The ratification of the articles of incorporation did not incorporate a new transit authority. Rather, it established the document that will be used to incorporate a new authority – by Washtenaw County, when the AATA requests that it do so. After incorporation, the new authority – to be called The Washtenaw Ride – would not receive transfer of AATA assets until a voter-approved funding mechanism has been approved.

The re-approval of the articles of incorporation by the board on Sept. 5 was prompted indirectly by the board’s action on Aug. 1, when it voted to amend the the document that had already been approved by three other parties in a four-party transit agreement. Those other parties include the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. Because  of the amendment, the articles of incorporation had to be re-authorized by the other three parties.

The county board’s Aug. 1 amendment made a change to the size of the majority needed, in order for the new transit authority’s board to change the articles of incorporation – from 2/3 to 4/5 of the 15 board members. When the amended document was sent back to the Ann Arbor city council, the city’s legal staff made additional changes that were driven by a desire to harmonize the county board’s amendment with the rest of the document, as well as with Act 196 of 1986 – the act under which the new transit authority will be incorporated. For example, the 4/5 majority requirement for changes to the articles of incorporation is at apparent odds with one kind of change to the articles specifically mentioned in Act 196 – a change in jurisdictions that are part of the authority. Act 196 explicitly indicates that a 2/3 vote is required. So an administrative change undertaken after the board’s Aug. 1 meeting was to add the clause: “… unless another vote of Board is required under the terms of these Articles or provided for in Act 196.”

Although it wasn’t clear whether the changes required a re-vote by the county board of commissioners, some commissioners were concerned that the changes might be construed as substantive and contrary to the intent of the county board, which could become an unnecessary point of contention down the road. For more details on this series of changes, see Chronicle coverage: “Washtenaw Board to Re-Vote on Transit Accord.”

Earlier in the day on Sept. 5, the AATA board released a final draft of a 5-year service plan as part of a possible transition to a new transit authority, to be called The Washtenaw Ride. An 0.584 mill tax to support expanded service could be placed on the ballot by May 2013. [See Chronicle coverage: "Revised 5-Year Transit Plan: More Service, Cost."]

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

Karen Lovejoy Roe, Ypsilanti Township clerk, attended the AATA board’s Aug. 16 meeting as representative of the Southeast District on an as-yet unincorporated board of a countywide transportation authority. During the meeting she expressed enthusiastic support for expanded transit. (Photos by the writer.)

As part of that goal of establishing the new authority, the AATA board gave final approval to a four-party agreement – between the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA. The agreement would establish a framework for the transition of the AATA to a transit authority incorporated under Act 196 of 1986 – to be called The Washtenaw Ride. That authority would have a 15-member board.

An unincorporated version of the Washtenaw Ride’s board (the U196) has been meeting since late 2011. The three guests at the table for the Aug. 16 AATA board meeting are representatives of three districts in the possible new authority: Karen Lovejoy Roe (Southeast District), Bob Mester (West District) and David Phillips (Northeast District).

Those three were not there to vote, and did not participate in deliberations, though they could have. However, Lovejoy Roe – who serves as Ypsilanti Township clerk, an elected position – gave one of the most enthusiastic statements of support for the countywide initiative that’s been heard at the AATA board table over the last two years. “I’m just really excited about where we’re headed as a community, as a county at large. I know that there’s been a lot of hiccups, but I think that that’s normal … I’m committed, and I think that those who’ve asked me to be here working willingly and openly to do what’s best for all county residents [are, too] …”

One element of the 30-year vision that the AATA has developed for countywide transportation is a north-south commuter rail connection between Ann Arbor and Howell, in Livingston County. And the planning effort was given continued support at the Aug. 16 meeting when the board awarded a $105,200 contract to SmithGroupJJR for station location and design services in connection with the WALLY (Washtenaw and Livingston Railway) project.

That overall planning effort was given a boost by a somewhat unexpected $640,000 federal grant to the AATA and Michigan Dept. of Transportation. The grant was awarded on Aug. 6, 2012 under the Transportation, Community and System Preservation (TCSP) program. AATA had applied for the grant last November, but did not have high expectations, given the competitive nature of the grants.

In other business, the board decided to accept a non-applicable penalty – which has no actual impact – and not comply with Michigan’s Public Act 192 for its unionized employees. The act mandates limits on how much public employers can contribute to their employee health care costs. The decision was essentially based on deference to a federal law that applies to agencies receiving federal funding – like the AATA. That federal law requires benefits like health care to be collectively bargained, not stipulated. Under the state law, failure by the AATA to comply would just mean that it would be denied state funds to which it is not even entitled.

In the meeting’s other business item, the AATA approved a three-year contract with CBS Outdoor Advertising of Lexington, New York, to handle placement of ads on its buses and bus stops. That’s a change from the previous contract, which was held by Transit Advertising Group (TAG) of Farmington Hills, Mich.

Four-Party Agreement, Countywide

In front of the board again for its approval was the four-party agreement outlining a framework for a possible countywide transportation authority, and its articles of incorporation. The other three parties to the agreement are the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, and Washtenaw County.

The most recent iteration of approvals came as a result of an amendment to the articles of incorporation made by the Washtenaw County board of commissioners at its Aug. 1, 2012 meeting. The county board’s amendment changed the minimum threshold of votes required on the proposed new 15-member transit authority board, in order for the board to change the authority’s articles of incorporation. That threshold was increased from a 2/3 majority (10 votes) to a 4/5 majority (12 votes).

Washtenaw County’s role will now be to file the articles of incorporation for a new transit authority – The Washtenaw Ride. The articles would be filed with the state of Michigan under Act 196 of 1986. But that filing would come only after a request from the AATA and only after the AATA publishes details of the service and funding plan for the authority in newspapers of general circulation in Washtenaw County. At that point, jurisdictions throughout Washtenaw County would have the ability to opt out of the new transit authority.

Even after the funding plan is published and the new authority is incorporated, the four-party agreement stipulates that any transfer of assets from the AATA to The Washtenaw Ride would take place only after a voter-approved funding mechanism is established. And only after a voter-approved funding mechanism is established would proceeds from the transportation millages currently levied by the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti be pledged to The Washtenaw Ride.

A financial task force recruited by the AATA – to assess the amount of funding that would be necessary to offer the kind of service that AATA is proposing – concluded that it would require roughly the equivalent of 0.5 mills countywide. [.pdf of final version of transit documents] It will not be on the ballot for Nov. 6, as the deadline will expire by the end of August and not nearly enough time exists to complete remaining steps before then.

Four-Party Agreement, Countywide: Comment from Lovejoy Roe

Karen Lovejoy Roe, Ypsilanti Township clerk, will represent the Southeast District in the proposed new transit authority. That district consists of Ypsilanti Township and Augusta Township. Of the three members of the as-yet unincorporated (U196) transit board who attended the Aug. 16 meeting, she was the only one who spoke at the table.

Her remarks prompted Thomas Partridge, a frequent critic of the AATA, to rise from his seat and applaud.

She opened by saying, “I’m just really excited about where we’re headed as a community, as a county at large. I know that there’s been a lot of hiccups, but I think that that’s normal … A lot of questions have been raised about trust and I just want everybody to know I’m committed, and I think that those who’ve asked me to be here working willingly and openly to do what’s best for all county residents [are, too] …”

She stressed three key points related to the importance of better transportation in the county: jobs, seniors and young people.

What drew her attention, she said, is the impact that countywide transportation could have on economic development. Even though the national climate is difficult, she allowed, “we can control our destiny here, so we focus on that.” She said was sitting at a dinner table with a top executive of one of the largest private employers in the county, Thompson Reuters, who told her that they make their decisions about where to locate their businesses based on where public transportation is located. A huge lightbulb went off in her head, she said. That had led her to conclude: “I don’t even know why this is up to debate. The debate should be about the details of what we’re going to do, but not about whether we’re going to do it.”

As the process has gone along, she told the board, one of the things that she’d pushed for was data. She always knew that Ypsilanti Township had a huge population and travels to Ann Arbor to work – but how many? And she’d been given those numbers, she said – about 5,000-6,000. When you add in the city of Ypsilanti and Superior Township, it’s even more, she said. “Our folks need jobs,” she said, and Ann Arbor is where the jobs are. She expressed support for that idea, saying what’s good for Ann Arbor is good for the rest of the county. Ypsilanti Township and Augusta Township residents need jobs, she said, and they don’t care where those jobs are located.

Turning her attention to senior issues, Lovejoy Roe told the board that during the primary election campaign, she and Ypsilanti Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo had, between the two of them, knocked on every door in the township. As a result of that, she said, they know now that their intuition was exactly right: “Our seniors need transportation.” There are so many people that she knew four years ago who used to drive, and are not driving now, she said. They would ask, “Karen, Brenda, what can we do?” It’s true not just for Ypsilanti Township, she said, but for all of Washtenaw County – the population is aging. Seniors deserve to be able to stay in their homes, Lovejoy Roe said – especially facing an inability to sell their homes without taking a huge loss. There is not enough assisted living housing that they can move into, she said. By helping seniors stay in their homes by providing on-demand door-to-door services, it’s providing “assisted living” by helping them stay in their homes, she said.

Lovejoy Roe rounded out her remarks by talking about the importance of public transportation for young people. Washtenaw County has to be a place where young people want to live and stay, she said. She wants her five children to stay here and she’s looking forward to having grandchildren. And they need public transportation, she said. She’s learned so much through her own children and talking to other young residents, she said. For them, it’s a cultural positive. When she grew up, whoever had the fastest, hottest car was the coolest around. But now your status gets measured by whether you’re able to live and work without an automobile. That’s who young people are today, she said.

She’s really excited about the future, she said, and she knows there’s still a long way to go to get to where we need to be. But for her, the arguments for doing it are: jobs, our seniors, and our young people.

Lovejoy Roe allowed there are a lot of questions, and watching the Washtenaw County board of commissioner meetings, she knows that people are concerned that they’re going to get sucked in and “screwed over” – saying she’s probably not as politically tactful as they are. She believes in her heart that it’s going to work. She pointed out that if the millage is requested and voters approve it, then it will eventually need to be renewed – so every single community will need to benefit. They’re not going to be voting for a millage in perpetuity. So there’s a real incentive to everybody working together to move the process forward, she said.

Four-Party Agreement, Countywide: Public Comment

All of the public commentary could be connected in some way to the four-party agreement and the possibility it provides for broader governance and service area.

Carolyn Grawi from the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living addressed the board during public commentary at the end of the meeting. She congratulated the board as well as the community, saying that we will now move forward with a chance to have countywide transportation. The disability community can’t wait for this opportunity to exist, she said. She echoed the comments of Karen Lovejoy Roe. It really will help add value to the community, Grawi said.

Larry Krieg introduced himself as an Ypsilanti Township resident, and began by thanking his township clerk [Karen Lovejoy Roe] for such rousing support. He said he wanted to bring three things together that are significant.

The first was an article in online Bridge Magazine about the number of millages that were passed in Michigan at the Aug. 7, 2012 primary. Out of 805 millages on the ballot, a total of 90% passed, he reported. Of the road millages that were on the ballot, 89% had passed. In spite of the rhetoric against taxes, people are passing millages at a remarkable rate, he observed. Second, he said the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor last week released the estimate that in the next 20 years, cars will average $50,000 apiece. The third point is that as he is researching fuel costs and where the money goes, almost all the money leaves Michigan, he said, and over half of it leaves the United States. And up to 8% goes to governments that are hostile to the United States. So when people object to increasing taxes, they don’t realize that just by filling up their gas tank they are paying money to governments that are hostile to the United States. So he encouraged the board to be a bit more aggressive.

At the first opportunity for public comment, at the start of the meeting, Thomas Partridge introduced himself as a resident of the city of Ann Arbor, and advocate for everyone in Ann Arbor and all of the cities and villages and townships of Washtenaw County and the state of Michigan. He called on the board to mount an assertive, stepped-up campaign to bring about a quality countywide transportation system. It had been his proposal, he contended, made to the Washtenaw County board of commissioners more than six years ago at a board meeting, to bring about the foundation of a Washtenaw County department of transportation under the Washtenaw County government. Instead, the board has bided its time and avoided tackling this very important and vital issue, he contended.

Partridge also called on the AATA board to be more assertive about getting the proposal on the ballot as soon as possible. [It will not be on the Nov. 6 ballot.] He called on the representatives of the new transit authority board to become more vocal and more assertive to bring about this much-needed countywide transportation system.

At the second opportunity for public commentary at the end of the meeting, Partridge expressed appreciation for those who’d voted for him in the Democratic primary election – as he’d run for state representative of the 53rd District. [He received 11.5% of the vote, compared to 88% for incumbent Jeff Irwin.] He ventured that they’d voted for him based on his leadership on the issue of bringing about a badly-needed countywide transportation system. He called on everyone to unite the county in order to achieve progress.

Four-Party Agreement, Countywide: Board Deliberations

Board chair Jesse Bernstein briefly described the Washtenaw County board’s amendment, made on Aug. 1, 2012. The amendment changed the minimum threshold of votes required on the proposed new 15-member transit authority board, if the board wants to change the authority’s articles of incorporation. That threshold was increased from a 2/3 majority (10 votes) to a 4/5 majority (12 votes).

Outcome: The board voted without further discussion. That means that the all four parties to the agreement have given final approval. After the Washtenaw County board had given its approval on Aug. 1, the Ann Arbor city council re-approved the agreement on Aug. 9, 2012, and the Ypsilanti city council gave its re-approval on Aug. 14.

Four-Party Agreement, Countywide: Next Steps

In his verbal report to the board, CEO Michael Ford outlined the next steps. They include making sure that all the stakeholders know all service benefits that each district will receive. When the AATA board believes it has done all it can to inform the public of the benefits of the five-year transit program, the board can then request that the county initiate the incorporation process – filing articles of incorporation for the new authority with the state. And at that point, he continued, the local governments of the county will have 30 days to opt out, if they choose to do so.

Left to right: AATA CEO Michael Ford welcomes David Phillips to the meeting. Philips, Superior Township clerk, represents the Northeast District on the U196 board.

But several steps will precede the decision to request incorporation. The week of Aug. 20, the AATA will be mailing out a letter to all local clerks to explain the incorporation process, Ford explained. AATA will be planning and following up with all those communities. The AATA will also be sending out a newsletter to all community leaders and the public. And on Aug. 23, Ford said, the AATA will meet with the unincorporated board members to prepare for the public release of the five-year transit program.

Throughout the month of September, the AATA will be meeting with the district advisory committees (DACs) to seek local recommendations on the proposed program. They’ll also meet with local leaders and government boards to explain the program and answer all questions to build support. The AATA board and the district representatives will play an important role in ensuring that the local leadership and the public understand what the plan provides, he said. When the AATA believes it has a consensus on the scope of the service plan, the current board will then request that the county start the incorporation process. Ford said: “We believe the plan, guided by the 30-year master plan and vision, clearly benefits all local government units and citizens in the county.”

Ford stated that the AATA will continue its relationship with each local government, whether or not they decide to participate in the new transit authority.

Four-Party Agreement, Countywide: Five-Year Service Plan

A condition for a request to incorporate the new transit authority is to publish a five-year service plan. A draft of the plan was released in April.

At the board’s Aug. 16 meeting, Michael Benham – strategic planner with the AATA – gave an update on the five-year service plan. The plan is in the process of being introduced to the public, he said. There have been a number of new suggestions for additional services, he said.

Since the previous draft, which was released in April, he said, a Milan connector has been included. That will run on Carpenter Road from Milan to a Meier store at Ellsworth and Carpenter. Also, a Milan circulator has been added. That’s contingent on involvement with the southern part of Milan, which extends into Monroe County. The Milan connector is actually a rerouting of something that was previously in the plan that went from Milan through Saline to Ann Arbor. He explained that “connector services” are “semi-express services” that connect communities in rural areas.

Other changes include an extension of the previously included Northfield Express to Brighton. The urban bus network [Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti] has been expanded. Previously, it was based on a 16-hour day and now it’s based on an 18-hour day for some routes. That will involve a number of select routes operating until midnight. Some routes will also operate a little bit earlier in the morning, starting at 6 a.m. instead of 6:30 a.m. There were also a number of miscellaneous routing and scheduling changes to the urban bus network – too numerous to get into, he said.

They are also thinking about extending service to Lincoln Consolidated Schools in August Township, using a combination of flex service and limited extensions of the already-proposed Route #46. They’re also looking at the park-and-ride proposed in Pittsfield Township – and they’re thinking about either adding an additional park-and-ride, which would be further east, or perhaps just taking the existing one and moving it.

The schedule for the next round of District Advisory Committee meetings is available on the AATA’s Moving You Forward website.

North-South Rail (WALLY)

A somewhat unexpected $640,000 federal grant to the AATA and Michigan Dept. of Transportation was part of the background for a resolution the board was asked to consider – which continues planning and study for the WALLY (Washtenaw and Livingston Railway) project. The grant was announced on Aug. 6, 2012 and was awarded under the federal Transportation, Community and System Preservation (TCSP) program. AATA had applied for the grant last November, but did not have high expectations, given the competitive nature of the grants.

The AATA had also allocated other funds for continued planning on WALLY at its June 21, 2012 meeting.

On Aug. 16, the AATA board was asked to award a $105,200 contract to SmithGroupJJR for “station location and design services” in connection with the WALLY project. The board’s authorization includes an option to increase the contract scope at a later date.

A possible downtown location for an Ann Arbor rail station, between Washington and Liberty streets. The railway is highlighted in yellow. The city-owned First and William lot has been designated by the city council as part of a future greenway. The city-owned 415 W. Washington parcel is the focus of possible development as a greenway and arts center.

Based on a staff memo included in the AATA’s performance monitoring and external relations committee minutes, the initial phase of the project will focus on station location studies for five communities: Ann Arbor, Whitmore Lake, Hamburg Township, Genoa Township and Howell. In Ann Arbor, attention will be focused on the Barton Road location and how a station can be designed that overcomes the constraints imposed by a large drainage culvert.

Future phases would also include detailed designs of each site selected in the initial phase, with additional station sites in Ann Arbor – a downtown location (probably between Liberty and Washington streets, according to the memo) and one near the University of Michigan football stadium at Main and Stadium Boulevard.

The track from the Barton Road location southward is owned by the Ann Arbor Railroad, which has historically been uninterested in passenger rail use on it tracks. But in the fall of 2011, AARR indicated at least a willingness to entertain a “business proposition” on such use. Some kind of arrangement would be necessary in order to contemplate stations south of Barton Road – like downtown or the football stadium.

North-South Rail (WALLY): Board Deliberations

Charles Griffith said he was excited that the AATA can continue to evaluate the potential of this commuter rail line. It’s nice to propose something like this, Griffith said, but then you have to really figure out the details – where exactly would you put the stations and what would they look like, and how would they connect up to other services. So the AATA is very fortunate to have support from the federal government to help figure that out.

Eli Cooper stated that this step is really important – because it is work that the AATA is doing on behalf of many others. He spoke of the local contributions that come from other communities in Washtenaw and Livingston counties that had enabled the AATA to think about a smaller station design process.

By way of background, the financial support outside the AATA for WALLY includes: Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority ($50,000); Washtenaw County ($50,000); and the city of Howell DDA ($37,000).

“Lo and behold, as we were bringing this forward, comes to us support from above!” Cooper said. It’s very interesting to see that not only has the Federal Transit Administration provided AATA the grant – but the FTA has done it through the Michigan Dept. of Transportation. In the early stages of the WALLY rail service planning, Cooper said, it was all about the local involvement. And what can be seen in this agenda item, he said, is the importance to all levels of government and to all the communities to do a proper job of planning for future rail service. A new rail system, even on an existing railroad, requires a lot of effort, Cooper cautioned.

MDOT has invested in the rail infrastructure to make sure the existing rails can sustain passenger service, Cooper said, but we don’t have rail stations yet. So this begins the process of putting ideas and plans together to allow those stations to emerge – as the system becomes ready for carrying employees and families back and forth, up and down this corridor.

Cooper reported on a session sponsored by the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce with Joseph C. Szabo, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. [The press was barred from the event.] Cooper relayed some numbers provided by Szabo. For the generation age 16-35, the amount of vehicle miles traveled is down 23%. Their reliance on transit and rail is up 40%. That’s a generational shift, Cooper concluded.

These investments are really allowing this generation to prepare for the next one, Cooper said.

Bernstein noted that he and AATA strategic planner Michael Benham had also attended the meeting at the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti chamber. Bernstein said he was glad to see the commitment that the FRA has to commuter rail and also to long-distance rail. He was especially glad that the AATA had received the extra $640,000.

Bernstein is deeply concerned about the terminus of the north-south line, and he believes it needs to come into downtown Ann Arbor. He hopes this study will give more time and wherewithal to make that happen.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the WALLY station design and location study.

Health Care Contribution Policy

The board was asked to authorize a resolution that sets a policy that the AATA will not meet the conditions of Michigan’s Act 152 – which limits the amount that public employers can contribute to their employee health care. The resolution stipulates that the AATA will accept the penalty specified in Section 9 of Act 152, which actually has no practical effect on the AATA. But the resolution also allows the AATA to comply with its obligations under federal law with respect to collective bargaining rights.

Act 152 limits the amount that a public employer like the AATA can make to its employees’ medical benefits plans – $5,500 for single-person coverage, $11,000 for two-person coverage, and $15,000 for family coverage. And the law provides another option, where the employer limits its contribution to 80% of the medical benefit.

The penalty specified in Section 9 of the law involves funds to which the AATA is not entitled in any case:

15.569 Noncompliance by public employer; penalty.
Sec. 9.
If a public employer fails to comply with this act, the public employer shall permit the state treasurer to reduce by 10% each economic vitality incentive program payment received under 2011 PA 63 and the department of education shall assess the public employer a penalty equal to 10% of each payment of any funds for which the public employer qualifies under the state school aid act of 1979, 1979 PA 94, MCL 388.1601 to 388.1772, during the period that the public employer fails to comply with this act. … [.pdf of full text of Act 152]

The rationale for the resolution was this: In order for the AATA to comply with Title 49 of United States Code 5333, as an agency that receives federal assistance, unionized health care benefits must be subject to collective bargaining – not the state’s mandated fixed-dollar or percentage caps. AATA bus drivers are members of the Transport Workers Union Local 171.

The AATA had already begun to grapple with this issue, when it voted at its June 21, 2012 meeting to comply with Michigan’s Act 152 for its non-union management staff. That was followed with a discussion of possibly rescinding that vote at the board’s July 16, 2012 meeting. Although the possibility of scheduling a special meeting was discussed – to deal with non-union employee health care – no meeting was scheduled.

Health Care Contribution Policy: Board Deliberations

The board deliberations were significant, because they highlighted differing views on the appropriate language to describe the action the board was taking. The resolution itself stated [emphasis added]:

IT IS RESOLVED, that the AATA Board of Directors invokes Section 9 of Act 152 so as to protect the collective bargaining rights of its union employees under its Section 13(c) agreement with the TWU, and …

When he described the resolution in his report from the board’s performance monitoring and external relations committee, Charles Griffith reminded his colleagues that they’d already addressed the issue for non-union management staff. What the board is being asked to do now, he said, and what is being recommended, is that the resolution be passed, giving an assurance that the AATA will address the impacts to union health care benefits only through the collective bargaining process. This is triggering what he called “a waiver” in Section 9 of Act 152.

When the board came to the item on the agenda, board chair Jesse Bernstein ventured that there are conflicting requirements in state and federal law regarding health care costs and collective bargaining. The bottom line, he contended, is that the AATA can claim an “exemption” under Section 9, and the consequences don’t impact the AATA, because the AATA does not receive the money that would be impacted if it did not comply with Act 152. So Bernstein indicated that the AATA is invoking the section that says the AATA is not going to participate in the state law – and that covers the AATA for the federal law.

AATA board member Eli Cooper, who also serves as the city of Ann Arbor’s transportation program manager.

Eli Cooper took a different view of the appropriate description of the board’s action. Having read the opinion of the AATA’s legal counsel, he said, and having read the statute, he felt that words like “waiver” and “exemption” don’t fully describe what is at play. He indicated that he felt a better description would be “not applicable.” The penalties that are referenced in Section 9 of the statute do not apply to an authority such as the AATA – and as such, the AATA is not being granted a waiver or an exemption, he pointed out. It’s just that the statute, as fashioned, doesn’t have a penalty clause that applies to the AATA.

Cooper felt that it’s the right thing to do – to stay in step with the federal authorities and to continue to work constructively and positively with the union representation. He called it a point of clarification that there’s not a waiver or an exemption. The penalty is simply not applicable to the authority.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the resolution that defers to federal requirements over state law with respect to health care contributions.

Bus Advertising

The board was asked to authorize a three-year contract with CBS Outdoor Advertising of Lexington, New York, to handle placement of ads on its buses and bus stops. That’s a change from the AATA’s previous contract with Transit Advertising Group (TAG) of Farmington Hills, Mich.

The contract had been held by TAG for the last seven years, but expired. The AATA selected CBS Outdoor Advertising from seven respondents to an RFP (request for proposals). The contract required board approval because the amount of revenue generated from the deal is expected to exceed $100,000 for the three-year period of the contract.

In the most recent court action connected to a lawsuit filed against the AATA over an advertisement rejected for its buses – which included the text “Boycott ‘Israel’” – TAG and its president Randy Oram were dropped as defendants in the case by mutual agreement of the parties. The court has not ruled since an evidentiary hearing was held on July 23.

During board deliberations, Eli Cooper talked about the way the authority is operated. He felt it was important to note that bus advertising is a revenue source. The authority and the staff use all means to generate revenue to help provide the high level of service that it does to the community. It might be seen as a simple award of a contract, he said, but it’s part of a manner of doing business that is entrepreneurial and is in partnership with the private sector. So he fully supported the resolution. Board chair Jesse Bernstein noted that every bus presents a different configuration – it’s not just slapping something up on the side of a bus. It requires a great deal of skill on the part of the vendor, he said.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to award the advertising contract to CBS Outdoor Advertising.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its Aug. 16 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. Here are some highlights.

Comm/Comm: Blake Transit Center

In his verbal report to the board, CEO Michael Ford noted that the new downtown Ann Arbor Blake Transit Center would go before the Ann Arbor city council on Monday, Aug. 20.

By way of background, the new BTC will be built on the opposite site of the lot from the current center. So it will front on Fifth Avenue instead of Fourth Avenue. Buses will enter from Fourth and exit onto Fifth, which is the opposite traffic flow from the current configuration. The plans were reviewed by the city planning commission on July 17, 2012. As a public entity, the AATA is not required to get planning commission or city council approval. But the planning commission voted to affirm that the site plan conformed to city code with two exceptions. The city council had the BTC on its Aug. 20 agenda only as a written communication from the city administrator, and did not discuss the BTC at all. But AATA staff were in the audience until the meeting ended – after midnight – in case they were called upon to answer questions.

At the AATA board meeting on Aug. 16, Ford indicated that the BTC would be before the AATA board in October and e hoped to start breaking ground at that time.

Comm/Comm: New Website

CEO Michael Ford told the board that new AATA website will be brought online in mid- to late September. He felt that people would be very impressed with the outcome of that.

Comm/Comm: Ridership

Also as part of his verbal report, CEO Michael Ford said that ridership on Route #4 since January, compared to this time last year, is up over 28% as a result of the more frequent service being offered. NightRide service is up over 55%. ExpressRide – which included commuter service to Canton and Chelsea – is up 54%. Reverse commutes [leaving Ann Arbor in the morning for those two cities] are also now available, Ford said. The first week of AirRide service [between downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport] had around 400 passengers. Now the service is averaging consistently between 800 and 1,000 passengers per week. Ford also reported that AATA now has 20 vanpools on the road.

AATA board member Charles Griffith, reporting from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, said that Routes #3 and #5, because of the increased ridership, have struggled a bit with staying on time and with overcrowding. So AATA is continuing to look at ways to address that. It’s not in the budget to increase the frequency of the service as the AATA had done for Route #4, he said – at least not at this time. Route #3 runs between Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Community College. Route #5 runs along Packard between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

Comm/Comm: Financial Update

Reporting from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, Charles Griffith noted that both expenses and revenues are under budget.

Expenses are lower due to the later start for the AirRide service and filling some positions later than had been projected in the budget.

An issue of concern, Griffith said, is the possibility of state operating assistance decreasing for fiscal year 2013, due to a change in the formula the state has been using to distribute money to transit agencies around the state. It could result in a loss of $800,000 in next year’s budget. Griffith said that “we have folks working on that,” and the AATA is working with some of the other transit agencies in the state, and will be attempting to address that going forward.

Present: Charles Griffith, Jesse Bernstein, Eli Cooper, Anya Dale.

Absent: David Nacht, Sue Gott, Roger Kerson.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012 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 most recent iteration of approvals came as a result of an amendment to the articles of incorporation made by the Washtenaw County board of commissioners at its Aug. 1, 2012 meeting. The county board’s amendment changed the minimum threshold of votes required on the proposed new 15-member transit authority board, if the board decides to change the authority’s articles of incorporation. That threshold was increased from a 2/3 majority (10 votes) to a 4/5 majority (12 votes).

Washtenaw County’s role would now be to file the articles of incorporation for a new transit authority – The Washtenaw Ride. The articles would be filed with the state of Michigan under Act 196 of 1986. But that filing would come only after a request from the AATA and only after the AATA publishes details of the service and funding plan for the authority in newspapers of general circulation in Washtenaw County. At that point, jurisdictions throughout Washtenaw County would have the ability to opt out of the new transit authority.

Even after the funding plan is published and the new authority is incorporated, the four-party agreement stipulates that any transfer of assets from the AATA to The Washtenaw Ride would take place only after a voter-approved funding mechanism is established. And only after a voter-approved funding mechanism is established would proceeds from the transportation millages currently levied by the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti be pledged to The Washtenaw Ride. A financial task force recruited by the AATA – to assess the amount of funding that would be necessary to offer the kind of service that AATA is proposing – concluded that it would require roughly the equivalent of 0.5 mills countywide. [.pdf of final version of transit documents]

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]

The articles of incorporation are part of a four-party agreement to establish a framework for the possible expansion of governance and service area of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The four-party agreement is between the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

The most recent iteration of the Ann Arbor city council’s approval came in response to an amendment made by the Washtenaw County board of commissioners at its Aug. 1, 2012 meeting.

The county board’s amendment changed the minimum threshold of votes required on the proposed new 15-member transit authority board to change the authority’s articles of incorporation. That threshold was increased from a 2/3 majority (10 votes) to a 4/5 majority (12 votes). With a 7-4 vote, the Ann Arbor city council adopted the county’s change. Dissenting were Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), Mike Anglin (Ward 5), and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).

The council had already re-approved the transit documents once before, at its June 4, 2012 meeting, in response to a change to the four-party agreement that had been made by the Ypsilanti city council. The Ann Arbor city council had initially given its approval to the four-party agreement at its March 5, 2012.

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]

The four parties to the agreement are the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.  In conjunction with the reconsideration of the four-party agreement, the council also approved articles of incorporation for the new Act 196 transit authority that would eventually need to be filed by Washtenaw County – on request from the AATA – in order to establish a new governance structure. According to the four-party agreement, even if a new governance structure is established under Act 196 of 1986, the transition of assets from AATA to the new authority, tentatively named The Washtenaw Ride, would not take place until a voter-approved funding mechanism is established.

The council had previously approved the four-party agreement on March 5, 2012, with implied approval of the attached appendix that included the articles of incorporation. The need for the Ann Arbor city council to reconsider the documents arose after the Ypsilanti city council amended those documents before approving them on May 15. On a unanimous vote, the Ann Arbor city council accepted only those amendments made by the Ypsilanti city council that affected the city of Ypsilanti. However, the vote on the four-party agreement itself was 8-3, with dissent from Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) , Jane Lumm (Ward 2) and Mike Anglin (Ward 5).

The Ypsilanti amendment to the four-party agreement related to a 1% municipal service charge that the agreement originally allowed the two cities to impose on their millages, before forwarding the millage money to the new transit authority. The Ypsilanti council struck the municipal service charge from the agreement for both cities. It amounted to around $3,000 that the city of Ypsilanti would forgo, but $90,000 for Ann Arbor. As amended by the Ann Arbor city council on June 4, the four-party agreement would allow Ann Arbor to retain the roughly $90,000 corresponding to the 1% municipal service charge.

The four-party agreement now must be re-approved by the Ypsilanti city council and the AATA board, which had previously approved the agreement, but without the Ann Arbor city council’s June 4 amendment.

For the most recent general Chronicle coverage of transit issues, see: “AATA Board OKs Key Countywide Documents.”

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]

Michael Ford, CEO of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, handed the microphone around to board members at a May 16 meeting so their commentary could be more easily heard. Board member Anya Dale had just finished speaking. (Photos by the writer.)

The two key documents approved or endorsed by the board were the articles of incorporation for a possible new transit authority, and a four-party agreement establishing a framework for possibly transitioning AATA to that new authority – now with the working name of “The Washtenaw Ride.” The four parties to the agreement are the AATA, Washtenaw County, the city of Ann Arbor and the city of Ypsilanti. [.pdf of articles of incorporation]

Board action came in the context of various unknown factors, including continued federal funding, pending state legislation on a regional transit authority for southeast Michigan, and the number of Washtenaw County municipalities that will participate in a possible countywide authority. Another uncertainty relates to the status of the four-party agreement, which the Ann Arbor city council approved on March 5, 2012, after amending (several times over multiple meetings) the version that the AATA had first presented.

A wrinkle emerged on May 15, 21012, when the Ypsilanti city council approved the four-party agreement, but amended it in a way that requires reconsideration by the Ann Arbor city council. In response to an emailed query from The Chronicle, mayor John Hieftje indicated that the four-party agreement would be back on the Ann Arbor council’s agenda for its June 4 meeting. [.pdf of red-lined four-party agreement as amended by Ypsilanti city council]

The Ypsilanti amendment relates to a 1% municipal service charge that the agreement originally allowed the two cities to impose on their millages, before forwarding the millage money to the new transit authority. The Ypsilanti council struck the municipal service charge from the agreement. At its Feb. 6, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council had already contemplated – and rejected, on an 8-3 vote against it – an amendment of the language related to the municipal service charge.

Balanced against that set of uncertainties was a generally very optimistic tone during the meeting, with board chair Jesse Bernstein indicating that he felt that no matter what happened on a variety of fronts, the AATA was well-positioned for the future.

Bernstein and the board’s optimism was based in part on positive reports on several fronts. The doubling of frequency on the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Route #4 has resulted in 20-25% ridership gains on that route. The new Ann Arbor-Detroit Metro airport service had double the number of passengers in the last week of April compared to the first week of April, when it was first launched. AATA’s vanpool service is poised for implementation. And results of a survey conducted on board AATA buses late last year indicate a high level of customer satisfaction among AATA riders.

On the budget front, AATA controller Phil Webb also delivered positive news, in the context of an approved budget this year that was expected to absorb additional expenses in order to pay for some of the new service initiatives. Through the first six months of the fiscal year 2012 (which began Oct. 1, 2011) the AATA is under budget by around $500,000. The board had approved a budget on Sept. 15, 2011 that called for tapping fund reserves for $1 million. Now, Webb said, the AATA could finish the year breaking even, depending on how things play out in the second half of the fiscal year.

The board voted to support three other resolutions at the meeting: (1) approval of a contract for vanpool and rideshare matching software; (2) approval of a contract for construction of additional bus shelters; and (3) approval of revisions to the AATA’s procurement manual. The board also got updates on a number of other projects, including the construction of the new Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor.

Future Governance

The board considered two key documents related to a possible transition to a new governance structure for countywide transit authority: a four-party agreement, and the articles of incorporation of the new authority. The current working name of the new authority, “The Washtenaw Ride,” replaces a previous working name of “Washtenaw Area Transportation Authority.” [It was discovered that WATA is an acronym already in use by another transit authority.]

The four parties to the agreement are the AATA, the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County. One key element of the four-party agreement is that the two cities would pledge their existing transit millages to the new countywide authority, instead of to the AATA. The Ann Arbor city council approved a version of the four-party agreement on March 5, 2012, after amending the version that the AATA had first presented. Amendments were made in several ways, and stretched over multiple meetings.

On May 15, 21012, the Ypsilanti council approved the four-party agreement, but amended it in a way that requires reconsideration by the Ann Arbor city council. [.pdf of red-lined four-party agreement as amended by Ypsilanti city council] The Ypsilanti amendment relates to a 1% municipal service charge that the agreement originally allowed the two cities to impose on their millages, before forwarding the millage money to the new transit authority. The Ypsilanti council struck the municipal service charge from the agreement.

But at its Feb. 6, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council had already contemplated – and rejected, on an 8-3 vote against it – an amendment of the language related to the municipal service charge. At that meeting, Ann Arbor councilmembers appeared keen to retain the maximum allowable amount of the municipal service charge.

Possible composition of board membership for a Washtenaw countywide transit authority. (Links to larger image.)

The AATA board’s resolution on May 16 did not try to resolve differences between the versions of the four-party agreement that have now been approved by the city councils of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

Also considered by the AATA board at their May 16 meeting were the articles of incorporation of the new transit authority. The evening before, the Ypsilanti council unanimously approved, without amendment, the proposed articles of incorporation. The Ann Arbor city council has not yet voted on the articles of incorporation. [.pdf of articles of incorporation]

The Washtenaw County board of commissioners will consider the four-party agreement and the articles of incorporation in the near future. County commissioners have already been briefed more than once on AATA’s countywide initiative, but have not yet formally considered the proposal.

An unincorporated Act 196 board (U196) has been seated and has met since the fall of 2011. Its membership includes the following: Membership in the 11-member U196 board is: Pittsfield District – Mandy Grewal (supervisor, Pittsfield Township); Northeast District – David Phillips (clerk, Superior Township); North Middle District – David Read (trustee, Scio Township) with alternate Jim Carson (councilmember, Village of Dexter); Southeast District – (1) Karen Lovejoy Roe (clerk, Ypsilanti Township) and (2) John McGehee (director of human resources, Lincoln Consolidated Schools); West District – Bob Mester (trustee, Lyndon Township) with alternate Ann Feeney (councilmember, city of Chelsea); Ypsilanti District – Paul Schreiber (mayor of Ypsilanti) with alternate Peter Murdock (councilmember, city of Ypsilanti); South Middle District – Bill Lavery (resident, York Township); Ann Arbor District: (1) Jesse Bernstein (AATA board), (2) Charles Griffith (AATA board) and (3) David Nacht (AATA board).

Governance: Four-Party Agreement

Introducing the voting item on the agenda, board chair Jesse Bernstein told the board that if there are changes to the agreement made by the other partners that affect the AATA, the document would come before the board again. Depending on the change, however, Bernstein indicated that the board might be simply apprised of that as a point of information.

Noting that the city of Ypsilanti had voted on the four-party agreement the previous night, Eli Cooper wondered if the AATA board was already in a situation where it would need to vote again on the issue – after Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor had resolved the changes that had emerged in the document. CEO Michael Ford told Cooper that the focus had been on the allowable municipal service charge that the two cities could deduct from their millages, before transferring the tax levy the new transit authority. So that issue will need to be presented to the Ann Arbor city council. The Ypsilanti council had made another change, Ford said, that was a clarification specific to Ypsilanti.

Cooper asked what would happen if the AATA board voted on the four-party agreement that day, and then subsequently the two cities resolve the difference: Would the AATA board need to ratify that? Bernstein felt that unless a change impacts the AATA, the board would not need to address the issue again. He felt the current situation does not impact the AATA.

[The current transit levy of roughly 2 mills on Ann Arbor taxpayers (decreased from the charter millage of 2.5 mills through the Headlee Amendment) generates roughly $9 million annually. So depending on the imposition of a 1% service charge, the city of Ann Arbor will either retain roughly $90,000 that would not be transferred to the new transit authority, or will transfer that $90,000 to the new authority.]

Bernstein continued by saying the board could bring it back for a vote anyway. David Nacht ventured that if the city council says the board should vote on it, the board would vote on it. Also, if a lawyer says vote on it, the board votes on it. If anyone says the board needs to vote, then the board votes on it, Nacht concluded.

At Roger Kerson’s request, Ford reviewed the basic timetable of approvals. The articles of incorporation still need to be approved by Ann Arbor. The issue in the four-party agreement on the municipal service charge still needs to be resolved by the two cities. Ford said the AATA had asked if the item could be placed on the Ann Arbor city council’s May 21 agenda. [In response to an emailed query from The Chronicle, mayor John Hieftje indicated that the four-party agreement would be on the Ann Arbor council's agenda for its June 4 meeting.] Then the Washtenaw County board of commissioners needs to consider and approve its part of the four-party agreement. Bernstein indicated that by early June, he hoped all the documents could be approved.

Outcome: The AATA unanimously approved the four-party agreement, contingent on Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti coming to an accord on the language that now differs in the two versions that the respective councils have approved.

Governance: Articles of Incorporation

When the AATA board came to the specific agenda item that required a vote on the articles of incorporation, no one appeared initially inclined to speak to the issue before voting. But board member Charles Griffith said he felt like he should say something, given that he’d been part of the group that had gone through the document word-by-word.

AATA board members Charles Griffith and Sue Gott.

Included in the board’s information packet for the meeting was a listing out of the team that had reviewed the articles: Jesse Bernstein (AATA board chair); Michael Ford (CEO of AATA); Charles Griffith (AATA board member); Jerry Lax (AATA legal counsel); Jeff Ammon (AATA legal counsel); Sarah Gryniewicz (AATA community outreach coordinator); Terri Blackmore (executive director, Washtenaw Area Transportation Study); Christopher Taylor (Ann Arbor city council, Ward 3); Sabra Briere (Ann Arbor city council, Ward 1); Conan Smith (chair, Washtenaw County board of commissioners); Alicia Ping (vice chair, Washtenaw County board of commissioners); Paul Schreiber (mayor, city of Ypsilanti); Peter Murdock (Ypsilanti city council); David Phillips (clerk, Superior Township, U196 board); and David Read (trustee, Scio Township, U196 board).

Griffith described going over Act 196 of 1986 in great detail, describing it as a tortured piece of legislation. That was to make sure the articles of incorporation are consistent with the state legislation, he said. The original document was 2-3 pages, but it increased to around 14 pages and then the group had chopped it back down. The idea was to get solid buy-in from all the players, he said. [.pdf of one red-lined version of Act 196 transit authority articles of incorporation]

Outcome: The AATA unanimously endorsed the articles of incorporation for a new Act 196 transit authority.

Five-Year Program

Also key to any transition of governance from AATA to a new transit authority incorporated under Act 196  is a funding and service plan. The publication of details of the service and funding plan in a newspaper of general circulation is one of two requirements that must be met, before the AATA can submit a request to Washtenaw County to approve, sign and file the articles of incorporation of a new authority with the state of Michigan. The other requirement is that the city councils of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti must approve the articles of incorporation.

At the May 16 board meeting, Michael Benham, strategic planner for the AATA, reviewed highlights of the draft five-year plan. [.pdf of draft five-year plan]

The draft five-year service plan includes: (1) countywide demand-responsive services and feeder services; (2) express bus services and local transit hub services; (3) local community connectors and local community circulators; (4) park-and-ride intercept lots; and (5) urban bus network enhancements. For Ann Arbor, the program includes increased bus frequencies on key corridors, increased operating hours, and more services on weekends. The total hours of operation in the Ann Arbor district are expected to increase by 33% on weekdays and over 100% on Saturdays and Sundays.

Benham described to the board how a second round of district advisory committee (DAC) meetings was underway in each of the eight districts making up the representation on the U196 board. The goal is to provide an opportunity for continued feedback on revisions to the service plan. He indicated there was also interest expressed in a third round of meetings. Even after the five-year program document is finished, Benham said, there will be continued feedback into the future provided through the DACs.

The Ann Arbor DAC meeting had been held two days earlier on May 14 at the Malletts Creek branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. During public commentary at the board’s May 16 meeting, Vivienne Armentrout – a member of Ann Arbor’s DAC – criticized the level of detail provided in the five-year plan, as well as the way the DAC meetings are being run. She said she’d read through the plan twice, and felt that more detail on Ann Arbor route schedules was called for – given the relative dollar amounts that Ann Arbor residents would be providing, which she’s calculated at 75%.

Armentrout called the DAC “not particularly functional.” Of the two meetings, she said, the first was simply an introduction, and the second was a well-meaning attempt to combine a committee meeting and a general public forum. She told the board she had walked out in the middle of the second DAC meeting, because she was unhappy with the way it was being run.

Policy Discussion

The most substantive policy discussion undertaken by the board began with a question about placement of new bus stops. The five-year program of the transit master plan calls for nearly 50 new bus stops and improvements to 100 more. It then evolved into a discussion of land use, planning versus implementation, and express commuter services.

Policy Discussion: Washtenaw Corridor – Bus Stops

Board member Anya Dale asked about placement of new bus stops along Washtenaw Avenue. Chris White, AATA manager of service development, told Dale that one proposed new stop that’s in the works is at Washtenaw and Platt, partly in connection with the Arbor Hills Crossing development that is going forward.

White also described how Washtenaw County is working on developing a new parking lot on the north side of Washtenaw Avenue just east of US-23. He’s looking at the plans for that and trying to see if there might be ways to integrate a bus stop. The AATA is waiting for the result a right-of-way study that’s being done with the federal HUD grant that was awarded to the Washtenaw County Sustainable Community last year. [The county was awarded a $3 million grant in late 2011 for a project focusing on the Washtenaw Avenue corridor, spanning Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Pittsfield Township and Ypsilanti Township.] Part of that study is meant to identify locations for bus stops, as well as for pedestrian and bicyclist improvements in the corridor, White said.

Policy Discussion: Land Use (Park-and-Ride)

Dale wondered about possible park-and-ride lot locations along Washtenaw Avenue. [Included in the five-year program are five additional general sites identified for new park-and-ride lots and two lots identified for improvements. The park-and-ride projects would potentially add 800 parking spaces designed for commuters to park, then take public transportation the rest of the way to their destination.]

Dale noted that the five-year program did not include any park-and-ride lots for Washtenaw Avenue. White responded to Dale by saying that AATA did not have plans for a major park-and-ride lot at Washtenaw Avenue. AATA’s review concluded that people would be accessing Washtenaw Avenue all along the corridor, not necessarily at a single point. Currently there’s a small lot next to the downtown Ypsilanti Transit Center with 11 spaces that AATA hopes to be able to expand, White said. The AATA is also looking for agreements with property owners along the corridor, to expand park-and-ride opportunities. That allows the AATA to avoid putting all its eggs in one basket and gives people options, he said.

[By way of background, the "eggs in one basket" reference was an allusion to the loss of park-and-ride opportunities in the Arborland shopping center. Around three years ago, the owner of the shopping center chose not to renew the agreement with AATA to accommodate a bus stop and park-and-ride spots in the parking lot there.]

Dale suggested that this basic strategy of smaller incremental expansion of park-and-ride opportunities could be included in the five-year program to help generate public support in the Ypsilanti area. She also felt that consideration should be given to locating a stop for AirRide (the AnnArbor-Detroit Metro service) in Ypsilanti. Michael Ford, CEO of the AATA, told Dale that to address that issue, he was scheduling a meeting with Tony VanDerworp, a business development specialist for the county. And AATA is meeting with the Eastern Leaders Group, Ford said.

Eli Cooper indicated that he agreed with the incremental steps that AATA is pursuing now. But taking a longer view of that corridor, he encouraged consideration of the implications of the high level of transit service that’s currently in place and that’s expected to become more robust. How that service coordinates with the regional highway system should also be considered. The Washtenaw Avenue and US-23 interchange was an area of emphasis for Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) access management studies, and part of the city of Ann Arbor’s long-range transportation plan.

Cooper – who serves as the city of Ann Arbor’s transportation program manager – noted that a very functional, large park-and-ride lot had been displaced [Arborland]. He encouraged AATA staff to use the current interest and current ridership, as well as benefit, to create an “intermodal opportunity” [i.e., park-and-ride lot] along that corridor. To him, he said, it seems there are a number of considerations that point to the Washtenaw corridor as an opportunity the AATA should capitalize on.

AATA board member Sue Gott, who works for the University of Michigan as its university planner.

Building on remarks by Cooper and Dale, Sue Gott suggested that looking into the future five years and beyond, she would love to see the county transition away from building larger and larger surface commuter parking lots to keep accommodating commuters. At some point, she said, the paradigm should be shifted to use land more efficiently by building parking structures. She said she understood the economic challenges of doing that. But as good stewards of the environment, she wanted to put that idea forward as something that the AATA should strive to achieve. When you look at Washtenaw Avenue, there’s not the land available for the demand that might exist. If the AATA could be innovative, Gott said, “we could set the bar in Michigan.”

Board chair Jesse Bernstein related Gott’s remarks to a concept that he said the AATA talked relatively little about, because the organization could not affect it directly – transit-oriented development. Bernstein described how many of the younger as well as the older generation are looking for more of a dense town center as a place to live. And as corridors are provided for development, that’s where development will occur, he said. Empty spaces or underutilized spaces on Washtenaw Avenue could be more densely populated living-working arrangements, Bernstein added, and the AATA can provide the back-and-forth connectivity. The AATA can aid density in a kind of chicken-and-egg way, he ventured.

Cooper said he appreciated Bernstein’s remarks on transit-oriented development. In the transit industry, he said, there’s also a notion called “development-oriented transit.” Bernstein is right, Cooper said, that as a transit authority, the AATA doesn’t control land-use decisions. However, the AATA does control its investment in transit. With respect to Gott’s point about the efficiency of land use – parking structures versus surface lots – he referred again to the MDOT access management study of the area around US-23 and Washtenaw. He noted that the study depicted a vision of a multi-level parking structure, wrapped with mixed land use, right where the Arborland parking lot is today. There are bigger “wins” out there, he said.

In terms of development-oriented transit, Cooper felt like the AATA should drive toward looking at funding the organization can obtain to guide those investments. In Minneapolis, Cooper said there was a Smart Growth Twin Cities program, which consisted of public investments – federal and regional money – to create parking structures in places like St. Louis Park. Those became the nodes for new growth opportunities in the region. And that is not going to happen unless someone takes the lead, Cooper cautioned. The AATA is well-positioned to begin to move that way, he suggested, using development-oriented transit strategies to encourage the local land-use decision makers to implement transit-oriented design.

Dale felt that in general the AATA has done an excellent job of providing service to everybody, which is the AATA’s primary mission. But there’s also an opportunity to be a leader in land-use development, even though the AATA can’t directly control it. It’s pretty well known that park-and-ride lots tend to incentivize sprawl, she said. So Dale stressed that it’s important to look at the placement of such lots. She weighed in against new flat lots just outside urban areas. She advocated instead for use of underutilized lots within the urban area.

Policy Discussion: Where’s Rail Transit in 5-Year Program?

Roger Kerson ventured that all the references to rail planning had been removed from the five-year program based on the advice of the financial task force – advice that activity should match where funding is available. But knowing the team of AATA staff and the board, he said, this would not be an arena where the AATA would be idle for the next five years. Those projects need outside funding and private partners; but because the AATA staff is as good as they are at “walking and chewing gun” and running the existing system while planning for expansion, Kerson expected some planning work would continue.

Kerson suggested that the AATA needs to think about how that can be communicated to people – that rail transit is not something AATA is going to do right now and it’s not something that a millage or vehicle registration fee would be tied to; however, there’d be activity in that area. That activity is part of the vision, Kerson said. And that’s a vision that attracts a lot of people – it’s one that attracts him, he said, when you say: If there could be a train here, wouldn’t that be great. Even though that’s not something that the AATA can deliver in the near term, he said, the AATA needs to make clear to people that there’s a 30-year vision as well as a five-year program. It would be helpful, he said, if it can be made clear that during the first five years, the AATA will still be looking at things that it will do over the longer term.

Michael Benham, AATA strategic planner, responded to Kerson’s remark about eliminating rail from the five-year program. Benham noted that reference to rail in the program has not been completely removed. Rather, rail has not been prioritized. In the five-year program document, he said, it’s noted there needs to be development work to keep those projects going. From the draft five-year program document:

Because of long lead times and requirements for involving many stakeholders, projects such as commuter rail and high-capacity transit require a level of planning investment and project development that may take place years in advance of the projects’ implementation. Accordingly, it is recommended that the AATA continue to include in its plans funding for such project development work, paid for to the extent feasible by State and Federal grants.

Eli Cooper allowed that perhaps he was the only one in the room who did not believe they’d have to wait five years to see the first next type of rail service arrive in Ann Arbor. He felt that the retreat that day would be a good opportunity to explore the AATA’s interests in defining how it sees its process as engaging in rail development – currently, not five, six or thirty years from now. The financial task force had some recommendations about two projects that have five to ten years of planning work behind them already, he noted: commuter rail and local higher-capacity transit. Cooper’s interest was in exploring as a board what the AATA’s role is with rail – recognizing that the federal and state government is in the process of investing $0.5 billion in improvements in the railroad corridor.

The most recent reports from SEMCOG, which has been the lead agency for commuter rail, is that they’re working with the Federal Transit Authority on an environmental assessment. An environmental assessment is the study that’s needed in order to access federal funds for the commuter rail service. Their timetables are within a matter of a couple of years, Cooper reported – saying that it seems like “it’s always a couple of years out.” He wondered what the AATA can do to keep it moving forward – as an entity that’s connected to and serving a community that will benefit from rail service.

Cooper was not content to say that rail is something out in the future: “The future is now.” He suggested having AATA staff coordinate with SEMCOG and MDOT, and bring forward whatever the community needs to do – AATA and Washtenaw County – to help facilitate implementation of the rail service. As the AATA is implementing express bus services, he felt that rail should remain in the plan “in a timeframe that’s deemed appropriate through a coordinated effort with the professionals.” That timeframe on the rail project can be provided back to the financial task force and the rest of the community, Cooper said.

Charles Griffith supported Cooper’s suggestion. He’s heard a lot of comments from community members expressing disappointment that the commuter rail project is not being emphasized as an option. The financial task force was making a recommendation based on the availability of funding, he said. It doesn’t mean that commuter rail is not a priority any longer. It just means that it’s on a slightly different track. It’s important to clarify within the first five years what the track looks like, he said, and what it would take to keep the studies moving forward.

Griffith also brought up the Ann Arbor Connector (from US-23 and Plymouth through the campus, downtown and south to I-94), which he described as a project that excites him and the community – the idea that Ann Arbor could have something that’s world class. It’s important, he said, to move beyond just buses – not that there’s anything bad about buses.

Griffith said he uses his bus each week to get to work, but buses don’t offer a lot of excitement, he said. New forms of transportation are something that many people in the community think Ann Arbor is ready for and should have. And the AATA is the entity that can make that happen, Griffith said. He wanted to make sure people didn’t think the AATA was de-emphasizing those projects, just because they are on a longer-term track. Michael Ford, the AATA’s CEO, indicated that he was actively pursuing funding for the next stage of the connector study (the alternatives analysis), working with the University of Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor.

[What's already complete is a feasibility study. What's needed now are local matching funds for a $1.2 million federal grant that the AATA obtained last year for the alternatives analysis phase. In November 2011, Ford updated the board on the possible timeline for the alternatives analysis, saying that this phase – in which a preferred technology and route with stop locations would be identified – would take around 16 months if it begins in April 2012. A final report would be expected in August 2013, he said at the time.]

Ford felt he’d have a clearer idea about the status of local match money he’s pursuing from the city of Ann Arbor and UM later in May.

Later in the meeting, board members returned to the idea that the AATA needs to focus on clearly communicating about the difference between implementation and continued planning, guided by a 30-year vision, which includes commuter rail.

Jesse Bernstein said he wanted to speak to where the AATA stands as a board. Zingerman’s [a local deli that has spawned a community of related businesses] talks about the north star – the place we want to go, knowing we might never get there, he said. That’s the 30-year vision of the transit master plan (TMP). The five-year program reflects what the financial task force told the AATA could be achieved with local funding over the next five years. But Bernstein said the AATA should continue to work on everything in the 30-year vision. “We’re looking at what we can do when,” Bernstein said. Planning for rail would continue at the staff level, he ventured.

Kerson agreed with Bernstein, saying it’s a matter of communicating. The potentials for rail should be included in the AATA’s planning scenarios, he said. When the Ann Arbor city council was considering the four-party transit agreement, state Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-53) addressed the council, Kerson said, and told councilmembers said Ann Arbor can’t control what Lansing does, but Ann Arbor can control what Ann Arbor does.

Sue Gott added to Kerson’s remarks on communication. The theme she felt could be highlighted is that there are items that are “in front of us” in terms of implementation. But there are other projects that are “equally in front of us” in terms of planning, but are not yet in an implementation mode. It’s a matter of making sure the AATA is using the right language so that community expectations are managed effectively, she concluded.

Policy Discussion: Express Commuter Service

Sue Gott asked Michael Benham what the methodology was for deciding express bus services. Benham explained that staff had started with a list of options that had been considered some time ago – they’d studied origin-destination pairs. Consultants had analyzed demand for those services and selected those that appeared to have the best cost-benefit ratio.

Charles Griffith allowed that there’s some concern about the extent to which the AATA emphasizes service for those who live outside of Ann Arbor and even outside of Washtenaw County. The board’s performance monitoring and external relations committee, he reported, had a goal of minimizing the cost to citizens. For the commuter services, he continued, the AATA has achieved reductions in the amount of the local millage that’s used for the service – but there’s still a share paid out of the local millage.

Griffith pointed out there are also costs of not using the millage to help fund the commuter service: more cars on roads, more cars in parking structures and the like. Griffith said the board felt comfortable there’s some role for the AATA to play. It’s worth being thoughtful about how to characterize express bus services as the AATA continues to plan additional commuter services, he said. The cost of the express services would potentially be covered, he ventured, and part of the countywide initiative is an attempt to share costs more widely than just Ann Arbor. Griffith said he felt the role the AATA should play is to try to allocate fairly the cost of service to those who get the benefit.

By way of background, revenues for commuter express for the first half of FY 2012 (through March) showed $54,138 in passenger fares (some portion of which University of Michigan paid, for any of its employees who used the service) and $42,313 in state operating assistance – for a total of $96,451. Expenses for commuter express over that period were $138,053, leaving a total of $41,602 that was covered by Ann Arbor taxpayers.

Benham noted that the five-year program’s differential fares, based on geographic zone, are a part of the attempt to allocate costs fairly.

Eli Cooper recalled that when the board initially considered implementing the Chelsea commuter express service, one of the board members at that time had suggested that it needed to be self-funded. Cooper had argued that the fares needed at least to be competitive with the cost of driving and parking. The good news, he said, is that there’s more room in the cost equation for commuter service as potential riders compare costs – because “the cost of dinosaurs” (i.e., gasoline) is 2-3 times higher now than it was then. But Cooper noted a limit as to how high the fares can go on commuter service.

Cooper then highlighted why the conversation in Ann Arbor includes commuter service. The fact is, he said, that 70,000 workers commute to jobs into Ann Arbor every day. He repeated that fact for effect. Of those 70,000 people, 95% arrive in a car, he said. That causes huge expenses – parking spaces at $50-60,000 per parking space. That cost is not borne by commuters, but by the community. On top of that, there’s the congestion and the time lost because of competition for that “fleeting space.”

Locally, it’s not feasible to knock down buildings where employees work, in order to widen roads, Cooper said. And there aren’t significant state and federal funds to widen roads like M-14 or I-94, he said. So, Cooper concluded, it might be for the greater good of the community that ways are found for people to travel in groups of 50-70 people (i.e., on buses), instead of filling up lanes on the freeway and streets and creating a need to construct expensive parking structures. It’s 70,000 commuters today, but the city of Ann Arbor is planning based on tens of thousands of new employees in the next 30 years. Commuter express, he said, is an economic tool.

Gott wanted to know if “cost avoidance” is being factored in by calculating actual dollars. That’s an area the AATA could look at added data, she suggested. Benham indicated that cost-benefit analysis had been done in connection with the transit master plan, but it had been done on a fairly high level. He felt more detail could be achieved.

Outlook: Uncertainty, Optimism

Board chair Jesse Bernstein summarized his view of where things stood – in the context of the wide-ranging policy discussion, as well as a previous presentation from AATA community outreach coordinator Sarah Gryniewicz.

Outlook: Uncertainty

Gryniewicz had noted that the AATA has been working across jurisdictional boundaries. If and when the countywide process moves forward and local funding is approved, the board would need to work on a transition process, she said. That involves transitioning the board, its assets and its various committees, including the local advisory council.

As the district advisory committees give their recommendations and refinements are made and different communities decide whether to participate, adjustments will need to be made.

By way of background, if a municipality that has thus far participated in the process were to withdraw, that would reduce costs, because service would not be extended to that area. But it would also reduce revenues, because the additional funding such an area would otherwise contribute (property millage or vehicle registration fee) would not be collected. For example, on May 8 Northfield Township voted 5-1 to rescind the inter-local agreement under which it had been participating in the northeast district and the U196 board.

Ultimately, Gryniewicz said, the funding question will come to the AATA board and the U196 board. As the two entities get closer to the final five-year program and the AATA gets updates from the legislature, the financial advisory task force can be reconvened as appropriate, she said.

Right now there are two main funding options that might be available. The one that is currently available is a property millage. The five-year program currently would require the equivalent of an 0.05 mill tax countywide, she said. She compared that to the rough equivalent of the recently successful technology bond approved in the May 8, 2012 election by voters in the Ann Arbor Public Schools district.

The second option – a motor vehicle registration fee – would still need state enabling legislation, Gryniewicz said. She said the AATA is working with the governor’s office and the state legislature to make sure that option also works for the AATA. At the Ann Arbor district advisory committee meeting held on May 14 at the Malletts Creek library, Bernstein had identified Republican state Sen. Tom Casperson – who represents Michigan’s 38th district and chairs the senate transportation committee – as a legislator with whom he and AATA CEO Michael Ford were working directly. Bernstein also indicated at the May 14 DAC meeting that they were working closely with Gov. Rick Snyder, who lives in Washtenaw County.

Gryniewicz sketched a legislative update on the federal level, saying that the U.S. Congress is still working on a transportation bill. The main debate, she said, does not seem to be about transit, but rather about the Keystone Pipeline and job creation. But on the transit end, it’s encouraging, she said, and Michigan’s legislators are working hard to ensure that transit funding is maintained and that there’s room for growth.

At the state level, several transit-related policy items are being discussed, she said. One of the main sets of bills involves changes to Act 51, she said. Right now it looks like all local transit authorities – like the AATA – would be able to maintain their current state operating monies. A separate fund would be established for higher-capacity transit, like rolling rapid transit (aka bus rapid transit) or connectors. The AATA will continue to work with the state, she said, on developments that related to the regional transit authority (RTA) bill. The governor’s office and other legislators, she said, have been very supportive of the AATA’s efforts to develop the transit master plan (TMP) and are fully aware of the AATA’s planning efforts.

The RTA legislation would establish the possibility of a four-county area as a regional transit authority: Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland counties. For more detail on the possible RTA legislation, see Chronicle coverage: “Michigan Regional Transit Bills Unveiled.” At the May 14 DAC meeting, Bernstein had talked about the possibility that Washtenaw County could be separated out from the other three counties – a possibility that has not yet been formally introduced in the state legislation. Bernstein felt that if the legislature did not act before the summer recess at the end of June, the issue would not be taken up until the “lame duck” session after the November election.

Outlook: Optimism

At the board’s May 16 retreat, Bernstein said the most important thing is funding. If through “some horrendous outcome” the federal programs supporting transportation don’t continue, then the AATA would be in a very different position than it is now. The AATA board has a policy that the AATA won’t do anything that is not funded, he said.

AATA board chair Jesse Bernstein.

Bernstein felt that the AATA is well-positioned, no matter what. The AATA could remain an Act 55 transit authority and continue to deliver services. But there’s a well-thought-out plan to change to an Act 196 authority, he said, adding that he saw the AATA moving ahead without any reservations.

If there is another option of having a regional transit authority, and another funding option based on vehicle registration fees, the AATA is in position to take advantage of that, he said. Whichever way the wind blows, the AATA is positioned to go any direction that situation leads them, he said. The reality, Bernstein allowed, is that without more revenue, AATA will remain an Act 55. But the AATA won’t give up on its 30-year vision – the AATA would accomplish the vision the best it can. Bernstein concluded his remarks with a lot of praise for the AATA staff.

New Service Initiatives: Vanpools

The board was briefed on the status of a number of initiatives the AATA has been working on. One of them is the entrance of AATA into the vanpool market. Vanpools are essentially a group of people who are provided a vehicle, and charged a price for the use of that vehicle so they can drive to work together.

AATA’s planned entrance into the vanpool services market comes in the context of the discontinuation of the Michigan Dept. of Transportation’s MichiVan program. AATA’s strategy is essentially to step in and provide an alternative to MichiVan – as the vehicles currently being used reach the end of their useful life. So AATA intends to add those already existing vanpools to its operations. The University of Michigan has around 90 such vanpools. On Sept. 15, 2011, the AATA board authorized a contract with VPSI to provide vanpool services, and on Jan. 19, 2012, the board authorized the purchase of up to 25 vans to provide the vanpool service.

During an update on board initiatives that started last year, community relations manager Mary Stasiak laid out the sharing of responsibility between VPSI and AATA for the vanpool service. VPSI handles maintenance, insurance, vehicle prep, driver training, background checks, billing, and reporting. The AATA handles contract oversight, vehicle purchase and ownership, promotion, customer service, and vanpool group formation.

The fleet is currently seven and they’re currently having decals put on. Right now, the purchased vehicles are being stored at the dealership at no cost. Stasiak expected those vehicles to be put into service quickly. The rates charged to riders, she said, are expected to cover costs. The rates are different depending on whether the trip origin and end are both in Washtenaw County. For start and end in Washtenaw County, the minimum number of riders in a pool of four plus the driver is charged at $99 per rider. For 5-6 riders plus a driver, that per-rider cost drops to $79 per rider. Outside of Washtenaw County, the respective rates for different numbers in the vanpool are $139 and $119. In all cases, the vanpool driver’s cost is zero.

Vanpools: Software

The board considered a five-year contract totaling not more than $125,000 with Ecology & Environment Inc. for rideshare and vanpool matching software. The software will be paid for using existing and anticipated federal funds, provided to the AATA through the Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) program.

According to a staff memo accompanying the resolution, a requirement of the software is that it must be accessible through standard Internet appliances, and provide instant, accurate online ride‐matches through detailed map information presented to the end‐user. It must also integrate with social networking services such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Vanpools: Software – Public Comment

During his first turn at public comment, Thomas Partridge mentioned the vanpool software contract. He told the board he was there as an advocate for residents of Washtenaw County who need and deserve public transportation. He said he was a long-time and constant advocate for conversion of AATA to a countywide system. He was there to advance that cause on behalf of those people whose interests don’t appear on the agenda. There are multi-year contracts that favor people with jobs, he said, alluding to the vanpool software item. The beneficiaries of that are well-paid UM health system employees, he contended, and there were no corresponding improvements in senior and handicapped services.

Vanpools: Software – Board Deliberations

Anya Dale sought clarification about ownership of the software. Staff indicated that it was a licensing arrangement, not a purchase. Board chair Jesse Bernstein said he wanted to hear somebody say that the cost includes all updates and upgrades. Community relations manager Mary Stasiak told Bernstein that was the case – unless the AATA makes requests for custom functionality.

Eli Cooper indicated he’d vote in support of it. He noted that 20 years ago, when he’d worked in the field, vanpools and transit were seen as competitors. With that background, he said, he supported the AATA’s entry into the vanpool market as movement in a positive and progressive direction.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the vanpool and ride-matching software.

New Service Initiatives: Airport Service

AATA deputy director Dawn Gabay gave the board an update on the recently launched AirRide service, which provides service between Ann Arbor and the Detroit Metro Airport. Gabay described how the AATA had negotiated with Michigan Flyer on the public-private contract,  which provides 12 daily roundtrips between Ann Arbor and the airport. [Key to the economics of the service is the fact that the Detroit Metro Airport is not assessing an entrance fee to the AirRide service – because the Michigan Flyer buses are operating under the auspices of the AATA. Public transit is not charged an entrance fee, but private operators must pay an entrance fee.]

The promotional fares will end on July 30, Gabay said. She  described various discounts for seniors and children. She also described the other partners with whom the AATA is working on the service, including the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. The DDA has arranged for passengers on AirRide to park at the  Fourth and William parking structure for $2 for up to 2 weeks. The Kensington Court hotel, a stop on the AirRide service, is providing parking at a rate of $2/day for up to three weeks. Detroit Metro Airport has allowed wayfinding signs (that indicate public transit) and has assigned AirRide a designated bus stop. The  Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau, Michigan Flyer and the University of Michigan have also helped promote the service, Gabay said. She provided the first four weeks of ridership statistics.

AATA ridership on the Detroit Metro Airport to Ann Arbor service: Weeks 1-4 (Image links to higher resolution file.)

During subsequent board discussion, Roger Kerson related an anecdote about his own experience with the service. He said it was terrific – the pickup from the Kensington stop was on time. On his return trip, he changed his plans and did not get on the bus he’d reserved – and he received a call saying, “You didn’t meet the bus at your spot, so when can we pick you up instead?” Kerson concluded that the level of service that’s being provided is really excellent.

The fact that the ridership has doubled over four weeks shows that this is a service that can work, he ventured. What causes him concern, he said, is that he doesn’t see “AATA” or “The Ride” anywhere in the signs at the airport. It says “public transit.” So as the AATA looks to expand the service generally, he wanted to have the AATA brand on it somewhere. Given that the name of the AATA might be different very soon, that might not be easy to change, but he felt that on the AirRide website at least, it should be clear that it’s the AATA that’s getting you to the airport.

New Service Initiatives: Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Work

A desire for an increase in frequency of service was a highlight of a recent on-board survey that included 2,824 riders. [.pdf of survey report] Increased frequency is being implemented as part of a workforce transportation initiative on Route #4 between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

Route #4 performance since implementation of increased frequency of service.

Chris White, AATA manager of service development, gave the board an update on the impact on ridership of the Route #4 service, since the frequency was doubled in February, to run every 5-10 minutes during peak times and every 10-20 minutes midday. Part of the implementation was to develop two variations on the route. Unchanged on Route #4 is the section  between the downtown Ypsilanti Transit Center westward to Geddes and Washtenaw. But now, half the buses go to the University of Michigan and the others go to the central campus. White explained that this route variation cuts eight minutes off the round trip of every bus, without reducing service levels at the UM hospital.

So the strategy has spread the ridership load. The impact has been beyond what the AATA expected, White said, even though the location of the route hasn’t changed. Ridership systemwide was already up about 5-7%, but since implementation of the increased frequency on Route #4, he said, the increase in ridership on that route has been 20-25%. White said he’s anxious to see how ridership continues to change on the route.

On-time performance on Route #4 since implementation of increased frequency of service.

On-time performance has also improved significantly on that route, partly due to the fact that the buses are not as crowded. White explained some amount of increased ridership was expected – because that’s typically what happens. But typically, the impact is not seen the next day, because it takes a certain period for riders to adjust and become aware of the availability of increased frequency. The increased ridership the AATA has seen on the route, he said, reflects that there’s a lot of latent demand in that corridor.

Another initiative related to workforce transportation is the expansion of the geographic area served by the AATA’s NightRide service. NightRide is a demand-response service that’s offered when the regular fixed-route bus service stops running, and on holidays. Passengers have a similar experience to ordering a taxi; the standard fare is $5. The cost is high enough so that it does not really attract a lot of casual riders, White explained. Work transportation is the predominant use.

Increased ridership on the NightRide service since geographic expansion of its service area.

White explained that the service was limited to the city of Ann Arbor when it was first offered in 1983. In April of 2011, the geographic are was expanded as far east as Golfside Road.

That had not resulted in a significant ridership increase, White reported. But in January 2012, the service area was expanded to Ypsilanti, and that had a significant effect.

The expanded NightRide service is being funded by a federal Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) grant. Board member David Nacht asked when the JARC grant ran out. White explained that it’s a continuing funding source. However, White said, it would be his preference to find a different way to fund the roughly $23,000 cost long-term, and to use JARC to fund new initiatives.

New Service Initiatives: E. Medical Center

A status update on another new initiative was the extension of the AATA’s A-Ride service to a location outside Ann Arbor – to the University of Michigan’s East Ann Arbor Health Center (EAAHC), starting last year on July 1, 2011.  The university and the AATA share the cost of trips from Ann Arbor, White said. UM pays the entire cost of trips from outside Ann Arbor.

Usage of the A-Ride service is about what the AATA predicted, White said. About 17% of the rides are for passengers who use wheelchairs.

Other Initiatives: Bus Shelters

The board was briefed in moderate detail on a number of other initiatives that are not covered in this report. They include the reconstruction of the downtown Ann Arbor Blake Transit Center, the bus garage expansion on South Industrial Highway at the AATA headquarters, development of the new AATA website, and bus stop improvements.

One news item from the presentation on bus stop improvements related to the technical problem of transmitting real-time arrival information to the lighted signs at the University of Michigan central campus transit center. That looks to have been solved, and might be implemented sometime over the summer.

One voting item that related to the general program of bus stop improvements was a contract with Duo-Gard Industries to provide shelters at stops. The $390,000 contract is to manufacture and install around 60 bus shelters and 126 benches over a three-year period. There’s an option to extend the contract twice, for a year at a time. The AATA expects to use existing and future federal and state grant funds to pay for the shelters.

During the brief board deliberations on the item, Eli Cooper said he recalled when the AATA approved its first contract with Duo-Gard, it was a local vendor that made exciting new shelters. “We’ve seen them, we love them, we’re going to get more of them,” he said. Cooper also noted that Duo-Gard was the low bidder.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the contract with Duo-Gard.

Budget Update

The budget approved on Sept. 15, 2011 by the AATA board expected to tap the fund reserve for around $1 million in a $30.4 million expense budget. The board characterized it as a calculated risk to fund some of the service initiatives on which the board was briefed at the May 16, 2012 retreat.

At the retreat, AATA controller Phil Webb briefed the board on the status of the budget. Through March (midway through the AATA fiscal year) the AATA is about $573,000 under budget. Factors contributing to that, Webb said, included the fact that the budget provided for an earlier launch of the AirRide service. The educational expenses associated with the transit master plan (TMP) have been less than anticipated. And finally, some staff positions have been vacant for part of the year.

Webb said he felt that depending on revenues, it might be possible to break even for the year, or have a small surplus. The variable, Webb said, is the cost of the education effort associated with the TMP.

Public Commentary

AATA board meetings provide two chances for public participation – one near the beginning and another at the end, each time limited to two minutes. The first session is meant to be restricted to agenda items. Commentary not otherwise included above is reported here.

Thomas Partridge said he was there as a declared candidate for the state of Michigan’s house of representatives 53rd District (a spot currently held by Democrat Jeff Irwin). His platform includes countywide, regionwide and statewide interconnected public transportation. He advocated that the board adopt the concept of integrated services – in terms of those people needing services the most, in terms of access to affordable housing,

Partridge told the board he was there to speak frankly. Many candidates for public office like to go before the public with smiling faces and gloss over serious problems. The AATA board needs to address the issue of connecting with the public, he said. He complained about the length of that day’s session, which prevented people from staying through the whole session. Partridge also objected to the fact that the meeting was being held in a venue where it was not videotaped for broadcast on Community Television Network (CTN).

Present: AATA board members Charles Griffith, David Nacht, Jesse Bernstein, Eli Cooper, Sue Gott, Roger Kerson, Anya Dale.

Next regular meeting: Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor [confirm date]

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The board’s resolution did not try to resolve differences between the versions of the four-party agreement that have now been approved by the city councils of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Instead, the board gave the four-party agreement its approval, contingent on resolution of the technical difference that has emerged between the Ypsilanti version and the Ann Arbor version – a difference that concerns a municipal service charge. The AATA board may need to vote again on the agreement, depending on how Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti change the document.

The four parties to the four-party agreement are the AATA, the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County. One key element of the four-party agreement is that the two cities would pledge their existing transit millages to the new countywide authority, instead of to the AATA. The Ann Arbor city council approved a version of the four-party agreement on March 5, 2012, after amending the version that the AATA had first presented. Amendments were made in several ways, and stretched over multiple meetings.

On May 15, 21012, the Ypsilanti council approved the four-party agreement, but amended it in a way that may require reconsideration by the Ann Arbor city council – in the opinion of Ypsilanti city attorney John M. Barr. [.pdf of red-lined four-party agreement as amended by Ypsilanti city council] The Ypsilanti amendment relates to a 1% municipal service charge that the agreement originally allowed the two cities to impose on their millages, before forwarding the millage money to the new transit authority. The Ypsilanti council struck the municipal service charge from the agreement. But at its Feb. 6, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council had already contemplated – and rejected, on an 8-3 vote against it – an amendment of the language related to the municipal service charge.

Also approved at the AATA board’s May 16 meeting were the articles of incorporation of the new transit authority. The evening before, the Ypsilanti council unanimously approved, without amendment, the proposed articles of incorporation. The Ann Arbor city council has not yet voted on the articles of incorporation. [.pdf of articles of incorporation]

The Washtenaw County board of commissioners will consider the four-party agreement and the articles of incorporation in the near future. County commissioners have already been briefed more than once on AATA’s countywide initiative, but have not yet formally considered the proposal.

This brief was filed from the Holiday Inn Express, 600 Briarwood Circle, where the AATA board held its monthly board meeting, which it combined with a retreat. A more detailed report of the meeting will follow: [link]

The four parties to the agreement are the AATA, the city of Ypsilanti, the city of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County.

The Ann Arbor city council approved a version of the four-party agreement on March 5, 2012, after amending the version that the AATA had first presented. Amendments were made in several ways, and stretched over multiple meetings.

However, on May 15 the Ypsilanti council amended and approved the agreement in a way that may require reconsideration by the Ann Arbor city council – in the opinion of Ypsilanti city attorney John M. Barr. [.pdf of red-lined four-party agreement as amended by Ypsilanti city council]

The Ypsilanti council also unanimously approved, without change, the proposed articles of incorporation for the new transit authority. The Ann Arbor city council has not yet voted on the articles of incorporation. [.pdf of articles of incorporation]

The amendment to the four-party agreement, proposed by Ypsilanti councilmember Peter Murdock, had two components. Murdock’s amendment involved the transit millages currently levied by the cities of Ann Arbor (a perpetual millage authorized in the charter at 2.5 mills) and Ypsilanti (a .9879 mill tax authorized by voters in 2010).

First, Murdock’s amendment  eliminated a “municipal service charge of 1% of the annual millage,” in all sections where it appears – for Ypsilanti and for Ann Arbor. In the original four-party agreement (approved by the Ann Arbor city council), the two cities would be able to withhold the 1% municipal service charge from the millage dollars they transfered to the new countywide transit authority. The rationale, Murdock said, is that “the money should go to the new authority, not to the two cities, and that Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor should both do that.”

The second component of the amendment was specific to Ypsilanti. The following language was inserted: “… and in Ypsilanti specifically authorize the continued collection and transfer of the full Charter Transportation millage to the new Act 196 TA.”

By way of background, Ypsilanti voters approved, in 2010, a “Charter Transportation” amendment to the city charter that provides for .9879 mill of the city’s revenue to be used to pay for a purchase-of-service agreement with AATA. That part of Murdock’s amendment is intended to remove any uncertainty about that provision in the future.

The Ypsilanti council voted after hearing a presentation by AATA CEO Michael Ford, who focused on the improvements that the countywide system could bring to Ypsilanti. Ford said that AATA would consider the four-party agreement on May 16 (at its combined board meeting and retreat), and that the Washtenaw County board of commissioners would consider it in the near future.

Survey results on the question of supporting a 1 mill tax for transit. (Image links to .pdf with higher resolution image.)

The results were generally consistent with those of a survey conducted two years ago by the same company. Asked toward the start of the interview if they would support a 1 mill tax for countywide transit, 54% of respondents said they definitely or probably would. Asked the same question toward the end of the interview, after receiving additional information, that figure nudged upward to 59%. That compares with “before” and “after” percentages of 51% and 58% two years ago. The geographic differences fell along predictable lines, with support strongest in Ann Arbor and weaker in the outlying townships.

Clark told the board that the four take-aways from the survey results are: (1) the AATA is highly regarded; (2) the public remains supportive of transit, even at a rate of a 1 mill tax; (3) the most compelling reason people give for supporting a tax for countywide service is to provide door-to-door service for seniors and people with disabilities; and (4) the most compelling reason people give for not supporting a tax for countywide service is a concern about taxes – not the efficiency of the AATA in its use of tax money. The board also heard caution during public commentary about the interpretation of survey results – they hadn’t yet seen the impact of negative advertising on any ballot proposal.

The survey comes in the context of an effort to establish an expanded countywide governance structure for the AATA, which might include asking voters to approve additional transit funding.

In its main business of the meeting, the board passed two resolutions that establish service between downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport. It’s expected to begin in April. One resolution set the fares for the service – basic one-way fare is $15 – while the other approved the contract with Indian Trails (Michigan Flyer) to provide the service based on a per-service-mile dollar cost. The service will be branded as “AirRide.” At the board table, David Nacht recalled how he’s wished for the moment when the AATA could offer such a service between Ann Arbor and the airport since the time he’d been appointed to the board – nine years ago.

The airport service is part of the AATA’s effort to expand services, as well as its governance and funding base, to a geographic area beyond the city of Ann Arbor. Of the $1 million the AATA has budgeted to spend from its reserves for the fiscal year 2012 budget, around $300,000 will go to support the airport service – though board members discussed the possibility that up to half of that could be recouped after-the-fact from federal or state grants.

In the context of the AATA’s effort to expand to countywide governance, the board passed a resolution at its Feb. 16 meeting expressing a basic policy position that a possible new regional transit authority – encompassing Washtenaw, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties – should not be allowed to have a negative impact on the AATA’s own provision of local transit services. The new RTA is described in a set of bills currently being considered by the Michigan state legislature. The boards’ resolution also explicitly states that any new RTA needs to have a funding strategy that is above and beyond current levels of funding for transportation.

Two days earlier, according to a report from the Michigan Information & Research Service (MIRS), Washtenaw County commissioner Conan Smith testified before the senate’s transportation committee that he’d be open to giving up one of Washtenaw County’s two seats on a 10-member RTA board, in order to get the legislation passed.

In other business at the meeting, the AATA board also approved a $95,500 increase to the budget for its consultant on the countywide expansion effort. And the board authorized its annual application to the state for operating assistance – including a budget for expanded services.

Also discussed at the board meeting, though no formal vote was taken, was the AATA’s policy on the number of bags that passengers are allowed to carry on when using the A-Ride – the AATA’s paratransit service. Previously there was a two-bag limit. The policy has been revised so that the limit is not expressed in terms of a number, but rather in a way essentially stipulating that a passenger’s bags should not impinge on other passengers’ space – it’s a shared ride service. The change in policy was prompted by public commentary delivered at AATA’s November 2011 board meeting from a visually-impaired passenger who’d been denied a ride by the AATA’s contractor for the service, because he’d had too many grocery bags.

Voter Survey

The board received an overview presentation of the results from a survey of Washtenaw County registered voters about their attitudes toward paying additional taxes to support transportation countywide.

Voter Survey: Background, Method

Hugh Clark of CJI Research gave the presentation to the board. The survey research was done under a three-year contract that the AATA board authorized at its Aug. 24, 2011 meeting. The contract has two additional one-year options. The draft fiscal year 2012 budget for AATA included $75,000 for an on-board survey of riders and a telephone survey of Washtenaw County voters.

Geographic Regions of Analysis for Transit Survey. The light blue region corresponds to the western district of the proposed board representation on a possible Act 196 organization. The light pink area is Ann Arbor, which would also form a geographic unit in a possible Act 196 organization. The yellow area corresponds to union of the northeast, the north middle, and the south middle Act 196 districts – plus August Township (in the lower right corner). The green area corresponds to the union of Pittsfield, city of Ypsilanti, and the southeast Act 196 district – minus August Township.

CJI was also the firm that conducted the AATA’s on-board and telephone surveys in 2009. For a review of the results from the 2009 survey, see Chronicle coverage of the Jan. 20, 2010 board meeting.

At the board’s Feb. 16, 2012 meeting, Clark gave a brief sketch of the survey methodology, which drew a random sample of 1,356 registered voters for Washtenaw County. He described how the sample was divided into four groups, each of which had more than 300 people – western Washtenaw, eastern Washtenaw, Ann Arbor and the Ypsilanti area. Except for Augusta Township, in the southeastern corner of the county, the geographic areas of survey analysis correspond to unions of the areas proposed as districts in the proposed board structure for a new countywide transit authority, possibly to be incorporated under Act 196 of 1986.

In his presentation, Clark noted that it’s increasingly difficult to reach households that have only cell phones for their telephone service. In cases where no phone number corresponding to an address could be identified, Clark explained, CJI had done a mailing to the address and offered the survey to those potential respondents online. Clark described people as very cooperative.

[The survey solicitation letter gives instructions either to visit a website to take the survey online, or else call a number to have the survey administered by phone. The letter included $2 as a thank-you to respondents in advance, and offered another $5 for respondents who completed the survey by Dec. 16, 2011. People who did not respond to the initial letter were sent a reminder postcard.]

The survey itself contained 39 numbered questions, some of which included multiple parts. [.pdf of survey text]

The survey results come in the context of the AATA’s effort to expand its governance structure and its service area to include a wider geographic region than just the city of Ann Arbor – that is, most of Washtenaw County. That possible transition is currently being debated by the Ann Arbor city council, in the context of a four-party agreement – between the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA.

A financial advisory group, co-chaired by Albert Berriz, CEO of McKinley Inc., and Bob Guenzel, retired Washtenaw County administrator, is expected to meet on Feb. 29 to produce its recommendations. The Ann Arbor city council is expected to take up the issue again at its March 5 meeting, having postponed the issue three times.

Voter Survey: General Attitudes

Clark began by presenting the board with some of the results from survey questions that dealt with general attitudes, not just about transit. For example, the very first survey question asked survey respondents: “Overall, how satisfied are you with Washtenaw County as a place to live?” Clark characterized the outlook of survey respondents as generally positive or optimistic.

In the 2011 survey, 95% of respondents said they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with Washtenaw County as a place to live – statistically unchanged from the 2009 results.

The second survey question dealt with perceived changes in Washtenaw County as a place to live: “In your opinion, is Washtenaw County a better place to live than it was five years ago or is it a worse place to live?” Clark described the outlook as positive, but mixed, noting that in both years of the survey, at least a quarter of respondents felt that things are getting worse.

Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said that Washtenaw County is a better place or is staying the same as a place to live compared to five years ago. That compares to 63% of survey respondents who described it that way in the 2009 survey. The number of people who say things are getting worse is 29%, a bit up from the 2009 result.

Voter Survey: Attitudes Toward AATA, Transit

Clark then discussed results of survey items designed to measure attitudes toward transit – not necessarily attitudes about taxation – and the AATA as an organization. He led off that set of items by presenting the result of a question about transit use. About 40% of survey respondents said that in the past year, they or someone in their household had used AATA People Express, the Wave, or Manchester Senior Services. Clark characterized that as “very high” – stressing that it doesn’t mean that 40% of Washtenaw County residents have used public transit in the last year, but rather that they live in a household where someone has.

The perception of the AATA is positive among those who felt they had enough knowledge to answer the question, but Clark noted that 25% didn’t feel they could answer. The question to which survey respondents were asked to respond was: “Overall how favorable or unfavorable would you say your opinion of the AATA is?”

Of survey respondents who felt they could answer the question, 89% said they had a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of the AATA. That compared with 90% in the 2009 survey, which is statistically speaking the same outcome.

For a question designed to measure general attitudes of voters toward public transit, Clark characterized the result as a real consensus that public transit is very important – 69% say it’s extremely or very important. The survey question: “How important do you think it is to provide public transit services in Washtenaw County?”

Of survey respondents, 69% felt it is extremely or very important to provide public transit services in Washtenaw County. Only 9% felt it was either not very important or were not sure. That's essentially the same result as in 2009.

Voter Survey: Awareness of AATA Planning Efforts

The survey also contained an item designed to measure voter awareness of the AATA’s planning efforts over the last two years to develop a transit master plan (TMP) for the countywide area. Clark told the board, “The headline here is awareness is higher than expected.” He said that his partner and he were guessing what percent would be aware of the TMP in any meaningful sense, and they’d guessed maybe 5% or 10% as an outer bound – in fact 17% had heard of it, and had some recall.

So Clark told the board it might be disappointing to hear that 69% had not heard of the TMP. But he assured them “that’s not the way these things work.” It takes a lot of work and media coverage, he said, and he asked board members to reflect on how much they know about agencies with which they don’t work. The survey question: “Before hearing about it right now in this survey, had you heard of the Transit Master Plan for Washtenaw County?”

A total of 31% of survey respondents had heard of the AATA's planning efforts, including 17% with recall of some detail.

So 17% of respondents knowing about the TMP and having some recall is pretty good, Clark concluded. Clark also shared with the board the kind of details that survey respondents were able to recall [responses are verbatim from the report]:

• Expand it all the parts of the county
• Raises taxes
• I guess the one I’m thinking about increasing train service throughout the county
• Transportation services would be expanded into other areas and there’d be “connection points” for those traveling from outer areas into town.
• Connection for rail center AATA connection with remote commuters
• Yes they going to tax people for it
• Taxes
• Its financial, they are having an argument about it, about who’s going to finance it and who’s going to pay for it and about taxes.
• Provide a broader based transportation and they want to tax people for it
• Getting bus service to Dexter
• Looked at 3 plans
• The Fuller building may become part of the transit
• They are thinking about taking some of the routes away or reconstructing.
• I don’t know – I’m not going to ride the bus; why ride to work if you have a car?
• That it would include all the cities/villages in Washtenaw County.
• I recall they were talking about incorporating it expanded passenger rail system and that it mostly would be the AATA more or less taking over control of local bus systems like the wave
• They were going to be more broader and provide more public transportation for people in rural areas
• Transportation from Ann Arbor to the DTW airport; Transportation from Ann Arbor to Chelsea. Many would use both of these.
• County wide; the other key point they didn’t have any other point on how to get any funding for it except by raising taxes
• Expand the use of the bus service and the need of workers to get transportation in and out of Ypsilanti if they rely on it.

Voter Survey: Taxes

Clark described how the question about a possible millage (tax) to fund expanded countywide service was asked twice during the survey. The initial question came as the seventh item of 39 in the survey:

The new Washtenaw County transit agency will operate several public transit agencies now serving people in Washtenaw County, including A-A-T-A, The Ride, but also the smaller agencies called People Express, the WAVE, and Manchester Senior services. It will consider placing a tax issue on the ballot for the purpose of increasing public transportation service and extending it throughout all of Washtenaw County.

Assuming that this ballot issue would increase property taxes by one mill county-wide, would you definitely vote yes, probably vote yes, probably vote no or definitely no on this one mill property tax increase to expand public transit services throughout the county?

The responses to this initial question in both survey years (2009 and 2011) were characterized by Clark as a little higher but not dramatically so. When added to together, the definitely and probably yes category came to 54% in 2011, compared to 51% two years ago. Possible explanations for the slight increase might include the passage of time or the TMP or the more robust sampling effort (with the online option).

Asked early in the survey if they would support a 1 mill tax for countywide transit, 54% of survey respondents said they definitely or probably would.

Clark noted those who said they’d definitely vote yes or definitely vote no both came in at 18% – if you leave it to those voters, it’s a draw, Clark quipped.

The same question was asked again as item number 29 in the survey instrument – the last substantive question before a series of demographic items:

Thinking again about the one mill increase in the property tax for all of the things we’ve talked about to be done by the new Washtenaw County transit agency, if an election were held today, would you definitely vote yes, probably vote yes, probably vote no or definitely vote no on this one mill property tax increase to expand public transit services throughout the county?

More survey respondents moved into the positive category than moved negative, Clark reported. On the second question, a combined 59% of voters said they’d probably or definitely vote for a 1 mill transit tax.

Voter Survey: Geographic Differences on Transit Tax

Clark then presented a breakdown of support for the 1 mill transit tax by each of the four geographic regions analyzed in the survey. Not surprisingly, support for a transit tax was strongest within the city of Ann Arbor, with 24% saying they would definitely vote yes and another 44% saying they’d probably vote yes, for a total of 68%. On the low end of support is the western half of the county, with a total of just 42% saying they’d definitely or probably vote yes. More than half of western Washtenaw residents (51%) said they’d definitely or probably vote no.

The light and dark green areas reflecting definite or probable yes votes on a transit tax diminish the further away that respondents were from Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

Voter Survey: Reasons for Voting Yes or No

Clark then broke down survey respondents by their answers to the tax question, using their attitudes about the importance of providing transit services in Washtenaw County. Essentially, those survey respondents who supported a tax also felt that providing transit services is important. Of those who said they’d definitely support a 1 mill additional transit tax, 68% also said that providing transit services is extremely important. Of those who said they’d probably vote no on a transit tax, just 45% said they felt it was either very or extremely important to provide transit services.

Clark noted that it’s important to recognize that of those who said they’d definitely vote no on a transit tax, 8% still felt that providing transportation services is extremely important.

Cross-tabulation of questions on importance of transit and willingness to support transit with a tax.

The survey instrument also included items designed to measure the effectiveness of arguments for and against voting for a transit tax. Considered to be good arguments for voting yes on a tax were the 400,000 trips per year that transit agencies in Washtenaw County make, the increased ridership over the last several years, and the fact that less fuel is used by public transit riders. Not a good argument for voting yes was the idea of making an implicit threat: If the tax is defeated then no funding for door-to-door service for the disabled will be available.

The idea that "If the tax is defeated, there will be no funding for door-to-door service for the disabled" was not one that survey respondents felt was a good argument to vote for a transit tax. It comes across negatively and people react negatively to it, Clark told the board.

Among the ideas that survey respondents said would be good arguments for opposing a transit tax, Clark reported the lack of an ability to afford more taxes, and uncertainty in the economy. He noted that the fairness issue cut symmetrically across respondents. They were asked about the idea that it’s unfair for everyone in the county to pay for a tax that mostly benefits Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. And they were asked about the idea that it’s unfair for people in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti to pay more than others for transit benefiting everyone. A roughly equal number of people agreed or strongly agreed with each of those sentiments (32% and 30%).

Survey respondents did not feel that good arguments for voting against a transit tax would be that the time has come to oppose all tax increases, or that there's enough public transit service now, or that the AATA spends a lot of money on things that aren't important.

Clark also reviewed what the survey showed about the perceived benefits of transit – one main point is that public transportation is perceived as a way to attract jobs to the area, and it’s seen as an important backup for private transportation.

Clark said responses indicated that it’s not that survey respondents wanted public transportation available to them personally as a backup, but rather for the community. For many respondents, Clark said, their motivations are community-oriented. Public transportation is not oriented to them personally, but it’s something they want the community to have.

Voter Survey: Four Main Points

Clark summarized his presentation by telling the board there were four main points he wanted to leave them with:

1. AATA is highly regarded.
2. The public remains supportive even at a rate of one mill.
3. The single most compelling reason that people support transit is countywide door-to-door service for seniors and people with disabilities.
4. The single most compelling reason that people don’t support transit is concern about taxes – not the efficiency of the organization.

Voter Survey: Public Comment

During his initial turn at public commentary, Jim Mogensen reminded the board that the results they were seeing from the survey did not include the negative advertising that might be done in connection with a ballot question. He suggested that in the next two weeks [during the run-up to the Feb. 28 presidential primary in Michigan] they’d be able to witness the effects of such ads.

During the second opportunity for public comment, at the conclusion of the meeting, Mogensen suggested that the board look closely at the confidence level of the survey results. [The potential sampling error was given by Clark as ± 2.7%]

Thomas Partridge called on the board to place a millage proposal on the ballot at a time when it is likely to be approved. He also called on the board to create a new brand name to replace The Ride, which AATA currently uses. He suggested calling it The Freedom Ride, drawing a connection to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Transportation is the civil rights issue of our time, he said.

AATA Resolution on Regional Transit

The board considered a resolution expressing its intent to continue to work to improve transportation services and in support of a new regional transit authority (RTA) as described in legislation currently pending in the state legislature.

The legislation would create a four-county region for the RTA that would include Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties. The RTA legislation as introduced would give two seats on a 10-member board to Washtenaw County – with two seats for each of the other three counties, one for Detroit, and one non-voting ex-officio appointment made by the governor. [For coverage of the proposed legislation, see "Michigan Regional Transit Bills Unveiled"]

However, according to a Michigan Information & Research Service (MIRS) summary of initial testimony on Feb. 14 before the Michigan senate’s transportation committee, Conan Smith – chair of the Washtenaw County board of commissioners – would be willing to give up one of those seats: “Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith not only supported the bills, but expressed an openness to support giving up one of Washtenaw County’s appointments on the RTA to Detroit if ‘that’s what it took” to get the bills passed.’”

The position expressed by the AATA’s resolution is that the funding for any new RTA for southeast Michigan, described in state legislation introduced in late January, should be supported with funds above and beyond the level expended by existing public transportation service.

At left is AATA board member Eli Cooper. Despite appearances, AATA chief executive officer Michael Ford did not have designs on Cooper's bottle of water. (Photos by the writer.)

The board engaged in some back-and-forth at the table over the precise wording of the resolution. The board’s most recently appointed member, Eli Cooper, wanted to make sure the resolution expressed specifically the importance of the AATA’s role in its current provision of transportation services, and conditioned the AATA’s support for an RTA at this time to an RTA that coordinates and connects existing services.

Cooper cautioned that the RTA proposal may be both inclusive and intrusive. He said that while the board supports a regional transit authority, its role should be for coordinating connecting services that don’t already exist.

Cooper’s suggestion was met with some apparent initial puzzlement from David Nacht, who ventured that Cooper’s intent was simply to express that the AATA gets to run its own buses in its own neck of the woods and that the role of the RTA would simply be to get people from one neck of the woods to another neck of the woods. Nacht wound up seconding each of Cooper’s motions to amend the language, which inserted phrases at two different points [indicated in italics]:

The AATA Board supports the development of a regional transit authority to provide connector corridor transit services in southeast Michigan and will participate in the planning and implementation of these important connector services.

In order to guarantee and assure the continuation of our role in providing local transit or existing services, funding for a southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority must be new, additional funding so that the existing (and future state and federal funding) for the current Ann Arbor Transportation Authority Board, and any Board that supersedes it, will not be negatively impacted. [.pdf of the draft resolution]

Nacht quipped that the gist is that “this conservative community” is concerned about the big government from Lansing coming in and taking over.

Board chair Jesse Bernstein, before opening the resolution to board discussion, framed it in the context of the “huge task” that AATA has undertaken in developing its transit master plan. He felt it was now time to solidify and clarify the discussions and provide the public with a clear statement of where the board stands now and where it hopes to go in the future.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the resolution expressing the idea that any RTA would have a specific role and would need additional funding above and beyond what already exists.

Ann Arbor-Detroit Metro Airport Service

The board considered two resolutions that together establish service between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metropolitan Airport. It’s expected to begin in April.

Ann Arbor-Detroit Metro Airport

One resolution set the fares for the service – a basic one-way fare is $15 – while the other approved the contract with Indian Trails (Michigan Flyer) to provide the service based on a per-service-mile dollar cost. The service will be branded as “AirRide.”

Details on the cost to riders include a one-way fare of $12 for advance reservation (and limited refundability) or $15 with refundability up to the time of departure. Round trip fare would be $22 for advance reservation (and limited refundability) or $30 with refundability up to the time of departure. Volume discounts also may be available for groups of up to eight people traveling together. [.pdf of resolution establishing fare structure]

The job of reading aloud the fare structure for the Ann Arbor-Detroit Metro Airport service fell to Roger Kerson.

AATA CEO Michael Ford has previously described the intent of the service to provide 12 daily trips each way, with a very limited number of stops, in order to achieve a trip time of around 40-45 minutes. At its Oct. 20, 2011 meeting, the board had authorized the negotiation of the contract with Indian Trails. At the Feb. 16 meeting, a resolution separate from the one setting fares established a two-year contract with Indian Trails at a cost of $2.56 per service mile, with the total cost for the contract not more than $700,000 per year.

Plans call for service to pick up passengers from the Fourth Avenue and William Street parking structure across from the AATA’s Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor. Parking at that structure will cost riders just $2 for as long as a two-week stay, through an arrangement with the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. The route will include a stop near Briarwood Mall. At Detroit Metro Airport, passengers will be picked up and dropped off at both the McNamara Terminal and the North Terminal.Including stops, the AATA is planning for an airport route of around 60 miles round trip.

In the first year of the service, the AATA is planning to support it with up to $302,000 from the unrestricted fund balance, which is part of the $1 million of fund balance that the board is planning to spend for this year’s budget.

Marketing and promotional efforts are expected to be shared by the Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau and the University of Michigan. Signs directing airport passengers to the service will be placed by the Detroit Metro Airport. The resolution approved by the AATA board also provides for an introductory promotional offer of $10 one-way and $20 round trip. At the AATA board’s planning and development committee meeting on Feb. 7, 2012, board member David Nacht characterized the airport service as part of “the world class development of a community called Ann Arbor.”

Service to Detroit Metro has been actively a part of the AATA’s work plan at least since a board retreat held on Aug. 10, 2010. And the board’s deliberations at its Feb. 18, 2009 board meeting included the fact that conversations between the AATA and Detroit Metro date back to the early 2000s.

Results of the recent CJI Research survey, conducted toward the end of 2011 and presented to the board at their Feb. 16 meeting, showed that 75% of registered voters throughout Washtenaw County said that hourly express service to Detroit Metro Airport was either very or somewhat important. [.pdf of survey results on airport service and other transit enhancements]

Ann Arbor-Detroit Metro Airport: Board Deliberations

David Nacht led off by saying that he’s been trying for the nine years that he’s been on the board to get to this moment: to have AATA provide bus service between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport. He said he didn’t have feelings about whether it had to be a public-private partnership – he just wanted it to be efficient and wanted it to work.

David Nacht appeared to be in better spirits at the meeting than this photo suggests. He was pleased that service was finally being implemented between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport.

Nacht said he was impressed with the work that Indian Trails did. Indian Trails has been limited in its ability to provide service to the airport, because the airport dealt with them as a private entity and charged an entry fee, Nacht said. Operating under the auspices of the AATA, providing public transit, Indian Trails will not be charged the fee that private operators would be. An additional benefit, said Nacht, is that Ann Arbor will have a presence in the airport. [Mary Stasiak, AATA manager of community relations, clarified after the meeting for The Chronicle that the signs the airport would use to provide direction to airline passengers to the service would not include "Ann Arbor" but only "public transportation."]

The marketing for AATA’s airport service, Nacht continued, will be beneficial to businesses, universities, and hospitals in Ann Arbor’s community as well as for residents of the community who go out of town. He said he genuinely hoped that the service works beautifully. But if it doesn’t, he said, the AATA needs to be flexible to find ways to make it work beautifully. Nacht said he was impressed with the contract negotiations – he had a sense that the contractor will work with the AATA.

It takes a while to get things done, Nacht said, noting that there was no additional board support other than himself when he first raised the issue nine years ago. But he noted that the CJI Research survey, about which the board had received a presentation that evening, indicated that 75% of respondents said that express service to the airport was very or somewhat important. He thanked staff for their work and said he was glad the rest of the board supported the service.

Roger Kerson questioned a roughly $300,000 figure on the cost breakdown for the service, and CEO Michael Ford confirmed that the number reflected the amount of the AATA fund reserve that would be used to support the service. After the meeting, Ford confirmed for The Chronicle that the $300,000 figure was part of the $1 million gap between revenues and expenditures that the AATA is incurring this year as a part of the board-approved budget.

Responding to a question from board chair Jesse Bernsetin, AATA controller Phil Webb indicated that starting two years after the new service, there’ll be additional federal dollars that would help support those additional service miles. Chris White, manager of service development, said he felt that around $130,000 could be recovered.

Kerson said he certainly supported the move to provide airport service, quipping that he didn’t want to get in the way of Nacht’s “quest.” But he noted that both the airport service and the increased frequency of service on Washtenaw Avenue between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti (Route #4) required dipping into reserves. There’s got to be a limit to how long the AATA would do that, he said. The AATA needs to get to expanded funding soon, Kerson concluded.

Nacht responded to Kerson’s remarks by saying that the concept is that the AATA is making an investment for a new service. He noted that other partners in the community are putting forth some resources – the DDA, for example, is offering parking at $2 for two weeks. If the service is not successful, Nacht said, “We don’t want to keep running it.” Once it becomes successful it will become important for those community partners to get more involved. Jesse Bernstein pointed out that one element of that partnership is that the University of Michigan will link to the AATA’s airport service on its transportation website.

Bernstein recalled how Rich Sheridan of Menlo Innovations had addressed the Ann Arbor city council at its Jan. 23, 2012 meeting and described his experience in Portland, Oregon, and how full the bus was that served the airport, and how it took over 30 years to put that system together. Michael Ford noted that the public transportation system serving the Portland airport is a train, not a bus. Charles Griffith prodded Ford to mention that Ford was previously in charge of all of bus and train operations for Portland’s public transportation system.

Nacht wrapped up deliberations by observing that the fare structure for the airport service meant that a large family with kids could use the service and the kids would ride for free. Also related to fares on the new airport service, during the public comment period at the conclusion of the meeting Cheryl Webber told the board she hoped that service for seniors and disabled people would be structured so that people who are visiting from out of town can have access to the service as well. If the discounted fare were limited to residents with their local card, visitors might not realize they can access the service.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved both resolutions related to establishing service between Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport.

Budget for Consultant

The board considered a resolution to increase a contract with Steer Davies Gleave (SDG), by $95,500 to $288,817. The current contract with the London-based consultant, initially hired two years ago to help develop AATA’s transit master plan, is for “implementation assistance” of the plan. The original implementation assistance contract was approved by the board at its July 19, 2011 meeting.

At that July board meeting, some board members indicated they’d like to see SDG include more local resources as the process moves forward. The local planning firm Carlisle Wortman has since been engaged. The original contract with SDG for development of the transit master plan was for $399,805. It was previously extended and increased at the AATA board’s Nov. 18, 2010 meeting by an amount not to exceed $32,500.

The additional amount approved by the AATA board at its Feb. 16 meeting is meant to cover the costs of continued public engagement through district advisory committees throughout the county, support of a financial advisory group (scheduled to meet on Feb. 29), analysis of the AATA fare structure and payment mechanisms, and detailed description of the initial 5-year component of the 30-year transit master plan.

During deliberations, David Nacht said he was the guy who “killed” a consultant contract at the previous meeting for a different project. [That project related to an internal organizational review, which was tabled at the board's Dec. 15, 2011 meeting. As board chair Jesse Bernstein subsequently pointed out, that contract was simply being restructured, not killed.]

Nacht said it’s work that needs to be done, so the question for him is whether it is more efficient for the taxpayer to: (1) hire full-time staff; (2) hire someone on a part-time basis; or (3) work with consultants. Nacht noted that AATA’s strategic planner, Michael Benham, was hired at the staff level and has been quite instrumental with development of the transit master plan (TMP). But Nacht said he doesn’t want to significantly increase staff if the TMP is not passed. The AATA is trying to be conservative, Nacht said, and sometimes hiring an outside firm is more efficient.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to increase the amount of the consulting contract.

Annual State Aid Application

The board considered an annual resolution authorizing its CEO to apply for aid from the state of Michigan under Act 51 to provide transportation services. The resolution passed by the board cites AATA’s current year’s estimated revenue budget of “estimated federal funds $3,023,440, estimated state funds $10,988,677, estimated local funds $12,673,833, estimated fare box $6,552,000, estimated other funds $151,000, with total estimated expenses of $33,388,950.”

The budget amounts reflect the maximum that the AATA might use, provided it moves forward with elements of its transit master plan, which calls for expanded service. So it’s higher than the approved FY 2012 budget. As described in a staff memo:

The operating budget is just over $33 million, 9% higher than the adopted FY 2012 budget. The increase is primarily due to a full year’s operating cost for the route #4 service increase, a full year of operating cost for airport service, and implementation of the service expansion included in the TMP financial plan for 2013. The ability to implement this service expansion depends on developing a local funding source. The local funds are projected at $12 million, about $2 million higher than the FY 2012 budget.

At the Feb. 16 board meeting, in response to a question from board chair Jesse Bernstein, Chris White – manager of service development – explained that the state’s Act 51 requires application for state assistance every year. There’s a capital portion and an operating portion. This resolution was for the operating portion. The operating budget submitted with the application is used for planning purposes, White said. It’s important to include a budget for expanded service under the new transit master plan (TMP) to give the state an indication of the AATA’s intent. White described how he’d had a conference call with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) staff about about why the state aid planning budget for the AATA is increasing.

Outcome: The board voted unanimously to approve the application for state aid.

Bag Carry-On Policy

Although there was no vote, board members and the public discussed at the Feb. 16 meeting the subject of a changed policy on the number of bags that passengers on the A-Ride – AATA’s paratransit service – can bring with them on the shared-ride service. Background to the revised policy was a visually-impaired rider who addressed the board at its  Nov. 17, 2011 meeting – he’d been denied a ride from the AATA’s contractor for the service (SelectRide), which had simply enforced a two-bag policy that the AATA had for the shared-ride service.

At the board’s Dec. 15, 2011 meeting, David Nacht had expressed his displeasure at the way the passenger had been treated. From The Chronicle’s meeting report:

David Nacht then spoke at length, saying he would like to express that when the AATA provides services for the disabled, it’s critically important the riders don’t feel like they’re second-class citizens. Nacht said there was something incredibly compelling about a visually-impaired person leaving his house with his young child, to get groceries for that child who was helping him. “The idea that our agency would allow our contractor to effectively deprive that person of dignity in the name of enforcing a policy, I think, goes against our values,” Nacht said.

At the board’s Feb. 16 meeting, during his verbal report to the board, CEO Michael Ford reported that 17 peer transportation systems had been reviewed for a comparison of their policies on bags, and the AATA’s local advisory council (LAC) was advising that the AATA’s two-bag limit be revised. The idea would be to stress that the number of bags could not displace another passenger – the A-Ride program is designed as a shared-ride program. [The LAC is the body through which the AATA receives input on policies affecting seniors and disabled people.]

During her report from the LAC, Cheryl Webber stressed that the LAC hadn’t recommended that there be no limit to the number of bags, but rather that the limit be defined in a different way. Bags must be confined to the area of the vehicle occupied by the rider – whether that’s under their legs or on their lap. The rationale for that is based on the fact that it’s a shared-ride program. Webber noted that there’s still a requirement that any items carried with a passenger be safe – no explosives, toxic or noxious items.

Webber observed that a limitation of carry-on bags is hard to understand for passengers in the context of a shared-ride program if they don’t often see the rides being shared. It’s rare that the program is used in a way that results in rides being shared. She noted that she enjoys getting a ride by herself, but it’s a shared-ride program for a reason, to make it efficient and affordable.

During his remarks from the board table, Charles Griffith thanked the LAC and staff for taking up the issue of the extra bags and finding ways to be more accommodating.

During public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Carolyn Grawi, director of advocacy education for the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living, noted that she’d worked as part of a subcommittee that had worked on the carry-on bag issue. She said it was good to see the collaborative effort of working together. She reminded the board that seniors and people with disabilities always need to be at the table.

Committee Membership

At the Feb. 16 meeting, the board reset its committee membership and chairships to accommodate the departure from the board of two of its members in the last three months (Sue McCormick and Rich Robben) and the addition of one replacement (Eli Cooper.)

Anya Dale, new chair of the AATA board's planning and development committee.

The planning and development committee will consist of: Anya Dale (chair), Eli Cooper and David Nacht. In practice, Dale had already presided over the Feb. 7 committee meeting as chair. The performance monitoring and external relations committee will continue to consist of Charles Griffith (chair) and Roger Kerson. The board’s governance committee consists of the board chair (Jesse Bernstein) plus the chairs of the two other committees.

Robben resigned from the board in November 2011, but served through the January 2012 board meeting. McCormick resigned around the same time, but her last meeting was December 2011. The nomination of Cooper – who serves as Ann Arbor city transportation program manager – was confirmed by the Ann Arbor city council in December 2011. [For coverage of the resignations and Cooper's appointment, see "Cooper Confirmed for AATA Board" and "AATA Board Bids Farewell to Robben"]

At the city council’s Jan. 23, 2012 meeting, mayor John Hieftje told the council that he hoped to bring a nomination for Robben’s replacement to them at the council’s next meeting, on Feb. 6, but he did not nominate anyone at that meeting. The AATA board does not currently have a treasurer, pending appointment of a replacement for Robben – McCormick had served in that office.

At its Sept. 15, 2011 meeting, the board had elected the same slate of officers that had served the previous year: Jesse Bernstein (chair); Charles Griffith (secretary); and Sue McCormick (treasurer). At that time, Bernstein noted that as the AATA contemplates a transition to a countywide focus, it was felt that it would be good to have some continuity.

The committee structure was also carried over from the previous year. At that time, the planning and development committee consisted of Robben (committee chair), Nacht and Dale. And before McCormick’s departure, the performance monitoring and external relations committee consisted of Griffith (committee chair), McCormick, and Kerson.

Communications, Committees, CEO, Commentary

At its Feb. 16 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: Commuters, Residents

During his first turn at public commentary, Jim Mogensen addressed an item included in CEO Michael Ford’s written report, in which Ford had responded to public commentary made by Ethel Potts at the board’s Jan. 19, 2011 meeting. Ford had explained in his report that the service Potts had described as being eliminated had actually only been reduced. From the CEO’s report:

During public time at last month’s meeting a statement was made with regard to reducing service in order to serve a park and ride lot.  This is not the case.  Service was not eliminated, but rather service was reduced (with approval of the Board) because of very low productivity, not to provide service to the new Plymouth Road Park and Ride lot.

Mogensen told the board that he and Potts shared an interest in land use issues. He allowed that while the service on that route may not have been eliminated, for him, it meant that he had to stop using the bus. [Mogensen has addressed the board previously on that specific route, for example, at the May 12, 2010 board meeting.] The issue, he said, is related to a general policy issue of residents who are non-commuters and commuters who are non-residents. Resident non-commuters will always lose out to commuter non-residents, he said.

During his public commentary at the conclusion of the meeting, Mogensen continued the theme of balancing the needs of resident non-commuters against the needs of non-resident commuters. He pointed out that the express bus commuter service from Canton and Chelsea into Ann Arbor was being paid for in part by Ann Arbor’s local transit tax. [In AATA's financial performance reports, for each service provided, a line is included that's labeled "net local property tax applied" and year-to-date that figure for the commuter express service is $34,050.]

Mogensen also noted that the increase in service on Route #4 between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor and the new airport service is being subsidized in part by dipping into fund balance reserves. The needs of commuters and residents have to be balanced, he allowed, but he hoped that the new expanded services would not be balanced to the detriment of those who need to shop for groceries.

Comm/Comm: David Read

At the start of the meeting, board chair Jesse Bernstein introduced David Read, sitting in the audience as the representative on the U196 board for the north central district. Read is a Scio Township trustee. Board member David Nacht chimed in that he knew Read from his own service on the Scio Township board. He described Read as at times opposed to Nacht’s positions on the township board and at times supportive. He called Read a “class act” and said that he’s thrilled Read is a part of the countywide transit effort.

Comm/Comm: Website Development

From Jan Hallberg, IT manager for AATA, the board got an update on the status of the development of AATA’s new website.

Left to right: AATA manager of service development Chris White, CJI Research consultant Hugh Clark, and AATA IT manager Jan Hallberg.

She described the new website as having two different sections: (1) a basic website, which is currently being tested; and (2) the part with custom functionality. When the  first phase is launched, she said, the site will include all current functionality. The subsequent phases will add new functionality.

Within the next month, Hallberg said, different departments should be able to start populating the site with content. Two of the AATA marketing staff have gone through training on how to update the site. She noted that the new website will be a content management system (CMS). That means each department within the AATA will be able to keep its content up to date on an ongoing basis. She allowed that with the updates at each month’s board meeting, it might sound like it’s taking a while. But the new website is  going to have a lot of functionality that people have requested, she said.

Comm/Comm: Route #4

As part of the CEO’s report and as part of Charles Griffith’s report from the performance monitoring and external relations committee, the board heard a preliminary summary of performance on Route #4, which runs between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The board had approved an increase in service frequency on that route at its Nov. 17, 2011 meeting. Increased frequency began at the end of January.

At the board’s planning and development committee meeting the previous week (on Feb. 7), Chris White – AATA’s manager of service development – urged caution about the increased ridership and on-time performance on the route. It’s just the first week and it’s possible that riders are simply switching routes. Compared to the previous week, before the implementation of the more frequent service, ridership on Route #4 increased 8% compared to a systemwide ridership decrease of 0.6%.

On Route #4, ridership numbers were as follows: Jan. 23-Jan. 27: 18,388 | Jan. 30-Feb. 3: 19,796. Systemwide, ridership for the same period: Jan. 23-Jan. 27: 129,579 | Jan. 30-Feb. 3: 128,754. Over the same timeframe, on‐time performance of Route #4 increased 9% compared to a 1% increase systemwide. On-time performance for Route #4 after implementation of increased service was 95%. Systemwide, it was 89%.

Griffith said the initial news is good, but noted that there are still some [too] full buses out there.

During question time, Roger Kerson asked how the increased frequency on Route #4 was handled – did the AATA hire additional drivers, or did the AATA give additional hours to existing drivers? Ford indicated that another group of drivers had been hired – five new drivers for that particular route.

Comm/Comm: Performance Indicators

Following up on Kerson’s query about increased frequency on Route #4, David Nacht noted that he was struck by the increase in the ridership in the overall performance data. He told Ford that under Ford’s leadership, the AATA seems to be doing a good job of targeting those areas where people are more likely to ride the bus. AATA’s service miles are up 1% and its service hours are up 2%, but the total number of passengers is up 7%. Nacht stated that means the AATA is running more buses when more people are going to ride them. Nacht concluded that is a good use of tax dollars:

                              Year       Prior
                           to Date        Year
Service Outputs
AATA Service Hours          63,430      61,997     2%
AATA Service Miles         872,438     867,006     1%
AATA Passengers          2,165,332   2,020,942     7%
AATA Passenger Revenue  $1,546,352  $1,591,444    -3%
Weekday Passengers       1,991,582   1,855,544     7%

-

Charles Griffith noted as a follow-up that the expense per passenger and per mile are down 10% and 14% respectively. Nacht and Griffith were summarizing from the AATA’s year-to-date performance data.

Comm/Comm: Inter-Local Agreements, Four-Party Agreement, Next Steps

At the Feb. 16 meeting, CEO Michael Ford gave an update on the status of the AATA’s effort to expand its governance structure and its service area to include a wider geographic region than just the city of Ann Arbor – that is, most of Washtenaw County. That possible transition is currently being debated by the Ann Arbor city council, in the context of a four-party agreement – between the city of Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA.

The proposed governance structure under Act 196 of 1986 is based on inter-local agreements between several different local units of government in Washtenaw County. At the meeting, Ford indicated that the inter-local agreements among units of government forming districts in the proposed governance structure of an Act 196 authority had been filed with the state of Michigan. However, Sharon Township had become the fifth local unit to decide not to participate.

[.pdf of north middle district agreement][.pdf of west district agreement][.pdf of northeast district agreement][.pdf of south middle district agreement][.pdf of southeast district agreement]

The Ann Arbor city council has postponed consideration of the four-party agreement three times, in part because some councilmembers want to hear the funding recommendation of a financial advisory group before voting on the agreement.

Ford indicated that the financial advisory group’s meeting on Feb. 29 would be followed by a public meeting on March 2 to help answer any questions people might have. The city council is scheduled to take up the issue of the four-party agreement again at its March 5 meeting.

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

Next regular meeting: Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor. [confirm date]

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Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) and Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) sign agendas for students who attended the Feb. 6 meeting to complete a class assignment. (Photos by the writer.)

The AATA had requested the postponement until March 5. The council ultimately agreed to do that, but not before thoroughly debating the merits of March 5 versus March 19, or even some unspecified date in the future. In the end, the resolution to postpone included a stipulation that the mayor or city administrator could take the item off the March 5 agenda, if a funding recommendation and 5-year service plan are not provided to the council by the AATA in a timely way for the March 5 meeting. A meeting of a financial advisory group, co-chaired by McKinley Inc. CEO Albert Berriz and retired Washtenaw County administrator Bob Guenzel, is scheduled to take place on Feb. 29.

In other business, the council approved the tentative award of a $92,929,000 contract with Walsh Construction Company II to undertake a major renovation project at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. During public commentary, the council heard from Glenn Granger, whose company was one of two that had submitted lower bids than Walsh. City staff evaluating the bids did not agree with Granger’s contention that his company had comparable previous experience with a project of similar complexity.

The council gave final approval to a revision to the Arlington Square planned unit development, which grants the developer additional types of uses, without imposing additional parking requirements. The council also appointed a hearing officer for the coming year’s liquor license review process – councilmember Tony Derezinski (Ward 2), who also served last year in that capacity.

Highlights of public participation included commentary from a group that has been advocating for a warming center for the homeless.

Four-Party Transit Agreement

In front of the council for a third time was a resolution that would have established an agreement between Ann Arbor, the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, establishing a new framework for governance of local public transportation. The council previously postponed the issue at its Jan. 9 and Jan. 23 meetings. Thirty-nine people spoke at a public hearing held on Jan. 23.

The four-party agreement would expand the area and level of transportation service provided by the AATA by expanding the geographic area of its governance structure. Specifically, under the four-party agreement, the AATA would be incorporated as a transportation authority under Act 196 of 1986.

In advance of the meeting, the AATA had requested that the council delay the vote until March 5.

The previous delays by the council were due in part to a desire to hear a recommendation from a financial advisory group that was scheduled to meet on Jan. 27 – but that meeting was postponed. The group is now expected to meet on Feb. 29. The group is a collection of more than 20 representatives of the public and private sectors, led by McKinley Inc. CEO Albert Berriz and retired Washtenaw County administrator Bob Guenzel. They have met since the fall of 2011.

The day before the group’s scheduled meeting, a 17-bill package was introduced on Jan. 26 in the Michigan house of representatives that provides for the establishment and funding of a regional transit authority that would include Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties. However, the AATA has not explicitly cited that new legislation as the reason for the postponement of its meeting.

Four-Party Transit Agreement: Public Commentary

Jim Mogensen reminded councilmembers that he’d addressed them at their last meeting, during the public hearing on the four-party agreement. He wanted to extend his remarks. So far, he said, most of the discussion has involved technical details about service options. Now we’re coming to the part where, he said, “most of us like to look away, because it starts to get ugly.” This next part, he said, is about money and power.

AATA FY 2102 revenue pie chart.

Ticking through the four parties to the agreement and evaluating their power and money, he noted that Washtenaw County has power – the county would be the party to file the articles of incorporation, but is not being asked to contribute any money. AATA has money it brings to the table, he said – through its federal and state grants. He noted that of the AATA operating budget, only 30% comes from Ann Arbor’s local transit tax. He pointed out that even the University of Michigan needs to go through the AATA in applying for federal funding for transportation. The city of Ann Arbor has both power and brings money to the table.

Mogensen described Ypsilanti as “kind of” bringing money to the table [through its purchase-of-service agreement (POSA)]. But for the most part, he said, Ypsilanti doesn’t have money or power.

Mogensen stressed that the AATA is a public entity – it’s not Indian Trails or Greyhound. It’s similar, he said, to the fact that the Ann Arbor District Library is not a bookstore. He pointed out that for the commuter express service into Ann Arbor from Chelsea and Canton, AATA has spent about $100,000 in FY 2011 out of local millage money to fund it. [Total cost of the service was around $320,000.]

During public commentary, Thomas Partridge noted that February is African American history month, so he called for “freedom rides” to promote a transportation system in Washtenaw County that is affordable, accessible, and is an equal-opportunity transportation system.

Four-Party Transit Agreement: Council Deliberations

During his communications time near the start of the meeting, Mike Anglin (Ward 5) noted that the council had had a long discussion about the four-party agreement. He was glad that AATA’s chief executive officer Michael Ford had indicated a willingness to meet with councilmembers before the agreement comes before the council again. Anglin indicated that he felt it’s now an appropriate timeframe in which to ask questions. He reported one such question that someone in the community had asked: Why aren’t members of the AATA board publicly elected, like the library board?

The council’s deliberations began with an amendment to the agreement offered by Sabra Briere (Ward 1), which ultimately was not approved by the council.

Four-Party Transit Agreement: Council Deliberations – 1%

Briere’s amendment would have eliminated the reference to 1% as the amount of the municipal service charge that the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti could impose on the local millages that they would be contributing to the new Act 196 authority [proposed deletion in strike-through, additions in italics]:

… the tax levy in its entirely to AATA at the 2012 millage rate or as adjusted by State of Michigan statute less a municipal service charge of one percent (1%) of the annual millage at the time of the collection of taxes to be negotiated by the city administrator, of which the portion of the service charge for the collection of any tax levy shall not exceed the allowable maximum under statute for tax administration fees.

Mayor John Hieftje reacted to the proposed change by saying that the specific figure of 1% makes it definite. And he wondered about the choice of the word “negotiated.” Assistant city attorney Mary Fales explained that Act 196, under which the new transportation authority would be incorporated, uses that word. ["Any agreement negotiated under this subsection shall guarantee the collecting unit its reasonable expenses."]

Asked to comment on the proposed change, Michael Ford, CEO of AATA, indicated that he could not comment – AATA’s legal counsel was not present and he was just seeing the proposed change for the first time.

Hieftje suggested the council should go ahead and undertake any changes the councilmembers thought were necessary, even if the intent is to postpone the vote. In the process of taking “little bites,” he felt this might be an appropriate bite. Responding to the view by Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) that there would be additional amendments coming at future meetings, Hieftje felt that it would be beneficial to go ahead and take care of as many of those issues as the council could.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) asked what the “municipal service charge” referred to. It was his understanding that the municipal service charge is something that the city charges to, for example, the golf course enterprise fund to cover overhead. He said the city charges an administrative fee on the collection of taxes already, so he wondered: Is the charge referred to in the four-party agreement an additional charge? Briere ventured that based on the communication she’d had with the city’s CFO, Tom Crawford, she believed it’s the same thing. It’s two different ways of saying the same thing, she ventured.

Kunselman disagreed with Briere, saying he didn’t understand it that way at all. City treasurer Matt Horning provided some clarity on the issue, by explaining that the 1% administrative fee is something charged to taxpayers above and beyond their tax bill. The municipal service charge is something charged within the city’s accounting system to different units.

[What the four-party agreement would do, then, is allow the city of Ann Arbor and the city of Ypsilanti to forward just 99% of their local millages to the new Act 196 authority. The administrative fee does not result in a reduction of millage money forwarded, because it's paid by taxpayers on top of their entire tax bill.]

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) got clarification that the maximum allowable rate for the tax administration fee is 1%. Noting that Act 196 refers to a negotiation, he wondered if the conversation the council was having, plus the conversations of the other parties, constitute the negotiation? Fales allowed that the four-party agreement could be used as the point of negotiation. But she said Briere’s suggestion would allow flexibility. Taylor agreed that Fales’ description was accurate, but he felt that now was the time when the negotiation is taking place. He appreciated having flexibility downstream – but said the city would be moving down from what it had previously charged. So he said he’d decline to support the amendment as drafted.

Outcome: Briere’s 1% amendment failed, with support only from Anglin, Briere, and Kunselman.

Four-Party Transit Agreement: Council Deliberations – Termination

Briere offered another amendment to add language to the termination clause to make explicit what some of the options are – to which Taylor eventually added the second sentence. He also tweaked the initial sentence so that it referred to withdrawal from the new transit authority, not the four-party agreement.

The City of Ann Arbor may also withdraw from the new TA [transit authority] using any of the methods authorized by MCL 124.458. In the event that the city of Ann Arbor exercise any of the forgoing rights, Ann Arbor may terminate this agreement upon written notice to the other parties.

Briere offered as rationale the fact that much of the conversation has been about the option to withdraw from the Act 196 authority within 30 days after its incorporation. She noted that there are more options than just the 30-day period, and it’s a good idea not to waive any of those options.

Kunselman asked what would happen if the new authority were created and Ann Arbor withdrew. Fales indicated that the agreement would be binding on the other three parties. Responding to a question from Jane Lumm (Ward 2), Fales noted that the council will vote separately on the articles of incorporation.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) got clarification that the added language was clarifying the existence of the city’s rights, not giving it new rights.

Outcome: The amendment clarifying withdrawal options was approved unanimously.

Four-Party Transit Agreement: Council Deliberations – Postponement

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) initially made a motion to postpone the issue to March 19. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) said she did not want the date to be specified. Lumm wanted to make it non-specific and contingent on receiving the funding recommendation and service plan.

Briere noted there are two options – postponing until a date certain or tabling with an uncertain date. She said she felt the March 19 date would address the concern expressed by Lumm. Sandi Smith (Ward 1) objected to the idea of leaving the date uncertain. She said the council should pick a date and shoot for that date. That way the council and the public will know when “we’ll be queuing it up,” Smith said. If necessary, the council can postpone again.

Asked for his thoughts, Michael Ford – CEA of the AATA – indicated that the AATA had asked for postponement only until the March 5 date. The AATA would be prepared with the information on March 5, he said.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) had mixed feelings. She noted the Feb. 29 meeting of the financial advisory group, and said that March 5 comes up quickly after that meeting. She was concerned that the council wouldn’t have the time it would need to evaluate the information.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) asked Ford if the March 19 date would slow down the AATA too much. Ford replied, “It will slow us down.” Ford reiterated that the AATA could provide the information by March 5.

Taylor expressed his view that the information that some councilmembers want to see before taking a vote on the four-party agreement is not necessary to see. He said it’s an agreement between parties and doesn’t bind the city to enter into a new financing plan. Rather, it creates an analytic process by which to move forward. It’s not law the council is making here, he said. The agreement is binding only according to its terms, nothing more.

Lumm said she wanted to postpone it longer, but was comfortable with March 19. That would also allow time for the community to assess the information. She rejected the idea that it’s important not to lose momentum. “If it’s a good concept today, it’ll be a good concept tomorrow,” she said.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4).

Higgins indicated that she’d heard people say nobody is pushing this, but she noted that Taylor had reminded the council twice it needs to move forward. She said she was just looking for the final pieces to fall into place. She gets asked frequently by her constituents about the funding piece of the plan. She allowed that the funding is separate from the four-party agreement, but said that the two things come together at some point in time.

As far as a timeline goes, Higgins asked Ford why he could not meet with the city of Ypsilanti and work on their part of the agreement. Ford explained that the AATA has had meetings with Ypsilanti officials, but a lot of people are looking at what Ann Arbor is doing. To be blunt, he said, people are looking for Ann Arbor’s leadership.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) said he shared the view that the financing plan is separate from the four-party agreement. If the council did receive the requested material on Feb. 29 , that’s consistent with the timeframe for which it receives information for its council meetings – on the Wednesday before the next Monday meeting. He did not see a problem with changing the postponement date to March 5.

Briere agreed with Hohnke’s point about the timing of the information. She also agreed with Higgins and Lumm when they said the public would also want a chance to dig into it. After that, she continued, if Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the AATA all sign off on it, then the public will have the next several months to dig into it.

Mayor John Hieftje said he felt it’s important to keep the ball rolling. March 5 would be another opportunity to figure out how to amend the agreement.

Lumm objected to that date as too short a timeframe. Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) wondered why Ypsilanti is even being included the agreement, given its relatively small financial contribution.

Mike Anglin (Ward 5) reminded his colleagues of the concerns they’d heard during public commentary about the financial part of the plan.

Smith noted that on March 5, the four-party agreement can be postponed again if the council decides it needs to be postponed. She noted that “… if Ann Arbor’s not playing, there’s no game.”

Briere reminded her colleagues and the public that the proposed bills in the state legislature, which could alter the funding picture, had only been introduced. Just because something has been introduced doesn’t mean it will pass, she said. Trying to theorize what would happen is a waste of time, she said – we have no control over what happens in Lansing. Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) felt the council tends to overuse postponement. He felt the four-party agreement is a preliminary step and the council should just go ahead.

Higgins was not entirely satisfied with the March 5 date, but extracted an assurance that if the funding recommendation and the service plan were not available, it could be taken off that meeting’s agenda. Hieftje told Higgins that he and city administrator Steve Powers would “get together on that.”

Outcome: The council voted to postpone the vote on the four-party agreement until March 5. Voting against the postponement, because of the date that was specified, were Anglin and Lumm.

Wastewater Treatment Contract

The council considered the tentative award of a $92,929,000 contract with Walsh Construction Company II LLC to undertake the work associated with the facilities renovation project at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The “tentative” award is a requirement for receiving a low-interest loan from the state’s revolving fund loan program, which is administered through Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality.

The city reviewed six bids: Lakeshore Toltest Corp. ($83,302,048); Granger Construction Co. ($89,990,000); Walsh Construction Co. II LLC ($92,929,000); Walbridge ($95,380,441); Hunt/Colasanti ($99,990,000); and Barton Malow Co. ($102,884,000).

The firms making lower bids were found by city staff not to be sufficiently qualified to undertake the specific work, because they did not have experience as a general contractor in charge of a wastewater treatment facility construction project with a similar complexity and size.

Wastewater Treatment Contract: Public Comment

During his turn at public commentary at the start of the meeting, Kermit Schlansker did not address the specific issue of the wastewater treatment contract. However, he did reprise a theme on which he has addressed the council for nearly 20 years: energy conservation and municipal sewage disposal. From the Sept. 7, 1994 city council minutes:

Kermit Schlansker, 2950 Marshall St., stated that cities should start building their own power plants because small facilities are more energy conserving and cheaper than large facilities. He voiced concern with the status quo in energy conservation and expressed the need for the creation of an environmental science commission staffed with experts to accomplish such conservation projects. Mr. Schlansker stated that conservation is cost effective and essential in achieving a sustainable society.

Schlansker is a former aerospace engineer for Allied Bendix.

At the Feb. 6, 2012 meeting, Schlansker told the council that sewage disposal is more effective if there are multiple goals. He called for recycling sewage, suggesting that the southwest side of the city should have an experimental sewage plant. If we don’t start to use sewage as fertilizer for crops, millions will starve, he warned.

Glenn Granger of Granger Construction Co. addressed the council during public commentary, objecting to the assessment of the city’s staff that his firm had no similar previous experience.

Glenn Granger of Granger Construction Co. In the background is councilmember Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3).

Granger pointed specifically to a $70 million project in Wyoming Township that he contended was comparable. He allowed that the total dollar value was somewhat less than the $90 million contract for Ann Arbor’s wastewater treatment facility, but said from the point of view of the dollar value of construction expected per year, it was comparable.

Granger described wastewater treatment and solid waste as “within our wheelhouse,” noting that the very first construction project he’d been involved with in his career was a wastewater treatment facility. So he said he was confused by the city’s assessment. Noting that some students from Skyline High School were in the audience, he told the council that Granger was the contractor for that project, as well as many other local building projects. Granger asked the council to delay their consideration of the contract.

Wastewater Treatment Contract: Council Deliberations

Mayor John Hieftje noted that while his name is given on the agenda as the sponsor of the resolution, he’s not responsible for the hard work that went into it.

Christopher Taylor (Ward 3) led off deliberations by asking that Craig Hupy to come forward to the podium to answer questions. Hupy is interim public services area administrator in the wake of Sue McCormick’s resignation late last year. She took a job heading up Detroit’s water and sewerage department.

From left: Earl Kenzie, unit manager at the city's wastewater treatment plant, and Craig Hupy, interim public services area administrator.

Taylor noted that the council had received communications from the unsuccessful bidders on the project. Taylor told Hupy that he was looking to have him confirm and affirm the rationale for the selection of Walsh.

Hupy stressed that the rationale has nothing to do with Granger’s ability to perform as a general building contractor. The firm has wide experience in that area, Hupy said.

Hupy addressed the specific issue of the Wyoming Township project, which Granger had cited as a comparable project. That is a drinking water treatment plant, he said, whereas Ann Arbor’s project is a wastewater plant. The Wyoming Township facility, he said, was built adjacent to the existing facility, with service switched over to the new facility in one step. The Ann Arbor project, he said, would require demolishing out sections of an existing facility and switching over service step by step over time. Hupy described it as involving multiple cutovers and tie-ins. It’s a different complexity than the Wyoming facility.

Carsten Hohnke (Ward 5) asked what was “tentative” about the contract award. The explanation is that it’s a required step for receiving a low-interest loan from the state’s revolving fund loan program, which is administered through Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality.

Earl Kenzie, unit manager at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, responded to a question from Mike Anglin (Ward 5) by walking the council through the process used to review the bids.

The staff took a look at the three low bids and based on a review of those bids, the city submitted written questions to the three lowest bidders. Those bidders were then brought in to discuss the answers that had been given.

Jane Lumm (Ward 2) wrapped up the deliberations by saying that the project’s engineering firm, Malcolm Pirnie of Michigan Inc., had provided a detailed memo on the selection of the contractor. She characterized the evaluation process as “quite robust.”

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to approve the tentative award of the wastewater treatment facility construction contract to Walsh Construction.

Arlington Square PUD

The council considered final approval to changes to the supplemental regulations of a planned unit development (PUD) for Arlington Square. The changes to the PUD supplemental regulations would allow for urgent care and restaurant uses at the site, with no additional parking. No exterior changes are proposed.

The two-story, 51,285-square-foot retail and office complex is located at 3250 Washtenaw Ave. – the southeast corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Huron Parkway. An 8,000-square-foot space in the complex, where Hollywood Video was formerly located, is vacant, and the owner would like to have the option of leasing the space to a restaurant or urgent care facility.

The current PUD zoning, which was approved in 1989, allows for certain C3 (fringe commercial) uses, but due to an increased need for parking that would be created, the original regulations did not allow for (1) restaurants with seating, (2) barber/beauty shops on the first floor, or (3) office uses on the second floor, with the exception of medical/dental offices.

The site includes 200 parking spaces. To accommodate potential increased parking demand, the building’s owner – Nadim Ajlouny of Orchard Lake, Mich. – is offering to provide bus passes to all employees on the site and to provide an additional 14 enclosed bicycle parking spaces.

The city planning commission, at its meeting of Dec. 6, 2011, had recommended approval of the request.

The city council had given its initial approval at its Jan. 9, 2012 meeting. Because change to the PUD is a change to the city’s zoning, the change is subject to the requirements of any ordinance change, which include a second and final approval by the council as well as a public hearing.

Arlington Square PUD: Public Hearing

As he typically does at any public hearing involving zoning changes, Thomas Partridge called for zoning that accommodates the need for equal access to transportation and affordable housing.

Steve Dykstra of Hobbs + Black Architects appeared to indicate essentially that he was available for any questions.

Arlington Square PUD: Council Deliberations

One question that arose during the council’s initial deliberations on Jan. 9, 2012 involved the number of parking spaces that are actually on the site.

During deliberations on Feb. 6, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3), who had questioned the number of spaces, reported that his question had been answered, noting that the spaces were located under the building, and thus had been hard to find. [.pdf of site schematic]

Kunselman said he had some concerns due to the fact that it’s a “tight corner.” He said that some residents had asked about the entrance off Huron Parkway. It requires turning right then immediately turning left. Kunselman described the turn as “awkward.” Kunselman asked how that entrance is expected to function if the traffic will increase, based on new uses. Dykstra told Kunselman that when the building previously had been fully rented [it's currently partly empty] there were no issues with traffic. He added that no physical changes are being made to the site.

Kunselman pressed the issue of possibly increased traffic flow. Dykstra indicated that he didn’t think that there would be any additional traffic flow beyond what the site experienced when it was fully rented. The additional specific use is an urgent care facility and that looks like it will actually generate somewhat lower traffic volumes. Kunselman noted that the PUD regulations indicate that an annual traffic monitoring report is supposed to be done. Dykstra indicated that had been done only once in the past and said that the developer would be more careful with that.

Kunselman then asked Wendy Rampson, head of city planning, what would happen if the traffic monitoring report indicates an increase in traffic flow. Would there be any opportunity to address that? Rampson indicated that yes, the city would be able to approach the developer and work on ways to mitigate or reduce the additional traffic flow – through carpooling or bus passes.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to give final approval to the additional uses specified in the Arlington Square PUD.

Liquor Hearing Officer & Transcript Fees

The council considered the appointment of Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) as the hearing officer for annual liquor license renewal and revocation. Derezinski serves on the council’s liquor license review committee along with Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2). Also before the council for separate consideration was a resolution to set the fee for transcripts of any hearings.

Ward 2 councilmembers Tony Derezinski and Jane Lumm.

Early last year, at the council’s March 7, 2011 meeting, councilmembers had approved Derezinski as hearing officer. That came amid some minor controversy as then-chair of the liquor license review committee Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2) had made clear that his expectation before the council’s meeting was that there’d be a hearing panel consisting of the three members of the liquor license review committee.

During deliberations this year, Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) noted that the date specified goes past the end of Derezinski’s term – he’ll need to stand for election this year. Higgins said she hoped that Derezinski is running again, but wanted the date set to Nov. 8, 2012, which is the first council meeting after the Nov. 6 election. [Derezinski has stated publicly that he's running again.] She also wanted to fold the appointment of the hearing officer into the regular council appointments list. Derezinski indicated that was fine with him.

Derezinski described how the liquor license review committee does an annual review of all 121 licensees in the city. That allows the committee to recommend renewal or non-renewal. That approach also allows the city council to recommend non-renewal to the state liquor control commission. The process was established a year ago, he said. Former councilmember Stephen Rapundalo had a lot to do with setting up an orderly process for the review, Derezinski said. Licensees pay a fee to have it reviewed, which covers the cost of the process. The review involves fire department officials, the building department and the police. He described how a number of form letters are sent out.

Derezinski reported that a “usual item” that’s discovered is non-payment of fees and taxes by licensees. Last year the amount came to about $46,000. He continued by saying that every once in a while, a pattern of unacceptable conduct is identified. Last year, there were two establishments that fell into that category, he said. The committee is starting the process again this year.

Derezinski noted that petitioners are entitled to basic due process. That can include an appeal, which has an associated hearing that’s treated as an evidentiary hearing. One of the hearings last year took about four and a half hours and included a lot of contradictory statements. The deadline for completing the review process is March 30, he said, in order to make recommendations to the city council, which then makes recommendations to the state liquor control commission. The form letters have been sent out, he said, and the city is starting to get responses.

Derezinski also noted that there’s a procedure to undertake revocation of a license, outside the context of the annual review and renewal. That hasn’t yet been necessary, he said, venturing that the threat of that is as powerful as the exercise of the authority.

Anglin, who serves on the liquor license review committee with Derezinski, said that Derezinski had done a good job last year. He ventured that licensees want to cooperate with the committee, and said he thought it’s difficult to operate a business in a large student area.

Lumm, who replaced Rapundalo on the city council and on the liquor license review committee, described the committee as “ably chaired” by Derezinski, and thanked him for volunteering his expertise and time to serve as hearing officer.

Outcome: The council voted unanimously to appoint Derezinski as hearing officer.

On the issue of the transcript fee, Derezinski noted that a transcript of a hearing can be made available if there’s an appeal or someone doesn’t like the decision that has been made. Generally, no transcript is made, but the hearing is recorded.

The resolution that set the fee did not do so in terms of a dollar amount, but rather set it to be equal to whatever the actual cost of the transcription service is. Sabra Briere (Ward 1) noted that no information is included about what the cost per hour is. Assistant city attorney Mary Fales told Briere she’d done some preliminary checking – the average cost is about $3.50 per page. There are additional services that can be requested, like getting the transcript on a disk. She described it as a “pass through” cost.

Briere wanted to know if someone would know before they ordered a transcript how much it would cost, or if someone would need to wait until the transcript is complete. Fales indicated that transcribers can estimate based on how long the hearing lasted.

Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) wanted to know who would be performing the service. Would the city be hiring someone? She ventured that this kind of fee should be set with the other fees that are set with the approval of the annual city budget.

Outcome: The council voted to approve the transcript fees as the actual cost charged by the transcription service. Higgins dissented.

Re-Funding Bonds

The council considered approval of the issuance of $2,850,000 of bonds to refinance the outstanding principal amount of Michigan Transportation Fund Bonds for the Broadway bridges project. After factoring in bond issuance costs, the city expects to save around $185,000 over the next 11 years.

Council deliberations were brief. Mayor John Hieftje said he appreciated the work of the city’s financial staff. Jane Lumm (Ward 2) also praised the city staff. When Hieftje mentioned that the refinancing was being done for the Broadway bridges project, Sabra Briere (Ward 1) said that point warranted repeating. Many people have forgotten that the city had financed that project.

Outcome: The council voted to approval issuance of the re-funding bonds.

Communications and Comment

Every city council agenda contains multiple slots for city councilmembers and the city administrator to give updates or make announcements about important issues that are coming before the city council. And every meeting typically includes public commentary on subjects not necessarily on the agenda.

Comm/Comm: Leasing Ordinance

During her communications, Jane Lumm (Ward 2) told her council colleagues that she’d been approached by members of the Washtenaw Area Apartment Association about the city’s leasing ordinance. She also reminded council that on the same issue they’d heard from Michael Benson, president of the graduate student body at the University of Michigan. At issue is a provision in Ann Arbor’s leasing ordinance, approved by the city council in 2008, which is supposed to prevent landlords from renting or showing an apartment to another renter until 70 days of the current lease period has passed.

Lumm reported that Benson will be scheduling a couple of forums and depending on the feedback from those forums, some recommendations will be forthcoming. She hoped some improvements could be made in the ordinance – some people might like to see the time period requirement repealed, and that might be the best solution, she said. She told the council that she’d give them a heads up when any meetings are scheduled.

Mayor John Hieftje responded to Lumm by saying he felt that people would be happy to entertain discussion of the issue, but he asked that any changes be completed before the end of the semester. The time period requirement had been added to the ordinance because of student concerns, and he wanted want to make sure their input was considered before any changes were implemented.

Comm/Comm: DDA TIF Report

During his communications time, Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) contended the council had not yet received the annual report from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority for the fiscal year 2011, which ended June 30, 2011 and for which the audit was complete. Kunselman said he hoped that either mayor John Hieftje or Sandi Smith (Ward 1), who both serve on the DDA board, could ensure that report is forwarded to the council.

In an email sent to Kunselman the following afternoon, Smith pointed out to Kunselman that the DDA’s annual report had been included in the council’s information packet for its meeting a month earlier – on Jan. 9, 2012. [.pdf of Smith email to Kunselman][.pdf of TIF report]

The TIF (tax increment finance) report shows estimated assessed property value in the district of $392,193,873, of which $140,612,435 is captured value. That’s the increment on which the DDA’s tax increment finance mechanism “captures” the taxes that other taxing authorities would otherwise receive. On that captured value, the DDA received $3,419,042 in revenue. The TIF report also shows outstanding bond indebtedness amounting to $77,854,652 in principal and $39,492,937 in interest for a total of $117,347,589.

Comm/Comm: Recognition of Volunteers

Two residents were honored by separate mayoral proclamations for their volunteer work in assisting the Ann Arbor police department and the broader community: Diane Schillack and Beverly Robbins.

Stephen Kunselman (Ward 3) stood with Robbins as she received her proclamation. After a pause for some photographs, Kunselman delivered a few remarks about Robbins. He called her his “other mother” and her two three sons his brothers, her dad his “gramps.” He said it’s a testament to her good nurturing that he is where he is today, and he gave her a hug to conclude his remarks.

Comm/Comm: Energy Website

Andrew Brix, the city’s energy coordinator, gave the council an update from the energy office. As part of the emphasis on energy savings throughout the community, the energy office has launched a new website: a2energy.org One of the slogans featured prominently on the site reads “Caulk is cheap.” Brix observed that for most homes in Ann Arbor, the two most effective measures to take are air sealing and attic insulation.

Comm/Comm: Year of the Co-op

A mayoral proclamation was issued in honor of co-op businesses in the community – 2012 has been declared “International Year of the Cooperatives” by the United Nations.

Eric Lipson, a former city planning commissioner who is general manager of the Inter-cooperative Council, presented a mug to the council with the twin-pine symbol of co-ops.

Tiffany Ford, new president of the University of Michigan Credit Union, also delivered some remarks to the council, thanking them for the recognition, and reviewing some of the history of UMCU – it was established in 1954.

Comm/Comm: Student Visitors

A large number of students from local schools attended the council’s meeting to satisfy requirements for a class.

Some teachers require students to obtain a signature from a councilmember on an agenda in order to attest to their attendance. So towards the start of the meeting, mayor John Hieftje paused the proceedings and asked students to take the opportunity to get a signature, so as not to distract councilmembers later during the meeting, when students left. He joked that if they left early that he and councilmembers would call their teachers. A student shot back from the audience: “Do you know our teachers?”

Herb David, owner of the eponymous guitar studio located on the corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenue, and Ali Ramlawi, owner of the neighboring Jerusalem Garden, were seated in the audience, having signed up for a public commentary reserved slot. In their remarks, they both addressed the challenges they face in their downtown location – caused by the closure of Fifth Avenue during the construction of the new underground parking structure. When Hieftje brought up the topic of student visitors getting signatures from councilmembers, David quipped to Ramlawi: “I’d like to get one, too – on a check!”

Comm/Comm: Fifth Avenue Underground Parking Garage

Herb David told the council that his business – the Herb David Guitar Studio – would be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. He said he’s enjoyed his situation in Ann Arbor. He contended that Ann Arbor’s downtown is changing from one that is people-oriented to one that is characterized by franchise cookie-cutter businesses. The character of downtown is being destroyed, he contended, and he blamed part of that on the construction of the new Fifth Avenue underground parking garage. He noted that before that, the Internet had already started to have a negative impact on downtown retail.

David told the council that the city gives tax abatements to businesses it wants to attract. What about people you want to retain? he asked councilmembers. People come to his guitar studio from all over the world, and the studio has been written up in various publications. “I think I’m worth supporting,” he said. The council should think about positive ways to support the businesses that bring more people here.

Near the start of his remarks, Ali Ramlawi – owner of Jerusalem Garden – welcomed Jane Lumm (Ward 2) to the council. [She was newly elected in November 2011, having served previously in the mid-1990s.] Ramlawi said he was interested is seeing if Lumm can bring “progressive ideas to a hungry audience.” He said he understood why she ran as an independent and why she won as an independent. About his fellow Democrats, he said, “These are not my daddy’s Democrats.”

Ramlawi told councilmembers that he was there to address them because his neighbor, Herb David, had asked him to come and speak. Fifth Avenue has been closed since August 2010. He’d been told the street would be open again in August 2011. “We want to know when the road will open,” he told the council. Herb David is going into his nest egg, Ramlawi said. Ramlawi’s own business is back to normal – but that’s due to the increase in his catering business to the University of Michigan. He characterized his in-house traffic as “in the toilet.” He told the council he’s used up all his rainy day funds.

Ramlawi ventured somewhat sardonically that he should thank the council – what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. He allowed that after the road opens, he will have a stronger business than he had before. But he noted that the downtown has lost three or four retailers in the last year, and some of that loss he attributed to the construction. He described the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, which is overseeing the parking structure’s construction, as “whisky drunk” on parking revenue. He urged the DDA to stop focusing on the parking system as a source of revenue and to focus on funding police foot patrols and dealing with panhandling issues. People come downtown for arts, culture and food, not to park in a structure, he concluded.

Comm/Comm: Warming Center, Affordable Housing

Several people addressed the council during public commentary about their desire to see a day shelter set up for use as a warming center for the homeless.

Alexandra Hoffman told the council that she’d heard the issue of homelessness described politically as “a hot potato.” She ventured that, “It’s time to get some oven mitts.” She told the council that they shouldn’t shy away from the issue.

Alexandra Hoffman at the podium addresses the council, advocating for a warming center.

Mary Johnson challenged notions of who the homeless are and what they’re capable of. She described the writing workshop at the St. Andrews Episcopal Church that’s offered to homeless people. She told the council that promises have been made to provide affordable housing that remain unmet. She said homeless people would like to contribute back to the city – they can become powerful city volunteers, she said.

Orian Zakai reminded the council that she’d spoken to them twice before about the need for additional warming spaces in the city available all hours of the day and night. Her group has narrowed their request to just daytime. But she told the council that support from the city has failed to manifest itself in a tangible way. She said her group could use help from people with influence who can pick up their phones and make things happen. She’s still waiting for any action on the possibility of using the city-owned 721 N. Main building as a warming center, she said.

While the group is waiting, she said, they’d undertaken their first creative project, during their regular meetings. They’d decided to build a cardboard house – if no one gives them a house, they’d build one themselves, she said. Two walls of the house tell the story of the 100 units of affordable housing that were removed from the downtown area, when the old YMCA building deteriorated to the point that it became uninhabitable and needed to be demolished.

Lily Au was critical of two projects intended to increase the supply of affordable housing – the Near North project, which she described as having high construction costs, and 1500 Pauline, which she said actually resulted in the loss of 15 units of housing.

Alan Haber told the council that they’d been putting out a lot of prayer to hold off the winter. [It's been a mild winter so far.] He said the group of warming center advocates had been given a tour of the city-owned 721 N. Main property by Ralph Welton, the city’s chief development official. Subsequently, Haber said, no one has been responding to their phone calls.

During his communications time, mayor John Hieftje responded to some of the commentary by saying that the city had been working diligently to replace the 100 units of affordable housing that previously existed at the former downtown YMCA. Not all of it is in a single place, he said, but he said that 70 additional units have been created.

Sabra Briere (Ward 1) followed up on Hieftje’s remarks by asking him if it weren’t the case that he’s meeting with people on that issue, which he confirmed he was. Parties to the conversation that he named were the Washtenaw Housing Alliance, H-PORT (Homeless Project Outreach Team), the Washtenaw County administrator and the nonprofit Dawn Farm. He concluded that the need is being met and no one is being turned away. A detox unit has been opened not far from the Delonis Center, he said, for those who are not sober and can’t come into the shelter. No one is outside, he contended, “unless they desire to be out in the cold.”

Present: Jane Lumm, Mike Anglin, Margie Teall, Sabra Briere, Sandi Smith, Tony Derezinski, Stephen Kunselman, Marcia Higgins, John Hieftje, Christopher Taylor, Carsten Hohnke.

Next council meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the second-floor council chambers at city hall, 301 E. Huron. [confirm date]

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