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 Financing Plan.” Terms are three years. Members serve when appointed by the mayor and confirmed by City Council.

The reality is that the CAC situation has made a mockery of previous Councils’ oversight of boards and commissions. The CAC has been used as a bully pulpit to enthusiastically support and protect the DDA Board and its agenda from public criticisms and from criticisms leveled by Council members. In 2012, there were just three members of the CAC, Herbert and Jane Kaufer, and the “Chair” of the group, Ray Detter, a retired University of Michigan lecturer. After October 2012, all of the mayor’s appointments to the CAC had expired. Despite this fact, Detter continued to speak regularly at meetings of the Downtown Development Authority and City Council on behalf of the CAC “board” and “membership.” The many DDA and City Council meetings at which Detter spoke and claimed to be the chair of the CAC were reported on by AnnArbor.com and chronicled by the AnnArborChronicle.com.

In November 2012, a month after his appointment to the CAC had expired, Detter was quoted in AnnArbor.com as speaking before City Council as the “chairman of the Downtown Citizens Advisory Council.”

In December 2012, the AnnArborChronicle.com, in the course of chronicling a DDA meeting, posted this: “Ray Detter, speaking for the downtown citizens advisory council, updated the board on another major development – 413 East Huron.” When this was written, in reality, there were no members on the CAC, and Detter, no longer a member, had no authority to speak for the CAC.

In April, when the city’s Historic District Commission came out against the proposed development at 413 E. Huron (near Detter’s home), AnnArbor.com described Ray Detter as “chairman of the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council.” Detter told Ryan Stanton, “On behalf of the Downtown Area CAC, I would simply say that we are very pleased to see the Historic District Commission give support to the stated positions of the DDA’s Connecting William Street initiative as well as the Downtown Design Guidelines Review Board.”

While the two news blogs appear to have been hoodwinked, the fact is that both Ryan Stanton, AnnArbor.com’s government reporter and David Askins, Editor of the AnnArborChronicle.com, repeatedly told their respective readers that Ray Detter was speaking at public meetings as the representative of an important downtown citizens group. Had Detter been referred to as a resident of Ann Arbor who spoke regularly at those meetings, his “advice” and input would certainly have been construed very differently. Instead, readers were led to believe Ray Detter was speaking on behalf of other downtown citizens. He was not. He had no authority to do so as he was no longer a member of the CAC.

When A2Politico brought the question of the CAC membership to the attention of the Ann Arbor City Clerk, Jacqueline Beaudry, one of her several subsequent emails reported that Detter was applying for reappointment to the CAC. Detter has served on the CAC for 28 years running. It’s no wonder talk of term limits might make him a bit cranky.

The establishment of Ann Arbor’s CAC was a state legal requirement associated with establishing a Downtown Development Authority. The Downtown CAC webpage offers this description:

How Established: Council resolution approved August 16, 1982. Revised by R-44-2-05 changing the title, revising the length of terms, and number of members. Purpose: This group of citizens living in the DDA area is established to advise the DDA and City Council with regard to implementation of the Downtown Development Plan and Tax Increment Financing Plan. Special Qualifications for Appointment: Resident of the DDA area. Individuals who were residents of the DDA District upon appointment may remain on the CAC or be reappointed to the CAC if they move to a new residence on a block bisected by the DDA boundary line or a block abutting the DDA boundary line. Length of Terms: 3 years. Meeting Times and Frequency: This is a permanent committee that meets the 1st Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the 4th Floor Conference Room of City Hall, 301 E. Huron. Membership/Committee Composition: No more than 15 members. Contact Info: Raymond Detter, 120 N. Division St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104, 734-668-7027.

In February 2005, the City Council passed a resolution that amended the 1982 DACAC resolution to provide the following:

RESOLVED, City Council approves the following changes to Citizens Advisory Council as follows:
· The official name of committee shall be the “Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council”
· Applicants for appointment to the CAC must live within the DDA District. Individuals who were residents of the DDA District upon appointment may remain on the CAC or be reappointed to the CAC if they move to a new residence on a block bisected by the DDA boundary line or a block abutting the DDA boundary line.
· Terms will be three years.
The number of CAC members will be limited to 15.

So, who is Ray Detter and why was he reappointed to the CAC for over two decades instead of any one of the other thousands of residents who live downtown? Either you know the name Ray Detter, or you don’t. Either you merit an invitation to his annual Old Fourth Ward party where you can rub elbows with a host of other politicos, their pals, donors and their appointees, or you don’t. Detter is politically-connected, but he is also enamored of being politically connected—a political pilot fish, if you will, a mutualist. Look at the campaign finance forms of Council members, and you will find that every year Ray Detter coughs up multiple donations, primarily to Hive Mind-backed candidates. In 2012, he supported Ward 1 candidate Eric Sturgis, Ward 2 incumbent Tony Derezinski, Ward 4 incumbent Margie Teall and Ward 5 candidate Chuck Warpehoski.

It is because he is a deft political pilot fish that certain Council members are playing Twister over the proposed student high rise a developer wants to plop on a small parcel on the corner of Huron and Division (413 East Huron). Detter’s historic home sits about half a block behind what would be a huge apartment complex tall enough to blot out the little sun that reaches his yard in between the stately trees that shade his property.  Detter, speaking as the chair of the Downtown Citizens Advisory Council (CAC), has been generally in support of downtown density, and vocal in support of outsized developments built along the edges of downtown neighborhoods. Until now. Now, the proposed downtown density will shade his garden and block his views. He wants the city to down zone the parcel and stop the development.

However, Detter has not confined his comments at DDA and City Council meetings to “advice with regard to implementation of the Downtown Development Plan and Tax Increment Financing Plan.” In April 2013, six months after his appointment to CAC had expired, Detter spoke as the “Chair” of the CAC and on behalf of the CAC’s board “members” at a Downtown Development Authority meeting. He complained that a proposed City Council resolution to impose term limits on DDA Board members and slow the group’s capture of tax dollars was an “irrational attack” on the DDA by the Council members sponsoring the resolution (Ward 1 Council member Sumi Kailasapathy and Ward 3 Council member Stephen Kunselman).

When asked if he’d been aware that his appointment to the CAC had expired when he’d attacked the Council members’ resolution as “irrational,” Detter responded with a genial email that included a friendly invitation to anyone living within the DDA boundary to join the CAC. The problem, of course, is that the city’s Charter doesn’t give Ray Detter the power to make appointments to the CAC. It’s not a private club, but  has been run like one since 2008. Membership in the group, by resolution of Council, is granted by mayoral appointment, and confirmation of City Council.

Some of the appointments of the people listed by the City Clerk’s office as serving on the CAC Board expired as long ago as 2008. Ann Arbor City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry responded to A2Politico’s inquiries promptly and contacted the DDA’s Executive Director Susan Pollay, via email, to ask about the membership of the CAC. Pollay responded with a roster of CAC “members” and an offhand comment that the DDA has little to do with the group. Pollay, it would appear, was unaware that all of the CAC members’ appointments had expired. She is, perhaps, also unaware of the state law and Council ordinance that requires the existence of a CAC from which the DDA will solicit citizen input on downtown development and tax increment financing plans.

Pollay’s list of CAC “members”—from whom the Ann Arbor Charter requires the DDA and City Council to hear regularly— included several people who were not, in fact, members of CAC.

The City Clerk contacted John Hiefje’s office for information on the CAC, then updated the city’s webpage with the correct information, including the names, appointment dates, and appointment expiration dates for each former member:

Raymond Detter    start date 10/15/1984     end date 10/19/2012

Herbert Kaufer      start date 5/21/2001       end date 10/19/2012

Jane Kaufer           start date 5/21/2001       end date 10/19/2012

Jim Kern                start date 2/22/2000       end date 7/21/2011

Sue Kern                 start date 2/22/2000       end date 7/21/2011

Marsha Chamberlin     start date 5/5/2008       end date 5/5/2011

John Chamberlin          start date 5/5/2008       end date 5/5/2011

Joan French          start date 7/3/2006         end date 7/3/2009

Kathleen Nolan    start date 5/21/2001       end date 7/21/2011

Susan Nenadic     start date 10/17/2005       end date 10/17/2010

The members of the DDA Board have been content to hear from Ray Detter regularly because he routinely tells them what they want to hear and. It’s infinitely better if the criticism of a resolution to impose term limits on the DDA Board comes from the “Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Council,” rather than any of the hugely unpopular DDA Board members. However, regularly misleading the general public and the media into believing the CAC is an entity that represents downtown residents, is more evidence that City Council not only needs to rein in the DDA Board, but needs to exercise much more stringent oversight over all the city’s boards and commissions.

A good place to begin would be for the City Council to direct that the 15 openings on the CAC be widely advertised. Then, Council members will need to press John Hieftje so that he offers up applicants from a much larger political gene pool, not his usual cast of cronies. It’s time for the DDA Board members to hear from a wider racial, socio-economic and political spectrum of downtown citizens, including students, young professionals, people with children, minorities and retirees. As for Ray Detter, he has had 28 years to curry favor and peddle his particular brand of “advice.” His behavior in purporting to represent the CAC months after his term had ended smacks of entitlement and comes dangerously close to deliberately deceiving the public. He deserves thanks for his long service, and should join the DDA Board members who are being given the opportunity to “retire” when their current terms end.

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 a six-figure job with the State of Michigan, McCormick decamped with her pension for a six-figure job with the City of Detroit. Former Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones “retired” with his pension to a six-figure job as the Police Chief of Flint and a six-figure job with Sue McCormick at the Detroit Water and Sewage Department leading the office of (seriously) Integrity and Security. That bit of double-dipping resulted in front page headlines in the Detroit newspapers. After the scandal broke, the Michigan Department of Treasury, where Roger Fraser works (Fraser recommended Jones for the Flint job to that city’s Emergency Financial Manager), inserted language in future EFM contracts that says “emergency financial manager appointees can not engage in other employment, unless approved by the EFM.”

As it turns out, Dan Rainey will fit right in with McCormick and Jones at the Detroit Water and Sewage Department. Ann Arbor’s most recent audit  revealed that while Rainey’s Department had $150,000 dollars allocated to projects such creating and implementing a disaster recovery plan, in the event that the city’s computer data were lost, no such plan had ever been created or implemented. The IT Director sat on the allocated $150,000 for over two years, according to the city’s March 2013 Revenue Budget Performance report. In fact, a list of special projects were funded, including money for contracted services, but never completed under Rainey’s tenure:

Jury Management System ($5,000 allocated)

Disk Array/Disaster Recovery ($150,000 allocated)

Project Management Business Improvements ($17,000 allocated)

Barton Canoe Livery Asset Management System ($25,000 allocated)

Kiosks ($55,000 allocated)

Tax Assessing Software Upgrade ($20,000 allocated)

Then, there are the contingency funds. Under Rainey, the IT Department sat on hundreds of thousands of dollars in “just in case we want to spend it money.” This money includes a $65,000 contingency fund for software purchases, a $60,000 contingency fund for “business intelligence,” and a $50,000 contingency fund for “intrusion prevention.” This bit of mad money is particularly amusing given the fact that the 2012 audit dinged Rainey and his department for not requiring computer passwords to be changed regularly, and for neglecting to set up computers so that screens lock when employees leave their work stations. The IT Department’s budget includes $75,000 in contingency funds for a Water Data Mart project that wasn’t done.

In 2009, Rainey, ever the generous ITsar came to the attention of A2Politico when he “volunteered” taxpayer-funded IT services to his professional association which needed it website redesigned, a project that can cost a company anywhere from $20,000-$100,000. In 2009, A2Politico posted this piece:

Looking though the City’s web site where recruitment listings are posted, evidently, has the draw of a great garage sale to some people. You never know when you’re going to find something fascinating. According to someone who regularly enjoys a good rummage through the City’s online resources, on August 28th, the City of Ann Arbor posted a job for an unpaid intern to work on the redevelopment and launch of a new web site. The unpaid intern would report directly to the City of Ann Arbor’s Chief Information Officer and IT Director Dan Rainey.

No news scoop there. Unpaid internships are de riguer in this economic climate. Heck, AnnArbor.com relies on loads of unpaid “contributors” to produce their editorial content. Unpaid workers are in, Sweetie.

Back to the City’s unpaid internship. The job advertisement begins innocently enough:

“The City of Ann Arbor is committed to providing excellent municipal services that enhance the quality of life for all through the intelligent use of resources while valuing an open environment that fosters fair, sensitive, and respectful treatment of all employees and the community served.”

So far so good. Then the intelligent use of resources hits the fan, as it were.

The August 28th job description continues: ”We currently have a great opportunity for an Information Technology Intern for fall semester 2009. This is an unpaid internship.The primary project will involve redevelopment and launch of a new website for the Metropolitan Information Exchange (MIX) organization (www.mixnet.org), a national group of public sector Chief Information Officers. Reporting directly to the City of Ann Arbor’s CIO, You will be given lots of support and direction with this highly visible project. This is a great way for you to showcase your talents and get some great exposure to various public and private sector organizations.”

Ann Arbor’s CIO Dan Rainey, who oversees an IT department that is budgeted to cost taxpayers $7.4  million dollars in 2009, is seeking to hire an intern to redevelop a web site for the Metropolitan Information Exchange. There are several obvious problems with Rainey’s scheme, not the least among which is that employing an IT intern under the auspices of the City of Ann Arbor to do work wholly unrelated to the city’s IT needs amounts to cheating the taxpayers. The intern will use city resources (office, computer, software, phone, office supplies, etc….) to do the work and CIO Rainey, who earns $160,000 in salary and benefits, will supervise the intern’s work on behalf of MIX.

After A2Politico revealed the CIO’s scheme to “donate” IT services to MIX, the announcement for the internship was quietly removed from the city’s website.

Then, there’s the IT Fund. Certain city departments and even millage funds are being assessed proportionally higher IT Fund charges, specifically the city’s Park Maintenance & Capital Improvement Millage Fund, the Parks & Rec Department, the AAPD and the AAFD.

In 2012 Argo Canoe Livery paid $10,320 to temp. workers, employees who rent canoes, sell concessions, teach summer camp classes, and tend to the equipment. That same year, Argo livery was charged $12,041 by the IT Fund. Gallup Canoe Livery was charged the same amount by the IT Fund. The Ann Arbor Senior Center, threatened with closure for the want of operating funds, was assessed $18,825 for the IT Fund, or 10 percent of the Senior Center’s $188,000 annual expenses. The Field Operations Department oversees Parks Operations, which spent $180,360 in 2012. Of that amount, $57,713 was turned over to the IT Fund, 33 percent of the total. According to comprehensive  budget documents posted to the city’s website, in 2012 taxpayers spent $12,129 for chemicals and $14,716 for water for Fuller Pool. Fuller Pool pool was also assessed $11,700 for Rainey’s IT Fund. Mack Pool paid $18,814 for electricity and was soaked $17,391 for the IT Fund. The Leslie Golf Course spent $12,639 on water, $26,502 on retiree medical insurance and was chipped for $36,824 for the IT Fund. Huron Hills Golf Course was assessed a whopping $60,000 for the IT Fund in 2012.

The Park Maintenance & Capital Improvement Millage Fund, which raises about $5 million dollars per year from taxpayers, is paying high IT Fund assessments, as well. In 2012, the Maintenance & Capital Improvement Millage Fund was assessed over $167,000 for the IT Fund. The Open Space & Parks Acquisition Millage was assessed $10,412 for the IT Fund, but the Natural Area Preservation program was charged $67,959 for the IT Fund, 25 percent of NAP’s $268,069 expenditures. Neither the Street Repair Millage Fund nor the Art in Public Places Millage Fund paid anything into the IT Fund in 2012.

Like the parks millage, the Parks Department is expected to pay a relatively high IT Fund assessment in 2013, $179,000. Conversely, the City Attorney’s Office is budgeted to pay $152,800 to the IT Fund and the Solid Waste Department is budgeted to pay $143,000 to the IT Fund, respectively, in 2013.

The Downtown Development Authority, on the other hand, is budgeted to pay no IT Fund assessment in 2013 and paid none in 2012.

Like the city’s parks, preservation and open space programs, safety services are assessed significantly higher IT Fund charges than other departments. Ann Arbor employs 124 police officers. The Police Department paid $1.32 million dollars to the IT Fund in 2012, $100,000 more than the AAPD is projected to pay to fund retiree medical insurance in 2013 and $300,000 more than the AAPD is projected to spend in 2013 on medical insurance for its active patrol officers. The Ann Arbor Fire Department, with 90 officers, was assessed $338,000 for the IT Fund, or triple what is budgeted for maintaining and repairing the city’s firetrucks in 2013.

What can be done? A Council member suggested that it’s time to “go after fund balances” such as the “contingent” money that sits in the IT Department’s budget and other city funds. Stephen Lange Ranzini is the president of a local bank and, for the past 12 months has been vocal in his support of emptying what he calls the city’s “buckets.” In December 2012 Ranzini wrote this in response to a piece about budgeting by city officials: “Some (city) funds are overstuffed with cash (for example the 1% for art fund), overall the city has over $100 million of cash trapped in various buckets not restricted by millage or the source of the funds but “restricted” *only* by vote of city council, while the mayor and city manager assert that the general fund *only* has $15 million in cash and therefore doesn’t have enough funds to properly staff the fire fighters and to keep all five fire stations open. Overall the city’s many funding buckets earned over $30 million last year, but we have “no money” to find basic priorities like fire, police and roads! Drain the buckets!”

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 a Freedom of Information Act request, taxpayers shelled out $323.512.74 in car allowance money.

In 2009, under Fraser, 27 city employees (including himself) were given car allowances totaling $70,357.56. By 2011 the number of employees with car allowances grew to include 36 staffers and the allowances paid out that year totaled $85,06.06, a 15 percent increase. One of those staffers with a car allowance was City Attorney Stephen Postema, an Ann Arbor resident who can frequently be seen walking to City Hall from his home on the West Side.

At the moment, the Ann Arbor City Attorney  is on vacation. No doubt he’s taking a needed break after narrowly avoiding getting tossed out on his keister for being caught charging taxpayers $1,038 for mileage at the same time he’d collected $15,840 in car allowance funds since 2009. The city’s new auditor dinged Postema in June 2012  as a double-dipper, scamming taxpayers for mileage while collecting a car allowance. Then, Postema was quietly allowed to accept a new contract by means of a November 8, 2012 resolution offered up to Council members by the City Council’s Administrative Committee (John Hieftje, Ward 4 Council members Margie Teall and Marcia Higgins, outgoing Ward 2 Council member Tony Derezinski, and Ward 3 Council member Chris Taylor). This was done without mention of the auditor’s findings, and the resolution brought to Council stated the City Attorney was “willingly giving up” his monthly car allowance, as opposed to losing it because he’d been caught gaming the system.

New City Council members Sumi Kailasaphy, a Ward 1 Democrat and a Certified Public Accountant, and Sally Hart Petersen, a Ward 2 Democrat with an MBA and ample business experience, both of whom now sit on the City Council Audit Committee, pushed for more details about Postema’s violation of city policy as identified by the auditor from Rehmann Robson.

While City Council members on the Audit Committee decided how to best revisit the June 2013 audit and investigate the double-dipping violations, Postema, according to information released by the city, had multiple discussions with the auditor about his own double-dipping identified in the 2012 audit report. As Audit Committee members decided how to ferret out the details surrounding the City Attorney’s “double-dipping,” Postema offered legal guidance to Council members on the matter until he was rebuked, told that doing so was a conflict of interest, and instructed to stop.

Nonetheless, documents released by the city show that together with CFO Tom Crawford, Postema pressed the city’s new auditor by phone and by email to reclassify the City Attorney’s double-dipping transgression as something other than a “violation” based on the fact that Postema’s “executive” contract allowed for travel and thus his mileage was claimed as an allowed expense. The auditor, in issuing his revised opinion make a point to reaffirm that “… from a business practices standpoint, our conclusion (with or without the existence of a policy) was it would be illogical and, therefore inappropriate, to make mileage reimbursements to persons having a car allowance.”

CFO Tom Crawford, dressed as Mr. Magoo, came bravely forward and told the Audit Committee members Postema couldn’t possibly have violated city policy concerning simultaneous collection of a car allowance and mileage reimbursement for the simple reason that the city’s internal controls and mileage reimbursement policies are so vague that it would have been impossible for the immediate past president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys to understand that receiving a monthly car allowance and then collecting over $1,000 in mileage reimbursement might be, well, “inappropriate,” to quote the auditor.

In response to an A2Politico request for comment about the amount of money the City of Ann Arbor is spending on cell phone allowances, new City Administrator Steve Powers included this in his comment justifying cell phone allowances for a third of the city’s full-time regular employees: “….I have eliminated vehicle allowances for service area administrators.”

In 2013, according to records from the city, the following 16 staffers receive a car allowance:

• Colin Smith, parks and recreation manager — $200
• Jeff Straw, parks and recreation deputy manager — $200
• Ralph Welton, chief development officer — $150
• Susan Pollay, DDA executive director — $315.63
• Annette Weber, city assessor’s office — $200
• Michael Courtney, city assessor’s office — $200
• David Petrak, city assessor’s office — $200
• Amy Balogh, city assessor’s office — $200
• Ryan Doletzky, city assessor’s office — $200
• Patricia Forner, city assessor’s office — $200
• Matt Warba, acting field operations manager — $300
• Dennis Crum, fleet and facilities supervisor — $300
• Matt Kulhanek, fleet and facilities manager — $300
• Earl Kenzie, wastewater treatment manager — $300
• Ellen Taylor, assistant fire chief — $375
• Greg Bazick, deputy police chief — $375

In April 2012, when Powers assumed his position, the following 33 staffers were receiving car allowances (the names of those staffers still receiving allowances in 2013 are bolded):

• Sumedh Bahl (2009-2012 total paid: $13,200)
• Amy Balogh
• Gregory Bazik
• Matthew Bedner (2009-2012 total paid: $540)
• Martin Brosnan (2009-2012 total paid: $1,150)
• Robert Cariano (2009-2012 total paid: ($14,400)
• Tom Crawford (2009-2012 total paid: $16,800)
• Dennis Crum
• Ryan Doletzky
• Patricia Forner
• Seth Garner (2009-2012 total paid: $1,320)
• Ammar Hamamy (2009-2012 total paid: $1,980)
• Kenneth Harris (2009-2012 total paid: $1,620)
• Craig Hupy (2009-2012 total paid: $12,300)
• Earl Kenzie
• Matthew Kulhanek
• Thomas Lentner (2009-2012 total paid: $1,010)
• Steven Lowe (2009-2012 total paid: $2,250)
• Roger Meyer (2009-2012 total paid: $610)
• David Petrak
• Susan Pollay
• Jared Post (2009-2012 total paid: $870)
• Stephen Postema (2009-2012 total paid: $15,840)
• John Seto (2009-2012 total paid: $16,125)
• Gary Shivley (2009-2012 total paid: $1,500)
• Colin Smith
• James Sobetski (2009-2012 total paid: $910)
• Jaime Solis (2009-2012 total paid: $1,310)
• Jeffrey Straw
• Ellen Taylor
• Matthew Warba
• Annette Weber
• Ralph Welton (2009-2012 total paid: $5,100)

While the remaining $48,000 per year paid to city managers each year for car allowances is a significant savings over the $79,786 paid out in 2012, it should be pointed out that Christmas tree collection was discontinued to save some $36,000. While Ward 3 Council member Stephen Kunselman was quick to come to the conclusion that he didn’t think anyone had been trying to “game the system,” according to coverage of the Audit Committee meeting by AnnArborChronicle.com, Kunselman, unlike Ward 1 Council member Kailasapathy, “indicated little enthusiasm for delving into the wording of Postema’s contract or existing city policies.” Setting policies, however, is a Council member’s job, and Kunselman’s “lack of enthusiasm” for doing it is disappointing, particularly given the fact that his Ward 1 colleague has the necessary education and professional experience to understand gaming of a system when she sees it.

Than again, Kunselman recently announced he is planning to challenge John Hiefje in 2014, should Hieftje run again, and the Ward 3 Council member might be afraid to delve into existing city policies or to criticize city staff who are obviously gaming the system, according to the city’s previous and current auditors. In the 2008 Council election, Kunselman’s criticisms of city staff were effectively used against him in a scathing Ann Arbor News editorial:

Two years ago, we endorsed Stephen Kunselman for his first term on Ann Arbor City Council, and he went on to win that seat. We liked his pragmatic approach, viewing the council’s role as giving voice to people who might not otherwise be represented. He describes himself as a blue-collar Democrat who advocates for working-class residents, and has supported projects like the proposed skatepark and the ordinance allowing residents to raise backyard chickens.

However, Kunselman sometimes approaches his job in a way that we feel is inappropriate for a council member, tending toward micromanagement rather than policy-setting….As one example, earlier this year Kunselman met with some of the city’s unionized public services employees, where he used an expletive to criticize their performance in the winter’s snow removal. When asked by an employee about the automated compost pickup, Kunselman said, “You guys are getting lazy,” according to a letter of complaint from the union president to City Administrator Roger Fraser. That letter ultimately led to a formal apology from Kunselman.

Comparing the 2012 and 2013 lists of city staffers receiving car allowances shows that City Administrator plucked off the low-hanging fruit, city staffers whose monthly allowances were relatively low. On the other hand, it’s difficult to justify perks for city staffers while cutting services to city residents. Furthermore, it has become even more difficult for any Council member to justify having “little enthusiasm” for doing her/his job. Jack Eaton ran for Council in 2012 and came 18 votes from unseating a 5-term incumbent Margie Teall. In response to a piece posted to AnnArborChronicle.com about Postema’s double-dipping, Eaton, a lawyer, writes:

It is my understanding that prior audits have identified similar problems with employee reimbursements and that staff previously promised to address the problems. More troubling, the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012. Likely, this issue came to light in July or August. The City Attorney was offered a contract without a vehicle allowance and Council was not informed of this issue when it was asked to approve that contract.

I understand the desire to focus on the application of policies in the future rather than dwelling on past actions. I fear that simply accepting this behavior will send a signal to City employees that there will be no accountability. I applaud Council Member Kailasapathy for insisting on higher standards than “business as usual.”

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 small New England College. On Ward 1 City Council candidate Eric Sturgis’s campaign website he claims: “Eric has a an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts from Oakland Community College and is finishing his Secondary Education degree at Eastern Michigan University.” The image, below, is a screen shot created on June 25, 2012 of the “About” page on Sturgis’s campaign website:

According to an official in the Registrar’s Office at Eastern Michigan University, 26-year-old Eric Sturgis is not currently enrolled at the institution and has never been enrolled at Eastern Michigan University. He has applied to the college no fewer than five times, according to records at the Registrar’s Office, the last time to attend for the Fall 2012 semester. Official records show that he has not been accepted to study there for Fall 2012. He was accepted to EMU in 2004, but did not attend. He updated his status in Spring 2010, Fall 2010 and Winter 2011. However, he was never enrolled as a student in any of those years. His 2012 application for admission, perhaps the result of his multiple no-shows, according to EMU officials, has not been accepted.

Sturgis’s repeated claims that he is finishing his Secondary Education degree at Eastern Michigan University are completely false. His claim that he earned an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts from from Oakland Community College is being scrutinized by school officials, and could not immediately be confirmed by an official in the OCC Record Department.

As early as May 2012, Sturgis openly claimed to be a student at EMU. He told AnnArbor.com that, he was “working on finishing a bachelor’s degree at Eastern Michigan University.” AnnArbor.com government repeater Ryan Stanton did not confirm Sturgis’s story. Sturgis repeated the deception about his EMU enrollment at a June 20th candidate forum in Arrowwood. There, he told audience members, again including Stanton, that he (Sturgis) was studying at Eastern Michigan University.

The Sturgis Story is that he is running as a the “Local Boy.” It could be construed as a sly dig at his opponent who is not a native-born citizen. Voter registration records, however, poke holes in the Local Boy story. Between July 28, 2005 and July 4, 2010, Eric Sturgis was never registered to vote in Ann Arbor. He was registered to vote in multiple other Michigan cities during that period. On July 8, 2010, Sturgis again registered to vote in Ann Arbor, using an address on Longshore. Two months later, however, he became ineligible to vote in the city when he registered himself as a Scio Township voter. He remained registered in Scio Township until June, 21, 2011. Here is a list of Sturgis’s voter registratons between 2004 and 2011:

2004: Ann Arbor, Michigan

7/28/2005: Scio Township

7/2/2007: Rochester, Michigan

7/2/2008: Port Huron, Michigan

1/28/09: Rochester, Michigan

7/2/09: Auburn Hills, Michigan

8/12/09: Scio Township, Michigan

5/5/10: Auburn Hills, Michigan

7/8/10: Ann Arbor, Michigan

11/9/10: Scio Township, Michigan

6/21/11: Ann Arbor, Michigan

The City Charter requires City Council candidates to be resident in the Ward in which they run for 1 year prior to the election, in this case the August 2012 primary. According to officials at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, Eric Sturgis was enrolled between January 16, 2012 and May 4, 2012, but did not graduate. He played on the college’s tennis team. Sturgis also attended Oakland University, but did not graduate from that college, either.

Along with this evidence that Sturgis is misleading voters about his enrollment at EMU and, possibly, his degree at Oakland Community College, a fact which is pending confirmation by school officials, A2Politico uncovered evidence that in 2010 Sturgis had placed himself on the same August ballot for election as a Precinct Delegate in both Oakland and Washtenaw Counties. According to officials in the Oakland County Clerk’s office, appearing on the same ballot in two counties is election fraud. A2Politico received a copy of a formal letter of complaint concerning the 2010 incident which an Ann Arbor resident has filed with the Washtenaw County Clerk, Oakland County Clerk, and Michigan Secretary of State’s Elections Division. The letter asks the county and state officials to, “…conduct an investigation of the dual, inconsistent candidacies of Mr. Sturgis in 2010.”

Voting and academic records would seem to indicate that Eric Sturgis is, obviously, a young man whose life has taken many twists and turns, politically and academically, a young man who might have a tough time passing even the most simple check of the story concocted for his campaign website and, more disturbingly, for Ward 1 voters.

During a two hour conversation at which his opponent was present, Eric Sturgis said he’d been strongly encouraged to run for City Council by a woman whom he refers to as “Gramma Gunn”—Washtenaw County Commissioner Leah Gunn. Sturgis also said Gunn promised him donations from her PAC, as well money from a variety of Hieftje cronies. Campaign finance forms are due in July, so it won’t be possible until then to determine who has donated thus far. Sturgis said that Gunn was in charge of furnishing him with campaign signs, literature and, in July, volunteers who will drop his literature door-to-door. Allegedly, those volunteers will include Hieftje’s wife and grown son, Josh, but not Hieftje himself. When asked if Council member Sandi Smith would go door-to-door with him, Sturgis laughed and said that he’d heard from Gunn that it had been extremely difficult to get Smith to campaign for herself. “Sandi’s just really lazy,” Sturgis said.

At the Arrowwood candidate forum, Eric Sturgis’s closing statement did not focus on his platform. Instead, he looked squarely at the audience and said, “These are the people who are endorsing me: Council member Sandi Smith, County Commissioner Leah Gunn, Janis Bobrin, DDA Board member Joan Lowenstein, Mayor Pro Tem Marcia Higgins, and Ann Arbor Board of Education member Simone Lightfoot.” Sturgis is also being endorsed by Ray Detter Old 4th Ward Vice President, and 1st Ward resident, and Christine Crockett Old 4th Ward President, and 1st Ward resident.

Is “Gramma” Gunn a complete doddering fool, shamelessly taken in by a young man who’s obviously had a tough time finding a place to fit in, live and finish what he claims is his degree in Secondary Education? Or are “Gramma” Gunn and her local Dem pals using a troubled young man to try and fool Ward 1 Ann Arbor voters into believing a “Local Boy” story, complete with fabricated attendance at Eastern Michigan University (perhaps to lull voters into thinking that “student” Sturgis would not be moving on anytime soon)? Regardless, “Gramma Gunn,” Lowenstein, Sturgis and local politicos who are endorsing him have some explaining to do concerning just why they’re telling Ward 1 voters that a candidate who lies about his college attendance, and who committed election fraud in 2010 is the best choice for voters this August.

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 has the Michigan Sierra Club, for almost a decade, stubbornly refused to endorse the politico who “sets the standard for progressive mayors everywhere, and has the strongest environmental record of any Mayor in the Midwest?” The spin from Hieftje and his supporters is that the Michigan Sierra Club endorsement is withheld because of petty jealousies between Hieftje and members of the local chapter of the state Sierra Club.

The real reason may this: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data and analysis reveal that the air and water in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw county are dirty. Really dirty. In fact, Washtenaw county and Ann Arbor have some of the dirtiest air and water in the state of Michigan, according to the EPA. Ann Arbor has been singled out by the EPA for its failure to meet federal clean air standards since 2005. Add to this the fact that over the past decade miles driven within Ann Arbor rose by a whopping 47,481,632, and well, suddenly the refusal of the Michigan Sierra Club to endorse Hieftje looks less about a personality conflict and more about the Sierra Club having standards. The EPA data also raise questions about the Michigan enviro groups who have given Hieftje and his local, county and state political cronies awards and endorsements over the past decade.

Michael Garfield is the Executive director of the Ecology Center (which in turn controls Recycle Ann Arbor). Lisa Wozniak is the Executive Director of the tiny Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Former Ann Arbor City Council member and state politico Chris Kolb heads the Michigan Environmental Council, a statewide coalition of 70 environmental, public health and faith-based nonprofit groups. Laura Rubin leads the Huron River Watershed Council.

Each of them is involved in a tangled web of campaign donations, political appointments, public money and endorsements. The voting public is led to believe that Michigan enviro-endorsements doled out locally reflect progressive politics and environmentalism. If the EPA data are any indication, enviro-endorsements by the Huron River Watershed Council, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, the Michigan Environmental Council, as well as the Ecology Center, have little to do with the actual health of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw county’s air and water.

According to officials in the Washtenaw County Department of Environmental Health, the county has no comprehensive surface water monitoring program. There’s no money to do it, county officials claim. Yet, in 2009 the county received part of a $1.7 million dollar grant from the EPA to the state to be used for water management programs. The Huron River Watershed Council received over $185,000 of the total $1.7 million dollar grant from the EPA. In bordering Wayne County, the Water Quality Management Group provides water resource management to that county’s municipalities. In Oakland County, the Health Division regularly monitors surface water.

The lack of a comprehensive and strategic program greatly inhibits the overall assessment of water quality in Washtenaw County.

According to data compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the county’s water sources contain over twice the number of contaminants found in water sources state-wide, starting with a 1,4 dioxane plume that is creeping toward the Huron River. According to the city of Ann Arbor web site, “Laboratory studies show that exposure to 1,4 dioxane over a lifetime causes cancer in animals. 1,4 dioxane may likewise cause cancer in humans. Laboratory studies show that repeat exposure to large amounts of 1,4 dioxane in drinking water, in air, or on the skin causes liver and kidney damage in animals.” Data gathered by the state and the EPA reveal that Washtenaw County, including Ann Arbor, has one of the most impaired watersheds in Michigan, with 15.3 percent of the total surface water not meeting Clean Water Act standards. In Wayne County, one of the dirtiest counties in the country according to the EPA, 17.22 percent of all surface water fails to meet Clean Water Act standards.

Washtenaw county’s lack of a comprehensive and strategic surface water monitoring program makes it much easier for the Michigan environmental groups referred to above to be used as environmental shills, providing political endorsements to a tight-knit group of local, county, state and national politicos even while Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County’s air and water quality standards, as documented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, failed to meet national standards year after year over the past decade.

Between 2005-2012, Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County have been on the EPA’s list of state areas defined as “nonattainment” with respect to air quality standards tracked and measured by the organization. In fact, Washtenaw county’s air pollution is so pervasive it has been identified by the EPA for contributing to the poor air and water quality in neighboring Wayne County.

In May 2011, a piece in Forbes by writer Kai Petainen, a local who pens a column for the mag., addressed the green elephant in the living room:

After losing the local paper newspaper, environmental issues in Ann Arbor get very little press, and are sometimes narrowed down to a paragraph or two.  Stereotypes about a city can be rather misleading.  Ann Arbor is supposedly known for environmentalism, but it doesn’t take long to find a town that is not known for its environmentalism, doing much more with alternative energy than Ann Arbor.  When one drives to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a first impression of the city can be one of steel plants and paper mills.  Drive outside and around the city, and one finds a number of alternative energy sources.  It doesn’t take long to notice that the Soo is becoming a hot place for clean energy, as it has large-scale wind and solar power facilities, a hydro plant and progress on biomass power.

Petainen then goes on to write about the green elephant in the aquifer:

Does Ann Arbor have any other pollution issues?  Yes. Although I focused in on a smaller unsolved spill, Ann Arbor has a much larger ‘spill.’  There is a 1,4 dioxane plume that has entered the groundwater and residents are clearly upset with the cleanup effort.

So guess who wouldn’t talk to Petainen about the 1,4 dioxane plume? “I was unable to get a comment from Pall Corporation, or the Huron River Watershed Council (a “Coalition of governments, businesses, and volunteers dedicated to protecting, sustaining, and rehabilitating the Huron River system.)”

In 2006, 2008 and 2010, while the Ecology Center’s Michael Garfield trumpted Hieftje as having “the strongest environmental record of any Mayor in the Midwest,” the city completely failed to meet national PM-2.5 air quality standards. According to the EPA:

Particulate matter, or PM, is the term for particles found in the air, including dust, dirt, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. Particles can be suspended in the air for long periods of time. Some particles are large or dark enough to be seen as soot or smoke. Others are so small that individually they can only be detected with an electron microscope.

Many manmade and natural sources emit PM directly or emit other pollutants that react in the atmosphere to form PM. These solid and liquid particles come in a wide range of sizes.

Particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter (PM₁₀) pose a health concern because they can be inhaled into and accumulate in the respiratory system. Particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM_2.5) are referred to as “fine” particles and are believed to pose the greatest health risks. Because of their small size (approximately 1/30th the average width of a human hair), fine particles can lodge deeply into the lungs.

In 2008, when Wozniak’s League of Conservation Voters awarded Hieftje an “Environmental Leadership Award” for his environmental achievements, the city was on the EPA’s list of areas nation-wide where air quality was classified as “nonattainment.” Nonattainment areas are where residents are at the greatest health risk thanks to “fine” particles in the air. In that same year, the city also made the EPA’s list for areas that failed to meet the agency’s 8-Hour Ozone standards, as well. Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County were number 6 the list of Michigan counties where a large percentage of surface water sources failed to meet federal Clean Water Act standards.

In 2010, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters endorsed local political Democratic insiders including then state representative Rebekah Warren, Ned Staebler, Hieftje and Christine Green, a candidate for the 52nd District state seat that went to Republican Mark Ouimet. The group also endorsed Republican Rick Snyder.

A look at the Board of Directors of Ecology Center, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, the Huron River Watershed Council and the Michigan Environmental Council, and it becomes clear that there is a tangled web of influence that reaches from Ann Arbor to Lansing and back again—influence that has been used to bestow awards and green cred on local politicos whose environmental records include EPA warnings of consistently poor air and water quality.

For example, Chris Kolb, Executive Director of the Michigan Environmental Council, sits on the board of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Lisa Wozniak, Executive Director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, sits on the Board of the Huron River Watershed Council. Wozniak also sits on the Board of Kolb’s Michigan Environmental Council. 2010 State House candidate Christine Green, who scored an endorsement from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, serves as an at-large member of the Michigan Environmental Council Board. She also sits on the Board of Michael Garfield’s Ann Arbor Ecology Center. Phil Roos, an Ann Arborite, sits on the Boards of both the Michigan Environmental Council and the Board of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Hieftje sat on the Board of Garfield’s Recycle Ann Arbor, as well as Rubin’s Huron River Watershed Council.

Between 2006 and 2010 these enviro groups and “environmental activists” have given the Green Thumb’s up to local politicos who tried to sell parkland, and went on to try to lease river front acreage for use as a construction site for a 1,000 car parking garage. During Michigan’s “Greenest mayor’s” years in office, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) for the City of Ann Arbor increased by 9.8 percent from 2000 to 2010, from an estimated 481,607,203 miles to 529,238,685, according to data compiled by WATS.

As with Hieftje and his political cronies, Rep. Dingell has found The Sierra Club endorsement virtually impossible to land.

Nonetheless, Michigan-based enviro groups controlled by Ann Arborites have stepped in to fill the void for a Congressman who has been called an “environmental demon.” Chris Kolb recently penned a treacly endorsement of Rep. John Dingell’s environmental “achievements.” Lisa Wozniak was on hand to laud Mr. Dingell Environmentalist when he kicked off his 2012 re-election campaign. Never mind that when Rep. Dingell was ousted from his chairmanship of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, progressive media outlet Mother Jones cheered. ”Huge news. Great news. Michigan Representative John Dingell, who has spent over 50 years in the House of Representatives being the auto industry’s babysitter, has lost his position as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to the younger and more liberal Henry Waxman.”

EPA data reveal Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County have seriously and chronically dirty air, contaminated surface and underground water sources. Yet, Michigan and Ann Arbor enviro groups and their leaders continue to bestow glowing endorsements on the same tight-knit group of local, county, state and national politicos who run as “environmentalists.” The Gospel according to the EPA is that Garfield’s “strongest environmental record of any Mayor in the Midwest” has in reality accomplished little, according to EPA data from the past decade, to clean up our county’s air and remediate surface and water table water contamination. Hieftje, however, is far from alone in his abuse of the title “environmentalist.”

In the movie classic “The Godfather,” an undertaker aptly named Bonasera comes to Don Vito Corleone and asks a favor, murder, as payback for the brutal beating of his daughter during an attempted rape. The Don grants the man’s request, in part, with this caveat: “Good. Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me.” Of course that day comes. It always comes. The chance for local and state enviro groups and their leaders to “do a service” for their Dons will come sooner rather than later—first we’ll see a new batch of enviro endorsements just in time for the August Democratic primary election, and then again in November.