On Jan. 29, Kristin “KT” Tomey attended her first regular meeting of the Ann Arbor public art commission since being appointed by the city council on Jan. 6. (Photos by the writer.)

Some commissioners expressed frustration that they had insufficient information on which to base their evaluation. And after about two hours of discussion – using a scoring rubric with seven criteria – commissioners had evaluated only a few projects: artist-designed street access (manhole) covers, art for the Springwater subdivision, and art for the corridors of Main Street and Plymouth Road. Because there were still several other items on the agenda, they voted to postpone further evaluation of possible capital projects until their next meeting.

In other action, commissioners discussed and approved a draft annual public art plan that’s officially due to the city council on Feb. 1, for projects to be undertaken in the fiscal year that begins July 1. It includes projects that are underway – like artwork for East Stadium bridges and Argo Cascades – as well as a proposal to add some enhanced capital projects, like street access covers on resurfaced roads.

The draft annual plan had been prepared by Aaron Seagraves, the city’s public art administrator. Commissioners asked for some revisions and designated commissioner John Kotarski to work with Seagraves on a final version that will likely be presented to the council on Feb. 18. Kotarski praised the draft, saying “It has as much meat as anyone wants. It shows a lot of work. It shows an art commission that gets the message from an impatient city council.”

Commissioners also discussed a proposal from the Clean Energy Coalition to select and fund an artist who would help incorporate art into a new bike share program. They tabled action on this item, wanting additional information about the CEC’s expectations for funding.

This was AAPAC’s first regular meeting since Oct. 23, 2013, although they held a retreat in December and a planning session earlier in January. Throughout the evening, concerns were raised about the future of the public art program, in light of recent city council discussions. The council had postponed a requested six-month extension of Seagraves’ contract, and will be taking up that item on Feb. 3.

Also on the council’s Feb. 3 agenda is an amendment to the city’s public art ordinance. The amendment would allow the council to return about $800,000 accumulated under the city’s former Percent for Art program to the funds from which that money was drawn, such as the street millage or sanitary sewer fund. It’s the latest in an ongoing transition for the city’s public art program – a transition that’s been unsettling for public art commissioners.

The Jan. 29 meeting marked another transition for AAPAC, which has seen considerable turnover during the past year. It was the first regular monthly meeting for the newest commissioner, Kristin “KT” Tomey, who was appointed by the city council on Jan. 6. And it was the last meeting for Malverne Winborne, whose term ended on Dec. 31. He did not seek reappointment, and was serving until the position was filled. His replacement, Jim Simpson, is expected to be confirmed in a vote at the city council’s Feb. 3 meeting.

Winborne has served as vice chair of AAPAC – but the group held new officer elections on Jan. 29. Bob Miller was re-elected to another one-year term as chair, and John Kotarski was elected vice chair. There were no competing nominations, and both votes were unanimous.

Noting that the Jan. 29 meeting had been especially challenging, Miller thanked commissioners for their work. “This is probably the most belabored meeting I think we’ve ever gone through, aside from maybe one of the retreats,” he said. “I’m tapped out.” He jokingly cajoled commissioners: “Please do come back.”

Miller also encouraged students to return, as about two dozen students from Skyline High School – and some parents – attended the Jan. 29 meeting. “It’s the most amount of people we’ve ever had at any of our meetings,” Miller noted. One student pointed out that they were all from the same government class, facing a Jan. 31 deadline to attend a public meeting.

Future of Public Art Program

At the beginning of the Jan. 29 meeting, commissioners voted to amend the agenda – over the dissent of John Kotarski – to add an item for discussion about the interaction between AAPAC and the city council.

Aaron Seagraves, the city’s part-time public art administrator.

Bob Miller, AAPAC’s chair, reviewed the current discussion that’s underway at city council. At their Jan. 21, 2014 meeting, councilmembers were asked to approve a six-month extension to the contract for the public art administrator – a part-time position held by Aaron Seagraves. Some councilmembers were concerned about the transition from the previous Percent for Art funding mechanism to the new approach, where public art will be “baked in” to the city’s capital projects or done with money that’s raised through other sources in the community. Also raised at that Jan. 21 city council meeting was the issue of as-yet-unallocated funding that remains from the Percent for Art program – about $800,000.

Ultimately, councilmembers postponed action on Seagraves’ contract extension – and that item is now on the Feb. 3 council agenda. The Feb. 3 agenda also includes initial consideration of an amendment to the city’s public art ordinance, sponsored by Jane Lumm (Ward 2). The amendment would allow the council to return money accumulated under the city’s former Percent for Art program to the funds from which that money was drawn – such as the street millage or sanitary sewer fund. The ordinance change would need a second and final council vote at a subsequent meeting to be enacted. Any transfer of public art money would require separate council action after the potential ordinance change.

Miller noted that when the council made revisions to the public art ordinance to eliminate the Percent for Art funding mechanism at its June 3, 2013 meeting, the remaining funds had been intended to provide a transition for the program. [At that time, Lumm had also tried unsuccessfully to return the remaining Percent for Art money to its funds of origins, but she didn't get sufficient support on the council to make that change.]

Craig Hupy, the city’s public services area administrator who attended AAPAC’s Jan. 29 meeting, added that it’s within the council’s “political prerogative to revisit that decision, which is what they are doing now.” He noted that when the council made changes to the program, they made no provisions to pay for arts administration. That’s why the contract extensions for Seagraves – who reports to Hupy – have been made.

If the council decides to return the roughly $800,000 to its funds of origin, Hupy said, it means there won’t be funds available during this interim period for public art. The intent going forward to include public art funding as part of certain capital improvement projects, but those are longer-term efforts. The other funding approach is to partner with outside organizations and do fundraising from the community, but that hasn’t yet gotten off the ground in a significant way. [It's also an option for the council to allocate money from the general fund to cover the salary of a public art administrator salary, but that option has not yet been publicly floated by city councilmembers.]

Ann Arbor public art commissioner Nick Zagar.

Hupy said that if the council doesn’t approve the current contract extension, then staff will be asking for a budget appropriation during the fiscal 2015 budget process for public art administration. That fiscal year runs from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. The staff is currently developing that budget, which will be brought forward to the council in the spring. “I’m not giving you a whole lot of clarity,” Hupy added, “because this is a process that’s in council’s hands.”

Hupy noted that the city council task force that brought forward a proposal last summer to restructure the public art program had envisioned a three-year transition process. “So to think you’re going to whip this in one or two meetings – you’re not going to do it that quickly,” he told commissioners.

Miller added that it’s still “muddy” as to how AAPAC will be structured to do fundraising and partnerships with outside organizations. He noted that some projects – a Coleman Jewett memorial, and the Canoe Imagine Art project, for example – are already using this approach. “So we’ve been moving toward this new model,” Miller said, “but the council still hasn’t figured out how to house the commission in a structure that will allow for us to be fundraising.” He noted that commissioners shouldn’t be the the people who go out and raising money – they should be advising the city on how to select art projects.

Nick Zagar expressed concern about the current status of AAPAC. “We’re volunteers trying to do things we’re passionate about, but there’s never any certainty about things.” And if the city eliminates the public art administrator’s position, “everything I’m sure will grind to a dramatic halt,” Zagar said. It’s hard to want to invest a lot of energy into the program, he added, given that commissioners don’t really have a clear direction about the program’s future.

Miller agreed, and said those questions will have to be answered by the council on Feb. 3. “Public art has been a hot topic since it started,” he said. “It would be nice if [the public art program] had some consistency behind it, for sure.”

Selection of Capital Projects for Public Art

On Jan. 22, AAPAC met in a planning session focused on fine-tuning a criteria and scoring rubric for prioritizing capital projects that could possibly have a public art component. [.pdf of draft scoring rubric]

Craig Hupy, the city’s public services area administrator.

The rubric is modeled after a similar system that’s used by city staff to score and prioritize projects in the capital improvements plan (CIP). Commissioners had been briefed on the CIP process at their Oct. 23, 2013 meeting by Deb Gosselin, who oversees the CIP process.

The draft rubric includes seven categories, with scoring on a scale of 1-10: (1) distribution of art throughout the city; (2) locations of high use and high visibility; (3) placemaking; (4) integrated artwork (whether artwork can be integrated into a project or location); (5) partnerships; (6) funding; and (7) programming – whether a school or other organization could develop programs related to the artwork.

Aaron Seagraves, the city’s public art administrator, had selected 10 projects that are in the city’s current capital improvements plan (CIP) – three starting in fiscal 2015, and seven starting in fiscal 2016.

Those capital projects and possible public art enhancements proposed by Seagraves are:

• Annual street resurfacing (FY 2015): artist-designed street access covers (manhole covers) for the city’s water, sanitary sewer and stormwater systems.
• Sidewalk gaps (FY 2015): Sidewalk stamping.
• Mid-block street crossing improvements, pavement marking and sign replacement (FY 2015): Art to-be-determined for the streets.
• Six specific road projects (FY 2016): East Stadium Boulevard from Huchins to Kipke; Springwater subdivision (south of Packard, west of Platt); Main Street (non-motorized corridor); Plymouth Road (non-motorized corridor); Stone School Road improvements; Packard/Eisenhower, from Stone School to Platt. Artwork would be integrated into the projects.
• Ann Arbor Station (FY 2016): Art would be integrated into the project.

Seagraves noted that he focused on projects that could be included in the annual plan that AAPAC is required to submit to the city council in February. The intent is that the capital projects, when sent to the council for budgetary approval, would include funding for public art to be integrated into the work. He hoped that commissioners could reach a consensus score to prioritize these projects.

Ann Arbor public art commissioner Ashlee Arder.

Commissioners spent about two hours discussing only a few projects on this list: street access covers, art for the Springwater subdivision, and art for the corridors along Main Street and Plymouth Road.

Some commissioners expressed frustration at having to score these items without having a specific project proposal to evaluate. When Seagraves asked who would define the project at this point, John Kotarski suggested that Seagraves would do that, and it would then be evaluated by commissioners. Malverne Winborne agreed: “We need something to grasp on to, and we don’t have it.”

Seagraves noted that it would be difficult to predetermine the art projects – that would be the work of a task force, after AAPAC identifies a CIP project for enhancement. Craig Hupy, the city’s public services area administrator, explained that AAPAC at this point needs to rate the location or type of project and its suitability for art, rather than the specific artwork that might be part of a capital project.

Kotarski felt there was inadequate information to do the scoring. Bob Miller, AAPAC’s chair, directed Seagraves in the future to include photos of the locations, and some suggestions for possible art projects that might be appropriate. But Winborne expressed concern that this would be taking away from the artist’s creativity. “We’ve had long conversations about that,” he noted. “It seems like we’re sort of discounting that now, saying ‘We’ll do it.’” Winborne noted that there’s been turnover on AAPAC, so many of the current commissioners weren’t part of those previous discussions.

Ashlee Arder urged commissioners to focus on the information that they had, rather than on the information that wasn’t available yet. “We realize there are a lot of holes,” she said. Hupy reiterated the purpose of this process – to rate a site or capital project with regard to its potential for public art. Kotarski argued that without a concrete art project in mind, “it’s going to be very difficult for us to do that, in a meaningful way.”

There also was discussion at various points about definitions in the scoring criteria, and a consensus that the rubric needs to be tweaked. It emerged that some commissioners had different understandings of what the criteria meant.

At one point, to expedite the process, Kristin Tomey suggested eliminating some of the categories – like funding, for example, since all projects incorporated into a capital project would presumably receive funding from the city. She also suggested using walkability scores as part of the scoring, using the website Walk Score. It can help identify locations that are high use, she said. Three categories – distribution of art within the city, visibility, and placemaking – seemed like those that AAPAC should focus on, she added.

Miller suggested presenting the rubric to the city council, with notes indicating that there are certain aspects of the rubric that will be modified. Hupy supported that approach, saying it was understandable that there would be changes to the process, because this was the first time that AAPAC had done it.

Ann Arbor public art commissioner Devon Akmon.

Hupy told the commissioners that they are suffering from what happens to other groups that go through this process: It’s very difficult at first, but gets easier as they score more projects. “It’s a process of learning,” he said. Hupy noted that the council has asked for staff to report back about AAPAC’s selection process – the rubric that the commission has been developing to help prioritize capital projects that could possibly be enhanced with public art. “So the work you’ve been doing is following the transition as laid out in the ordinance.”

Hupy also offered to bring back more supporting materials for commissioners to help them evaluate capital projects, and pointed out that nothing is set in stone at this point – they can revisit their decisions.

Nick Zagar also requested maps showing the location of existing public art – including art on the University of Michigan campus – to make it easier to tell what neighborhoods or areas don’t have public art. Devon Akmon suggested putting that information online, as a resource for commissioners but also as a marketing tool for the public.

Tomey recommended standardizing the presentation of material to commissioners, so they could be sure they had the information they needed.

After nearly two hours, Akmon pointed out that the group hadn’t finished scoring the 10 CIP projects that Seagraves had brought forward – and they still had most of their agenda to move through, in addition to that. He suggested postponing discussion of the other CIP projects, and tackling only two or three per meeting. “It’s a little fatiguing,” he said, describing the effort as almost like urban planning, with public art as the next step.

Miller agreed, saying “we’ve been stifled by this process.”

Hupy noted that in refining this scoring rubric, it might make sense to focus on locations as a first step, then looking at a public art concept as a second step. There seemed to be some consensus about taking this approach.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to postpone further evaluation of the possible CIP projects that might be enhanced with public art. They’ll take up the task again at a future meeting.

Public Art Annual Plan

In the past, the public art annual plan was required to be submitted to the city council by April 1. But at AAPAC’s April 24, 2013 meeting, commissioners voted to recommend shifting that date to Feb. 1 – a move intended to allow the council to make budget decisions based on recommendations from AAPAC. Shifting the date of the annual plan was linked to a major restructuring of the city’s public art program, which is still underway. The city council subsequently made revisions to the public art ordinance – Chapter 24 of the city code – that included the Feb. 1 deadline for submitting the annual plan. From the city code:

(2) The oversight body shall:
…
(B) By February 1 of each year, submit to City Council a plan detailing potential projects and desirable goals to be pursued in the next fiscal year, including enhanced projects and any proposed expenditure of donated, grant, or other funds. The plan shall also include a recommendation as to which projects from the current Capital Improvements Plan are appropriate for designation as enhanced projects; …

On Jan. 29, Aaron Seagraves, the city’s public art administrator, presented a draft annual plan for fiscal 2015. He hoped AAPAC would approve that night, so that it could be forwarded to the city council. [.pdf of draft FY 2015 annual plan]

Ann Arbor public art commissioner John Kotarski.

John Kotarski characterized the draft as one of the best plans that AAPAC has ever created. It’s thorough, covering everything that the commission has done, and has a plan for moving forward, he said.

“It has as much meat as anyone wants,” Kotarski added. “It shows a lot of work. It shows an art commission that gets the message from an impatient city council.”

Bob Miller then asked about the wastewater treatment plant project that was included in the draft plan. “I don’t want to include it,” Kotarski replied, saying that the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum had withdrawn a proposal to partner on artwork at the new plant.

Six other ongoing public art projects were listed in the draft plan:

• Completion of the public art project at East Stadium bridges. Artist Catherine Widgery was recommended by a selection panel, and is completing modifications to the original design. The final design will be brought forward for additional public input, and will need approval by AAPAC and then by the city council. Installation is expected in FY 2015. The project’s total budget is $400,000.
• Completion of public art at Argo Cascades. The selection panel has tabled proposals by the previous two finalists, and is reviewing other options for that site. No recommendation has yet been made to AAPAC. The total budget is set at $150,000.
• Public art at Arbor Oaks Park. This project is in partnership with Bryant Neighborhood Association and the nonprofit Community Action Network, which is under contract with the city to run the Bryant Community Center. It will involve participation of the neighborhood in the design and creation of the artwork. A grant application to help fund this project was submitted to the Southeast Michigan Community Foundation in November 2013. No city public art funds have been allocated, and additional funding is expected to be raised through community donations.
• Canoe Imagine Art. AAPAC has approved $10,000 in funding for this community art project – a temporary art display in downtown Ann Arbor using old canoes from the city that would be repurposed as public art. The installation is expected to take place in fiscal 2015 or 2016, depending on funding. The project also has received a $21,000 grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, and organizers plan to raise additional funds from private donors.
• Coleman Jewett Memorial. A bronze replica of an Adirondack chair made by Coleman Jewett will be located at the Ann Arbor farmers market. Jewett was a long-time local educator who died in January of 2013. After he retired, he made furniture that he sold at the Ann Arbor farmers market. AAPAC has committed $5,000 to the project, which has a total project of $36,000. Other funds will be raised from private donations, including a contribution from the Old West Side Association.
• Graphics for Control Boxes. Called “PowerArt,” this project involves wrapping about 40 traffic signal boxes in the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority district with vinyl printed replicas of artwork. The initial pilot phase would focus on 14 boxes at a total cost of $41,000, to be split between the city and the DDA. AAPAC approved $20,500 for the first year as a pilot project. The project is being administered by the Arts Alliance in response to a DDA request.

In addition, Seagraves hoped to include some projects from the city’s capital improvements plan (CIP), which commissioners had discussed and started to evaluate earlier in the meeting. Kotarski suggested stating in the annual plan that AAPAC is working on a rubric and practicing the application of that rubric on potential projects – that it’s a work in progress.

Seagraves proposed including three projects from the FY 2015 CIP. Commissioners agreed, noting that there had been consensus on these projects during their earlier discussion:

• Annual street resurfacing (FY 2015): artist-designed street access covers (manhole covers) for the city’s water, sanitary sewer and stormwater systems.
• Sidewalk gaps (FY 2015): Sidewalk stamping.
• Mid-block street crossing improvements, pavement marking and sign replacement (FY 2015): Art to-be-determined for the streets.

Seagraves also recommended including dollar amounts to fund these projects – $60,000 for access covers and $60,000 for sidewalk stamping. Kotarski expressed concern that there wasn’t sufficient justification at this point for any particular amount. Seagraves said he’d research the cost so that he could include it in the plan.

Miller proposed that AAPAC approve the annual plan at that night’s meeting, contingent on revisions that Seagraves would make. Kristin Tomey asked whether commissioners could vote on the plan via email, after Seagraves made revisions. [The answer is no. Even if the public art commission were analyzed as a purely advisory body under the Michigan Open Meetings Act that would not allow the commission to ignore the OMA. That's because of a policy approved by the city council in 1991, which states that such groups are still expected to conform to the spirit of the OMA – to the best ability of that entity’s members. For more background on this issue, see "Column: A Reminder on Open Government."]

Malverne Winborne suggested that the commissioners approve the draft plan, then empower one commissioner to work with Seagraves on the final revisions. Miller asked Kotarski to take on that task.

Outcome: Commissioners approved the draft annual plan, and authorized John Kotarski to work with Aaron Seagraves in making final revisions.

The expectation at the Jan. 29 meeting was that the annual plan would be submitted to the council on Feb. 3. Responding to a follow-up query from The Chronicle on Jan. 30, Seagraves said that the plan will instead be on a future agenda, possibly on Feb. 18.

Bike Share Program

AAPAC was asked to consider a proposal from the Clean Energy Coalition to select an artist who would work to incorporate art into a new bike share program. [.pdf of CEC proposal]

The bike share program, with a planned launch in the summer of 2014, will include 14 stations and 125 bikes at locations in downtown Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus.

In part, the proposal states:

CEC seeks a local artist to join the bike share team and contribute to several areas of the Ann Arbor bike share project. Specifically, CEC proposes to work directly with the Art Commission to select a local artist to work on the program. The artist would fill an integral role within the planning and launch processes currently in motion. In addition to standard graphic design work for promotional purposes, the artist will have the opportunity to design a collection of maps to feature bike share stations and local elements. The artist would also participate in marketing meetings and other planning activities to ensure that art is a deliberate and consistent attribute of the bike share program.

The position will run from late winter through the summer launch of bike share. CEC hopes to embrace the city’s vibrant culture of artists and creativity to design a unique identity for the bike share program, and commissioning a local artist is the ideal way to build this brand. This position would likely require 10-15 hours per week to attend partner meetings and produce the desired materials. CEC requests that the Public Art Commission cover the cost of the artist’s time and materials needed to produce artwork for the program. CEC will offer office space, make connections to program partners, and serve in a project management role to provide as much guidance as needed.

Nick Zagar questioned whether AAPAC could select a local artist. Bob Miller replied that the call for artists is open to anyone, and it’s up to the task force to select an artist – local or not. Miller began to elaborate, saying, “Speaking candidly about that…” He was cut off by John Kotarski, who cautioned: “I wouldn’t speak candidly, because your candid comments might very well be published.”

Bob Miller, chair of the Ann Arbor public art commission.

Miller replied, saying “This is not something that’s secret. Dollar amounts sometimes dictate who gets involved.” [His point was that if a budget is low, it won't likely attract applicants from outside the area.] Kotarski noted that Craig Hupy, the city’s public services area administrator, had indicated it would be possible to select an artist as a “sole source provider” for a particular project. An open call for proposals, however, can’t be restricted geographically, he said. If AAPAC picked a single artist as a sole source provider, they’d have to explain why that particular artist has been selected. Kotarski said that Hupy had reviewed this process with the city attorney’s office too. [Hupy had left the meeting by this point.]

Zagar said it seemed like CEC was really looking for a graphic artist.

Commissioners also discussed where the funding might come from, if they pursued this project. In response to a suggestion from Miller, Kotarski expressed skepticism that the city council would allocate money from the city’s general fund. “Let’s bring it up at the next [council] meeting, when they’re sending the money back,” Kotarski quipped – a reference to the Feb. 3 council resolution that, if approved, would return remaining Percent for Art money to its original funding source.

Kotarski recommended that AAPAC endorse the project and help in any way they can, but without committing dollars to it.

Ashlee Arder noted that there were a lot of unanswered questions regarding the proposal, such as what kind of funding the CEC is requesting. She compared it to the much more detailed proposal that Deb Polich had provided for the PowerArt project. [.pdf of PowerArt proposal, made by Polich at AAPAC's Sept. 25, 2013 meeting.]

Miller said the commission would be hard-pressed to make a decision on this, without additional information. Kotarski added that AAPAC would be hard-pressed to spend any additional money at all, other than the projects that are in progress.

Kristin Tomey wondered about the process by which proposals like this are brought forward to AAPAC. Miller replied that in the past, most proposals haven’t provided the level of detail that AAPAC would like to see.

By way of background, the commission has previously developed a project intake form as a template for new projects. The project intake form is posted on AAPAC’s website. However, some commissioners have criticized the current process. The issue was debated at AAPAC’s Sept. 25, 2013 meeting. From The Chronicle’s report:

As he did during the Canoe Imagine Art discussion, John Kotarski said he’d like a more elaborate proposal for this and all projects that come to AAPAC for approval. He thought that the fundraising materials that [Marsha] Chamberlin had developed might serve that purpose.

Chamberlin pointed out that this project was approved about six months ago and has been discussed at virtually every meeting since then. “I just assumed people were up to speed on it,” she said.

Kotarski said his intent isn’t to get AAPAC up to speed. Rather, this kind of documentation will show the public that AAPAC was thorough in its work, before making decisions. He said he was critical of all the intake forms, and he’d emailed Aaron Seagraves with his comments. “I think our approach now is shoot, ready aim,” Kotarski said. “We are making decisions before we really, fully have a fleshed out concept and idea.” He’d like to change their approach, and said the Arts Alliance proposal [for PowerArt] provides a good model.

Chamberlin replied that the commission had developed the process of using project intake forms, so it should be a commission decision if they want to change that approach. These projects have been documented and presented to the commission at previous meetings, she noted.

Connie Brown felt that Kotarski was raising a broader issue, and she agreed that going forward, each project should have a more detailed packet of material. Bob Miller asked [Aaron] Seagraves to provide that type of packet in the future.

Chamberlin noted that this would dramatically change the process that AAPAC has developed. That process entails initial approval by AAPAC to move ahead on a project, followed by the formation of a task force to flesh out a more detailed proposal, on which AAPAC then votes.

After further discussion, commissioners reached consensus for Seagraves to compile more detailed proposals for AAPAC projects.

At the Jan. 29 meeting, Kotarski said he’d like to endorse the CEC bike share project, but that at this time AAPAC couldn’t commit any funding to it. Malverne Winborne reminded Kotarski about previous discussions that AAPAC has had about not endorsing projects. [The issue of endorsements arose when AAPAC was approached about endorsing a large Whirlydoodle installation. At AAPAC's July 25, 2012 meeting, Kotarski was unsuccessful in convincing other commissioners to support an endorsement policy for non-city-funded art projects. After a lengthy debate, AAPAC passed a resolution at that meeting stating that the commission would not make endorsements – and Kotarski cast the lone dissenting vote. There has been considerable turnover on the commission since that time.]

Winborne explained to new commissioners that there had been concern about “scope creep” at a time when AAPAC was trying to focus on moving forward with projects funded by the city’s Percent for Art program. Kotarski told Winborne that he’d take back his recommendation to endorse the bike share program.

Kotarski then moved to table the item until AAPAC received more information about the proposal.

Outcome: Commissioners voted unanimously to table the CEC bike share proposal.

Officer Elections

AAPAC’s bylaws call for the commission to hold officer elections for chair and vice chair in January, by secret ballot. From the bylaws:

Article VI Officers
Section 1. The officers of AAPAC shall be a Chair and Vice-Chair. The officers shall be elected by secret ballot each year from among the voting members of AAPAC. The officers shall be elected for a one-year term by a majority of the voting members currently serving on AAPAC. No member shall serve more than three (3) consecutive one-year terms in one office. The term of the officers shall run from the date of AAPAC’s regular meeting in January to the date of AAPAC’s regular meeting in January of the following year. [.pdf of AAPAC bylaws]

Bob Miller has served as chair for the past year, and offered to serve again. There were no other competing nominations.

Malverne Winborne attended his last meeting as an Ann Arbor public art commissioner on Jan. 29.

The current vice chair, Malverne Winborne, is stepping down from AAPAC. He did not seek reappointment after serving one three-year term, and the Jan. 29 meeting was his final one. John Kotarski was nominated as vice chair, and there were no competing nominations.

Votes were taken on slips of yellow paper and tallied by Winborne.

Outcome: Bob Miller and John Kotarski were unanimously elected as chair and vice chair of AAPAC.

At the city council’s Jan. 21 meeting, Jim Simpson was nominated to fill the vacancy of Winborne on the public art commission. Winborne’s term ended on Dec. 31, 2013. A confirmation vote on Simpson’s appointment is expected at the council’s Feb. 3 meeting.

Simpson works with the software firm Duo Security in Ann Arbor, and is affiliated with Baron Glassworks in Ypsilanti.

Commissioners present: Devon Akmon, Ashlee Arder, John Kotarski, Bob Miller, Kristin Tomey, Malverne Winborne, Nick Zagar. Also: Aaron Seagraves, the city’s public art administrator.

Absent: Connie Brown, Marsha Chamberlin.

Next regular meeting: Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2013 at 4:30 p.m. in the basement conference room at city hall, 301 E. Huron St. [Check Chronicle events listing to confirm date]

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Magenta dots indicate addresses of donors to the campaign of Ward 2 independent Jane Lumm. Overridge Drive is Lumm's home street, located near Huron Hills golf course, visible to the north in this image.

In an uncontested Ward 1 race, documents filed with the Washtenaw county clerk’s office show Democratic incumbent Sabra Briere raised $3,640 from 48 donors since the primary election (which for her was also uncontested).

In the contested Ward 3 race, Democratic incumbent Stephen Kunselman raised an additional $20 from one donor, bringing his total to $4,045 for this year’s election cycle. Kunselman prevailed in a three-way primary in August. Kunselman’s Republican challenger David Parker filed a waiver request – which is allowed if a candidate expects to spend less than $1,000.

In Ward 4, Democratic incumbent Marcia Higgins raised $1,075 from seven donors, compared with no contributions raised by her Republican opponent Eric Scheie. Scheie filed a negative balance (–$1,173.73), which earned him a notice of error from the county clerk’s office – the source of funds used to pay for expenditures must be given, even if it is a loan by the candidate to the campaign.

In Ward 5, Democratic incumbent Mike Anglin, who also had a contested primary, raised an additional $185 from three donors to bring his total this year to $7,405. Anglin’s Republican challenger Stuart Berry filed a waiver request.

In Ward 2, filing documents for Stephen Rapundalo show he raised an additional $4,420 since the primary, which was a contested race for him, bringing the total indicated on his paperwork for this year’s campaign to $8,505. [The Chronicle's arithmetic calculates $4,380, not $4,420, for this filing period.]

Independent challenger Jane Lumm, who of course did not participate in a partisan primary, outpaced all other candidates’ combined totals since the primaries by raising $18,950 from 193 donors.

After the jump we break down the Ward 2 contributions with charts and maps.

Ward 2: Who and How Much?

For Rapundalo, the pattern of contribution size was similar to the trend shown for his primary campaign – most contributions fell in the $50-$100 range.

About a third of contributions to Rapundalo’s campaign came from current or former elected or appointed officials, including Janis Bobrin (Washtenaw County water resources commissioner), Jean Carlberg (former planning commissioner and former city councilmember), Eunice Burns (former DDA board member), Christopher Taylor (Ann Arbor city councilmember), John Hieftje (mayor), Jan Barney Newman (Ann Arbor District Library board), John Splitt (DDA board member), Margie Teall (city councilmember), Brian Mackie (Washtenaw County prosecutor), and Joan Lowenstein (former city councilmember and current DDA board member).

Inspire Michigan also contributed to Rapundalo’s campaign, listing its address as that of Ned Staebler, who was appointed to the Local Development Finance Authority at the city council’s last meeting. The resolution appointing Staebler was sponsored by Rapundalo.

Former city of Ann Arbor community services area administrator Jayne Miller is also listed among Rapundalo’s contributors. [Miller took a job as superintendent of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation board a year ago, but the campaign contribution filing lists her Ann Arbor address.]

Chart A: Count of contributions for Rapundalo by category. Total of 33 donors, averaging $133 per contribution and a median of $100. Largest donation was $500.

The distribution of size among donations to Lumm’s campaign was skewed slightly lower than for Rapundalo – the highest frequency category was the $26-50 range.

Lumm’s contributors also include former city officials and past council candidates: Ingrid Sheldon (former mayor), Leslie Morris (former city councilmember), Peter Fink (former city councilmember), Stew Nelson (former Ward 2 candidate), Edwin Amonsen (former Ward 2 candidate), Emily Salvette (former Ward 2 candidate), Debra Bourque (spouse of Tom Bourque, a former Ward 2 candidate), John Floyd (former Ward 5 candidate), Vivienne Armentrout (former Ward 5 candidate), Ethel Potts (former council candidate and former planning commissioner) and Ed Shaffran (former DDA board member).

Chart A: Count of contributions for Lumm by category. Total of 193 donors averaging $98 per contribution and a median of $100. Largest donation was $1,000 (from Lumm and her husband).

Ward 2: Where?

In the maps we’ve created below, the light blue shaded area is Ward 2, with the city boundary shown in yellow. The magenta dots locate addresses of people who made donations. The size of the dots is uniform – they’re not sized to depict the amount of a donation. [link to dynamic Google Map with .kml file for Rapundalo's contributions] [link to dynamic Google Map with .kml file for Lumm's contributions]

For Rapundalo, no real patterns are evident. His support comes from inside and outside the ward.

Contributions to Stehen Rapundalo's campaign for the general election filing period. (Links to larger image.)

For Lumm, there’s a clear pattern of strong support in the southern part of the ward, Lumm’s home neighborhood, inside the loop formed by Washtenaw Avenue to the south, Huron Parkway to the east, and Geddes to the north. Another cluster of support inside the ward is evident in the middle of the ward, in the Glazier Way neighborhood.

Outside the ward, there’s a cluster of support in the Lawton neighborhood in the southwestern part of the city, as well as in the downtown area.

Contributions to Jane Lumm's campaign for the general election filing period. (Links to larger image.)

Historically, Ward 2 candidates running against Rapundalo have had relatively stronger showings at the polls in the same areas where Lumm is drawing financial support. [See Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor Elections: Past Voting Patterns" and "Incumbents Win Ann Arbor Dem Primaries"] However, he’s managed to prevail based on his popularity in his own neighborhood in the northern tier of the ward.

This year, the general election falls on Nov. 8. Readers who are unsure where to vote can type their address into the My Property page of the city of Ann Arbor’s website to get that information. A map of city ward boundaries is also online.

Additional Chronicle coverage of the local 2011 general election races includes reports from the League of Women Voters candidate forums for city council and Ann Arbor Public Schools board.

The Chronicle could not survive without regular voluntary subscriptions to support our coverage of public bodies like the Ann Arbor city council. Click this link for details: Subscribe to The Chronicle. And if you’re already supporting us, please encourage your friends, neighbors and colleagues to help support The Chronicle, too!

Members of the Michigan Nurses Association union held banners during the Sept. 15 regents meeting, showing signatures from their supporters. (Photos by the writer.)

The Michigan Nurses Association, which represents about 4,000 UM nurses, is negotiating a new contract. Members brought large banners with signatures from their supporters, and three people spoke about the issue during public commentary – including Brit Satchwell, head of the Ann Arbor teachers union. The nurses are concerned that weaker benefits will affect patient care by hurting the UM health system’s ability to retain and recruit high-quality nurses.

Ora Pescovitz – UM’s executive vice president for medical affairs – read a statement to the board, asserting her respect for the nurses but saying the health system needs an agreement that’s market- and cost-competitive.

Also during the meeting, regents got an overview of UM’s annual development report for fiscal 2011, which ended June 30. The university received $273.14 million in contributions during the year, up from $254.08 million the previous year – an increase of 7.5%. The previous two years had shown declines from the $342.05 million raised in FY 2008, which marked the end of the multi-year $3.2 billion Michigan Difference fundraising campaign.

As part of that report, a couple who’ve given considerable financial support to UM – Bill and Dee Brehm – spoke to the regents about the motivation for their donations. They provide support for UM’s Brehm Center for Diabetes Research and Brehm Scholars program, among other initiatives.

Regents also heard from students and staff about work toward environmental sustainability on campus and in coursework. More is in the works: On Sept. 27, Coleman is scheduled to make an address to campus, expanding UM’s sustainability goals for both academics and operations. Her remarks will be shown via a webcast, starting at 11 a.m.

A range of action items during the meeting received little discussion and were all passed unanimously. They included several construction-related projects, the creation of two medical school departments, and authorization to buy a parcel at 716 Oakland Ave. in Ann Arbor, between Monroe and Hill streets near the law school campus. This is the fourth Ann Arbor property that UM has purchased within the past year with an apartment building on the lot.

President’s Raise

During the time for committee reports, regent Martin Taylor – who chairs the board’s personnel, compensation and governance committee – introduced a motion to award president Mary Sue Coleman a 2.75% raise, effective Aug. 1, 2011. Coleman’s salary before the raise was $570,105.

Taylor praised Coleman for her leadership, citing her role in the university’s economic development efforts. The Venture Accelerator program, a start-up incubator located in the North Campus Research Complex (NCRC), is 60% full, less than a year after opening, he noted. UM is in the top 10 universities for the number of spin-off companies created from technology developed there, with more than 90 firms founded since 2001. Research funding will top $1.3 billion by the end of this year, he said. And the university has created a masters degree in entrepreneurship.

UM president Mary Sue Coleman.

Taylor also commended Coleman for expanding the university’s global reach, and for overseeing the largest capital building effort in the university’s history – with projects that are all on schedule on on budget, he noted. She has also led development of an environmentally sustainable campus, and pushes on all fronts for academic excellence.

Coleman is focused on the future, Taylor said, citing the “deep” renovations of several residence halls during her tenure. She’s also a leader on the national level, he said. She was named by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to co-chair the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She’s chair of the Internet2 board of trustees, and will be named chair next month of the Association of American Universities executive committee. Taylor also noted that Coleman joined president Barack Obama this summer in announcing his Advanced Manufacturing Partnership – UM is one of the partners.

Coleman “really puts the university in a place it wants to be,” he said, making it “the leaders and best.”

Taylor expressed regret that the regents weren’t proposing a higher increase, saying the raise amounts to a “whopping” $15,678. He said the board would like to award a higher amount, but must factor in the state’s economy.

Regents had awarded Coleman a 3% raise a year ago. Her compensation package also includes $75,000 in deferred compensation, a $100,000 retention bonus, $24,500 in retirement pay, and an additional $30,850 supplemental retirement payment. Her current contract goes through July 31, 2014.

Outcome: Regents voted unanimously to award a 2.75% raise to UM president Mary Sue Coleman.

After the vote, Coleman said she was deeply grateful. She praised her executives for their work, saying she was part of a team effort. She noted that she and her husband, Ken Coleman, recently received letters from students who’ve benefited from scholarships the Colemans funded to travel abroad. “I’m well-compensated,” she said, adding that she planned to donate her raise to fund scholarships for international travel. “This is the thrill of my life to be here,” Coleman said. She received a round of applause from the regents and staff.

Nurses Union Negotiations

There was no agenda item related to ongoing negotiations between UM administrators and the Michigan Nurses Association, which represents about 4,000 UM nurses. But with union members – wearing distinctive red T-shirts – packed into the audience, the issue provided a clear backdrop to the meeting. The previous contract expired June 30.

Ora Pescovitz, UM executive vice president for medical affairs, at the board table prior to the Sept. 15 regents meeting. Behind her is a banner held by supporters of the Michigan Nurses Association, which is negotiating with UM for a new contract.

During her report to the board, Ora Pescovitz – UM’s executive vice president for medical affairs – read a statement regarding the situation. She noted that the two groups had been negotiating since April, and that although they’d reached agreement on a variety of points, there remained some unresolved issues. The university needed to reach an agreement that is market- and cost-competitive, she said, allowing it to recruit and retain nurses of the highest caliber.

Pescovitz acknowledged that earlier in the week, the union had asked the Michigan Employee Relations Commission to conduct fact-finding for the two parties. She said the administration welcomes this process, and looks forward to a successful outcome. The university values and respects the nurses, she said.

Nurses Union: Public Commentary

There was no other discussion on the situation among executives or regents, but three people spoke in support of the nurses during public commentary at the end of the meeting.

Brit Satchwell – president of the Ann Arbor Education Association, the union representing about 1,200 teachers in the Ann Arbor Public Schools district – said he wasn’t there to talk about education. He went on to describe his mother, Clelia Steele, who was instrumental in the early push for Title IX legislation. She was compassionate yet formidable, he said, and not prone to fear – until she was diagnosed at age 79 with colon cancer.

Over the past year, she survived five major surgeries at the UM hospital. And while her doctor, Sandra Wong, was brilliant and helped save his mother’s life, “my mother will tell you that it was the many nurses who healed her that made all the difference.” Satchwell said he sympathized with the difficult choices that the administration needed to make as the state tries to pull out of recession, but he urged them to focus on the institution’s core priorities. “The nurses are the heart, soul and backbone of this great university’s health system, and you weaken that foundation at the system’s eventual peril.”

Keri Bokor told regents that she has a business management degree, but got into nursing because it’s her passion – she’s been working six years in the UM hospital’s surgical intensive care unit, and she’s proud of it every day. It’s difficult to become a nurse, she said, and to become a UM nurse requires a whole different level of skill and perseverance. She said she didn’t understand how administrators could expect concessions from the nurses while taking big raises themselves. [Pescovitz received a $21,000 raise for 2010-11, bringing her salary to $721,000. Doug Strong, CEO of the UM Hospitals and Health Centers, received a $53,637 raise for 2010-11 – his salary is $600,000.]

Bokor told regents that Washtenaw County sheriff Jerry Clayton took a pay cut when he asked his employees to do the same – that was honorable, she said. How can hospital administrators expect their staff to respect them when they fail to set an example? she asked. Bokor said that the situation is really about patient care. The administration risks too much if all they care about is the bottom line – high-quality, highly-specialized nurses could leave. She said there are 21 items that the administration wants to take away from nurses, and noted that the banners on display in the room show thousands of signatures in support of the nurses. “This is a game that hurts everyone,” Bokor concluded. “Please let’s not play it any longer.”

Julia Morrissey, a UM nurse and member of the Michigan Nurses Association, holds her baby while speaking to the board of regents during public commentary.

At the conclusion of Bokor’s remarks, regent Denise Ilitch asked her for some examples of the 21 items she had alluded to. Bokor said she couldn’t recall all the details, but that issues included limiting overtime, asking nurses to cover more of their health insurance costs, and taking away other benefits that the union had bargained for over the past 30 years. In essence, they’d be taking a pay cut, she said. Bokor told the regents that many of the nurses she worked with lived in Toledo, but worked at UM because the benefits were attractive. If you take those benefits away, you’ll lose high-quality nurses who have options to go elsewhere, she said.

Another UM nurse, Julia Morrissey, told regents that all the nurses and other supporters who turned out to the meeting were there because they are serious. They understand that if the administration undercuts respect for the profession, nurses will leave. Negotiations aren’t moving, she said, and the health system is more interested in the bottom line than about the people who care for patients.

Patient care suffers if there aren’t sufficient staffing levels to respond to the patients’ needs, Morrissey said. She noted that the health system will be hiring nurses for its new C.S. Mott children’s hospital, yet won’t be able to retain current staff if benefits are cut. [UM is expected to hire another 500 health professionals for the new C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, which opens in November.]

Morrissey said negotiations are a distraction to their work, requiring that they come to meetings and picket in front of the hospital. If administrators will stop caring only about money, then “4,000 angry nurses can calm down,” she said. Nurses have been asked to be world-class patient advocates, and that’s what they’re doing. As to why the health system’s administrators are behaving this way, she concluded, “we frankly can’t believe it.”

Nurses Union: Follow-up

In a phone interview with The Chronicle later in the week, Ann Kettering Sincox, a representative with the Michigan Nurses Association, clarified that the state fact-finder will look at the issues and make an objective analysis. However, it won’t be a binding decision, she said, and negotiations are ongoing. The next meeting between the union and administration is set for Sept. 21.

Safe patient care is an overriding issue, Sincox said. There’s concern that if benefits are weakened, the highly skilled nurses that currently work for UM will leave – those working in specialized areas like the children’s transplant unit. As one example, Sincox said nurses are being asked to pay 30% of their health care premiums. In some cases, that would double the amount that nurses are currently paying.

If less attractive benefits are put in place, it will be difficult to recruit new nurses with the same level of skill and experience, Sincox said, because skilled nurses “don’t come cheap.”

When asked about the possibility of a walk-out, Sincox said there’s nothing like that planned at this point, noting that it would require a vote of the union membership. However, she added, “it’s something that you can’t rule out completely.”

Annual Development Report

During Thursday’s meeting, Jerry May – UM’s vice president of development – presented highlights from the annual development report for FY 2011, which ended June 30. [.pdf file of FY 2011 development report]

The university received $273.14 million in contributions during the year, up from $254.08 million the previous year – an increase of 7.5%. The previous two years had shown declines from the $342.05 million raised in FY 2008, which marked the end of the multi-year $3.2 billion Michigan Difference fundraising campaign. Turmoil in the economy had also been a factor in the decline, May said.

Jerry May, right, UM's vice president of development, talks with provost Phil Hanlon prior to the start of the Sept. 15 regents meeting.

By unit, the top five totals in FY 2011 were received by (1) the medical school – $61.90 million; (2) college of engineering – $34.40 million; (3) athletics – $31.31 million; (4) college of literature, science & the arts (LSA) – $29.17 million; and (5) law school – $19.85 million.

May noted that UM has seen an increase in the number of individual donors giving $25,000 or less. In FY 2011, there were about 109,000 donors in that category, up from about $104,000 the previous year.

Gifts from corporations increased from $17 million to $19 million, and foundation support grew from $34 million to $46 million.

About $65 million for scholarships was available for distribution from the endowment in FY 2011. Coupled with $13 million in expendable gifts, there was $78 million distributed in scholarships during the year, helping over 11,200 students, May said.

Annual Development Report: Bill & Dee Brehm

As part of his presentation, May introduced two major donors to the university: Bill and Dee Brehm.

Before they spoke, May showed a video of Linda Saab, a graduate of Fordson High School in Dearborn who was the first Brehm Scholar. The Brehm Scholars program awards four-year full tuition scholarships to UM for students from Fordson, which Bill Brehm also attended, graduating in 1947. It’s one of several efforts at UM that are supported by the Brehms, who over the years have contributed a total of $52 million to the university.

Bill Brehm is founder of SRA International, a Fairfax, Va. firm that provides consulting and technology services to the national security, civil government and global health industries. He described how he returned to Fordson in 1997, and was impressed by the condition of the school and the quality of the students. He noted that he’d been the recipient of a regents scholarship to UM, and decided to give back by setting up a scholarship program for Fordson students. The Brehms later set up a program awarding four-year full tuition scholarships to UM medical school as well – Linda Saab received that scholarship, too.

The program has awarded 30 undergraduate scholarships so far, and three for medical school. All are given to students with three qualities, Brehm said: excellent academic scholarship, leadership, and community service.

Dee and Bill Brehm.

Dee Brehm explained the genesis of their support for the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research. She has suffered from Type I diabetes for 62 years. About 12 years ago, she was making dinner in the kitchen when Bill came in and asked how he could help, presumably with dinner prep. “I said, ‘You can find a cure!” she recalled. After pausing a few seconds, he told her he would. From that day on, she said, her husband has been focused on that cause.

In doing research about how best to support finding a cure, the Brehms had a meeting with Frances Collins, a former UM researcher who at the time was leading the Human Genome Project, and now is director of the National Institutes of Health. After they told him what they were hoping to do, Collins told them, “I think you should go to Michigan.” He then put his hands out and asked them to pray, Dee Brehm recalled – his prayer asked that they be guided to the best place for their goal of curing diabetes. Their dream is that the cure will come from Michigan, she said.

Bill Brehm also talked about the importance of outreach. He started the Brehm Coalition for that reason – it brings together nine leading researchers in the fields of immunology and beta-cell biology, which are critical to understanding diabetes and its potential cure. These researchers come from institutions that account for 95% of funding for diabetes research, yet until the coalition was formed in 2007, they’d never met in the same room. Now they say they’d never go back to the way it was, Brehm said. [The group includes Peter Arvan, director of the UM Comprehensive Diabetes Center.]

When asked by May to comment on their philosophy of philanthropy, Bill Brehm said they rarely respond to an ask. They strongly believe that dreams and ideas must come first, followed by funding. The development staff at Michigan doesn’t ask them for money, Dee Brehm said – the staff listens to what they want to do, comes back with some options, and only then is money discussed.

Regents thanked the Brehms for coming to the meeting and sharing their story. Andrea Fischer Newman, who’s been a regent since 1994, said the board hasn’t previously had a presentation like this one, and it really brought the university’s development efforts close to home. They often don’t hear this kind of personal story, she said.

Denise Ilitch, the board’s chair, told the Brehms they set a wonderful example, and that she had to hold back tears during their talk. The board and staff gave the Brehms a standing ovation.

Mary Sue Coleman told the Brehms they are a wonderful example of how individuals can change a paradigm.

Security on Campus

During her report to the board, Royster Harper – UM’s vice president for student affairs – addressed the issue of security on campus, in the wake of several sexual assaults this summer and more recently. The UM Dept. of Public Safety and the Ann Arbor police have increased their patrols in the late evening and early morning hours, she said, and there’s been good cooperation on that front.

Sue Scarnecchia, left, UM's general counsel, talks with Royster Harper, vice president of student affairs. In the background are supporters of the Michigan Nurses Association union.

Students have led the development of a pilot program focused on safety, she reported. Students are going door-to-door in neighborhoods around campus, helping do safety checks and encouraging residents to form neighborhood block clubs for additional security. Other plans include a focus on better lighting, cutting back shrubs, and creating Facebook pages specifically for student neighborhoods, Harper said.

She also noted that the university is increasing its capacity for late-night transportation, and reported that the Greek system is encouraging a buddy system for people who are out late at night. “We are working hard to reduce the risk,” Harper said.

Earlier in her presentation, Harper had praised the Michigan Student Assembly and other students for their efforts to pull off a successful tailgate at the Michigan-Notre Dame night game on Sept. 10, noting that the party drew about 8,000 people, and was safe and fun. Regent Larry Deitch responded by saying it was typical of Harper to give credit to everyone else. The great experience that students had was due in no small part to her leadership, he said. Harper received a round of applause from regents and staff.

Construction Projects

During the Sept. 15 meeting, regents were asked to authorize a range of construction-related projects. One request was for the athletics department to issue bids and award construction contracts for a $52 million renovation and expansion of Crisler Arena. The board had previously approved the project’s schematic design at its May 2011 meeting.

Construction workers at Crisler Arena were on the job Saturday as Michigan football fans held tailgate parties in the nearby parking lot.

The project is adding about 63,000 square feet of new construction. The renovation includes building new spectator entrances, retail spaces, ticketing areas and a private club space. In addition, roughly 54,000 square feet would be renovated to accommodate accessible seats, increase the number of restrooms and concession areas, and add other fan amenities. Construction is expected to be finished by the winter of 2014.

Regent Andy Richner asked whether winter commencement would be held at Crisler Arena this year – that’s the traditional venue for the ceremony. Mary Sue Coleman clarified that it would be held there, and that construction wouldn’t start until after the basketball season ends.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved the request to issue bids and award construction contracts for work at Crisler Arena.

Several other building renovation projects were on the agenda for action:

• A $47 million renovation for the 220,000-square-foot G.G. Brown Memorial Laboratories, which was built in 1958 on UM’s north campus and houses the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The project is part of the fiscal year 2011 capital outlay request to the state, which is expected to provide about $30 million in funding for the renovation. Two years ago, regents had signed off on a $56 million, 66,000-square-foot addition to building.
• A $1.5 million upgrade to the electrical substation and related equipment at the Med Inn, which was built in 1953 and is part of the UM Health System. Renovation projects at UM campuses in Dearborn and Flint were also authorized at Thursday’s meeting.
• A $1.148 million renovation of leased offices for the UM ophthalmology department at the River Place Offices building, 1974 N. Huron River Drive in Ypsilanti. The renovations will allow the department to consolidate its two current locations in Ypsilanti into one clinical site. The project is expected to be finished by the winter of 2012.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved all renovation requests.

Golf Facility Naming

At Thursday’s meeting, regents were asked to authorize naming the university’s golf practice facility the Weisfeld Family Golf Center. Barry and Sally Weisfeld and the Weisfeld Family Foundation have provided financial support to the new facility. The Weisfelds’ son, David, played varsity golf at UM and is a 2010 graduate.

The recently completed $2.5 million golf practice facility, located off of South Main Street, includes indoor putting and chipping areas, driving bays, offices and locker rooms. The low-slung building is designed in the Mission style.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved naming the golf practice facility the Weisfeld Family Golf Center.

Property Purchase

On the agenda was a request to approve the $730,000 purchase of 716 Oakland Ave. in Ann Arbor, between Monroe and Hill streets. The 0.14-acre parcel includes a 2,018-square-foot apartment building. The tentative closing date is set for Sept. 30.

According to a staff memo, the property is strategically located next to the Law School’s South Hall and Weill Hall, which houses the UM Ford School of Public Policy. The law school in particular is expanding in that area – South Hall just opened this fall, and the university has been talking with the city of Ann Arbor to secure the right-of-way for a block of Monroe street for part of its law school campus. [See Chronicle coverage: "Column: Ann Arbor's Monroe (Street) Doctrine"]

Within the past year, the university has purchased three other properties – all with apartment buildings. The previous three purchases were bought to accommodate the expansion of UM’s Institute for Social Research, on South Division.

Regarding the Oakland Avenue property, the staff memo indicates that the apartment building on the site holds no historical significance, but regent Andy Richner shared one bit of history: “I used to live there.”

Outcome: Regents unanimously authorized the purchase of 716 Oakland Ave.

Conflict-of-Interest Disclosures

Regents were asked to sign off on 14 items that required disclosure under the state’s Conflict of Interest statute. The law requires that regents vote on potential conflict-of-interest disclosures related to university staff, faculty or students. Often, the items involve technology licensing agreements or leases.

This month, the items related to the following businesses: Cornell Farms; Civionics Inc.; NeuroNexus Technologies Inc.; Inmatech Inc.; Vortex Hydro Energy; Rolith Inc.; Lean Therapeutics; Electric Field Solutions Inc.; Diapin Therapeutics; Arbor Research Collaborative for Health; Absolute Nano Inc.; and Michigan Critical Care Consultants Inc.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved all 14 conflict-of-interest disclosures.

Medical School Departments Created

The creation of two new departments at the University of Michigan Medical School – for cardiac surgery, and computational medicine and bioinformatics (CMB) – was on the agenda for approval at the Sept. 15 meeting.

The CMB department will be established as of Jan. 2, 2012. It has existed as a center since 2005, with funding from the National Institutes of Health for research and a graduate training program. Becoming a department will help CBM recruit faculty and trainees, according to a staff memo.

Cardiac surgery is currently a section within the department of surgery. The section has grown to a size in terms of faculty, financial resources, and academic productivity that it warrants becoming a separate administrative unit, according to a staff memo.

Outcome: Regents unanimously approved the creation of the cardiac surgery department and computational medicine and bioinformatics (CMB) department.

Sustainability on Campus

Early in the meeting, regents received an update on environmental sustainability efforts at the Ann Arbor campus. Andy Berki, manager of UM’s office of campus sustainability, began by noting that he had a connection with one of the regents – he’d graduated from Pioneer High School with regent Kathy White.

Berki said he usually talked about operations, and he provided a handout with some environmental metrics for the FY 2011 fiscal year, as well as trend data from FY 2004 through FY 2011. But rather than focus on that, he said, three students were at the meeting to describe their work on sustainability.

Samantha Schiebold, a UM senior, spoke to regents about her work on a sustainability guide for students. Behind her is Andy Berki, manager of the UM office of campus sustainability.

Samantha Schiebold spoke first. A senior studying interdisciplinary physics, Schiebold had worked on a student guide called “How to Be a Green Wolverine,” which is distributed to each UM dorm room at the start of the academic year. The guide covers a range of topics, from how to conserve energy and water to how to throw a sustainable party. (“Use beeswax candles” is one of the suggestions.)

Not only did the project teach her teamwork and the ability to work as a consultant for a “client” – in this case, the university – but it also introduced her to the “mysterious inner workings of this university,” she said – a line that elicited laughter from the regents and staff. Schiebold said she was proud of the guide, and thankful that she could contribute to the effort.

Up next was Matt Friedrichs, a senior studying civil and environmental engineering. Although he’s involved in several projects – including the Kill-A-Watt competition – he focused his remarks on a sustainable neighborhoods course he took at UM. The course is offered through the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute and the college of architecture & urban planning.

Students first studied urban planning theory, then spent two weeks at Wayne State University in Detroit, where they developed a master plan for the Delray neighborhood. Friedrichs said the area has been devastated – it’s disconnected from the rest of the city, polluted and desolate. The class suggested changes like redirecting truck routes, conducting an environmental survey of the area, and remediating structures into “green centers” that would connect through pathways to other parts of Detroit. The experience took students out of the bubble of the Ann Arbor campus, Friedrichs said, and let them deal with real-world political, social and environmental issues.

The final speaker was graduate student Jose Alfara, a co-founder of the student group Sustainability Without Borders. Last year, 10 students focused on projects in rural West Africa. They worked to implement “circular economies,” where everything serves as a resource for something else. For example, a toilet system was installed that creates biogas, which is used to fuel the school’s kitchen stove. The program is now starting to focus on training, Alfara said, so that people living in a community adopt sustainability as a way of life. “That community is starting in Ann Arbor,” he said, “and hopefully we’ll take it as far as we can.”

In wrapping up the presentations, Berki said that while the campus is growing in population and infrastructure, the university needs to be aware of its environmental footprint. How can they balance growth with being good stewards of the environment? Part of the effort includes linking academics with operations, he said, as well as supporting new ventures like Planet Blue. Success also requires continued strong support from the administration, he said.

Mary Sue Coleman noted that this is one of the times when students pushed for change, and it’s great to see students involved in addressing real problems on campus. [As an example, students spoke during public commentary at the regents March 2009 meeting, urging administrators to better coordinate UM's sustainability programs. There is also an active UM Student Sustainability Initiative.]

More changes are on the way. On Sept. 27, Coleman is scheduled to make an address to campus, expanding UM’s sustainability goals for both academics and operations. Her remarks can be seen via a webcast, starting at 11 a.m.

Misc. Public Commentary

In addition to commentary related to the UM nurses, three other speakers addressed a variety of topics.

Two dogs, trained through the PAWS program, sat quietly during the Sept. 15 regents meeting.

Jane MacFarlane spoke to regents about PAWS with a Cause, a program that trains dogs for people with disabilities. [She and a colleague brought two dogs to the meeting, one of them sporting a maize-and-blue bandana.] She briefly described the program, and noted that even though UM doesn’t have a veterinary school, it was amazing to see how the community has embraced the PAWS program.

Joan Knoertzer, a retired Ann Arbor Public Schools teacher, described the building and collections at UM’s Clements Library, calling it the most beautiful library in the United States. The library is known for its holdings of American history and culture from the 15th through the 19th centuries. Knoertzer has served on the library’s advisory board for six years, and she thanked regents for their support. “We are on the academic map worldwide.”

Linda Martinson, a former UM nursing student, began by noting that she’s previously been barred from speaking at regents meetings because of several trespass warnings that have been issued against her, dating back to 2007. Those warnings are still in effect, she said, despite a recent change in the university’s trespass policy.

Martinson gave an update on her lawsuit against the university, saying “the university has argued that students do not have a property interest in their education, without which they are not entitled to constitutional due process.” [An update on the case is also included in the litigation report that's part of the board meeting packet, prepared by UM's general counsel.] The bulk of her remarks focused on details of the trespass warnings against her. She noted that she was able to address the regents at their 2010 meeting in Dearborn, saying she believes that’s “the reason General Counsel Suellyn Scarnecchia expanded the trespass policy to all three campuses, in order to keep victims of the policy from speaking at all regents’ meetings.” [.pdf file of Martinson's remarks to regents]

Present: Mary Sue Coleman (ex officio), Julia Darlow, Larry Deitch, Denise Ilitch, Andrea Fischer Newman, Andy Richner, Martin Taylor, Kathy White.

Absent: Olivia (Libby) Maynard.

Next board meeting: Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 at 3 p.m. at the UM campus in Flint. [confirm date]

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Swimmers just after the starting beep for one of the A2A3 Holiday Relays. (Photos by the writer.)

Meet director Amanda Mercer told The Chronicle that the A2A3 Holiday Relays, which were sanctioned by Michigan Masters for U.S. Masters Swimming, will be an annual fixture on the swimming calendar. The inaugural edition featured standard swimming relays, which took full advantage of the electronic timing pads at Skyline’s pool: A new pool record of 53.23 was established for the 100-yard backstroke.

But the  relays also included some non-standard races, including one where the relay “baton” was a T-shirt that had to be peeled off one swimmer, then donned by the next one in sequence.

Participants included a former Ann Arbor planning commissioner, and a former Olympic swimmer.

The Holiday Relays are one of several activity-based fundraising efforts by A2A3, which is a nonprofit that was formed in 2008 by friends and neighbors of Bob Schoeni, who has been diagnosed with ALS, a fatal neuro-degenerative disorder. A2A3 raises funds specifically for research to find a cure for what’s commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Schoeni was on hand Sunday morning to cheer on the swimmers.

The relays were sponsored by several local businesses, including: Probility, Health and Fitness Center at Washtenaw Community College, Jolly Pumpkin, Grizzly Peak, Blue Tractor, Barry’s Bagels, and Pizza House.

In addition to in-kind contributions from sponsors – like the 50 pizzas from Pizza House enjoyed by swimmers after the races – contributions for the event came from swimmers themselves, who paid $40 to participate in six different races. Mercer estimated the amount of money raised from registration fees to be around $1,500. Before the meet began, Mercer solicited volunteers to complete some of the relay teams that had no-shows due to the inclement weather. Some of the teams had been assembled by A2A3, which encouraged swimmers to register for the meet at-large, even if they weren’t part of a complete four-person relay. A2A3 then formed teams out of the solo registrants.

Meet director Amanda Mercer asked for two volunteers to help fill out the full complement of four members per relay.

The venue – Skyline High School’s natatorium – was secured through the Skyline men’s swim team, which sold concessions at the relays as a fundraiser. Skyline swimmers also provided logistical support for the meet – for example, the electronic timing pads need to be installed and then removed, because they’re not permanently built into the pool walls.

The meet began with an impeccable rendition of the national anthem from Rachel Hunsberger.

The swimming started off with the 400-yard medley relay – an event where respective swimmers complete 100 yards of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. In the 25-yard-long Skyline pool, that meant four lengths per relay leg. Backstroke came first, with 34-year old Ryan Papa in Lane 2 completing his leg in 53.23 – which was a few ticks faster than the pool record of 56.87, held by Zac Cain of Howell High School. Papa swam for the University of Michigan team, beginning as a freshman in 1994. He also participated in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic games, representing the Philippines.

Later in the racing program, a participant in the “crescendo” relay – where the four relay participants complete legs of 50, 100, 200, then 500 yards – demonstrated that “freestyle” allows swimmers to choose whatever stroke they like. As he completed his 500 yards with the butterfly stroke – floating up and down 20 lengths of the pool – the lap counters remarked among themselves how James always swam the butterfly. His last name, they weren’t sure about. But Joel Dalton, who helped put together the event for A2A3, looked it up on his smart phone, saying that he served with him on the executive committee of the local Sierra Club: James’ last name is D’Amour. Some Chronicle readers will also recognize D’Amour as a former city planning commissioner, or more recently as an advocate for keeping Mack Pool open, when it was faced with closure due to budget constraints.

A T-shirt relay team mid-way through the transfer of the orange T-shirt "baton."

Dalton put together the music that played over the intercom during the meet. He handles DJ responsibilities for the annual Burns Park 5K Run as well. He confirmed for The Chronicle after the meet that it was no coincidence that “You Can Leave Your Hat On” was the selection during the T-shirt relay.

The non-standard event entails passing a T-shirt from one swimmer to the next, with the stipulation that the shirt must actually be worn – arms through armholes and head through the neck hole.

Shirts are allowed to be inside-out, however. So the most efficient teams in the “baton” transfer had their incoming swimmer climb up on the deck and touch hands with the next swimmer London-bridge style – teammates then peeled the wet shirt from the one swimmer directly onto the next.

A2A3 bases its fundraising approach on events where community members engage in physical activity, either as a solo effort or with others. [Previous Chronicle coverage: "Freedom of the (Leg) Press" and "Box Cars Zoom Down South University"]

Chronicle readers are hereby duly notified to keep alert for forthcoming details of an upcoming A2A3 event, the Twinkie Run, which will take place on April 1, 2011. As the name suggests, the event includes running, as well as an opportunity to consume tasty snack treats.

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Additional Photos:

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Rachel Hunsberger sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" to open the festivities.

Jerry Kelly, who along with Jack Coffey served as an official for the meet, gets swimmers ready on the blocks before calling them to their marks.

Butterfly stroke.

James D'Amour on the blocks for a relay just a few minutes after finishing a 500-yard butterfly leg of the "crescendo" relay.

Backstrokers ready to fling themselves backwards.

When there are 20 lengths of the pool to count, you get help from a manual counter. The plastic flip signs are submerged so that the swimmer can see the numbers.

Members of the Skyline High School swim team remove the electronic touch pads from Lane 2 after the meet.

The butterfly, mid-stroke.

A backstroker ready to backstroke.

The breaststroke.

The meet did not include a peek-a-boo relay, but this guy would have been on the winning team.

Emma Silverman executed a 1,000-pound leg press. Well, okay ... she was the 50 pounds that completed the 1,000-pound total.

“Can we do it again?” asked Emma Silverman after her dad, Ken, had just completed a 1,000-pound leg press at the One on One Athletic Club on Thursday evening. The “it” was a ride on the leg press sled.

And her dad didn’t say no. He gave her a few more repetitions on the sled – but not before removing some of the 20 45-pound plates hanging off the 50-pound bar. The plates and the bar totaled 950 pounds.

Emma weighs exactly 50 pounds based on the pre-event weigh-in at the club, and it was her “live weight” that brought the total to 1,000 pounds.

It’s not a common father-daughter activity, not least because 1,000 pounds – as Silverman’s trainer, Roger Bowman, put it – “That’s a lot of weight.” Bowman, who’s worked at One on One for four years, confirmed that it’s not common to see that kind of poundage go up and down the leg press sled at the club.

So what motivated Silverman to begin training five months ago in December 2008 for his half-ton effort? It was to raise money for Ann Arbor Active Against ALS. Silverman recalled how he’d come up with the idea over dinner at Carlyle Grill before seeing the new James Bond movie at the Quality 16. A lot of his friends had just run the Big House Big Heart 5K to raise money for A2A3, he said, and he wanted to come up with a way to contribute as well – the A2A3 fundraising theme is to raise money by doing something active.

Silverman’s initial concept was to try to find 100 people to pledge a penny-a-pound for the 1,000-pound attempt, for a total of $1,000. He was able to double that, but didn’t insist on the penny-a-pound approach. One example of a variant was a co-worker who offered $100, but wanted to see video evidence of the lift. Here’s the $100 video footage.

Ken Silverman on the sled. At right is trainer Roger Bowman. The guy in the yellow shirt with the camera is Burns Park race director Joel Dalton.

Silverman’s training regime at the club leading up to Thursday’s lift  depended somewhat on whether it was a session supervised by Bowman, or done solo. With Bowman there, he could physically help Silverman through a couple of extra repetitions – forced reps – that he couldn’t have done otherwise. Plus there’s the psychological boost. We asked Bowman for examples of the kind of encouragement he gave during a session. He ticked through some plain vanilla phrases, “Come on,” “Keep going,” “You can do it,” before offering: “Don’t tell me no!”

The same “Don’t tell me no!” sentiment was reflected in a conversation about fundraising after the lift. Silverman, Bob Schoeni (whose ALS diagnosis led to the founding of A2A3) and  Joel Dalton (who’s director of the Burns Park Run coming up Sunday, May 3, 2009) talked with The Chronicle about how you ask people for money: “You don’t say no to a guy who can lift 1,000 pounds!”

Dalton said that pitching pledges for a finite weight was in some ways easier than the strategy his own family was using to support A3A2, a “pennies for pushups” program. If you know that the weight is going to be 1,000 pounds, you can calibrate your donation accordingly. With pushups, you don’t know exactly how many Joel, Cammie and Kenzie will do. We asked Joel point blank: Are you doing real pushups, backs straight and everything? Joel contended they were, and the photograph on the website suggests that the Dalton kids’ pushups are every bit as real as Ken Silverman’s 1,000-pound leg press.

Preparing for the lift.

The lift itself.

Toweling off after the 1,000-pound lift was done.