by P.D. Lesko The Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council (CAC). Sounds official, right? It is supposed to be a group of no more than 15 mayoral appointees who, by Council resolution, live within the downtown area and “advise the DDA and City Council with regard to implementation of the Downtown Development Plan and Tax Increment [...]
by P.D. Lesko Dan Rainey, the City of Ann Arbor’s IT Director, raked in a six-figure salary as one of the highest paid employees in the city. Now, he’s off to work for former Ann Arbor Director of Public Services, Sue McCormick. Shortly after former City Administrator Roger Fraser took his pension and decamped for [...]
Under former city administrator Roger Fraser, the amounts paid out in tax dollars for cell phone allowances increased almost 95 percent between 2009 and 2012. By 2012, 196 of the city’s 693 full-time employees had been given cell phone allowances. Likewise, between 2009 and 2012, according to information from city officials released in response to [...]
by P.D. Lesko A2P Notes: This is filed under Scoops & Scores because you read it here first! Fibbing about one’s academic credentials can have dire consequences. Scott Thompson, the former CEO of Yahoo was brought down in May 2012 by making false claims that he had earned a degree in Computer Science from a [...]
by P.D. Lesko “John Hieftje has the strongest environmental record of any Mayor in the Midwest. He’s championed the city’s Greenbelt, the clean energy initiative, commuter rail, bicycling and our terrific parks system. These programs set Ann Arbor apart. John’s leadership has set the standard for progressive mayors everywhere.” —Mike Garfield, Environmental Activist So why [...]
Documents released by Ann Arbor city officials in response to a recent FOIA request revealed that the March 31, 2011 meeting to discuss “police dispatch” was set up via email and included Ann Arbor’s interim City Administrator Tom Crawford, management consultant Kerry Laycock, and Gregory Dill, director of administrative services for Washtenaw County. By April, [...]
By Chris Savage The Peter Principle: In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. In February of this year, Roger Fraser resigned after nine years as Ann Arbor City Administrator to assume the role of Deputy State Treasurer for Local Government Services working under State Treasurer Andy Dillon (though, as [...]
A2P Notes: This is filed under “Scoops & Scores” because you read it first here. In response to multiple FOIAs, information released by city officials shows that perks including monthly car allowances, city-provided cars, mileage reimbursements, cell phone allowances, cell phone costs, meals, stays at resorts and spas, entertainment and travel for Ann Arbor’s top [...]
by Chris Savage A2PNotes: This is filed under “Scoops & Scores” because you read it here first. Innocent until proven guilty? Better safe than sorry? What would you do? In 2009, Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Fred Leeb as the Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) for Pontiac, a city by all accounts in a true financial emergency. [...]
According to information provided to A2Politico in response to a FOIA, in Ann Arbor government, an attorney, planning department staffers, police officers, and even a DDA employee receive stipends worth $50 to $400 a month to put toward vehicles despite doing the majority of their work in city offices, or being provided a city vehicle [...]
