by P.D. Lesko

Bonnie “remained confident” in Clyde. Ma Barker “remained confident” in her boys. Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Sue McCormick said Friday she “remains confident” in former Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones. Her department also sent  out a press release January 11th affirming confidence in Jones and pointing out his long background in police work. Flint, which is being run by an emergency financial manager, was paying Jones $135,000 a year as the city’s Chief of Police. The water department is paying him $138,750. McCormick, who started at the Detroit Water and Sewage Department in January 2012, hired her old Ann Arbor pal Jones in May 2012, just one month after Jones “retired” from his job in Ann Arbor—another former Ann Arbor city employee who “retired” with a fat pension and benefits, then moved on to a job paying six-figures.

“I would not ask him to step down,” McCormick (pictured, left) said. “I haven’t been, in any way, dissatisfied with his service to DWSD.” Evidently, defrauding the public doesn’t strike McCormick as problematic. Her ridiculous response should come as no surprise, of course, because she knew he was the Chief of Police in Flint when she hired him in at $138,750.

In Ann Arbor the rampant political cronyism, double-dipping and dishonesty pervade our own city government and has, until recently, gone unquestioned by politicos the local news blogs and in polite conversation.

Such behavior costs taxpayers millions of dollars as city staffers push no bid contracts, and award contracts to individuals who John Hieftje has appointed to city boards and commissions. Now, with the Barnett Jones-Sue McCormick Show Ann Arbor cronyism has gone prime time. It will only be a matter of time before the Detroit papers put together the fact that McCormick and Jones worked together in Ann Arbor and that McCormick knew full well what she was doing when she hired Jones into a full-time job as the head of her department of security and integrity (no joke). McCormick is now trying to cover her tracks. She claimed to the Detroit Free Press that Jones had informed her of his work in Flint, “although she understood it to be part time.”

Let’s see if McCormick sticks to her story when Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy starts asking questions. A member of Worthy’s department, Michael Woodyard challenged incumbent District Court Judge Timothy Connors in the 2012 November election. In the course of that primary, Connors drew Worthy’s attention for accepting campaign donations from attorneys appearing before him in court. Connors is presiding over a long-standing case against the Michigan Department of Corrections in which hundreds of female inmates alleged prison workers sexually abused and harassed them for years. In 2009, Connors approved a settlement that ordered the state to pay $100 million to the prisoners and their attorneys. With matters surrounding the settlement still being worked out, attorneys for the plaintiffs recently contributed more than $8,000 to Connors’ campaign, reports show. Worthy’s motion seeks to have Connors removed from the case, and will be decided on January 18th.

In August 2011, A2Politico posted a piece titled, “Mayor & Police Chief’s Longtime Claims That ‘Crime Is Down’ Bogus? AAPD Sources Reveal Crime Reports Not Filed & Allege Crimes Misclassified.” A2P sources within the AAPD have alleged repeatedly that John Hieftje and former AAPD Chief Barnett Jones misclassified crimes and rigged crime stats to make it appear as though serious crime in Ann Arbor has remained low despite the fact that the number of police officers and money spent on community policing has plummeted. It’s not a new trick for either politicos or top cops. Outside investigators called in to comb through police reports and data in other cities have uncovered deliberate efforts to misclassify crime reports and efforts to rig crime data.

In 2004 Atlanta’s new Police Chief, Richard Pennington, released an independent audit of his department’s police practices that shocked the nation. He criticized his department for underreporting crime. The Los Angeles Times reports, “The independent report covers the years prior to Atlanta’s 1996 Summer Olympics through Pennington’s tenure as chief, which began in 2002. It described ‘a broken police department’ that, during a period when officials here were concerned about the city’s image as a tourist destination, discarded crime records and improperly closed cases.”

In January of 2011, The New York Times reported that David N. Kelley, Chief of Police for the city of New York, announced that “three former federal prosecutors would review the department’s internal crime-reporting system.” The article goes on to report that, “Critics have long suggested that the crime data has been undermined by departmental incentives or threats that in many cases prompt those responsible for assessing, reporting and recording crimes — from patrol officers to precinct commanders — to downgrade offenses….”

In that August 2011 A2Politico piece, Chief Jones (pictured, right) began his comments in response to allegations from officers within his own department by saying, “I am not a crook.” The irony of the statement, of course, is that former President Richard Nixon said the same thing in an hour-long televised question-and-answer session with 400 Associated Press managing editors in November of 1973 as he declared his innocence in the Watergate case. As it turns out, Barnett Jones is a crook. He recently resigned from his position as the Chief of Police in Flint, Michigan when the Detroit Free Press revealed Jones was moonlighting as the head of security for the Detroit Water and Sewage Department. In essence, Jones was working two six-figure jobs in cities that are 70 miles apart. Officials in Flint said they didn’t know Jones also was working as chief of security and integrity for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Now, the union representing Detroit Water and Sewerage Department security officers is calling for the resignation of security chief Barnett Jones.

Michael Mulholland is the vice president of AFSCME Local 207  which represents about 77 security guards and more than 800 other department employees. Mulholland told the Freep: “He should have been fired…When he was hired in, they changed the name to the department of security and integrity because they wanted to set a new tone. If that irony alone isn’t enough to fire him, I don’t know what is.”

In published reports, Jones said he was able to work 40 hours a week in Flint and 40 hours a week in Detroit by working into the night and on weekends. He described himself as “kind of a consultant up in Flint” to the Free Press, but his Flint contract reads that “it is the intent of the parties that employee will exercise broad powers in restructuring any or all of these (public safety) operations to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and utility of these operations for the benefit of the citizens of Flint.”

The Flint Journal editorialized on January 10, 2013:

Still, this whole situation is pretty embarrassing. It gives that same old impression that there isn’t enough oversight in Flint. That lack of oversight is what led to an emergency manager in the first place. We didn’t think it would still be happening with one in place. And the topper: Emergency Manager Kurtz’s office issued a statement that said Jones still has the option of working for Flint as a public safety consultant.

That would be a slap in the face.

Kurtz and Brown said Jones never even disclosed his other job to them. That lack of respect does not deserve to be rewarded with a consulting gig.

Let’s learn from our mistakes and move forward.

Without Jones.

Multiple Detroit-area newspapers are investigating Jones’s claims that he worked 40 hours at both jobs. The Flint Journal has asked to see Jones’s employment records, and Detroit newspaper reporters have asked to see Jones’s Detroit employment records, as well. Should it become clear that Jones was shorting either employer, at the very least he could be asked to pay back money he took, and Jones could, potentially, face criminal charges stemming from fraud. As for McCormick, she’s standing by her man. After all, it’s what happens in Ann Arbor. When then city Administrator Roger Fraser got caught by auditors misusing his city-issued credit card, John Hiefje and former Ward 3 Council member Leigh Greden led an effort that resulted in a change to city credit card use policy that, ultimately, was applied retroactively to Fraser’s misuse of public funds. In addition, even though Fraser got a $400 per month car allowance from the city, he was reimbursed $1,009.95 for fiscal year 2006 business mileage, including 846.33 in mileage for a trip to Minneapolis.

In 2006, Ann Arbor CFO Tom Crawford assured auditors (and City Council members on the audit committee) that “procedures had been implemented” to make sure such “double-dipping” did not occur in future.

In the city’s 2012 audit Ann Arbor City Attorney Stephen Postema was caught by auditors claiming both mileage and vehicle allowance. This clearly violates city policy. Records indicate he claimed $1,043.37 in mileage reimbursements dating from June 23, 2011, despite his vehicle allowance of $330 per month, an allowance that was recently discontinued—replaced with an almost 2.4 percent equivalent hike in pay. When McCormick worked in Ann Arbor, staffers alleged that she and another city employee who lived in Lansing car-pooled together while both collected car allowances.

Tom Crawford, meanwhile, was given a generous pay raise in 2011 by Hieftje and City Council members, the year after the auditor cited the city (again) for poor financial control of credit cards. This year, the auditor dinged Crawford’s office for paying out on questionable expense reports.

by P.D. Lesko

It pays, literally, to live in at least one of the high rent neighborhoods in Ann Arbor. Specifically, outgoing Ward 2 Council member Tony Derezinski’s neighborhood. Between January and September 2012, within a 1 mile radium of Derezinski’s home, there were just 27 crimes reported, the majority of them forced entry burglaries. After burglaries, cars were the most common targets for thieves in Derezinski’s ‘hood—vehicle thefts and, more commonly, vehicle break-ins plagued the Council member’s tony Ward 2 neighborhood. There were no drug-related crimes, sex crimes, arsons, DUIs, or homicides reported to the Ann Arbor Police Department within 1 mile of Derezinski’s home. There were three assaults, but all of them were related to domestic violence complaints.

A2Politico.com used CrimeMapping.com to take a look at the rate of crimes committed (and reported), the type of crimes and frequency of crime within a 1 mile radius of the homes of all of the city’s elected officials, including John Hieftje and all of the 10 City Council members. According to the company’s web site, “CrimeMapping.com has been developed by The Omega Group to help law enforcement agencies throughout North America provide the public with valuable information about recent crime activity in their neighborhood. Our goal is to assist police departments in reducing crime through a better-informed citizenry. Creating more self-reliance among community members is a great benefit to community oriented policing efforts everywhere and has been proven effective in combating crime. CrimeMapping.com utilizes ESRI’s advanced mapping engine, which helps us provide a high level of functionality as well as flexibility to the agencies we serve. Crime data is extracted on a regular basis from each department’s records system so that the information being viewed through a Web browser is the most current available. This data is always verified for accuracy and all address information is generalized by block in order to help ensure privacy is protected.”

Type in an address, select a radius ranging from 500 feet to 2 miles, and the site provides data so that users can see the number, location and type of crime reported during the dates specified.

Like Derezinski, within a 1 mile radius of Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm’s home, there were a comparatively small number of crimes reported between January and September 2012, 44 in total, or about five reports filed per month. There were seven forced-entry burglaries, 10 assaults, 10 vehicles break-ins, and one drug-related crime (possession of marijuana).

In other high-priced neighborhoods, such as on Baldwin Avenue near Burns Park, where John Hieftje lives, crime is much more frequent and violent. Between January and September 2012, there were 294 crimes reported by residents who lives within a 1 mile radius of Hieftje’s home. There were 12 drug-related crimes, all of which were possession of marijuana. There were 67 burglaries, the majority of which saw thieves forcing their way into homes, as opposed to residents leaving open doors and/or windows, and 52 assaults. While in Lumm’s neighborhood, the majority of assaults were classified as intimidation, within a 1 mile radius of Hieftje’s home, the assaults were more serious, including aggravated/felony assaults, not related to domestic violence, as was the case in Derezinski’s neighborhood. There were four sex crimes, all involving forcible contact and loads (50 reports filed) of larceny/theft. In Lumm’s neighborhood, there was one instance of vandalism involving private property reported in nine months. In Hieftje’s Burns Park neighborhood, there were 61 instances of vandalism reported during the same time frame, or one instance of vandalism every four days, or so. There were no homicides or instance of disturbing the peace. There were, however, two fires classified and reported as arson.

Ward 4 Council member Margie Teall lives in Burns Park, as well, just off of Packard, in what University of Michigan faculty refer to as the “untenured” side of the neighborhood. In Lower Burns Park, the houses are smaller, closer together, less pricey than homes on the “tenured” side of Packard, near Burns Park Elementary School. In this part of Burns Park, within a 1 mile radius of Teall’s home, there were 228 crimes reported in the 9 month period in question including 30 assaults, 41 thefts, 54 acts of vandalism, 56 burglaries, .

Ward 5 Council member Mike Anglin lives on the Old West Side, just off of Main Street, a few blocks from Downtown Home and Garden. Between January and September 2012 within a 1 mile radius of Anglin’s home there were 392 crimes reported, or more than 14 times the number of crimes reported in Tony Derezinski’s Ward 2 neighborhood. In Derezinski’s neighborhood, there was a crime reported to the Ann Arbor Police once every 10 days between January and September 2012; in Anglin’s neighborhood during the same period, there were 1-2 crimes reported daily. While there were fewer burglaries (63) reported in Anglin’s neighborhood than in Hieftje’s neighborhood (67), assault is a more prevalent, even while the types of assaults are not a serious as those committed in Hieftje’s Burns Park area. In Anglin’s neck of the woods, the majority of the 101 assaults reported over the 9 month period were simple assaults, including domestic violence. There were just three more drug-related crimes reported in Anglin’s neighborhood (15) as in Hieftje’s (12). However, while Hieftje’s Burns Park neighbors got nabbed for smoking and possessing pot, in Anglin’s neighborhood the police nabbed suspects in possession of crack, synthetic narcotics and dangerous drugs in addition to marijuana use and possession. Finally, in Anglin’s Old West Side neighborhood, there were 10 sex crimes reported.

So how does the AAPD use crime data to determine where patrols are most frequent? Chief John Seto, when asked, stressed that policing is primarily reactive, in other words, in response to calls reporting crimes, or requesting help.

“We divide the city into four sectors,” explained Seto.

These sectors correspond, roughly to north, south, east and west. It doesn’t mean that a patrol car cruising one sector won’t respond to a call for assistance in another sector. In fact, in cars with a single officer, in certain circumstances, it’s necessary for the officer to wait for back-up. As A2Politico revealed in 2010, “On any given morning, there are between 6-10 police officers responding to calls from the people who live in Ann Arbor. On the afternoon shift, there are between 6-10 police officers on patrol. On the midnight shift, when most serious crime happens, in Ann Arbor there are 10-12 police officers on patrol.”

While John Hieftje’s mantra is “crime is down,” sources in the AAPD have repeatedly alleged that thousands of crime reports have not been filed and that of those reports that have been filed, crimes are being misclassified to appear. Sources within the AAPD revealed:

“There are not enough officers to file reports the same way that officers who worked in the AAPD five years ago filed reports,” another source within the AAPD, who spoke to A2Politico on condition of anonymity explained. “The next call is waiting.”

There are other ways that the multiple sources within the department allege Ann Arbor’s crime statistics are being manipulated so that it appears crime has dropped even as the number of officers has been steadily reduced.

“Say a call comes in to 911. The Ann Arbor dispatch takes the call, writes it up—classifies it—and dispatches officers. When county dispatchers get involved they routinely down-classify the crimes reported in the calls. A & B (assault and battery) becomes disorderly conduct. Open calls get closed out then reclassified.”

Those are serious allegations but not outlandish.

In 2004 Atlanta’s new Police Chief, Richard Pennington, released an independent audit of his department’s police practices that shocked the nation. He criticized his department for underreporting crime. The Los Angeles Times reports, “The independent report covers the years prior to Atlanta’s 1996 Summer Olympics through Pennington’s tenure as chief, which began in 2002. It described ‘a broken police department’ that, during a period when officials here were concerned about the city’s image as a tourist destination, discarded crime records and improperly closed cases.”

In January of this year, The New York Times reported that David N. Kelley, Chief of Police for the city of New York, announced that “three former federal prosecutors would review the department’s internal crime-reporting system.” The article goes on to report that, “Critics have long suggested that the crime data has been undermined by departmental incentives or threats that in many cases prompt those responsible for assessing, reporting and recording crimes — from patrol officers to precinct commanders — to downgrade offenses….”

Ann Arbor’s internal crime-reporting system has never been reviewed or audited by an independent agency or group.

“It needs to be audited,” says a source within the AAPD. “It’s the only way the public will ever get the truth about crime in our city.”

In the meantime, CrimeMapping.com remains a resource for those interested in learning more about reported crimes (the rate of solved crimes and/or closed reports is another kettle of stinking fish, according to AAPD officers in the know).

The bright spot in all of this is that Ann Arbor’s new Police Chief, John Seto, is a big believer in pro-active policing; in other words, he believes a robust police presence deters crime. With new members of City Council preparing to take office—candidates who told voters that they favor rebuilding our decimated safety services—John Seto will, perhaps, find allies willing to move the AAPD back in the direction of pro-active policing. As for an audit of the city’s crime reports and crime-reporting system, one Council member chuckled at the suggestion.

“If we pushed for an audit like that John (Hieftje) would have a stroke.” The Council member grinned broadly. “It’s a great idea.”

John Hieftje sat down to an interview with AnnArbor.com’s “editorial board,” almost one year ago to talk about the city’s budget. The city’s CFO Tom Crawford tagged along, primarily to nod, as it is commonly known around City Hall that Crawford uses his fingers to count, and that certain staffers in the finance department do all the heavy lifting. Third Ward Council member Christopher Taylor also participated in the interview. Taylor, a member of the Burns Park Players, evidently thought it was a open call for actors. It wasn’t until after he’d finished a slightly modified rendition of the Elvis Presley classic “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With Me,” that the “editorial board” members asked Taylor to have a seat.

Taylor, an entertainment lawyer, is a self-proclaimed city finance expert. In an open letter to AnnArbor.com, Taylor explained to city residents that the city’s debt position was, actually, nothing to fret about—despite the fact that it had doubled.

It was later revealed that Taylor had understated the city’s total debt by $215,000,000 and that the debt had not doubled, but had quadrupled to close to half a billion dollars.

In the interview with AnnArbor.com, John Hieftje talked about cuts made to the city’s police and fire departments. Hieftje told AnnArbor.com that Ann Arbor residents had nothing to fret about with respect to cuts made to the fire department. He said: “We’re getting some pretty good opinions that our initial response times probably won’t be affected on the fire side.”

The “pretty good opinions,” it was later revealed by the AnnArborChronicle.com were coming from the executive directors of several local social service non-profits. AAChronicle revealed the executive directors, all of whom earn at least $80K per year, would give “pretty good opinions” on just about anything Hieftje told them to protect the money from the city to their organizations. AnnArborChronicle.com writer David Askins happened to be perched on a commode in the men’s washroom at City Hall and capitalized on an opportunity to “chronicle” a “closed-session meeting” between Hieftje and several unidentified executive directors about “pretty good opinions.”

Alas, a $54,000 December 2011 report on the city’s fire services done by consulting firm International City/County Management Association found that: “The department fails to meet national standards for response times,” and that there is “a significant fire problem within the city.”

In the April 2011 interview, Hieftje also told the “editorial board”: “We’ve been pretty comfortable in reducing police numbers,” he said, pointing out crime is going down and the University of Michigan now has 54 of its own officers. And we’re studying the fire side, looking very intently at it. So we’re pretty comfortable with what we’re doing.”

A2Politico decided to ask Hieftje to revisit his April 2011 comments in light of 82 break-ins in the first 49 days of 2012, a string of unsolved serial rapes and the sudden resignation of Police Chief Barnett Jones. Hieftje spoke to A2Politico by phone from his vacation home in Northern Michigan where he lives smugly off the grid.

A2P: Let’s begin by talking about crime in Ann Arbor. Chief Jones told 150 city residents in a recent meeting that there have been 82 break-ins and home invasions in the first 48 days of 2012, up from 49 break-ins and home invasions over the past two years. Under your administration the city has reduced the number of police officers from 241 to 121. Do you think there might be a connection?

Hieftje: No connection. Not at all. 82 break-ins? Not at my house. You know, Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Board member Joan Lowenstein said it best in that essay she wrote. That crime stuff is just all the old, Republican, conservative naysayers in Ann Arbor talking. It’s Newcombe Clark all over again. [In 2010 at a candidate debate, it was reported that Hieftje angrily told Downtown Development Authority Board member Newcombe Clark, who was running for City Council, "You're trying to scare people." Hieftje played down Clark's comments on recent robberies and concerns about other crimes as "political rhetoric."]

A2P: Chief Barnett Jones also recently talked about the serial rapist who hasn’t been caught. He said: “We’re still living this case. We’re still living this case because this is someone who brought fear to our community, more fear to our community than I experienced in this community in the last six years.” Again, might there be a connection between cuts made to police staffing and the ability of the AAPD to check out the hundreds of tips called in and investigate the rapes?

Hieftje: No connection. Not at all. Serial rapes? Not at my house. Listen, I’ve consulted with Chief Barnott Jaynes very closely on these serial rapes. Let’s talk fear. Council member Jane Lumm scares me to death. Not that I think Jane has anything to do with crime in Ann Arbor. I hope not. Single-stream recycling. Listen, Ann Arbor is America’s best cities for singles. I don’t have all the facts and figures, but some of those singles need to walk around in groups after dark.

A2P: The Fifth Avenue underground parking garage….

Hieftje: Let me say that I never supported that project, never voted for it, never thought building another underground parking garage was the right thing for Ann Arbor….Wait is this Ryan Stanton from AnnArbor.com? It’s not, is it? Let me circle back and rephrase my last comments. I may have, ahem, indeed voted in support of that project under duress. I was being pressured by certain people in the community and on Council. Have you seen [First Ward Council member and DDA Board member] Sandi Smith when she gets ticked off? She’s almost as scary as Jane Lumm. However, I came to see that we had no other choice but to spend that $50 million we didn’t have on a garage we didn’t need. Otherwise, the Circuit Court judges would have had nowhere to go. Wait. That’s why we built the new city hall we couldn’t afford and didn’t need. Bike paths.

A2P: What I was going to ask is that with the rise in crime and with a serial rapist on the loose do you think it might discourage women from using the new underground garage when it opens?

Hieftje: Oh. No, women have nothing to worry about. Again, Chief Joiynes and I consult regularly on the fact that the increase in rapes, assaults, break-in and home invasions in Ann Arbor is nothing for anyone to worry about. Newcombe Clark and the old, conservative Republican naysayers who live here now are really just trying to scare people.

A2P: Residents often complain about having to wait for hours for officers to show up to crime scenes and car wrecks. The head of the patrol officers’ union said in July 2011: “Ten years ago, we used to catch people. Now we just don’t even have the staffing to set up a perimeter or bring in a K-9 unit — we’re so reactive now.” Shouldn’t residents in the city expect pro-active and as opposed to reactive policing? The cops are saying they don’t have enough officers to catch the bad guys and investigate the crimes.

Hieftje: I think one accident is too many, but as we look at all of the statistical evidence, accidents continues to go down in the city. Of course, there’s going to be peaks and valleys, and periods where things seem to be picking up a little bit. But when you sit down at year’s end, I think we’re going to arrive at another year where we see accidents down in the city. [A2P can't make this stuff up. This is a quote from Hizzoner.]

A2P: Chief Barnett Jones is retiring after six years. Fire Chief Dominick Lanza quit rather than makes cuts to the fire staffing he deemed too deep. This might lead one to conclude that the professionals see cuts made to safety department staffs not only unwise but downright dangerous. Lanza has said as much in comments from beyond he has posted to AnnArbor.com.

Hieftje: Over the past years, I’ve become extremely close to Burnett Jaynes. He has worked very hard keeping a straight face while telling the public that these cuts have had no impact on public safety. I told him he should try out with the Burns Park Players. He sings and dances around the truth better than Chris Taylor. All I can say is that with his $20,000 pension, along with the other ones he has from his previous jobs, I think he’ll be quite comfortable in his next position. I’m proud Ann Arbor taxpayers were able to help him out with that five-year-pension-vesting program.

by P.D. Lesko

“I just hope everyone who’s asked to sign a petition gets all the information about the condition of the spaces we’re trying to replace and the cost of not doing anything,” said Council Member Chris Easthope, who’s worked on the plan for a new police-court building for several years.—Ann Arbor News, April 2008

After asking for concessions from hundreds of unionized employees, John Hieftje, Council members Sabra Briere, Tony Derezinski, Christopher Taylor and Marcia Higgins sponsored a resolution to give $10,000 to the city’s CFO, Tom Crawford, who earns $125,000 per year plus his cell phone and car allowances, for his “exemplary work” while interim City Administrator. A member of Crawford’s staff in an email to A2Politico called the bonus “a slap in the face to every city worker who was asked to give pay concessions. It’s shameful.” A comment on AnnArbor.com in response to a post on the news blog about the bonus asked, “How can any valuable lower pay scale employee have any respect for the folks running this show?”

It’s a good question.

Over the past 36 months, the Hieftje administration has consistently found money for bonuses, lump sum payments, vacation day cash outs, pay bumps and perks for senior managers. What the Hieftje administration has not found money for is to repair the mouldering, damaged, basement of the Larcom building, flooded in February of 2011, after taxpayers footed the bill for a multi-million dollar renovation.

The basement space, part of a $4.9 million dollar renovation of the Larcom Building, is supposed to be where police officers have their locker rooms. The state of the officer’s locker rooms, as well as the Larcom basement, was cited over and over by politicos as one of the main reasons why a new police-court building had to be built at a cost of $48 million dollars.

The A2Journal recently ran a little-noticed piece which revealed the fact that the city’s police officers have to report for work each day at the Wheeler Center, located on Stone School Road near Ellsworth, about 20-25 minutes from new police-court building and the adjoining Larcom building.

So why are the city’s police officers dressing in a meeting room in Pittsfield Township then driving into Ann Arbor instead of dressing in the basement locker rooms of the Larcom building? Because eight months ago, in February of 2011, the basement of the Larcom Building flooded, “waist deep,” said one police officer, “with hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from a broken pipe.”

City officials told AnnArbor.com in February of 2011 that the basement flooded with “about one inch of water.” Ann Arbor spokesperson Lisa Wondrash told AnnArbor.com “flooring would have to be replaced.”

The photo of the basement’s central area, right, taken last week and leaked to A2Politico, shows evidence of water damage to the brick walls almost up to the 10th course of brick, some 24 inches from the floor. The photo would appear to contradict Wondrash’s claims that only an inch of water covered the area.

In addition to the locker rooms for the police officers, there’s a conference room in the basement of the Larcom Building. Though the flooding happened eight months ago, needed repairs have not been made by the contractor who was, according to AnnArbor.com, responsible for the accident.

There are credible allegations that the problems with the basement space go deeper than flooring.

Another Ann Arbor police officer, who asked not to be identified because of fear of retaliation, told A2Politico:

“The basement.  It has been flooded 4-6 times. We are not sure exactly how many times — but the Union has asked for air samples and proof that there is no mold.  The Union also asked to hire a private company to come in for testing which the City has conveniently not given an answer to. They are still playing games. We have been told that the basement was dried after each flood and that the contractor had drilled holes in the drywall to “make sure” it was not still wet or damp. We have learned from construction experts that once drywall is saturated (not to mention multiple times) it would need to be torn down to the studs to make sure mold was not growing in any wood framed areas.

The officer goes on to say, “This building has had serious leaks since 1964. The City has only masked the problem time after time — including now.  We have beautiful greenery on the roof, shiny new siding — on top of a toxic cesspool.”

The basement of the Larcom Building, after the public spent almost $48 million dollars to build the new facility and renovate Larcom, is filled with mold, floor-to-ceiling, officers allege, allegations they backed up with photos taken last week. The first photo, left, shows portions of the new drop-ceiling, which litter the basement floor. The next photo shows a close-up of the fallen tiles, covered with mold, along with a portion of the water-damaged floor.

The final photo, below, is of a mold-infested, fallen ceiling tile with a stamped date of 7/31/2010.

Officers fear it may be the same genus of toxic mold that was found in the Larcom Building by a company city officials hired in 2006 to do an environmental evaluation. The only way to know what genus is shown in the photos is to have the mold cultured. Police officials allege city management is “still attempting to hide this and won’t allow any tests be done.”

Before the new police-court facility was built and the basement of the Larcom building “renovated,” the officers reported for work to City Hall and used locker rooms located in the basement of the Larcom Building.

Now, they spend an additional 40-60 minutes per day simply getting themselves to and from the downtown facility. They dress in a meeting room at the Wheeler Center that was, until the officers filed a grievance, not air conditioned and reached 106 degrees in the heat of the summer. The A2Journal reported, “The locker room, which also functions as a meeting room, at the Wheeler is not air conditioned. At one point…when Ann Arbor was under an excessive heat warning, the locker room reached 106 degrees. In the wintertime, it gets every bit as cold as it is hot in the summer. Officers have been told that air conditioning would be too expensive.”

The new police-court building, somewhat hopefully dubbed the Justice Center, is a hulking symbol of what some believe is the mismanagement of the city’s budget and fiscal priorities that would sacrifice services to fund big-ticket capital projects that the city simply can’t afford. The construction of the police-courts building was undertaken at a time when the city’s budget was slipping into structural deficit.The ongoing deficits, ironically, have been closed in part by shrinking the city’s police force, for whom the new facility was built because the police force was jammed into cramped, unkept quarters.

The 103,000 square foot building was sold to the public, in part, as “green,” but a recent class action lawsuit against the company that sells LEED certification alleges that, “What has been created is the image of energy efficient buildings, but not actual energy efficiency.” In 2008 when First Ward Council member Sabra Briere mentioned during Council discussions concerning the merit of the project that the building was not perceived as good looking, Fourth Ward Council member Margie Teall said she thought the building would be “beautiful.”

It’s not surprise that Teall rose in defense of the project. She sat on the 2006 Space Task Force, a committee stacked with politicos and political appointees who, one could argue, went into the job of “studying” whether a new building was necessary with some pre-conceived notions. First Ward Council member Sandi Smith, for instance, was solidly behind the need to spend big for an out-sized building in 2006 and then when she ran for Council in 2008.

The City Hall spin machine has been in high gear. Second Ward Council member Stephen Rapundalo, who has a Ph.D., but who is not an expert in the fields of toxicology or pulmonology, told AnnArbor.com in March 2011, “There is no evidence to support the union’s contention that they have a higher need for health care because of the building in which they were housed.” The news blog didn’t get an expert medical opinion, or consult an expert in environmental safety.

On April 21, 2011, three months after the February flood, while officers were forced to get dressed in a freezing room at the Wheeler Center, AnnArbor.com posted a piece titled, “Ann Arbor Police Chief says he was ashamed of conditions of police endured inside of city hall.” The misleading implication, of course, was that the conditions had been ameliorated when, in fact, the basement locker rooms were still unusable.

In the piece Police Chief Barnett Jones tells reporter Ryan Stanton, “As a chief, my people come first.”

In the same April 2011 piece, Stanton reported, incredibly:

Even though they have a new building, Ann Arbor police officers will continue to use the city hall basement, said Bob Cariano, the city’s safety manager.

Cariano said no employees will be stationed in the basement, but the police lockers and other meetings spaces that city employees will use are located there. He said the city has installed a completely new sub-slab pressurization radon mitigation system to ensure safety, and asbestos also has been removed.

Cariano said officers should only have to be in the basement locker rooms for a half-hour prior to the start of their shift and then at the end of their shift.

Other top city officials don’t disagree conditions were bad. And in fact, that’s one of the reasons cited for moving forward with construction of the new building.

Robert Cariano, the city’s Safety Manager, and a member of the Board of the Michigan Safety Conference, a non-profit organization that provides health and safety education to Michigan companies and cities, did not respond to repeated requests for comment concerning his statements to AnnArbor.com, and any actions the city has taken to ascertain whether there is a mold problem and, if so, what the city has done to address any infestation. Cariano’s boss, Sue McCormick, also refused to comment.

As for Council member Stephen Rapundalo’s unsubstantiated assertions, the pulmonologist who treated former Ann Arbor police officer Vada Murray disagreed with Rapundalo. Murray, a non-smoker, recently died after contracting lung cancer. Officer Murray left a video recording to be used after his death by his lawyers in which he said he believed his exposure to mold and asbestos in the Larcom Building was a contributing factor in his cancer. Murray’s doctor said the exposures are so vast i.e. radon, asbestos and mold—danger factors for officers who’ve worked in the Larcom Building are high.

Documents released by Ann Arbor city officials in response to a recent FOIA request revealed that the March 31, 2011 meeting to discuss “police dispatch” was set up via email and included Ann Arbor’s interim City Administrator Tom Crawford, management consultant Kerry Laycock, and Gregory Dill, director of administrative services for Washtenaw County. By April, the group of three had expanded, and precautions to guard secrecy were put into place.

The weekly meetings were vaguely called “County Collaboration” to hide the nature of the group’s work. FOIAed emails members of the group sent to each other reveal that they met away from Ann Arbor City Hall in order to avoid tipping off curious staffers who might wonder why Ann Arbor’s Police Chief, the Washtenaw County Sheriff and 11 other high-level county and city staffers might be holding weekly meetings. Notes leaked to A2Politico from the group’s secret meetings reveal that the group members did not distribute documents electronically to, perhaps, thwart efforts to FOIA information.

Notes from the secret County Collaboration meeting held on April 20, 2011 have management consultant Kerry Laycock explaining to those gathered (Diane Heidt, Mark Ptaszek, Greg Dill, Nancy Niemela, Richard Martonchik, Barnett Jones, Tom Crawford, Robyn Wilkerson, Dieter Heren, Jerry Clayton, Greg Bazick and Marc Breckenridge) that the “purpose of today’s meeting is to begin discussions around establishing a timeline of major milestones starting from implementation date and moving backwards. Would like to leave here with a regular meeting schedule.”

According to notes from the same meeting, “paper copies” of documents distributed to the group were “limited as well due to confidentiality.”

The last precaution didn’t work. A full set of notes from the meetings held in April, May and June was leaked to A2Politico.

A follow up FOIA of city documents and emails relating to the outsourcing of AAPD dispatch services to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department did not include a full copy of the leaked notes, but only a single page of the leaked notes dated June 8, 2011. That page refers to a final copy of a joint press release issued to, among others, the Washtenaw County Commissioners and local media. Several Ann Arbor Council members, unaware that negotiations had been initiated months before, received the press release which stated that the city and county were “exploring” options, and that talks had “discussions had begun anew.”

When A2Politico asked County Commissioners via email if they’d been aware of the meetings held between Ann Arbor city staff and county staff to implement the outsourcing of the city’s police dispatch services, Commissioner Kristin Judge emailed back that information about the proposed outsourcing had been made public in June. When asked whether she’d known about the meetings of the County Collaboration in April and May, Commissioner Judge did not reply.

Local Media Used, Manipulated, and Even Lied To—”How Should I Respond To This?”

The news broke on June 8, 2011: The AAPD and the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department “explore” the idea of outsourcing city dispatch services to Washtenaw County.

AnnArbor.com’s Ryan Stanton wrote on June 9, 2011: “After nearly two decades and countless attempts by previous administrations, city and county officials said in a joint press release that discussions have begun anew to consolidate the city’s dispatch function with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office.”

Stanton plagiarized the city press release which begins: “After nearly two decades and countless attempts by previous administrations, city and county officials said in a joint press release that discussions have begun anew to consolidate the city’s dispatch function with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office.”

FOIAed documents show the extent to which city staffers went to hide the truth.

On June 9, 2011 Ryan Stanton sent an email message to Deputy Chief of Police Greg Bazick in which Stanton inquires about a comment posted in response to his June 9th post about the “renewed discussions.”

At 1:43 p.m. on June 9, 2011 Stanton writes:

Greg,

Is the following appended statement from an AnnArbor.com reader true?

“At approximately 4 p.m. Deputy Chief Greg Bazick gave notice to each dispatcher that their positions were to be eliminated on January 1st….”

Ten minutes later, Bazick sent this email message to Police Chief Barnett Jones, Tom Crawford, Nancy Niemela, and the city’s HR head Robyn Wilkerson:

How should I respond to this?

Ryan Stanton posted this response from Tom Crawford:

Tom Crawford said the idea that 21 dispatchers will lose their jobs Jan. 1 is a “nasty rumor” and no such decisions have been made. He said two dispatchers were notified they’re going to be laid off July 1 as part of cuts identified in the city’s 2011-12 budget, but nobody else in dispatch has received any kind of notice from the city that they will be losing their jobs.

In Stanton’s June 9, 2011 piece, Crawford tells AnnArbor.com that, “it’s too early to say if or how many dispatch employees might lose their jobs as part of the consolidation if it’s approved.”

Notes from the April 20, 2011 County Collaboration meeting show Crawford lied to AnnArbor.com to hide the extent of the damage to be done to the AAPD dispatch group. Crawford, Jones and others discuss exactly how many dispatchers will lose their jobs, how many Ann Arbor dispatchers will be interviewed for county positions, and how many county positions there will be.

At the April 20, 2011 County Collaboration meeting Tom Crawford tells the group that, “January 1, 2012 would be a desirable implementation date” for the outsourcing. Meeting notes from the same meeting reveal that Chief Barnett Jones asked the group if there was “any other way besides lay off and reapply.” There was not. The plan, then, would be to lay off all of the AAPD dispatchers and have them reapply to work for the county, a move that would strip them of their jobs—a fact that Tom Crawford tells Stanton is a “nasty rumor.”

AnnArborChronicle.com “Sits Down” to A Scripted Interview

In the piece posted to the AnnArborChronicle.com about the “idea” of outsourcing AAPD dispatch, the title of the June 16, 2011 post says it all: “Ann Arbor Washtenaw: Joint 911 Dispatch?” David Askins, author of the piece, presents the outsourcing as a question.

Askins writes:

So The Chronicle sat down with Ann Arbor chief of police Barnett Jones and Washtenaw County sheriff Jerry Clayton to walk through the possible consolidation, under which the city would contract with the county for dispatch service. Based on that interview, it’s clear that it’s not just talk.

The city and county dispatchers are already working in the same building in the same room –  on the second floor of Fire Station #1, across Fifth Avenue from the new municipal center at Fifth and Huron. Clayton has developed a staffing model for implementation. And over the next few weeks, Jones will be sitting down with the police officers union – dispatchers are members – to discuss the proposal. Jones said that from the standpoint of collective bargaining, a consolidated dispatch operation could not be blocked by the union.

But Jones and Clayton will not have the final say. That decision will be made by the Ann Arbor city council and the Washtenaw County board of commissioners.

Using the AnnArborChronicle.com was a part of the plan as revealed by County Collaboration meeting notes.

Those notes reveal that the city’s PR machine planned to contact Mary Morgan (Publisher of AnnArborChronicle.com) and arrange for an interview. The AAChronicle.com did not just “sit down” with AAPD Chief Barnett Jones. The members of the County Collaboration group planned to use the site. The interview spread misinformation and does not reveal the crucial fact that the County Collaboration group had been working toward a pre-determined Janaury 1, 2012 implementation date at the behest of just five members of Ann Arbor City Council.

The AnnArborChronicle’s ernest interview of Police Chief Jones and Washtenaw County Sheriff Clayton that presents the idea of outsourcing as a question is laughable in light of the secret meeting notes where County Collaboration meeting member Tom Crawford (Ann Arbor’s CFO) tells his colleagues: “the city is in no matter what.”

At the May 11, 2011 meeting of the County Collaboration group, Greg Bazick, Ann Arbor’s Deputy Police Chief, tells those present that, “City Council in A2 response was favorable (labor committee only—5 out of 11 have been told).”

Ann Arbor City attorney Nancy Niemela seconds Bazick’s statement. She tells the group, “labor committee enthusiastic about the idea and are all set to move forward.”

Askins interview includes this: “If the consolidation of dispatch operations is implemented, the math doesn’t work in favor of the Ann Arbor police dispatchers.” FOIAed emails reveal that Askins clearly doesn’t know the half of it, and that is, perhaps, exactly the kind of press coverage a group like the County Collaboration needs from the AnnArborChronicle.com.

AAPD Ann Arbor Police Department Sergeant Ed Dreslinski, in a June 9, 2011 email to management consultant Kerry Laycock, Chief Barnett Jones, and Greg Bazick reveals what Askins won’t ever learn in the carefully scripted sit-down with Jones and Clayton. Dreslinski writes, “the current tract is for AAPD dispatch to be taken over WCSD is catastrophic to AAPD personnel.”

Ann Arbor’s CFO and City Attorney Suggest a Way Around Full Council Vote & Public Hearing

The members of the Ann Arbor City Council’s Labor Committee (John Hieftje, Fourth Ward Council members Marcia Higgins and Margie Teall and Second Ward Council members Tony Derezinski and Stephen Rapundalo) are at the heart of this attempt to thwart governmental transparency, skirt public process, avoid scrutiny and manipulate city government. These five Council members have neither the legal standing, nor does the city’s Charter give them the power  to mandate or implement the outsourcing of citizen services without a majority vote of their Council colleagues, and certainly not without public hearings.

Hearings would, undoubtedly, be contentious as the Police Officer’s Association could, potentially, air enough dirty laundry to pressure Council into backing down on its desire to outsource dispatch services. Council members Anglin and Kunselman can’t be counted on to go along quietly. Kunselman, in particular, asks questions that put staffers on the spot. At a May 2011 County Collaboration meeting, Tom Crawford and a city attorney offer a shocking solution to the group.

Ann Arbor City Attorney Nancy Niemela and Crawford suggested that the contract could be slipped through without a public hearing or even a vote of the whole City Council. According to notes from the May 11, 2011 meeting, they both suggest, “may not need full council — may be a memo approving contract. (Working session worst case scenario — other than that ever two weeks there’s a committee.”)

It’s a chilling suggestion that betrays an equally chilling disregard for governmental transparency on the part of a city attorney and the city’s Chief Financial Officer.

The June 2011 press release is the result of months of illicit meetings in which city and county staffers actively negotiated rents, discussed the disposal of of city-owned equipment, and even assigned the task of crafting a contract that City Council never voted to have crafted. The local news coverage concerning the outsourcing of a city service which meeting notes suggest has been mandated and approved in secret by a small group of Council members, went smoothly and was uniformly positive.

It is clear that local media were manipulated, and that important details about the outsourcing plan were withheld, including that it is a done deal. That AnnArbor.com and AnnArborChronicle.com were used as a a pair of patsy publications is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s clear from FOIAed documents and notes from meetings that the methods employed by County Collaboration to keep their work secret, to mislead the public, and to do the bidding of a handful of Council members without the assent of the other members of Council, is the rule and not the exception.