Ypsilanti councilmember Pete Murdock addressed the AATA board meeting on April 18, 2013. (Photo by the writer.)

The resolution enjoys the support of Murdock as well as Ypsilanti mayor Paul Schreiber, who indicated his support in a phone interview with The Chronicle.

Murdock’s news was met with some nods around the AATA board table, and with an assurance from AATA board chair Charles Griffith that the board would give the request full consideration.

Ypsilanti’s possible request comes in the context of an attempt in 2012 to improve public transit by forming a countywide authority. That authority, incorporated under Act 196 of 1986  in mid-2012 and spearheaded by the AATA, was for all practical purposes ended late last year when the Ann Arbor city council voted to opt out of the new transit authority at its Nov. 8, 2012 meeting.

Of the 28 municipalities in Washtenaw County, the city of Ypsilanti is the only one that didn’t opt out. That transit authority, called the Washtenaw Ride, was formally dissolved this week by the Washtenaw County board of commissioners at its April 17, 2013 meeting.

But under the direction of the Ann Arbor city council, the AATA has been meeting with representatives of the county’s “urban core” communities to discuss possible expanded public transit within a limited area around Ann Arbor. It would be a smaller effort than the previous attempt at countywide service. The AATA hosted a meeting on March 28 at Pittsfield Township Hall to go over details about where improvements or expansion might occur, and how much it might cost. [See Chronicle coverage: "Costs, Services Floated for Urban Core Transit."]

Ypsilanti’s request to join the AATA would be made under a provision of Act 55 of 1963, under which the AATA was originally incorporated. [.pdf of AATA articles of incorporation] [.pdf of Act 55 of 1963] Admission of Ypsilanti as a member would require a majority vote by the AATA board. It would also require that the articles of incorporation for the AATA be amended – which might require action by the Ann Arbor city council.

Act 55 states: ”If a political subdivision joins the authority, the board shall amend the articles of incorporation accordingly.” In the past, however, it’s been through a resolution of the Ann Arbor city council that the articles of incorporation have been amended. In that case, the number of board members was increased to seven.

Membership in the AATA has possible implications for governance, including the possibility that through the articles of incorporation or bylaws, the city of Ypsilanti would be represented in some fashion on the AATA board. But the goal of adding Ypsilanti would include providing a more solid funding foundation for the service that AATA already operates between the two cities. Currently, that’s funded in part through a purchase-of-service agreement (POSA) between the AATA and Ypsilanti.

The two cities each already have millages that are designated to support public transportation. Ann Arbor’s millage is perpetual, passed in 1973 at a rate of 2.5 mills. The Headlee rollback has reduced that rate to just over 2 mills currently. Ypsilanti voters in November 2010 authorized a Headlee override of the city’s charter millage, restoring it to the originally authorized level of 20 mills, designating the additional 0.9789 mills for public transit purposes. The AATA does not currently exercise its Act 55 statutory ability to levy taxes itself – which it could do on approval of a majority of voters who live in member jurisdictions.

To sustain and improve transportation in the area, the AATA has indicated that additional funding would be required. At the March 28 meeting at Pittsfield Township Hall, four basic scenarios for transportation service in the urban core were presented for consideration: sustain, improve, expand, or expand and improve. [.pdf of March 28, 2013 meeting packet] For the “improve” scenario, the combined total of additional funding that would be required from the city of Ypsilanti and the city of Ann Arbor was between $1.7 million and $2.65 million – depending on the cost allocation methodology.

Based on the Washtenaw County 2013 equalization report, the taxable value of all property in the city of Ypsilanti is $289.6 million. And in the city of Ann Arbor, the taxable value of all property is $4.840 billion. A tax rate of 1 mill is $1 for each $1,000 of taxable value. So Ypsilanti’s transit millage will generate roughly $283,000 this year, while Ann Arbor’s transit millage will generate roughly $9.6 million.

Given the combined taxable value in the two cities, a new AATA millage rate of a bit more than half a mill would be needed to cover the additional $2.65 million required under the “improve” scenario [.52*(4,840,000,000+289,000,000)/1000= 2,667,080].

This brief was filed the day after the AATA board’s April 18 meeting. A more detailed report of the meeting will follow: [link]

Races to be recounted include the race for city of Ann Arbor Ward 4 Democratic councilmember. The final results across the nine precincts of Ward 4 showed incumbent Margie Teall with a total of 848 (49.5%) votes, compared to 866 (50.5%) for Jack Eaton – an 18-vote difference.

The city of Ypsilanti Ward 3 Democratic councilmember race will also be recounted. In that race, Pete Murdock tallied 440 (60.03%) votes compared to 242 (33.02%) for Mike Eller and 47 (6.41%) for Ted Windish.

Three races in Augusta Township will be recounted, all in the Democratic primary: clerk, treasurer and trustee. In the clerk’s election, Iva Bielec tallied 304 votes (46.70%) compared to 343 (52.69%) for Kathy Giszczak. In the treasurer’s election, Susan Burek tallied 312 (49.60%) compared to 315 (50.08%) for Lynda Dew. And in the trustees election, Cath Howard tallied 324 (16.78%) compared to 278 (14.40%) for H. Neil Johnson, 307 (15.90%) for Laverne Kailimai, 310 (16.05%) for Joseph Keefe, 375 (19.42%) for Judy Thornton, and 329 (17.04%) for Ira Todd. Voters could choose up to four, so it’s the three-vote spread between Kailimai and Keefe that’s of most interest.

The Sylvan Township millage proposal will also be recounted. The yes votes numbered 480 (50.37%), while 473 (49.63%) no votes were cast.

Possibly added to the recounts to be done on Sept. 4 will be the Northfield Township Democratic trustee election. The board of canvassers will hold a meeting on Aug 29, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. to hear an objection to that recount. If the outcome of the hearing is to recount the ballots, then that recount will be held on Sept. 4 with the others. In that election, Douglas  Del Favero had 180 (18.26%) votes, with David E. Gibbons Jr. getting 189 (19.17%), Michael J. Magda getting 179 (18.15%), Tracy S. Thomas getting 236 (23.94%) and Athena Trentin getting 197 (19.98%). Voters could choose up to four candidates. So it’s the one-vote margin between Magda and Del Favero that’s at issue.

The recounts will be held at the county building at 200 N. Main Street in Ann Arbor in the lower level conference room.

The version of the four-party agreement adopted by the Ypsilanti council now matches that which was approved by the Ann Arbor city council the previous day on June 4, 2012. That version, now approved by both bodies, provides for different treatment of a 1% municipal service charge by each city.

Under the agreement, Ann Arbor will apply the 1% charge before forwarding its transit millage revenues to a possible new transportation authority to be formed under Act 196 of 1986. Ypsilanti will not assess the charge, and will forward the full amount of its millage revenues to the Act 196 authority. The dollar amounts for Ypsilanti are significantly smaller. The other two parties to the agreement are Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

The Ypsilanti council had approved the plan on May 15, 2012, but amended it in a way that required the Ann Arbor city council, which had approved an earlier version on March 5, to reconsider the amended version. The Ann Arbor council did that on June 4, 2012, but Ann Arbor did not accept all of the Ypsilanti amendments.

The May 15 amendments by the Ypsilanti city council would have eliminated, for both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, the collection by each city of the municipal service charge, which would reimburse the city for handling the collection and transmission of money levied for the transportation millage. In Ann Arbor, this is 1% of the annual millage. The tax is 2.5 mills as provided by the Ann Arbor city charter, but it has been reduced by the Headlee Amendment to around 2 mills. In Ypsilanti, the millage is .9789, per the Ypsilanti city charter.

Translated into dollars, the service charge would be roughly $90,000 for Ann Arbor. For Ypsilanti, the amount would be about $3,000.

On May 15, Ypsilanti councilmember Peter Murdock had expressed the reason for the change: “[T]he money should go to the new [transit] authority, not to the two cities, and Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor should both do that.” At the June 5 meeting, Murdock indicated why he now would approve the amended document: “Ypsilanti is not going to have public transportation in the future unless the county plan is adopted.”

By way of background, Ypsilanti has a contractual relationship with the AATA by which the city purchases service from AATA, because Ypsilanti is outside the area supported by the Ann Arbor transit tax. The 0.9789 Ypsilanti millage is used to pay for the purchase of service agreement (POSA).

Falling property values in Ypsilanti will result in the 0.9789 levy generating fewer dollars, as a budget discussion earlier in the Ypsilanti council meeting revealed. Michael Ford, CEO of AATA, took the podium during the budget discussion at the request of mayor Paul Schreiber. Schreiber told Ford that in FY 2013 Ypsilanti would fall $21,000 short in its payment to AATA, and in FY 2014 there would be a projected $75,000 shortfall. “What would AATA do about that shortfall?” Schreiber asked. Ford responded: “We can work with you and we are willing to absorb the $21,000 loss.”

Ford told the Ypsilanti council that he would present the four-party agreement to the Washtenaw County board of commissioners at their meeting on Wednesday, June 6. However, as of late Tuesday night, June 5, the agreement was not yet on the board’s online agenda. An email sent to county commissioners earlier in the day on June 5 from Sarah Pressprich Gryniewicz, AATA’s community outreach coordinator, stated that “Michael Ford would like to come to the Ways and Means session tomorrow to start the process for the BOC [board of commissioners] to consider the documents.” The board’s Ways and Means Committee – of which all commissioners are members – meets immediately prior to the regular board meeting and is where agenda items are given initial consideration.

Update: An email from county administrator Verna McDaniel – circulated to county board members in the early afternoon of June 6 – states: ”Chair, Conan Smith has informed me that the 4-Party Agreement is planned to come before the Board with Commissioner Sizemore’s approval for the July 11th meetings. We have been asked to request Commissioner Rabhi approve a special Working Session prior to that meeting to answer any questions or concerns pertaining to the 4-Party Agreement.”

The fourth party in the four-party agreement – the AATA board – had approved the accord on May 16, 2012, but may now review and revote its approval in light of the amendments made by the two city councils.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Since 2008 Lange has been executive director of the Henry County (Ohio) Community Improvement Corp. Lange was chosen over Brian P. Vick, former city manager of Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich., after a second round of public interviews Monday evening.

On Friday, May 11, the number of finalists dropped from three to two, when city clerk and interim city manager Frances McMullan withdrew herself from consideration.

Lange’s previous positions included managing director of the Monroe County (Michigan) road commission, 1999-2008; city administrator and director of public safety for the city of Oregon, (Ohio), 1994-1999; and city manager of Albion. The negotiating committee consists of mayor Paul Schreiber, mayor pro tem Lois Richardson, and councilmember Brian Robb. There was no mention of salary or starting date during the May 15 council meeting.

The two finalists are Brian Ralph A. Lange, currently the executive director of the Henry County (Ohio) Improvement Corporation; and Brian P. Vick, who from 2008 until February of this year was the city manager of Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.

In the memo, Tetens states that the new center would be similar, both in size and characteristics, to the county’s Meri Lou Murray Recreation Center, located on Washtenaw Avenue at Platt Road. However, the programming and other features would be unique to the Ypsilanti area community. The MLM rec center has a swimming pool, multi-court gymnasium, track, and cardio and strength training rooms, among other features.

The county parks & rec department hopes to secure 12 acres of city-owned property on the western edge of the Water Street site. The roughly 50,000-square-foot center would front both the Huron River and Michigan Avenue, and would include about three acres for a park along the river.

Tetens’ memo addresses the issue of contamination at the site, which the city has been working to remediate for future development: “Although the Water Street site was at one time contaminated, the major problems have been mitigated, and with careful site planning and design implementation, the area can safely be used by residents and visitors. By drawing people to this area, to use the recreation center, outdoor spaces and trails, mixed-use development of the adjacent open land to the east will be stimulated to yield long term economic benefits for the City.”

A schematic of the site provided with the memo shows how the center could fit with future commercial and residential development in the Water Street area, which covers about 38 acres. In his memo, Tetens states that the center would make residential and commercial developments more marketable, would help create a more walkable, vibrant environment, and would fit with several strategic plans, including the city’s master plan, the Huron River corridor study, and the non-motorized plan for Washtenaw County.

As a working session item, the proposal will be a topic of discussion by Ypsilanti city councilmembers, but they will not act on it at tonight’s meeting.