by P.D. Lesko

Ann Arbor City Council is, once again, on fire. When Ward 3 Council member Steve Kunselman proposed a change in the fee schedule related to permits for bonfires and controlled burns of prairie grass areas, Council marm Sabra Briere ahemed herself into the conversation to point out that Council rules require amendments to be written. The sound of eyes rolling was auditory. Briere, who sits on the Council Rules Committee, found herself overruled and Kunselman got his fee reductions for people who have bonfires and who want to do controlled burns. In the course of the raging debate over the proposed $50 fees, Ward 4 Council member Marcia Higgins, who also sits on the rules committee, suggested that, perhaps, Ann Arbor needs to impose a $50 permit fee on citizens who use fire rings and the Chimineas. It’s not clear Ms. Higgins realized what she was saying, because she talked about all of the complaints she has fielded from her constituents. Marcia Higgins, who has a well-earned reputation as one of the least responsive members of City Council, is known for rarely answering her email or returning phone messages. It wasn’t immediately clear how constituents had contacted the Ward 4 Republicrat. Perhaps by smoke signal?

Then, it was on to Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm’s annual runway show for the fall leaf collection. Lumm, peering over her half glasses, reminded her Council colleagues that the amount needed to reinstate leaf pick-up amounted to about 4 percent of the $10 million dollar annual Solid Waste millage. She also pointed out that the City of Ann Arbor charges itself $362,000 to collect its own leaves, more than would have been necessary to relaunch collection for the citizens. Alas, no one suggested the Uber-Environmentalists on Council, including the World’s Greenest Mayor and his Little Green Sprout, Ward 5 Council member Chuck Warpehoski, whose fretting over the environmental impact of Lumm’s proposal was palpable, should bag up all of the city’s leaves and save us all the $362,000 budgeted for the job.

Warpehoski and Hieftje were extremely concerned about possibility of more leaves in the stormwater system—more concerned about the possibility of more leaves in the stormwater system than, say the 1,4 dioxane that is already in the city’s aquifer and headed toward the source of Ann Arbor’s drinking water. The county’s new Drain Commish, Mr. Pratt, sent a letter to Council members in which he officially fretted about the impact on water quality reinstating leaf collection might have. It’s unclear whether Pratt is also sending letters to Ann Arbor City Council fretting about the fact that 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.

Someone needs to remind Commissioner Pratt, the World’s Greenest Mayor and the Little Green Ward 5 Council Sprout, that leaves are the least of our worries so far as the local watershed is concerned.

The leaf collection debate, which lasted almost 85 minutes, at one point almost caused Marcia Higgins to have a stroke because, as she snapped at the group, “this is only the first amendment.” John Hieftje, ever the savvy expert in the application of Riggoletto’s Rules of Order, cut off the Mayor Pro Tem and announced that Ward 2 Council member Sally Hart Petersen still had one (insert thought bubble here: “mutherfracking”) turn to speak left. Marcia Higgins, never one to catch up on constituent emails when there are reruns of Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere speaking at length about nothing in particular to watch on CTN, folded her arms and glowered as Petersen promised to “be brief” then gave an impassioned plea in support of citizen services.

In fact, the comments and body language of Council members during the debate to reinstate leaf collection were an almost too-good-to-be-true window into the nice house where, it is becoming increasingly obvious, fewer people are home than ever.

Sally Hart Petersen, delivered an impassioned speech to her colleagues in which she argued “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Petersen was responding to Ward 3 Council member Christopher Taylor. It was he who suggested that a city with a $350 million dollar budget, 800 employees with a collective 25,000 years of higher education between them will never be able to collect leaves the right way.

“We um just um can’t um get it right,” umed Taylor, an entertainment attorney and CEO of Interlocutors, LLC.

To be fair, Taylor has a point. There are so many things Ann Arbor city government just can’t get right. Oddly enough, Taylor continues to vote in support of most all of them. He has voted for employee contracts that do little more than increase the nine-figure underfunded employee pension and healthcare liability. He voted to give a bonus to the city’s CFO Tom Crawford who, most recently, blamed his own blundering ineptitude as the reason the City Attorney didn’t know he shouldn’t collect a car allowance and ask to have his mileage reimbursed. Christopher Taylor has rarely seen a developer subsidy that he didn’t support, and  has voted to slash emergency services with the regularity of Geritol.

Sally Hart Petersen’s eloquence was, um, lost on Christopher Taylor. Her eloquent urging that city staff must keep trying to use extremely difficult strategies—such as planning ahead—in order to do a better job of collecting leaves was lost on most everyone. Petersen’s comments were most especially lost on the city staffers whose facial expressions made it plain that they would rather have $50,000 for a solid waste consultant shoved under their fingernails than listen to some Council Chick urge them to plan ahead.

Ward 4 Council member Margie Teall’s sum contribution to the leaf collection debate was to remind everyone that the deciders (including her) had decided three years ago that leaf pickup wasn’t necessary. Well, Teall had another tip. For those of you deciding between whether to throw your Christmas tree into the Huron River or into a neighbor’s yard, Ms. Teall has a suggestion for you: leave it in your yard for an unspecified amount of time and then “chop it up and put it into your compost.” This, of course, works well when other items composted include large car parts and small pets, both of which break down significantly more slowly than logs. After four or five years, the four or five Christmas trees will not have broken down completely, but any semblance of a cordial relationship with your neighbors whose yards adjoin yours will have broken down very nicely.

Sabra Briere asked city staffers to remind “us all” why “we” decided to discontinue leaf collection three years ago. Queen Sabra then spent a few minutes waiving to the camera and talking about “us” and why “we” couldn’t support Lumm’s proposed amendment.

“I bag my leaves,” repeated Briere.

Marcia Higgins put something in her mouth that looked suspiciously like a horse tranquilizer. She was still awake as Briere took well over her alloted two minute speaking turn to explain how she bags her leaves.

“It’s a burden,” explained Briere, but “I bag my leaves.”

One was left wondering how long it would take Briere to break down in Margie Teall’s compost pile.

Ward 5 Council member Mike Anglin spoke slowly and used simple words to explain that retired people on fixed incomes have less money than, say, people with more money. Paying for leaf bags and for a service to haul away leaves is, Anglin explained, tough on retired people on fixed incomes.

“We need to provide services to these people,” said Anglin. “They’re asking the city for this help.”

Anglin’s logic was lost on Ward 3 Council member Stephen Kunselman. After asking that burn permit fees for the eight people who pulled permits to do prairie grass burns last year be reduced from $180 to $50, Kunselman announced that he couldn’t support Lumm’s proposal.

“We can’t fund services for just one class of people,” explained Kunselman with a straight face, evidently unaware he had just spent 35 minutes arguing in favor of doing just that in asking that burn permit fees be reduced not across the board, but in just two categories.

Ward 1 Council member Sumi Kailasapahy pointed out that city governments exist to “provide services to the citizens.”

Then she argued that economy of scale was reason enough to reinstate leaf collection. Her questions also forced city staff to confess that the city’s single-stream recycling operation is collecting less material and turning less of a profit than projected because no one anticipated surrounding communities would build their own single-stream facilities and then compete with Ann Arbor for business. The materials recovery facility has gone from virtually around the clock processing to one 12 hour shift.

In the end, Council member Lumm’s annual effort to have fall leaf collection and Christmas tree collection funded again were unsuccessful. The vote was 7-4, with Kailasapathy, Petersen, Lumm and Anglin voting in favor of the proposal.

by P.D. Lesko

“We keep seeing the same names.”

“It’s like there is some ‘professional class’ of board appointees.”

“We need to draw from a larger group of citizens.”

“I want to open the door for a closer examination of the appointment and confirmation process.”

So the debate went on at Ann Arbor City Council’s May 13th meeting over John Hieftje’s proposed appointment of former Ann Arbor Planning Commission member Eric Mahler to a five year appointment on the Board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere (left) repeatedly chastised her Council colleagues for engaging in debate; the first time she was visibly embarrassed after realizing that it was, indeed, the appropriate moment for a discussion. Briere has earned the nickname “Hieftje-lite” among several of her Council colleagues, and has lost the confidence and support of many of the city’s neighborhood activists on whose financial support she could once count.

The debate marked a sharp turn away from what has been over a decade of Council’s rubber stamping of John Hieftje’s proposed political appointees without discussion.

In an April 2013 post A2Politico wrote:

That Hieftje wants to replace Nacht with Eric Mahler should come as no surprise. Mahler, it could be argued, has done enough for Ann Arbor having played his part in crafting the seriously flawed A2D2 Design Guidelines/Zoning against which the public is now railing. At the end of March 2013, in response to public backlash aimed at a parcel which Mahler (among others) voted to zone D1 (for dense development), City Council decided to conduct a review of the D1 zoning guidelines. Mahler and the Planning Commission, in essence, were asked to review their own work—work which they believed had been done correctly in the first place.

There are about 400 Ann Arbor citizens who serve on boards and commissions, according to city records. About one-fifth of those citizens serve on more than one board or commission. Below, you’ll find a list of several of Ann Arbor’s busiest citizens, each of whom have been appointed to serve on multiple city boards and commissions:

Bonnie Bona: City Panning Commission, Downtown Zoning Steering Committee, Ad Hoc, North Huron Vision Task Force, Street Art Fairs, Mayor’s Committee on

Roger Hewitt: Community Security & Public Space Task Force, Downtown Development Authority, Downtown Zoning Steering Committee, Ad Hoc, Local Officers’ Compensation Commission, Local Officers’ Compensation Commission

Anthony Ramirez: Building Authority, Cable Communications Commission, Housing and Human Services Advisory Board

Kirk Westphal: City Panning Commission, Design Guidelines Taskforce, Environmental Commission (Planning Commission Rep.)

Ironically, in 2004 after Democrats had won all of the seats on City Council, then Ward 2 Council member Joan Lowenstein assured the media that a Democratic super majority would in no way squelch robust debate. The next nine years showed her to be flat out wrong. Not only were political appointees confirmed without discussion, but the same political appointees often played musical chairs, moving from one board or commission to another. The shallow gene pool from which Hieftje has repeatedly drawn has made for some Deliverance quality drama.

David Nacht and Jesse Bernstein are being allowed to quietly “retire” from the AATA Board after a costly debacle in which the two men tried to shove a $500 million dollar county-wide transit scheme dreamed up by Hieftje down the throats of unwilling county residents and pols. Almost as soon as the AATA Board launched the boondoggle, which would have required communities to tax themselves in order to pay for things like the Canton Flyer and bus service between Ann Arbor Detroit Metropolitian Airport, elected officials of surrounding cities and townships opted out of the plan. The result was a humiliating October 2012 vote by the Ann Arbor City Council in which Hieftje was forced to watch Ann Arbor opt out of AATA’s county-wide transit plan.

In January 2012, Ward 3 Council member Stephen Kunselman (right), while speaking about the transit scheme to the Ypsilanti City Council, called Hieftje’s ideas “a little beyond reality. Kunselman included in the category of transit ideas that are unrealistic, “commuter rail to Brighton and Dearborn.”

Last night, as Hieftje argued AATA Board members had asked for a lawyer to be appointed, Kunselman had a similarly direct comment: “I don’t know why the AATA Board needs a lawyer. After the fiasco in December—having a lawyer (Nacht) on the Board didn’t help with that.”

Kunselman, who is opposed in the August Democratic primary election by Hieftje-backed candidate Julie Grand, former Chair of the Park Advisory Commission, has been a vocal supporter of closer Council oversight of the Board of the Downtown Development Authority. In addition, as a member of the Council’s Audit Committee, he has supported closer scrutiny of the DDA’s finances. These are both actions for which he has been relentlessly attacked by Hieftje and his fellow members of the DDA Board. They have accused Kunselman of playing politics.

Sabra Briere, in emails to the DDA’s Director Susan Pollay, emails which turned up in the local news blog AnnArbor.com, accused Kunselman of playing politics, as well. Briere who supported Kunselman’s efforts in public by voting in favor of a proposed resolution to rein in the DDA Board, was caught by AnnArbor.com counseling Pollay via email on how best to neutralize Kunselman’s efforts.

In emails turned over to A2Politico in response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request, Kunselman was clearly irked at Briere. Kunselman retorted via email that he found Briere’s behind-the-back attacks “unethical” and mean-spirited. He writes, “Why should anyone trust you when your sincerity is questionable?”

Briere writes to him via email: “Um…Not certain what you mean. The tone is unfortunate, but also pretty certain I didn’t say anything you haven’t said.”

As the debate on Eric Mahler’s appointment progressed Hieftje became visibly uncomfortable, as did Hieftje Hive Mind drone Sabra Briere. In a tone that vacillated between preachy and exasperated, Briere lectured her Council colleagues on their need to vote on the qualifications of the candidate presented to them. Ward 5 Council member Mike Anglin kicked off the debate by questioning why Hieftje had bypassed the application of a very qualified member of the disabled community, an individual with ample board experience, as well as experience advising AATA.

“This is an opportunity to appoint someone who will bring a different perspective to the discussion,” said Anglin. “The handicapped are a group of people who use the bus.”

Ward 1 Council member Sumi Kailasapthy (right), whose name, incredibly, Hieftje and city staff member Craig Hupy still can’t pronounce correctly, either because of sheer ignorance, or perhaps because it has too many vowels, spoke about her disabled son’s use of AATA, and agreed with Anglin. She went on to point out that Hieftje was playing a game of musical chairs in moving certain people from one city board to another.

“We’re seeing the same names over and over,” said Kailsapathy.

Ward 2 Council member Sally Hart Petersen rapped Hieftje over the knuckles at one point in the debate for his use of the word “handicapped.” Hieftje, in turn, blamed Council member Mike Anglin—whose use of the word, Hieftje explained, had preceded his own. Petersen, undeterred, corrected him again. It was a welcome effort to be respectful of a community against which Hieftje has waged a political war for over a decade. He has done so through his “repurposing” of AATA’s resources away from local transit, and through a refusal to replace 100 units of affordable, supportive housing which were lost when the old YMCA was torn down years ago.

Then, when Hieftje claimed that Eric Mahler “represented” a particular minority community, Ward 5 Council member Chuck Wapehoski pointed out that no one individual could represent an entire community.

Kailasapthy, Petersen, Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm, Kunselman and Anglin pressed Hieftje to withdraw Mahler’s name and appoint, instead, the other applicant whose materials they had been given. Hieftje, with help from Sabra Briere, repeatedly argued that Mahler’s was the only name before Council.

In response, Sally Petersen went a step further by making it clear to Hieftje that the debate concerning the appointment of Eric Mahler should be taken to mean that “we’re not comfortable with the appointment and confirmation process as it stands. I want to open the door to that discussion. We need to examine this process.”

In an effort to draw attention to the fact that David Nacht, so some critics claim, had outstayed his welcome on the AATA Board with a 10 year term of appointment, Mike Anglin grilled Hieftje on whether Mahler would serve “a five year term.” Hieftje, shocked, was speechless for a moment and then assured Anglin that Mahler’s appointment was, indeed, for a single five year term. Hieftje was also asked if there would be other openings on the AATA Board in the near future.

These kinds of questions suggest, perhaps, that more “retirements” are going to be demanded by Council members from the city’s boards and commissions.

Hieftje was similarly flummoxed when Stephen Kunselman suggested that there would be room on the AATA Board for Mahler and the other applicant. All that needed to be done was to remove city staffer Eli Cooper whose presence on the AATA Board has been questioned by many as inappropriate staff control of a citizen board.

“We have a member of the AATA Board who doesn’t even live in Ann Arbor,” said Kunselman. “This person could be asked to step down to make room for both Mr. Mahler and the other applicant,” reasoned Kunselman.

Hieftje, tight-lipped, was literally speechless. It was Sabra Briere who came to Hizzoner’s rescue suggesting that Kunselman was over-reaching in his efforts to do anything except vote on the name before him.

“I thought Kunselman’s was a perfectly acceptable compromise,” said an AATA staffer who asked not to be named. “Eli Cooper has no business serving on the AATA Board. Neither did (Sue) McCormick. Cooper should be removed regardless.”

The appointment of Eric Mahler was not the only one that prompted questions. When Hieftje informed Council that he proposed to reappoint all of the members of the Downtown Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) Board, some of whose appointments had expired in 2008, Sally Hart Petersen asked why there were “so many couples” being proposed.

Hieftje feigned ignorance about his own appointments. ”I really don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never been to a meeting of this group.”

Sabra Briere offered up the ludicrous explanation that appointing couples to a group that advises the Downtown Development Authority on downtown development and TIF plans is an opportunity for the couples to spend time together.

“Well, I think it’s a ‘If you go, I go,’ sort of thing,” suggested Briere, seriously. “It an opportunity for the couples to spend time together.”

The CAC has no student, minority, or young professional members and has had none since 2001. All of the appointments to the CAC expired in October 2012, but the former Chair appeared in public on numerous occasions between November 2012 and May 2013 claiming to speak on behalf of the “CAC Board,” “downtown residents” and “the members of the CAC.”

The lengthy, frank debate about the appointment of Eric Mahler ended in a 6-5 vote in favor of seating Mahler with Briere, Taylor, Teall, Higgins, Warpehoski and Hieftje voting in favor of playing Hieftje’s game of musical chairs.

John Hieftje won the battle, but he may be six months away from completely losing the war.

Unpopular Ward 4 Council member Marcia Higgins is being challenged by labor lawyer Jack Eaton, who came just 20 votes shy of unseating Ward 4 5-term incumbent Margie Teall in August 2012. Sabra Briere, meanwhile, in a March 2013 email exchange with Stephen Kunselman writes, “And I’ve never been concerned about a primary opponent.” In fact, at one point in the meeting last night Briere, who wants to run for mayor when Hieftje steps down, insinuated that she’d still be on City Council five years down the road.

Next November, should Eaton win, John Hieftje would lose face more 5-6/4-7 votes and find his board and commission appointments voted down on a regular basis. Such a scenario would mean that the pervasive cronyism in local government could begin to be curtailed (or even reversed) for the first time since John Hieftje took office in 2000 and in 2003 put his political pal David DeVarti on the Local Officers Compensation Committee. In 2003, DeVarti voted to increase the salary for the mayor’s part-time job from $28,000 per year to $40,000 per year. In 2004, Hieftje reappointed DeVarti to sit on the Board of the DDA.

by P.D. Lesko

John Hieftje is proposing to reappoint 10 people to the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Commission (CAC) at City Council’s May 13th meeting. By law the CAC Board is charged with advising the Board of the Downtown Development Authority, on downtown development and TIF plans. The CAC has openings for 15 people, but between October 2009 and October 2012 had only three legally appointed and confirmed members. Contrary to the rules governing the appointment of downtown citizens to the CAC, former CAC Chair Ray Detter invited friends and neighbors to serve on the CAC, an entity whose existence is mandated both by city Charter and state law. In addition, the CAC’s former Chair has served on the CAC for 28 years, despite the fact that in 1982 Council passed a resolution that limited CAC terms to 3 years.

Documents produced by the CAC Chair suggest the group is run like a private club. Between 2001 and 2012 all of the CAC Board members were white.

Despite the fact that Ann Arbor’s Mayor and DDA Board members harp on the need to attract, retain and cater to “young professionals” with development downtown of housing stock supposedly meant to appeal to those young professionals, past appointees to the CAC Board have been primarily individuals past retirement age.  Between 2001 and 2012, there were no students on the CAC, even though students make up a large percentage of the residents in the city’s downtown area.

At the most recent meeting of the Downtown Development Authority, Ray Detter, who A2Politico revealed had been parading as the Chair of the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Commission for months after his term had ended in October 2012, included in his comments that members of the CAC were “appointed by the Mayor” and confirmed by City Council. He made his statement after A2Politico revealed Detter’s own appointment was listed as having expired October 2012, according to records posted to the City Clerk’s office. The records were posted by the City Clerk after A2Politico sent an email inquiry noting that on the city’s website there were no members of the CAC listed nor records of members’ appointment or expiration dates.

How did the CAC end up without any members in October 2012? According to the City Charter:

1:171. – General provisions.
Such of the boards and commissions provided for in this chapter, as are in existence at the time of the adoption of this Code, shall be continued and the members serving thereon shall remain in office for the duration of the term for which they were appointed. Except as otherwise provided for by law, Charter or this Code, the following provisions shall be applicable to all boards and commissions of the city.

(1) Vacancies. Any vacancy occurring in the membership of any board or commission shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner provided for original appointment to such board or commission.

(2) Notice of appointment. The mayor shall notify council at least 30 days prior to the expiration date of the term of office of any person serving on a board or commission. The mayor shall place on the table the name of all reappointments no later than 60 days after the expiration date of the term of office.

John Hieftje allowed the CAC Board to dwindle to three members between 2009 and 2012, and then to none as of October 2012. In trying to reappoint the 10 people whose appointments expired between 2001 and 2012, he is attempting to cover up his mistake. In seeking to quickly and quietly reappoint en masse 10 white, elderly downtown residents to the CAC many of whom have already served multiple 3-year terms, Hieftje is attempting circumvent the Charter, and to perpetuate the exclusion of minorities, students, residents with young children and young professionals from the group charged with advising the DDA Board on downtown and TIF planning. It has been suggested that Hieftje is getting help from Detter and Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere.

According to a comment recently posted to the AnnArborChronicle.com a resident who wanted to perhaps serve on the CAC and encourage other downtown residents to do so was told by, “Sabra Briere (to whose campaigns Detter has routinely donates) according to campaign finance records) …that essentially that ship had sailed. Ray told me they would be welcome on the board, but the chairs were full, and Sabre told me that all the seats were up for renewal, so they would have to wait (I paraphrase their remarks) until someone passed on their renewal or decided to vacate a seat. So… once again we see that attempts to interrupt the status quo go unheard by the powers that be.”

At the May 6, 2013 City Council meeting, speaker Mark Karoi spent three minutes asking Council how Detter’s appointment, as well as the appointments of all of the members of the CAC, could have been allowed to lapse. It was then sometime on May 6, 2013 according to city records that Council’s agenda was amended to add the reappointment of Detter and his friends to the CAC.

The city’s website lists members of the CAC whose appointments expired in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. City records also show that at the October 19, 2009 City Council meeting, only Detter, Dr. Herbert Kaufer and his wife Jane were appointed to the CAC, meaning that between October 2009 and October 2012 the CAC had only three members duly appointed by Mayor and confirmed by City Council. Between 2009 and when his appointment expired in October 2012 (and well beyond) Detter, has repeatedly spoken at public meetings as representing the “CAC,” “downtown residents,” “members of the CAC,”  and the “Board of the CAC.” In reality he was speaking on behalf of himself, Dr. Kaufer, who is an Orthopedist, and Dr. Kaufer’s wife.

Council members can refuse to confirm the reappointment of Detter and the nine other downtown residents nominated by John Hieftje. They can postpone the appointments so that the openings can be posted to the city’s website to recruit new members. To be sure, since all of the individuals whom Hieftje proposes for reappointment have already served 3 years, none should be confirmed by Council.

“These people (the CAC and DDA) need more oversight,” said Mark Karoi in his comments before City Council of May 6, 2013. “This is a situation that is, I think, unprecedented in municipal government.”

Perhaps, but playing fast and loose with the Charter, the law and the truth has defined John Hieftje’s administration for over a decade.

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

There are five solid votes on City Council to bring to heel the members of the Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors. Those are the votes of Sumi Kailsapathy, Jane Lumm, Sally Hart-Petersen, Stephen Kunselman and Mike Anglin. The resolution needs six votes to pass, however. The DDA Board, comprised of a bushel of appointed Hieftje cronies who control over $20 million dollars in parking fees and money captured through a tax increment financing scheme, is facing a resolution that would remove the mayor from the DDA Board (or require Council’s written permission for the mayor to serve) impose term limits on DDA Board members, and slow down the DDA’s capture of tax money. If passed, the resolution would return $931,000 per year in tax dollars to various jurisdictions including the city’s parks ($53,000), Street Repair Fund ($72,000), Solid Waste Fund ($83,000), as well as money to the Ann Arbor District Library ($52,000) and Washtenaw Community College ($124,000).

Needless to say, the DDA is in panic mode. DDA Board member Sandi Smith hinted at a March meeting that the DDA would be unable to give money in support of affordable housing should the proposed resolution pass.

DDA Board member John Hieftje decried term limits, saying that they were “ineffective” and lead to “inexperience.” At the April 15, 2013 City Council meeting, he proposed an amendment to the ordinance which would have stripped out term limits. Voting in support of the proposal was Ward 5′s new Council member Chuck Warpehoski (pictured right, with wife Nancy Shore). It’s no surprise that Warpehoski voted with Hieftje. On April 2, 2013, Wapehoski slammed term limits as “mandatory inexperience law.” Evidently, neither man has a clue that there are dozens of city boards and commissions with term limits, including the Park Advisory Commission.

What may come as news is that Warpehoski spoke out against term limits and the resolution to assert Council’s authority over the DDA the day after DDA Executive Director Susan Pollay sent an email to City Council members in which she announced that should the proposed resolution pass, the DDA would be forced to cut funding to the getDowntown program by some 85 percent. Chuck Warpehoski’s wife, Nancy Shore, has directed the getDowntown program since 2007, and the DDA Board provides the bulk of the funding for the getDowntown program. A2Politico filed a Freedom of Information Act request for emails sent between January and April 2013 between Council members, DDA Board members and Pollay that referred to the Kunselman/Kailasapathy DDA resolution. Pollay’s email with the threat to castrate the getDowntown program was included in the emails turned over by the DDA.

In fact, in multiple messages to Council members Pollay writes that should the DDA’s capture of tax money be slowed, the organization will “cut funding to the getDowntown program by 85 percent.” Funding to the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for its go!pass program would go from $479,000 to $69,642. Such a cut would cripple the getDowntown program which exists, primarily, to provide subsidized go!passes (monthly bus passes) to employees of businesses in the DDA district. Since 2010, the DDA Board members have graciously granted the getDowntown program over $1.473 million dollars in taxpayer money captured by the DDA to subsidize $10 annual bus passes for 4,130 (Susan Pollay March 2013 email to City Council members), 6,500 (AnnArborChronicle.com, March 2013), 5,739 (city of Ann Arbor website: 2008 data) active go!pass users.

In comparison, monthly AATA bus passes for K-12 students are $29 per month, or $348 per year. A monthly bus pass for an adult is $58 per month. A monthly bus pass in San Francisco costs $45 for adults and $10 for students. In Rome, Italy, a monthly bus pass for K-12 students costs 18 Euros ($23).

John Hieftje has never seen a conflict of interest that he couldn’t rationalize. In 2006, Mr. B.A. from Eastern Michigan University was hired to teach graduate school by Paul Courant, then a dean at the Gerald M. Ford School of Public Policy. Courant set Hieftje’s per course pay higher than any other lecturer in his class, topping out at $15,000 per course. If that wasn’t enough, Courant, whose expertise is in library science and Dewey decimals, gave Hieftje a glowing endorsement which Hizzoner plastered all over his web site and literature in which Dr. C. complimented Hieftje’s stellar finance skills.

Ward 5 Council member Chuck Wapehoski hasn’t been hired to teach by the University of Michigan. He is, however, a walking conflict of interest in a much more serious way, and has turned out to be someone over whom it is relatively easy to exert pressure—such as threatening his wife’s job. However, the Hive Mind Collective does not exert subtle pressure, as evidenced by John Hieftje’s bullying public attacks on Ward 3 Council member Stephen Kunselman as of late.

Warpehoski is the Executive Director of a tiny non-profit that advocates for peace, social justice and, as of late, county-wide and regional transportation. The Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice “inspires, educates, and mobilizes people to unite across differences and to act from their shared ethical and spiritual values in pursuit of peace with social and environmental justice,” according to its website.

According to tax returns, in 2010 the organization netted $119,117, or about $40,000 less than the City of Ann Arbor pays its city attorney each year, Stephen Postema. Warpehoski on the other hand, was paid $38,801 in 2010, again according to tax documents. His take home pay would be just north of $26,000 per year. Thus his $15,000 salary as a City Council member, then, bumps up his annual income significanty. Warpehoski’s wife’s employer, the getDowntown Program, is funded by the Boards of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority and the Downtown Development Authority, appointments to which Warpehoski now votes on in his role as a City Council member. The getDowntown program is also funded by the City of Ann Arbor. Eli Cooper, the Transportation Program Manager for the City of Ann Arbor, sits of Shore’s Advisory Board. Chuck Warpehoski, as a City Council member, votes on recommendations and schemes Cooper brings before City Council. Susan Pollay, the Executive Director of the DDA is one of the getDowntown program’s four Advisory Board members. It was, in fact, Susan Pollay who provided Council members with the information, in March and April 2013 that, should the proposed resolution pass to impose term limits on DDA Board members, and slow the DDA’s capture of tax dollars, that the DDA would be “forced” to cut funding to Shore’s program by 85 percent.

Thus, Pollay’s threat that the DDA will defund the getDowntown program is not subtle pressure; it is a gun aimed directly at Chuck Warpehoski and his wife. The threat is also more evidence that the DDA and its Board members need to be brought sharply to heel. The pervasive lack of discipline and accountability expected from the DDA by City Council over the entire Hieftje era has resulted in a group of appointed officials arrogant enough to threaten a sitting Council member. Then again, Warpehoski laid with the same dogs when he ran for City Council in 2012. He accepted endorsements and large campaign donations from several of the same DDA Board members who, through Susan Pollay, have told Council members that the getDowntown program will be gutted should term limits be imposed and the TIF capture slowed. Did Warpehoski’s wife know he was playing with fire in accepting money and endorsements from the people who fund her job and feed their family? Nancy Shore was her husband’s campaign treasurer and signed the campaign finance forms.

The Hive Mind Collective’s choice, funding, and endorsement of Chuck Warpehoski was no accident. They choose candidates whom they expect to control. The question of whether Warpehoski is the independent-minded representative he promised to be when he ran was answered when he voted in favor of stripping term-limits from the Kunselman/Kailasapathy DDA resolution on April 15th. His conflict of interest is voting on anything to do with the AATA or DDA is immense in light of how his wife’s job is funded, and that he voted on the DDA resolution after Pollay’s direct threat speaks volumes.

In November 2012, Wapehoski’s opponent, Vivienne Armentrout, wrote this to response to a piece posted to AnnArbor.com: “Mr. Warpehoski will face a number of challenges in reconciling his role as an advocate for causes with his role as a representative. He is a thoughtful person who places a high value on ethics, and I wish him well as he threads his way through this and other such issues.”

Chuck’s going to need more than luck on May 6th.