouth Park, following last year’s collapse of the railroad embankment.

The millage renewal would be on the ballot for 1.1 mills, Smith said – a little more than what’s currently levied because of the Headlee rollback. The renewal would be for another six years. If voters were asked to approve a higher tax or for a longer period, it would be considered a new tax, he noted. The working group had felt it was important to be a renewal, given the current economy.

A mill is equal to $1 for each $1,000 of taxable value for a property. For a hypothetical house worth $200,000, with a state equalized value and a taxable value of $100,000, each mill of tax on that property would generate $100 in revenue.

Smith described the next steps as developing informational material for voters, and holding a series of four public forums in April. PAC will also schedule a public hearing on the millage at its April 17 meeting, and the commission would vote on a formal recommendation in May. That recommendation would then be sent to the city council for a vote, likely at an August meeting, to put the millage on the November ballot.

Park Maintenance & Operations Millage: Commission Discussion

Tim Berla referred the public commentary by Larry Baird, who had urged the city to move faster on completing the Border-to-Border Trail. [See below for a summary of Baird's commentary.] Several years ago, the commission had talked about how to make a pedestrian/bicycle crossing over the railroad tracks, Berla noted. Is that something that the millage could pay for? Berla wondered about the status of filling in gaps in the trail.

Colin Smith, the city's parks and recreation manager.

Smith noted that anytime PAC or the city council wants to highlight or expedite a particular project, they can direct staff to take action. Passing a resolution would be one way to do that, he said. PAC’s land acquisition committee has identified areas that are a priority to acquire, he noted, and they are working with Ginny Trocchio – who manages the city’s greenbelt and park acquisition programs – to move those efforts forward. Now is a good time to have more conversations about the land along the railroad, Smith said.

Berla said he completely understands why a millage renewal is more politically advantageous than an increase. But he noted that now is the time to think about whether more money is needed for parks. If the city decided it wanted to do more, what would the process be? he asked.

Smith replied that it’s a fine balance between acquiring land and maintaining it. The city currently has more than 50 miles of trail that are heavily used and that need renovation and care, for example. Julie Grand cautioned that the city needs to be aware of the political and economic climate. In May, the Ann Arbor Public Schools will be asking voters to approve a technology millage. There will likely be other “asks,” she said. Grand pointed out that if the parks millage isn’t renewed, the system couldn’t operate.

Tim Doyle asked if other millages will be on the November ballot. No other city millages are anticipated, Smith said. That’s good, Doyle said, because it avoids confusion and backlash. Smith noted that in 2006, this millage was on the ballot along with the city’s street repair millage. [The street repair millage of 2 mills was most recently renewed by voters in November 2011. A separate 0.125 mills for sidewalk repairs was also approved.]

Sam Offen wondered if there were other major parks projects in the next five years that hadn’t yet been discussed. Smith pointed to several possibilities. Upcoming renovations at Gallup Park canoe livery are being funded by a state grant, but the millage could be used to enhance that work, he said. Paths to the raptor enclosures are being upgraded at the Leslie Science & Nature Center, he noted, but broader improvements there – part of a master plan for the facility – also could be undertaken. The Veterans Ice Arena is in dire need of a new roof, which Smith said he realized is not exciting, but it’s necessary. Renovations to the ballfields are another longer-term project, he said. Work at the city’s three main ballfields is already approved, but the second-tier fields also need attention, he said.

Park Maintenance & Capital Improvements Millage: Fuller Road Station

Mike Anglin, one of two city councilmembers who also serve on PAC as non-voting commissioners, said he was concerned about Fuller Park. The discussion about Fuller Road Station isn’t over, he said, even though the city’s partner “disappeared.” [Anglin was referring to the University of Michigan, which in February 2012 pulled out of plans to build a large parking structure, bus depot and possible train station at the Fuller Road site, near UM's medical campus. See Chronicle coverage: "UM, Ann Arbor Halt Fuller Road Project"]

Ann Arbor city councilmember Mike Anglin (Ward 5) also serves as an ex-officio member of the city's park advisory commission.

The city has already put about $3 million into the project, Anglin contended, and the original plan called for parks to handle the site’s maintenance, he said. Now the project is being re-discussed, he said, adding that it has bearing on the parks system.

Grand warned that the millage renewal is separate from the Fuller Road Station issue. The issues aren’t connected, she said, and it’s important to educate the public about what the renewal means.

Anglin replied that he support parks and he’s 100% behind the millage renewal. Voters will definitely pass the millage renewal, he predicted. Anglin said all he wanted to do was to alert people to the fact that the Fuller Road Station discussion is ongoing.

Smith said it’s important to note that no parks millage funds have been spent on Fuller Road Station. In response to a query from Berla, Smith said that no millage funds would be used to build a train station. The city’s charter describes how the millage proceeds can be spent, he said, and ”suffice it to say that a train station would not fall under that.”

The relevant section of the city charter reads as follows:

Funds for Park Maintenance and Capital Improvements

SECTION 8. 19 In addition to any other amount which the City is authorized to raise by general tax upon the real and personal property by this Charter or any other provision of law, the City shall, in 2007 through 2012, annually levy a tax of 1.10 mills on all taxable real and personal property situated within the City for the purpose financing park maintenance activities in the following categories: forestry and horticulture, natural area preservation, park operations, park equipment repairs, park security, and recreation facilities; and for the purpose of financing park capital improvement projects for active parks, forestry and horticulture, historic preservation, neighborhood parks and urban plazas, pathways, trails, boardwalks, greenways, the Huron River watershed, recreation facilities and park equipment acquisitions. (Section 8.19 added by election of April 4, 1983; amended by elections of April 3, 1989, November 8, 1994, November 7, 2000 and November 7, 2006).

Doyle wondered if the parks staff would have any responsibility for maintenance of a train station, if it were located on park property. Smith replied that the millage can be used to maintain park property, ”and that does not include a train station, plain and simple.” If the parks staff were used to do maintenance at a train station, those hours would not be billed to the parks budget, he said.

Park Maintenance & Capital Improvements Millage: Next Steps

The city staff plans to hold four public forums in April to discuss the millage:

• Monday, April 9, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Senior Center, 1320 Baldwin Ave.
• Wednesday, April 11, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Cobblestone Farm Center, 2781 Packard Road.
• Monday, April 23, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Leslie Science & Nature Center’s Nature House, 1831 Traver Road.
• Thursday, April 26, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library Traverwood Branch, 3333 Traverwood Drive.

Sam Offen pointed out that none of the forums are scheduled at locations on the west side of town. Smith said it was difficult finding suitable spots. Offen suggested that Slauson Middle School might be a possible location.

David Barrett observed that the public needs to realize that some great things have happened and that more is in the works. There’s a tangible relationship between the millage and these parks, he said, joking that a snappy phrase is needed to describe it.

Smith laughed, but added that the staff’s role is to provide information, not to advocate. If there’s a citizens group that wants to promote the millage renewal, he said he could give them information, but advocating is outside of the staff’s purview.

The city plans to launch a website in early April with more information about the millage.

MichCon Remediation Update

Representatives from DTE were on hand to update commissioners on the remediation of the MichCon property that’s located north of Broadway Street, between the Huron River and the railroad tracks that run past the Amtrak station. MichCon is a subsidiary of DTE Energy – DTE also owns property on the opposite side of the river, south of Broadway, where it plans to build a new electricity substation.

Shayne Wiesemann, a senior environmental engineer with DTE Energy, gave the presentation. He had given a similar report to city council at a March 12, 2012 working session. An extensive report on that presentation is included in The Chronicle’s coverage of a recent master plan committee meeting: “Planning Group Revisits Huron River Report.”

MichCon Remediation Update: Commission Discussion

Sam Offen asked what the company’s intent is for the property after the cleanup. Wiesemann replied that there’s a tremendous opportunity for redevelopment at the site, and that the company has recently started meeting with stakeholders in the community. However, no plans have been finalized, he said. The company’s senior leaders have a vision that the property can be used as an economic catalyst for the community, Wisesmann added, and that it can be a place for people to come and enjoy the river. In the short term, DTE will retain ownership, he said.

Gwen Nystuen said her understanding was that the Border-to-Border Trail route had been intended to include both sides of the river, including the MichCon side. Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said the original desire was to use the MichCon side for the trail. But now that the Argo Cascades project is nearly complete, the trail on that side serves the purpose.

In the foreground is Paul Ganz, manager of regional relations for DTE Energy. Seated next to him is Larry Baird, an Ann Arbor resident who spoke during public commentary about the Border-to-Border Trail.

Tim Berla asked what uses would be safe after the MichCon’s property is remediated. Will there be any ongoing safety issues?

Wiesemann said the company realizes that the section of land by the river will be widely used for recreation, and their plans are to clean it to a residential unrestricted standard. As for the area that’s on higher ground closer to Broadway, there will probably be more work to do there, Wiesemann said, and the company will do whatever remediation is required after a final use for that land is determined. They don’t want to do too much or too little, he said, so they’ll wait until plans for its use are finalized.

Berla asked about tests that had been conducted on the property. Wiesemann said the results of testing are posted on the MDEQ website. [The Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality keeps a list of contaminated sites in the state, including those in Ann Arbor, with a list of the contaminants at those sites. The contaminants at the MichCon Broadway site include heavy metals (lead, nickel, zinc, etc.) and phthalates.]

Berla also wondered about some blue tarps he’d seen on the site. Is there a homeless encampment on the property? Yes, Wiesemann said, there have been some issues with the homeless for a while. The company has worked with the Ann Arbor police department, he said, but “unfortunately, they keep coming back.” Breaches in the fence are being repaired and the encampment will be removed before remediation work begins, he said.

Responding to another query from Berla, Wiesemann reported that the permit to build the whitewater feature in the stretch of the Huron River adjacent to the MichCon site will likely be submitted to the state in early April. He anticipates it will be built in September, after the MichCon remediation work is done. The intent is to use the same designer and contractor who worked on the Argo Cascades project.

Julie Grand asked about the environmental impact of the foam that will be used for odor suppression. Wiesemann assured her that the foam is completely biodegradable and non-toxic, and that there will be no impact on wildlife. He said it basically creates a barrier over the soil so that odors can’t be emitted.

David Barrett asked what landfill would be used to dump the contaminated soil. Wiesemann said it would be taken to a licensed facility in Northville [the Arbor Hills landfill, operated by Veolia ES Arbor Hills Landfill Inc.].

Smith concluded the presentation by saying that he appreciated the time that DTE had taken to work with city staff, and that it was great to see this remediation project come to fruition.

Open Space & Parkland Preservation Millage Update

Ginny Trocchio, a staff member of  The Conservation Fund who manages Ann Arbor’s greenbelt and parkland acquisition programs under contract with the city, presented a mid-year financial report to PAC for the period of July 1, 2011 through Jan. 31, 2012 – the first seven months of the current fiscal year. [.pdf file of financial report]

Ginny Trocchio, who manages the greenbelt and park land acquisition programs, and Jeff Straw, deputy parks & recreation manager.

Ann Arbor voters passed a 30-year 0.5 mill tax in 2003 for land acquisition. It’s called the open space and parkland preservation millage, and appears on the summer tax bill as the line item CITY PARK ACQ. Though not stipulated in the legal terms of the millage, the city’s policy has been to allocate one-third of the millage for parks land acquisition and two-thirds for the city’s greenbelt program. The parks portion of the millage is overseen by PAC, while the greenbelt advisory commission handles the portion for land preservation outside of the city limits.

To get money upfront for land acquisition, the city took out a $20 million bond in fiscal year 2006. That bond is being being paid back with revenue from the millage. Debt service on that bond so far in FY 2012 year has amounted to $837,088. [Two debt service payments are made during the fiscal year, totaling about $1.2 million.]

Net revenues from the millage were $2.244 million as of Jan. 31, Trocchio reported, with expenses of $1.768 million. In addition to debt service, the expenses include $813,000 in greenbelt projects and about $82,000 for parkland acquisition.

About $10.5 million remains in the fund balance, but some of that will be spent on deals that have already been approved but haven’t yet closed, Trocchio said. Of that fund balance, $4.5 million is designated for parks, while about $6 million is set aside for the greenbelt program.

In addition, there’s $445,000 in an endowment set up to cover legal costs related to enforcing the conservation easements held by the city.

Trocchio also reported that administrative costs of $35,594 so far in fiscal 2012 equate to 2% of total revenues. Administrative costs over the life of the millage are limited by ordinance to be no greater than 6% of revenues.

Open Space & Parkland Preservation Millage Update: Commission Discussion

Gwen Nystuen asked Trocchio whether the parkland acquired by the city with millage funds included permanent deed restrictions designating it for park use. Trocchio replied that for land acquired in the city, the city holds the title for the property.

Nystuen pointed out that city-owned property – including parkland – is zoned as “public land.” So unless there are deed restrictions, the city council could decide to change the use of the land to something else besides a park. [This has been an issue cited with the proposed Fuller Road Station, which would be located in Fuller Park.] Nystuen wondered whether buying property with the millage provided any additional protection.

Colin Smith, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said the properties acquired by the millage are listed in the city’s Park and Recreation Open Space (PROS) plan. The fact that the properties are purchased with millage proceeds provides an extra layer of protection beyond that, he said. If sold, that decision would need to be reviewed by PAC, the planning commission and city council, as well as requiring approval from voters, he said. Nystuen said that’s true if the land is sold, but the same process isn’t followed if the use of the land changes, she noted. It does seem like there’s merit to purchasing property through the millage, she observed, to help ensure that it remains parkland.

Sam Offen questioned a $7,928 payment made to Norfolk Southern Railroad out of millage funds. Trocchio explained that it’s a long-term lease payment for a section of land in Bandemer Park. Offen wondered whether the railroad still owned the property, or whether it had been sold to the Michigan Dept. of Transportation. Smith replied that the staff would look into the status of that sale. [Negotiations are ongoing for the state to buy about 135 miles of track from Norfolk Southern, including the section running through Ann Arbor.]

Nystuen wondered how the lease was paid for prior to the millage. Smith wasn’t sure, but noted that the millage had paid for it since fiscal 2007. In response to another question from Nystuen, Trocchio said that the millage ordinance allows for the purchase of land or land rights, and a lease falls under that latter category. Smith characterized it as a essential parcel for the Border-to-Border Trail.

Placid Way Park Renovations

On the March 20 agenda was a resolution recommending that the city council award a $79,980 contract to Michigan Recreational Construction Inc. to handle renovations at Placid Way Park. The resolution also recommends an additional 10% contingency of $7,998 for a total project cost of $87,978.

The 1.32-acre neighborhood park is located on the city’s north side near the larger Dhu Varren Woods Nature Area and Foxfire South Park. An entrance to the park with a small parking lot is located off of Placid Way, across from Tuebingen Parkway. [.pdf map of Placid Way Park.]

According to a staff memo, Michigan Recreational Construction, a Howell-based company, submitted the lowest of six bids. The work includes replacing the existing play structure and picnic table, and adding benches and landscaping. Funding is available from proceeds of the FY 2012 park maintenance and capital improvements millage.

Parks and recreation manager Colin Smith told commissioners it was a fairly straighforward project.

Placid Way Park Renovations: Commission Discussion

There was minimal discussion on this item. David Barrett asked whether the city had worked with this company in the past. Colin Smith wasn’t sure, but assumed that parks planner Amy Kuras had experience with the company. Julie Grand asked Smith to clarify the park’s location. Smith described it as northeast of Leslie Park Golf Course, and southeast of Olson Park.

Outcome: Commissioners unanimously recommended awarding the Placid Way Park contract to Michigan Recreational Construction. The recommendation will be forwarded to the city council for consideration.

Communications & Commentary

Every meeting includes opportunities for public commentary and communications from commissioners and staff. One person spoke during time allocated for public commentary at the March 20 meeting.

Comm/Comm: Public Commentary – Border-to-Border Trail

Larry Baird spoke during two opportunities for public commentary, focusing his remarks on the Border-to-Border Trail. [The trail is a countywide shared-use path that roughly follows the Huron River.] He said he’s enjoyed the park system for over 20 years, but he’s concerned about the priority given to a high-speed rail initiative and the lack of discussion related to the trail system through the city.

He brought a copy of “Riverwalks Ann Arbor” by Brenda Bentley, saying it’s one of his favorite books, and he urged commissioners to get a copy or borrow his. After he read it, he attempted to walk the entire trail within the city, and came to appreciate the complexity of the trail and the challenges to complete the “missing links.” Those gaps in the trail system have been on the drawing board far too long, he said.

Book cover of "Riverwalks" by Brenda Bentley.

Now that the Michigan Dept. of Transportation is negotiating to buy the stretch of railroad that runs through Ann Arbor, Baird encouraged commissioners to take a pro-active approach, perhaps by forming a task force to ensure that MDOT doesn’t slow down the process of completing a river trail even more.

Baird read an excerpt from the city’s Park and Recreation Open Space (PROS) plan: “Since the 1962 Plan, there has been a concerted effort to complete the pattern of recreational open space along the Huron River from Barton Pond to Geddes Pond … Although Ann Arbor lacks a completed system of connected natural areas, City residents take pride in the preservation of substantial open space along the Huron River…”

For at least 50 years this project has been discussed, Baird noted. He challenged commissioners to find the will and determination to complete it.

Baird picked up the topic again at the end of the meeting, handing out a map from the PROS plan that showed proposed trail connections. [.pdf of PROS trail maps for the Huron River greenway] Two of five proposed connections – at Depot Street (next to the MichCon site) and Maiden Lane – are close to other alternatives, so he hoped that priority would be given to the three other connectors. Of those other three connectors, two are connections to Nichols Arboretum and while nice, they wouldn’t extend the trail, he said.

There’s really only one connection that Baird said he would deem the “holy grail” – connecting the northwest corner of Bandemer Park to Barton Nature Area. That would add almost two miles of trails and open up connections to nearly 300 acres of forests and natural areas, he said.

The current plan calls for a “grade separated” crossing at the railroad tracks near Bandemer Park, but Baird said city officials seem uncertain about how MDOT’s track upgrades for high-speed rail would affect potential crossings. Baird reported that Eli Cooper, the city’s transportation program manager, had told him that similar upgrades elsewhere have resulted in the closing of many crossings for safety reasons.

Baird concluded by proposing an action plan for completing the Border-to-Border Trail connections:

1. Create a task force to study the impact of high-speed rail on the parks system, and to create an action plan for negotiating with MDOT to get a portion of grant funds for high-speed rail to be used for trail easements.
2. Prioritize the trail’s missing links, with the Bandemer-to-Barton link at the top of the list.
3. Set a deadline for completing the missing links.
4. Ensure that an adequate portion of the greenbelt millage is spent within the city, preferably for trail easements.
5. Advise the city to focus on the broader impacts of high-speed rail on the parks system, rather than just focus on Fuller Road Station.
6. Consider allocating a portion of the existing greenbelt millage, or a separate millage, to fund completion of the trail.

Baird said he hoped commissioners would give consideration to his suggestions.

Comm/Comm: Public Commentary – West Park

During the opportunity for communications from commissioners, Tim Berla asked about the situation at West Park. He noted that there were still construction fences up around the section where swirl concentrators had failed, gravel along one of the walkways, and poles in the pond. He said it would be great to have a bench along the boardwalk that overlooked the pond.

Lids for underground swirl concentrators at West Park.

Colin Smith replied that he’d recently been to West Park too, and wondered about the poles, which had been used to help keep birds away from aquatic plants as they take root – though he noted that a few ducks “have been less than deterred.” Smith said the city council will soon be asked to vote on change orders to fund the final repairs at West Park, so the project is wrapping up. The dispute between the city and its contractors over who’ll pay for work related to the failed swirl concentrators is close to being resolved, he said.

[Swirl concentrators had been installed for stormwater management as part of a major renovation of West Park in 2010. Most recently, PAC received a detailed update on the project at its Jan. 24, 2012 meeting from Nick Hutchinson, a civil engineer and one of the project managers in the city’s public services unit. Hutchinson had told the commission that in May and June of 2012, the manufacturer of the swirl concentrators will make repairs on the units. Following that, the city will hire a contractor to complete additional work that was recommended by Orchard Hiltz & McCliment (OHM), which the city had engaged in 2010 to look into the problems at West Park. City staff hope to have that work completed by July of 2012.]

Comm/Comm: Public Commentary – Manager’s Report

Colin Smith began his report by noting that the city’s two golf courses had opened early because of warm weather – last year the courses hadn’t opened until April. On the flip side, the Buhr Park Ice Arena was closed earlier than expected for the same reason. As schedules allowed, hockey leagues that played at Buhr were relocated to Veterans Park Ice Arena.

Argo Cascades – the name for the new Huron River bypass near Argo Pond – is closed so that a new pedestrian bridge can be installed. That work is underway. Final modifications to the bypass will be done in mid-April, Smith said, including installation of a rubber guide in one of the dropped pools where the water flow is more “energetic” than the staff would like.

Earlier in the meeting, Tim Berla had suggested the possibility of installing benches along the Cascades. Julie Grand noted that she had visited the Cascades as part of a task force on public art. The feeling had been to leave the area as natural as possible, and to see how people use the large rocks along the bypass before installing manmade structures.

Turning to a different project, Smith reported that construction will begin soon in the Buhr Park and Cobblestone Farm renovations that PAC had recommended for approval at their Feb. 28 meeting. The major ballfield renovations approved earlier this year will begin in August. It will be a very busy season, Smith said.

Present: David Barrett, Tim Berla, Tim Doyle, Julie Grand, Karen Levin, Gwen Nystuen, Sam Offen, councilmember Mike Anglin (ex-officio). Also Colin Smith, city parks manager.

Absent: Doug Chapman, John Lawter, Christopher Taylor.

Next meeting: PAC’s meeting on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 begins at 4 p.m. in the city hall second-floor council chambers, 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor. [confirm date]

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Members of the Ann Arbor planning commission, from left: Eleanore Adenekan, Kirk Westphal and Diane Giannola. At the right is Wendy Rampson, head of the city's planning staff. Commissioners were attending the March 8, 2012 meeting of the master plan revisions committee. (Photos by the writer.)

The Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan, known as HRIMP, was completed in 2009. But in large part because of controversy related to Argo Dam – centered on whether or not the dam should be removed – none of the 30 other recommendations were implemented.

Only one of the HRIMP recommendations relates to land use, and is therefore in the purview of the planning commission. That recommendation calls for limited commercial development – such as a restaurant or other publicly-used entity – in the Broadway bridge/Argo area.

Much of the discussion at the March 8 committee meeting centered on the property now owned by MichCon, a subsidiary of DTE Energy, located north of Broadway Street, between the Huron River and the railroad tracks that run past the Amtrak station. A state-supervised cleanup effort is underway at that site, but its future use – including the possibility that it could be acquired by the city and turned into a park – is unclear.

Remediation of the MichCon site was also a topic at the March 12, 2012 Ann Arbor city council work session, where the property’s potential future use was discussed. That presentation also included an update on a whitewater river feature that DTE Energy is paying for. The whitewater section to be built in the Huron River was originally part of the same project as the city’s Argo Dam bypass reconstruction. The bypass, which has been recently named the Argo Cascades, is nearly complete.

This article includes a summary of the council working session related to the MichCon cleanup, as well as a report on the master plan revisions committee meeting. Based on discussions at that committee meeting, it seems likely that a proposal will be forwarded to the full planning commission to add the HRIMP recommendation to the city’s master plan. Any changes to the master plan would also require city council approval.

Background: HRIMP Report

The Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan (HRIMP) committee was established by the city’s environmental commission in March of 2006 to develop a plan for protecting and maintaining the portion of the Huron River that flows through the city of Ann Arbor. Beginning in early 2009, a series of public forums were held as the committee entered the final stages of its work. [See Chronicle coverage: "Not So Gently Down the Stream"]

The Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan produced by the committee contains 30 recommendations labeled “consensus recommendations,” with two others on which there was no consensus. [link to .pdf of full HRIMP report] The two non-consensus resolutions contradicted each other, with one calling for the removal of Argo Dam and the other calling for its preservation. Much of the public engagement focused exclusively on the dam-in/dam-out question.

Part of the context for that question was a problem with toe drains, identified by the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality, in the earthen embankment adjacent to the concrete and steel dam, which separates the headrace from the river. In May of 2009 the city’s environmental commission voted in support of dam removal, while the city’s park advisory commission voted for its preservation. [Chronicle coverage: "City Council To Weigh Mixed Advice on Dam"]

The dispute with the state related to Argo Dam was ultimately resolved when the city council approved a $1,168,170 project at its Nov. 15, 2010 meeting to build a bypass that replaced the headrace and eliminated the portage previously required by canoeists and kayakers. Final work is being done on that bypass – including installation of a new pedestrian bridge – and it’s expected to be open later this spring.

There was no action on the “consensus” recommendations, however. A resolution to accept the HRIMP committee’s plan was first considered at the council’s Nov. 16, 2009 meeting, but postponed until Dec. 7. At the council’s Sunday caucus prior to that Dec. 7 meeting, the focus of discussion was on the difference between “approving” the plan and “accepting” it, with the option of “receiving” it also thrown into the mix. [Chronicle coverage: "Huron River Plan, Percent for Art Program also Discussed"]

After considerable deliberation and public commentary at the council’s Dec. 7, 2009 meeting, the council voted to remand the 30 consensus recommendations to the park advisory commission and the environmental commission, asking those groups to develop options for implementation. No further action has been taken.

Master Plan Revisions Committee & HRIMP

The planning commission’s master plan revisions (MPR) committee is charged with reviewing possible changes to the city’s master plan, which are in turn considered by the full commission and eventually require approval by city council. The current MPR committee members are Eleanore Adenekan, Erica Briggs, Diane Giannola, Evan Pratt and Wendy Woods.

Planning commissioner Kirk Westphal had expressed a desire to revisit the recommendations of the Huron River and Impoundment Management Plan (HRIMP) that related to planning issues, so planning staff scheduled that topic for the March 8 MPR meeting. In addition to Westphal, three other commissioners attended: Adenekan, Giannola and Pratt.

Wendy Rampson, head of the city’s planning staff, began the meeting by very briefly reviewing the development of the HRIMP, noting that the city council didn’t adopt or even accept it. “Basically, they said thank you for your work,” she said. Most of the discussion in the community and by the council centered on the most controversial aspect, she said – whether to remove the Argo Dam. [The council never voted on that issue either. But by not taking action, councilmembers made the de facto decision to leave the dam in place for at least the foreseeable future.]

Aside from the dam, the other HRIMP recommendations are equally if not more important, Rampson said.

Westphal, who serves as the planning commission liaison to the environmental commission, said it seemed to be a natural fit with planning to have a discussion about the HRIMP’s land use recommendation. He noted that it’s a dynamic situation, given MichCon’s cleanup efforts along the river, but it’s an opportunity to open up discussion on those HRIMP recommendations that didn’t get much traction. The HRIMP committee spent a lot of time and thought on the project, he said, “and it seemed like something we should pick up.” Personally, he said, he’d love to see more people at the river.

MichCon Property Remediation

Much of the MPR committee discussion focused on the MichCon property that’s located north of Broadway Street, between the Huron River and the railroad tracks that run past the Amtrak station. MichCon is a subsidiary of DTE Energy – DTE also owns property on the opposite side of the river, south of Broadway, where it plans to build a new electricity substation. [An item related to the substation was discussed at the Feb. 28, 2012 meeting of the city's park advisory commission. A site plan for the project will be on the planning commission's April 3 agenda.]

Diane Giannola asked about the status of a cleanup project at the MichCon site. Planning staff said they didn’t know details.

However, at a March 12, 2012 working session, the Ann Arbor city council was briefed about the future of the former coal gasification site. The cleanup and remediation operation is being handled by MichCon, and overseen by the state of Michigan’s Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).

Craig Hupy, the city’s interim public services area administrator, introduced the presentation, telling councilmembers that its purpose was to give them a heads up before the mandatory public meetings start happening. MichCon would also be returning to the city council to get access to the sanitary sewers during the cleanup. MichCon will also need to coordinate with the city’s park operations staff, Hupy said.

The timeline for the project would see construction wrapping up in October of 2012:

• November 2011: pre-design studies report – submitted to MDEQ
• February 2012: response activities plan – submitted to MDEQ
• February 2012: construction permit application – submitted to MDEQ
• March 12, 2012: Ann Arbor city council work session – presentation
• March 20, 2012: parks advisory commission – presentation
• March 2012–July 2012: pre-construction activities and engineering
• April 11, 2012: MDEQ public meeting/public hearing
• June 2012: receive MDEQ plan approval and permit
• July 2012: contractor bid and selection
• August–October 2012: (2.5 months) construction

Presenting on behalf of MichCon was Shayne Wiesemann, a senior environmental engineer with DTE Energy.

MichCon Property Remediation: Background

Wiesemann told the council that MichCon had been working diligently with Michigan’s Dept. of Environmental Quality, as well as the Huron River Watershed Council and Ann Arbor city staff.

Aerial view of MichCon property. (Image links to dynamic Google map.)

Wiesemann thanked the city staff for their help over the last few years – they’d had weekly meetings or phone calls. He named city staffers Colin Smith (manager of parks and recreation), Sumedh Bahl (community services area administrator), Matt Naud (environmental coordinator), Craig Hupy (head of systems planning and interim public services area administrator) and Cresson Slotten (manager in systems planning).

Wiesemann ticked through a quick overview of the history of the site. It was developed as a coal gasification plant in 1900 by the Ann Arbor Gas Company, and the gas produced there was used by Ann Arbor residents for the next 50 years – for cooking, heating and lighting. As natural gas began to be supplied to the city in 1939 (which is a relatively cleaner fuel), use of manufactured gas diminished. By the late 1950s the gas manufacturing facility was decommissioned.

By then MichCon had become the owner of the facility, and in the early 1960s the MichCon service center was constructed. The property was used to dispatch crews to customers for another 50 years. MichCon merged with DTE Energy in 2001, becoming a subsidiary of the energy utility. In 2009, MichCon’s Broadway service center was deconstructed.

MichCon Property Remediation: Site Investigation

Wiesemann explained that residuals from the gas manufacturing process remained at the site. When the service center was demolished, MichCon investigated the site, he said. That site investigation is now completed.

Yellow areas are locations where soil is to be excavated and replaced with clean material. (Image links to .pdf of slide presentation with higher resolution images.)

He described how MichCon had excavated 1,680 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the western parcel and another 4,340 cubic yards from the eastern parcel. MichCon had installed a groundwater treatment system, and established routine groundwater monitoring and reporting. In total, Wiesemann told the council, MichCon has spent $2.6 million on the site investigation cleanup so far.

The investigation, Wiesemann continued, had provided a rich set of data with thousands of test results. The extent and nature of the environmental impacts at the site are now known, he said, and there’s no immediate risk to human health or the environment. There are still some structures on the site that are slated for removal, which have contamination. He showed the council a PowerPoint slide that indicated areas in yellow where structures and soil would be removed. One elongated area adjacent to the river is an area of impacted shallow soil and sediment – which will be excavated and replaced.

MichCon Property Remediation: Implementation

The success of the remediation plan, for which MichCon is now seeking approval from MDEQ, Wiesemann said, would lie in its implementation. He then sought to assure the council that impacts to Ann Arbor residents would be minimized. He told the council that MichCon has a lot of experience doing these kinds of remedial excavations – having completed dozens of them over the decades.

MichCon will use site controls like a security fence so that trespassers or children won’t wander onto the site. Surface water protection will be critical, he said, and a variety of tools will be used, including coffer dams, soft booms, and hard boom. Monitoring of the river water during the excavation would take place both upstream and downstream, he said. Odor-suppressing mist and foam would also be used, he said.

Wiesemann allowed that the impact of up to 20 trucks a day entering and leaving the site could be significant. Wheel washing would ensure that the trucks were not tracking sediment out of the site. MichCon would also plan to optimize the scheduling of truck traffic. In coordinating with the city, he said, MichCon had been advised, for example, that the Beakes and North Main area is not the best place to try to bring trucks through.

Wiesemann also pointed out the short-term economic gain due to the remediation activity and the long-term benefit of the environmental remediation. In addition to that, he reminded the council that MichCon will install and pay for the whitewater feature in the Huron River that was originally a part of the same project as the city’s planned Argo Dam bypass construction. The bypass, which has been named the Argo Cascades, is nearly complete.

MichCon Property Remediation: Whitewater Feature

Some councilmembers expressed concern about the impact of the excavation work on recreational users of the river. Wiesemann explained that the work would start on the upstream side and proceed downstream. By the time the work gets to the entry point from the Argo Cascades into the river, he said, it will be after Labor Day. After Labor Day, the Argo livery only offers weekend trips, which will coordinate well with MichCon’s weekday excavation activity. He allowed that it would not prevent someone from using their own canoe, instead of renting from the city’s livery. The fact that MichCon’s work will take place during the summer months, when the river will be relatively low, will also aid construction, he said.

Schematic showing the placement of the planned whitewater amenity in the Huron River, upstream from where the Argo Cascades enters into the river. (Image links to .pdf of slide presentation with higher resolution images.)

In connection with construction of the whitewater feature, councilmember Sabra Briere (Ward 1) questioned the placement of the feature that was indicated in the slide Wiesemann had shown, saying the rocks were not in the same place the council had previously been told they would be. It appeared that canoeists and kayakers who wanted to paddle through the planned whitewater amenity would need to navigate down the Cascades bypass, then paddle upstream through the whitewater and then reverse course, she said.

Wiesemann confirmed that was the planned implementation was as Briere described it. He indicated that this approach had been vetted with the city’s park and recreation staff. Colin Smith, city parks and recreation manager, confirmed that understanding, telling the council that Cheryl Saam, manager of the canoe livery, had been consulted as well. The idea was to make sure that the swifter water was well away from the entry of the Cascades into the river – to ensure that novice paddlers did not encounter the whitewater. It would also mitigate against any congestion between user groups. [That is, experienced users looking to spend the day paddling up and down through the whitewater feature would not interfere with novice paddlers who would be descending the Cascades and continuing on a leisurely float down the Huron.]

MichCon Property Remediation: Future of the Site

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) wanted to know what the future of the parcel was after the remediation was complete. Wiesemann indicated it was not clear. MichCon recognized that there was a lot of potential on the site for redevelopment. Talks had just started to take place with interested stakeholders in the community. But at this point, he said, it would be premature to speculate on the end use. But he allowed that the MichCon leadership does see the parcel as “a catalyst for economic growth and public enjoyment within the community.”

Mayor John Hieftje weighed in with his hope that DTE Energy would collaborate with the Wolfpack, to add the parcel to the city’s park system. [The Wolfpack is a conservancy group associated with the National Wildlife Federation, co-founded by local attorney and former Clinton advisor Paul Dimond and retired Ford executive Ray Pittman. (.pdf file of Wolfpack members)] Hieftje described how he could imagine tiered seating installed on the river bank opposite the whitewater feature so that people could come out and watch the kayakers navigate the rapids.

Hieftje confirmed with Wiesemann that even factoring in significant delays, the whitewater feature would be available for recreational users in the spring of 2013.

HRIMP and Land Use: Master Plan Revision?

At the March 8 master plan revisions committee meeting, Wendy Rampson – the city’s planning manager – noted that the Parks & Recreation Open Space (PROS) plan puts a priority on acquiring land along the Huron River. It indicates the goal of acquiring the entire MichCon parcel, Rampson said, but she’s not sure that’s realistic. The city’s Central Area Future Land Use map – part of the city’s master plan – shows the western portion of the site as parkland, and the eastern half for commercial/office use. Currently, the site is zoned M1 (industrial). Jeff Kahan of the city’s planning staff pointed out that much of the property lies within the floodway, which would limit development.

Rampson noted that there is only one HRIMP recommendation related to land use – the section on commercial development in the Broadway bridge/Argo area. From the HRIMP report:

Encourage limited development of a restaurant and/or other public-use facilities where the public congregates and can enjoy the river in the Broadway Bridge/Argo area, especially if it generates revenue for river planning and implementation.

Rampson asked whether the committee wanted to start working on a master plan amendment to incorporate this recommendation, or to propose something that makes the expectations for this recommendation clearer.

Evan Pratt, who had served on the HRIMP committee, said discussion on this topic among HRIMP committee members had centered mostly on the idea of having a restaurant in that area. He cited the example of Zingerman’s coffee and baked goods being sold at the cafe in Gallup Park – that’s an example of a business and park co-existing, he said. The idea was that it would be desirable if someone wanted to have a business that was related to the river area and that didn’t undermine the city’s canoe livery – like a bicycle rental business. So the zoning for that area shouldn’t allow large operations, but something more in keeping with drawing people to the river, Pratt explained.

Diane Giannola asked whether something like miniature golf would be appropriate. Is the idea to create an entertainment area, like a boardwalk?

Pratt replied that they don’t want anything like a San Antonio River Walk, but rather something for people to do that will open up the Huron River. Kirk Westphal added that a lot of ideas were discussed, including a paddle-up microbrewery, but a restaurant seemed to be the most common suggestion.

Rampson noted that while many people talk about a restaurant located right along the river, the topography would make that challenging. If the MichCon parcel becomes available, a building along the west end near the river isn’t possible, because the property is in the floodway. It would be possible to develop something on the east end of that property, she said, “but that doesn’t have the lovely views.”

Giannola noted that a raised structure could be built on the west portion of the property, but Rampson said that’s not what most people seem to envision – the preference is to be next to the river, not looking down on it. Westphal said there’s still a view of the river on the east end of the property, closer to the bridge. It’s not a wide-open vista, he said, but it’s nice.

Westphal wondered whether it would be possible to have a restaurant near the Argo livery, on land next to Argo Pond. Rampson said the HRIMP report wasn’t explicit about recommending anything in that area. Pratt weighed in that the spirit of the HRIMP committee discussions had focused on the Broadway area.

One issue with a restaurant near the Argo livery is that it’s located in a quiet residential area, Rampson noted. The lodge for the Society of Les Voyageurs is located there too. The question is whether introducing this type of new land use into that area is appropriate, she said.

A detail from the Central Area Future Land Use map, part of the land use section (Chapter 5) of the city's master plan. The large green and red section north of the railroad track and northwest of Broadway Street is the MichCon property. The property is zoned industrial, but the future land use indicates the western portion (green) for parks and open space, and the eastern portion (red) for commercial/office use. The Huron River runs to the north of the property. (Image links to .pdf of full Central Area Future Land Use map)

Rampson pointed out that for years, there have been efforts to revitalize the Lowertown area, east of the Broadway bridge. Perhaps a project on land near the bridge and the river could serve as a catalyst for development in Lowertown, she said. Rampson quipped that there’s a question about whether any land will be left after the University of Michigan finishes its projects in that area. [UM has been acquiring property along Wall Street, where its Kellogg Eye Center is located. The area is near the university's large medical complex.]

Rampson asked commissioners how deep they wanted to explore these options. A mini-study would be one approach, she said, or staff could work with commissioners to develop a set of recommendations. She asked whether they were interested in looking at just the site near the Broadway bridge, or if they wanted to focus on a broader area.

Giannola expressed support for looking at the entire Broadway/Lowertown area, not just one site.

City planner Jeff Kahan noted that there are several master plan-related efforts in the works right now – including studies of the Washtenaw Avenue and South State corridors – and the staff needs to strategize about how to use its limited resources. People might wonder what’s triggering an effort related to the HRIMP recommendations now, he said.

Rampson replied that there’s interest in the MichCon property, and in what DTE’s plans are for the property after they finish remediation work there. They could either put it on the market or ask the city to make an offer, she said. So you could argue that it’s timely to look at future land use for that area.

Kahan wondered whether it would “muck up the works” to go through a master plan and possible rezoning process that ends up doubling the value of that MichCon property, especially since it’s not yet clear what the company plans to do. He also noted that transit-related plans are unfolding quickly, and there’s uncertainty about that too. [The Fuller Road Station, a proposed parking garage and transit center located in that general area, has been paused – see Chronicle coverage: "UM, Ann Arbor Halt Fuller Road Project"]

Finally, Kahan said, if a drain is dug underneath the railroad, the floodplain lines could change yet again – that’s another factor that could have an impact on the area. [Earlier in the meeting, Rampson had mentioned that the city is issuing a request for proposals (RFP) to possibly build a drain underneath the railroad to relieve flooding. The project might include a pedestrian underpass.]

Pratt noted that the city has three plans, each recommending three different types of land use for the Broadway bridges and Argo Dam area: (1) the HRIMP, which recommends commercial development; (2) the property’s current zoning, for industrial use; and (3) the master plan’s future land use map, which shows a combination of parkland and commercial/office use. Each of those land uses reflect different levels of intensity, he observed.

Rampson said she doesn’t think anyone is talking about rezoning at this point. The master plan could simply be amended to indicate a preference for the type of use on that property. Then if the property changes hands and is sold to a private developer, there would be guidance if the developer proposed a project there that required rezoning – which would be likely, she said. It would be less of a problem if the property is acquired by the city, she said, and becomes zoned as public land.

The MichCon property has a high recreational value, Kahan said. It’s a critical piece of the puzzle for creating a pathway system of parkland along the river, and the city has acquisition funds available for parkland. It would be good to have a conversation with Ginny Trocchio about that, he said. [Trocchio is the Conservation Fund staff member who manages the city's greenbelt and park acquisitions program, under contract with the city.]

Kahan said it goes back to his earlier point – should the city take action that might have an impact on the property’s value, by potentially increasing an appraisal of the land?

For now, Rampson said, the simplest approach would be to insert the language of the HRIMP recommendation into the city’s master plan. That way, there would be guidance regarding future use of the property in that area.

The committee discussed where the language might be inserted – in the master plan’s Lowertown section, or the central area section. [link to .pdf of the master plan's chapter on land use] Kahan wondered whether the HRIMP should be added as a supporting document to the master plan, as part of this change. Rampson advised against that, noting that it might open the Argo Dam question. “I’m not sure you really want to go there,” she told commissioners.

Pratt said he recognized that revisiting HRIMP could be opening a can of worms. But at the least, he said, getting HRIMP’s land use language into the master plan, as it relates to commercial development near the Broadway bridge and Argo, will help safeguard the future of that area.

The committee’s discussion will be taken up by the full planning commission at an upcoming, to-be-determined meeting.

Present: Planning commissioners Eleanore Adenekan, Diane Giannola, Evan Pratt and Kirk Westphal. Also city planners Wendy Rampson and Jeff Kahan.

Dave Askins contributed to the reporting of this article. The Chronicle relies in part on regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the city planning commission and the Ann Arbor city council. If you’re already supporting The Chronicle, please encourage your friends, neighbors and coworkers to do the same. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle.

A Dec. 21 dispute resolution hearing has been set at 1:30 p.m. in the courtroom of Judge Donald Shelton of the Washtenaw County Circuit Court. For background on the dioxane contamination and cleanup, see Chronicle coverage: “Residents Frustrated by Dioxane Decision.” Additional information is also available on the websites for Scio Residents for Safe Water and the county’s Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane (CARD).