Because a vacancy of the commission is opening up on the planning commission – due to the resignation of Evan Pratt, who won a new position for himself as Washtenaw County water resources commissioner in the Nov. 6 election – Derezinski was appointed by the council to fill a citizen position on the commission.

Derezinski, along with Susan Baskett, had been nominated at the council’s Oct. 15 meeting to serve as a board member for the recently incorporated Act 196 transit authority. But in light of the council’s action to opt out of the transit authority at its Nov. 8 meeting, the council won’t be acting on those nominations.

Sally Petersen, who won the August primary against Derezinski, was unopposed in the Nov. 6 general election. Petersen will join Lumm as a Ward 2 representative on the council when she is ceremonially sworn in on Nov. 19.

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]

Ward 2 Ann Arbor city council candidates Sally Petersen and Tony Derezinski. (Photos by the writer.)

Derezinski has served on the council since winning election in 2008 and is seeking a third two-year term on the 11-member council – which includes the mayor and two representatives from each of the city’s five wards. Democratic primaries are contested this year in just four of the five wards, as Christopher Taylor is unchallenged in Ward 3. The winner of the Democratic primary in Ward 2 will likely not face an on-the-ballot opponent in November, because no Republican has filed and the deadline for independent candidates to file is July 19.

Contested Ward 2 Democratic primaries are somewhat of a rarity in Ann Arbor. When Derezinski won the primary against Stew Nelson in 2008 with 60% of the vote, the seat was coming open – because Ward 2 incumbent Democrat Joan Lowenstein opted to run for judge of the 15th District Court (a race won by Chris Easthope, a former city councilmember). Derezinski was not challenged in the 2010 Democratic primary, but faced Libertarian Emily Salvette in the November general election that year, winning with 79% of the vote.

In her remarks about herself, Petersen stressed her significant business experience, and mentioned her MBA degree. Locally, she’s worked in senior marketing positions in the private sector for companies like CFI Group and ABN AMRO Mortgage Group. That experience led her to take customer-satisfaction as a principle that could be applied to local government – but she assured attendees at the forum that she did not want to try to run government like a business.

Petersen described her family upbringing as civic-minded, and cited her volunteer experience in Ann Arbor – as board member at the Neutral Zone, president of the Tappan Middle School PTSO, and secretary of the Huron High School Athletic Booster Club. She said she would bring a fresh voice and a fresh agenda to the council.

Derezinski appeared to chafe at Petersen’s description of herself as a fresh voice – raising the possibility that she’s alluding to his age. He ventured that the contrast he offered to a fresh voice was one of “seasoning.” He cited 40 years of experience in municipal law, an area he feels is relevant to city council service. He pointed to his service on the city council as the council’s representative to the city planning commission. He also serves on the public art commission.  When he first ran for office, his slogan was: “Let’s make our great community even better,” and he said he wanted to continue his service, to make the community even better.

Aside from opening and closing statements, not a lot of specific local policy ground was covered by questions put to the candidates – due in part to a time constraint of about an hour for eight candidates. But the candidates did talk a great deal about issues of transparency and group dynamics on the city council – in response to the leadoff question from forum moderator Mike Henry, co-chair (with Anne Bannister) of the Ann Arbor Democratic Party.

For Petersen and Derezinski, the evolution of candidate remarks moderated by Henry revealed a difference of opinion between the two about inclusiveness and the adequacy of outward- and inward-bound communication. Derezinski was keen to stress the importance of being active in the local Democratic Party (to contrast himself with Petersen who has not been active in the local party) and the importance of electing Democratic candidates to the city council. That view appeared inconsistent with the one Derezinski had expressed at a local League of Women Voters forum held earlier in the week. At the LWV forum, he’d said that he’d be in favor of getting rid of the partisan aspect of Ann Arbor city elections – and conduct local elections in a non-partisan way like the vast majority of other Michigan cities do.

The deadline to register to vote in the Aug. 7 primary has passed. Oct. 9 is the last day to register to vote for the Tuesday, Nov. 6 general election. Information on voter registration can be found on the Washtenaw County clerk’s elections division website. To see a sample ballot for your precinct, visit the Secretary of State’s website. The League of Women Voters also has an online voter information site – Vote411.org – which includes biographical information on some candidates, stances on issues, and a “build my ballot” feature.

Opening Statements

Derezinski: He pointed attendees to the campaign literature table at the back of the room where his pamphlet was available. What he is stressing in his campaign, he said, is his experience. What is the experience that is relevant to serving on the city council? Frankly, he said from his point of view, he practiced law for 40 years and his specialty was municipal law. He completed courses in municipal law at the University of Michigan law school, and then when he returned from service in Vietnam, he went back to school and got a master of laws degree in municipal government.

After that Derezinski practiced law in Muskegon and Grand Rapids, and then in Ann Arbor. He represented local municipalities in his practice, he said. When he first ran for office, his slogan was: “Let’s make our great community even better.” The last four years he has served on the city planning commission and the public art commission. He’s been very active in trying to plan for the future. He feels the city is at a “threshold point,” and said he would like to continue his service to make our great community even better.

Petersen: She offered her thanks to the Democratic Party for hosting the event and to her supporters in the audience. She thinks it’s time for a fresh voice in a fresh agenda that resonates with Ward 2 residents. She said she’s a lifelong Democrat, with significant business experience and an MBA. She has skills that are not currently represented on the city council, she said.

She comes from a very civic-minded family, she said, growing up in Massachusetts – so she’s a “Massachusetts Democrat.” Her father was an Episcopal priest and a civil rights activist, and he demonstrated the value of living a life dedicated to community service. She’s carried on that commitment throughout her life, she said, including the last 16 years she’s been in Ann Arbor. During that time she spent about eight years in the private sector working in senior marketing positions for companies like CFI Group and ABN AMRO Mortgage Group. She also has volunteered significantly in the community throughout her time in Ann Arbor, Petersen said. She is currently a board member at the Neutral Zone, president of the Tappan Middle School PTSO, and secretary of the Huron High School Athletic Booster Club.

A major focus of her career has been customer satisfaction, and that translates to her desire to be a great representative and responsive voice for Ward 2 residents, Petersen said. The more satisfied our residents are, the more likely they are to invest their time and resources in our city. She wants to bring her community experience to the city council table.

Working as a Group

Question: As a member of a legislative body, one of the things you’ll be judged by is what you can accomplish as a group. There’ll be group dynamics and differences of opinion. Mike Henry’s question invited candidates to talk about how they would approach finding solutions amid that difference of opinion.

Background: Henry’s question implicitly recalled  the sentiments of Democratic county clerk Larry Kestenbaum, who wrote as a citizen to the entire city council in the fall of 2011, roundly castigating councilmembers for decisions that resulted in the demolition of seven houses on South Fifth Avenue, to be replaced by two large apartment buildings (City Place). Kestenbaum had stressed the importance of working as a group: “A city council is not judged by the good intentions of its members. It is judged by what it accomplishes, or fails to accomplish, as a body.”

Derezinski: He noted that he’d recently discussed with Mike Anglin – a Ward 5 councilmember who was also in attendance at the forum – the idea of bringing civility to the council. Civility is what makes the council function, he said – respecting each other and never taking away someone’s dignity. Every point of view has to be considered, he said. He believes in compromise, because too often things become competitive. Too often it is “I win and you lose.” We have to get away from that in politics and get back to the idea of working together, he said.

When he served in the state legislature, Derezinski recalled, both houses were controlled by the Democrats, but the governor was Republican William Milliken. Still, they had done a lot of good work at that time, he said, passing the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. They had also passed a consumer protection act. They had done that through compromise, he said, and it had worked.

As a local example, Derezinski gave the example of Argo Cascades, which he characterized as a great success. Do you keep the river open, or do you close it and use it for recreation? The compromise was that the city found a way to do both. Other examples he gave of local collaboration included the cooperation among four communities along Washtenaw Avenue for the Reimagining Washtenaw Project. He reiterated that what he brings is collaboration – to make our great community even better.

Petersen: She wanted to expand on the theme of collaboration, having listened to the remarks from the other seven candidates. She cautioned that there are risks to collaboration – and one of those risks is communication that is not transparent. The other risk to successful collaboration is a lack of trust.

Petersen then introduced the idea of an ethics policy. She had been asked recently whether she thought the city needed an ethics policy. At first, she wondered why we would need a policy on the local level. If you simply know who has high standards for personal conduct, you elect them to office, she ventured. You shouldn’t have to worry about ethics at the local level, she said. However, good people who are elected to office have to deal with complex issues, she noted. Sometimes, conflicts of interests come up requiring recusal and disclosure, and that’s the reality of the city council.

Having an ethics policy would give clarity and guidance about how to make those tough decisions – and those tough decisions will need to be made, she said. It’s easy to say that we will all just collaborate and get along together. But the reality is a lot more difficult than that. Having guidelines, she felt, would instill trust in government among all stakeholders.

Transparency

Moderator Mike Henry then picked up on the mention of transparency by Petersen and Ward 1 candidate Sumi Kailasapathy. Henry asked those who are currently on the city council – Derezinski and Margie Teall (Ward 4) – how they felt about the current level of transparency. Eric Sturgis, a Ward 1 candidate, made clear that he and perhaps Vivienne Armentrout, a candidate for Ward 5, also wanted to respond to that question. Several of the candidates had a go at the question.

Derezinski: Transparency is important, he said. He noted that he was involved with the passing of the state’s Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act back in the 1970s. Beyond those legal requirements, he said, there is an additional good-faith requirement to the community. He described the city’s website as tremendous. He noted that it is possible to track every project that comes before the city planning commission. Using websites is the new way to get information, he said.

In addition to that, he said, just about every councilmember has a website that tries to convey information. [Elected in 2008, Derezinski's website was launched just this year, on Feb. 19, 2012. Petersen had taken out nominating petitions on Feb. 2. When asked by The Chronicle in a telephone interview, Petersen recalled that she had discussed her intention to seek a seat on the council with Ward 3 councilmember Christopher Taylor in late December or January. Derezinski's inaugural post reads in part: "Look for lots of new content in the coming weeks! ... The City Council section will include matters that are being discussed and decided in the various Commissions and Committees and other entities I serve on ..." As of July 18, that section as well as a section on Ward 2 includes only placeholders: "More information coming soon."]

Derezinski also said councilmembers need to have ward meetings. He said he’d had four or five of these meetings already – one at Paesano’s restaurant and one at his house. When there are issues coming up, it’s very important to go out into the neighborhoods and to talk to people about those issues, he said. It’s also important to work with the neighborhood associations, he said. That’s important for government, and that’s what gives you faith in government.

Petersen: She asked moderator Mike Henry for an opportunity to address the issue of transparency as well: “With all due respect, Tony … I’ve never been invited to a ward event …” The message is not getting out, she said. Transparency really is a two-way street, she cautioned. We need to think about how information gets from constituents back to the city, not just from the city out to residents. She wants to make sure that the city council is cognizant of being good representatives of the voices of the people they are representing.

Derezinski: Invited to respond to Petersen by moderator Mike Henry, Derezinski seemed irritated. He contended that “My ward meetings are advertised, including on Democratic Party things – so if you’ve been an active Democrat, you would know about it.” [Anne Bannister, co-chair of the Ann Arbor Democratic Party, indicated to The Chronicle in a telephone interview that she had included notices of some of Derezinski's meetings in an email blast that she sends out.]

In addition, Derezinski continued, he saw some people in the audience who have been to his home more than once, giving Harvey and Nancy Kaplan as examples. Transparency is incredibly important, he said. He’d had a lot of meetings with groups, he said – at Thurston Elementary school for example. Besides him, who’d been there? he asked rhetorically. “A lot of Democrats” was his answer. If someone went to those meetings, he said, they would have seen him there talking about issues.

When the non-motorized path was put in alongside Washtenaw Avenue, he said, he held a meeting at someone’s home, because that was a controversial issue. You have to be available and work on those issues, he said, and he loves doing that. They had a lot of meetings for the Re-Imagining Washtenaw Avenue project, and those are all noticed to the public. If you’re watching public issues and if you’re really attuned to what’s going on in Ann Arbor, you would have known about his meetings, he concluded.

Top Issue

Question: Is there one overriding issue that you would like to work on? [Ward 5 candidate Vivienne Armentrout was the first respondent to the question, and she identified the proposed Fuller Road Station as one reason she'd been prompted to run for city council. So moderator Mike Henry asked the other candidates to try to share their thoughts on the Fuller Road station as well.]

Background: At its June 4, 2012 meeting, the city council accepted the award of a roughly $2.8 million federal grant to help fund a site-alternatives analysis for possible construction of a new train station. The Amtrak station is currently located on Depot Street, near the Broadway bridges. The site-alternatives analysis is meant to result in the confirmation of a locally-preferred alternative to be reviewed by the Federal Rail Administration. The preliminary locally-preferred alternative is a site on Fuller Road near the University of Michigan medical complex. That site preference is based on previous planning work, as well as work for which the city has already expended roughly $700,000 (which satisfies the 20% local match requirement of the FRA grant).

Previously, the University of Michigan and the city had a memorandum of understanding that would have led to the construction of a 1,000-space parking structure at the Fuller Road site, in conjunction with the train station. However, on Feb. 10, 2012, UM withdrew, for now, from a partnership on the project. The Fuller Road Station project has been controversial in part because the site is on land that’s part of the city’s Fuller Park. The area proposed for the train station has been a surface parking lot for many years.

Derezinski: The main issue, he contended, is how to manage change. Change is inevitable. We are at a real threshold in Ann Arbor right now, he said, about what kind of community we want to be. What is the shared vision of the community? We’re making decisions right now that will affect us for generations to come – and our children are going to benefit, as will our grandchildren. That’s a tough thing that the city council faces, he said. There are differences of opinion on where we are going, but you can’t deny the forces of change. The community’s demographics are changing, he said. By the year 2014, one third of residents will be over 65 years old, he noted. At the same time, we are trying to attract young people to keep the downtown vibrant. The question is how we do that in a reasonable way.

As far as the rail station, he agreed with Margie Teall, the Ward 4 incumbent who had suggested locating it near the University of Michigan hospital, which is a major employer for the city of Ann Arbor. It makes sense to have a train station near there, he said, so that people can walk from the station right across a pedestrian bridge to work. He had asked the mayor of Dearborn, when he attended a groundbreaking ceremony for that city’s new train station, how long it took to get to that point. And the mayor had told him: 12 years. Those are the kinds of decisions that Ann Arbor needs to start making now, Derezinski concluded.

Petersen: Her top issue, she said, is going to be defined by the residents of Ward 2. As she has been knocking on doors, she’s been asking everyone what their top three issues are. The top issue – though it changes on a day-to-day basis – has been fiscal sustainability. That means looking at the budget, she said, and really trying to make sure that it is rigorous and that it serves us well in the short term and the long term.

The second thing is schools – improving collaboration with the University Michigan and the Ann Arbor public schools. Ward 2 has a lot of families with young children, mostly in middle school and high school, she explained. Third is improving the delivery of constituent services – roads and all the other things that she and other candidates have been talking about. So, as far as her top issue is concerned, her goal is to be the voice of her constituents. One brief example of an idea she gave was to look at city of Ann Arbor parks and recreation and the public school system’s Rec & Ed. She felt that the recreation portion of those programs could be combined, and economies of scale could be found.

[Petersen did not address the issue of a rail station at Fuller Road within the time limit allotted. However, at the League of Women Voters forum earlier in the week, she'd indicated that if federal money were to become available, she felt that an expansion of the existing station at its current location would be preferable.]

Closing Statements

Petersen: A key component of her campaign, she said, is to differentiate herself based on her business expertise. But she wanted to be clear that it’s not her intention to try to run the city government like you run a business. If you disconnect constituents from the government, they would be disenfranchised, she cautioned.

Instead, Petersen said she would use her business skills to ensure that our local government delivers services equitably and fairly – in two ways. The first way is with respect to budgets. She has served on several boards and committees, she said. She has had responsibility for building budgets and she feels very comfortable in dealing with budgets. She’s currently serving on the Neutral Zone’s board, she said. And she’d identified an accounting irregularity – “board giving” had been double-counted. So the Neutral Zone had to restate its financial statements for the prior year, and they’d reshaped how they report that in the future. With the Tappan PTSO, she had freed up about $20,000 in unallocated capital reserves, she said.

Besides her business experience, the other common thread, Petersen said, is customer service. She wants to be the voice of constituents. What people could expect from her, if elected, is that she would be a trustworthy and responsible steward of tax dollars. She’d bring a strong work ethic, and she’d be someone who would respond to their phone calls and e-mails. She would be a positive and energetic collaborator.

Derezinski: He noted that Petersen had emphasized that she is a “fresh voice.” What does the word “fresh” connote on the other side? he asked. It could be age, he ventured, but it could also be “seasoning.” Or it could be “experience.” That’s what he thinks he is bringing to the table. He is seasoned and he has a lot of experience in government, he said – both at the state and the local levels. Some of the legislation he helped pass as a state legislator is very relevant to the work of a local government.

He said he has represented a number of municipal governments across the state. That’s what he brings to the table – a specific education in municipal government in 40 years of experience practicing in that area of law. In addition, he said he comes to voters as a Democrat – and “Democrats are family.” He was one of eight children, he said, and at the age of seven he became the man of the family when his father died. They were a family that had “joyful fights,” he said, just like the Democrats do. They disagree with each other, but they never lose that abiding faith with each other.

There’s a need to see dignity in everyone, and that’s why he’s been a Democrat all his life, he said. When he arrived in Ann Arbor he got involved in the party right away. He said he’s gone door-to-door with people on campaigns, and he needs people’s help now. He’d like to run as a Democrat, to keep the Democratic Party in office, he said.

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City of Ann Arbor Ward 2 is the magenta wedge of the pie in this map on the east side of the city.

While the five candidates for the two wards participated in the same 45-minute forum, this report covers only responses to questions from Ward 2 candidates – incumbent Tony Derezinski, who is the Democratic Party nominee, and Emily Salvette, the nominee of the Libertarian Party. Responses from Ward 5 candidates Carsten Hohnke, John Floyd and Newcombe Clark are reported in a separate account.

As stipulated in the city charter, Ann Arbor wards divide the city into roughly pie-shaped wedges. Ward 2 is a wedge covering roughly the area between the 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock positions on the “city pie.” Each ward is represented on the city council in two council seats, one of which is up for election each year for a two-year term. Stephen Rapundalo serves in the Ward 2 seat that’s not up for election this year.

The four questions posed by the League were confined essentially to two topics: the budget and parks. Candidates uniformly identified the most important challenge facing the city as the budget, and that fit thematically with a specific question about the budget. The remaining two questions focused on specific parks: Huron Hills golf course, which is currently the subject of a request for proposals for private management; and Fuller Park, part of which is a proposed location for a new parking deck to be built primarily for the University of Michigan, and which has a possible future as a train station.

Both Derezinski and Salvette acknowledged the difficulty of the financial situation faced by the city. Salvette focused on her basic philosophy of limited government, stating that she was not in favor of new taxes. Salvette cautioned against an approach of “tinkering around the edges,” instead calling for reducing employee costs.  Derezinski noted that the number of employees has been reduced considerably in the last decade through attrition and early retirements. He warned that if additional cuts could not be made, it might be necessary to think about changing the tax structure. He did not explicitly call for the citizen vote that would be required to levy a city income tax.

With respect to the city parks, Salvette stressed the importance of putting the future use of Fuller Park to a vote – she isn’t opposed to the university purchasing the land for use as a parking deck, but expressed skepticism about the viability of a transit station use. She felt that Huron Hills should be left the way it is. Derezinski expressed his support for the plan for Fuller Road Station, and stressed that Huron Hills would continue to be used for golf, whatever the outcome of the current request for proposals is for the privatization of operations there.

Opening Statements

Each candidate began with a 1-minute opening statement.

Opening: Derezinski

Tony Derezinski led off his remarks by saying that his first two years of service on the city council representing Ward 2 had been an interesting time. He ticked off his council committee assignments: city planning commission; labor and council administration committee; board of insurance administration; WATS alternate; Washtenaw corridor study technical committee; Ann Arbor housing commission; SEMCOG delegate. He then cited the Arbor Hospice Foundation board and membership in Rotary Club as other civic involvement. He cited a credential of a master’s degree in urban legal studies from Harvard University’s law school and 25 years of private practice in the area of municipal law.

Opening: Salvette

Emily Salvette thanked the League of Women Voters for the opportunity to address voters and for the work the league does in the community. She stated that she thinks it’s bad that we have only one political party running the city – all 11 members of the city council are Democrats, she said, and that’s how it’s been for a while. That’s not good for democracy, she said – we need some honest debate at council meetings.

Salvette said she believes in limited government, focusing on the basics: protecting people from violent crime and providing basic infrastructure like roads and water. Then government should step back and let people go about their business, she said. She also said that she thinks government should be fair, open and honest. The government, she said, should follow its own rules. She invited people to find out more by visiting her website: emily4a2.org

Challenges for Next Two Years

Question: What are the primary challenges facing the city council in the next two years and what strengths would you bring to that role?

Derezinski on Challenges: Services in a tough economy

Tony Derezinski identified the first challenge as continuing to provide quality municipal services – that’s a challenge, he said, because of the economic times. The city has had to make painful cuts. The second challenge he identified is planning for the future. Ann Arbor is in a position to keep and improve on its remarkable culture, he said. The question is how to do that during tough times and in collaboration with surrounding communities. He talked about the need to meet challenges in the context of the entire state and cited his experience in the state Senate.

Salvette on Challenges: Debt, employee costs

Emily Salvette stated that the city’s debt is obviously the biggest challenge – the city is spending too much money. She said that city costs need to be brought under control, and the biggest area where more control is needed is in employee costs. She said we need to “look hard” at union contracts, hiring and firing decisions, and make sure we’re running a sustainable operation. This is not the time for new taxes, she said. Spending needs to be brought under control. Her focus on limited government, she said, would help, because she does not always want to use government to solve every problem – it won’t grow under her watch, she concluded.

Parks: Golf

Question: Are Ann Arbor’s city parks under threat? For example, what should be the future use of the Huron Hills golf course?

Salvette on Huron Hills: Leave it publicly operated, the way it is

Emily Salvette said she didn’t necessarily think that the city’s parks are under attack. However, she said a couple of things bother her about the plans for the development of the Fuller Road transit station. If we have a rule that park land can’t be sold without a vote of the people and we enter into a long-term lease – that is for all intents and purposes, for those here today, a sale – then that’s not playing by the rules, she said. Government should be held accountable and be honest about what it’s trying to do, and should live by its own rules. With respect to Huron Hills, she said, as a Libertarian, she supported privatization as much as the next person, but she’s listened to what neighbors of the course have had to say. She does not think that contracting out in this situation is warranted. Huron Hills should be left the way it is right now.

Derezinski on Huron Hills: Consider privatization to make it break even

Tony Derezinski began by calling the city parks one of the “great strengths” of Ann Arbor. The parks are beautiful. He said he lives near Huron Hills golf course and plays it 4-5 times a year – not well, but he tries, he quipped. What the city has done so far, he said, is simply to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to see how Huron Hills could be managed better. The RFP is very specific, he said, that the land would be managed as a golf facility. It’s important to make that inquiry in tough times, he said, to see if there’s a way to do it better. It’s a great facility, but it could be better, and the city needs to make it at least break even, he said. The parks are safe, he said, and they’ll continue to be one of the great strengths of the city.

Parks: Fuller Road Station

Question: Is a transit station and parking structure an appropriate use of Fuller Park?

Derezinski on FRS: Full support

Tony Derezinki began by reacting to the description of the land as a “park” by saying, “I think you mean a ‘parking lot,’ which is what it is right now.” He went on to say that it’s been a parking lot for quite some time. He stated that he felt that a transit station and parking structure was an appropriate use of the land. The Fuller Road Station would be a lot more than just a parking structure – it would become an intermodal transportation hub where many different types of transportation come together.

There are around 30,000 people who come into the city every day – most of them to the university hospital system, Derezinski said. The University of Michigan had planned to build a couple of decks near Broadway and Wall Street, but gave up that plan when the opportunity came to build on Fuller Road. The plans, he said, call for a bridge that goes from the parking structure straight to the medical center, and would eventually include a train station. The current Amtrak station is inadequate, he said, and if high speed rail comes to Ann Arbor, the structure at Fuller Road will be the station for it. It will be a lot more than just a parking structure, he concluded.

Salvette on FRS: Open to purchase by UM, but need a citizen vote

Emily Salvette said that the city has to be open and honest about what should happen with that land – it should go to a vote. She does not think it’s necessarily a bad thing to have a parking lot for the University of Michigan – if they need it, they should buy it. She said she had strong concerns about planning for “transit schemes” that she thinks are unsustainable and impractical and will cost a lot of money. Rail as a transportation option is currently not viable, she said. To build a “dream transit station” in order to get ready for that happening, she said, is “folly.”

Budget

Question: Balancing the budget is a continuing challenge. Do more cuts need to be made – if so, what? Are there additional sources of revenue, and if so, what?

Salvette on Budget: Employee costs are most crucial

Emily Salvette said that it would not be helpful to tinker around the edges with small cuts here and there, especially with popular programs and services. What we should really tackle, she said, are things like employee costs – pension, and health care contributions. We need to get these employee costs under control, she said. There are fewer employees today than there were four years ago, yet the city’s costs are 25% higher, she said. It’s important to get employee costs in line with the private sector, she said – there are taxpayers who are suffering, while city employees have very generous benefit packages.

Derezinski on Budget: Alternative to more cuts is to change tax structure

Tony Derezinski characterized the budget cuts as among the most difficult decisions he’s had to make in his first term and he hears about them – things like leaf collection and paving of roads. Those are essential services, he said, that he as a representative of Ward 2 is concerned about. In the last 10 years, the number of city employees has decreased by 25%. Those are difficult cuts, he said, but they’ve been achieved through attrition and early retirements. At the same time the city has kept up its AA+ bond rating. In the future, he cautioned, the alternative is to cut more or to look for additional funds. That would mean some tough choices or else a change in the structure of the tax system.

Closing Statements

Each candidate gave a 2-minute closing statement.

Salvette’s Closing

Emily Salvette began by thanking the League of Woman Voters for the opportunity to be there. It’s been five years, she said, since there were two names on the ballot in a Ward 2 city council race. It’s been five years since a party other than the Democrat Party was on council. Yet she knows there are different points of view on issues in Ward 2, because she talks politics with her friends and neighbors all the time. Many of them feel that city government is too big, and is pursuing ill-advised projects. She asked her friends and neighbors to seize the opportunity to make a difference in Ann Arbor – put some diversity into the debate on the city council. She suggested that voters could find out more about the Libertarian Party by visiting lp.org

She allowed that voters might not agree with her on every issue, but guaranteed that she would be an independent voice. She would listen, ask questions, and demand answers from city officials. She’d base her decisions on what she heard from voters, what she believes is right and what promotes fair, open and honest government in Ann Arbor. Her decisions would not be based on what she’s been told to do at a party caucus, she said. It’s time for an independent voice in Ann Arbor government, she said, and that’s why she’s running.

Derezinski’s Closing

Tony Derezinski quipped that it’s great to be the last person speaking and said it’s been a pleasure to represent Ward 2 over the last two years. Two years ago, when he ran, his campaign theme had been: “Let’s make this great community even better.” He said he still has faith we can do that, though he allowed it’d been a “tough slide” for the last couple of years due to the financial situation. He assured people that we would get over that crisis. Times are going to be better and we have to plan for them, but right now there are tough decisions we have to make. We have to continue to provide services, he said.

He pointed to the work the planning commission has been doing to rezone parts of the community, because the zoning laws are outdated. He also pointed to the Washtenaw Avenue corridor study technical committee he’s on as a collaboration of four communities: Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Township, Ypsilanti Township, and Ypsilanti. That’s the kind of thing we need to do more of, he said. We need to look to the future, he said, and declared that he is optimistic. He said he refused to attack city government and that we can make it better by good planning, by thinking about our goals for 25 years from now and working towards those goals. He concluded by thanking the League of Women Voters.