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>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Good evening. Welcome to the February 2nd, meeting of the Ann Arbor City Council. If you are able please rise and join us for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

>>GROUP I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God [elided by some] indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Will the clerk please call the role of Council.

councilmember Kailasapathy,  here
councilmember Briere, here
councilmember Westphal, absent [arrived later]
councilmember Lumm, here
councilmember Grand, here
councilmember Kunselman, here
councilmember Krapohl, here
councilmember Eaton, here
councilmember Warpehoski, here
councilmember Anglin, here
Mayor Taylor, here

>>CITY CLERK We have a quorum.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR May I have approval of the agenda. Is there discussion of the agenda? All in favor? All opposed. It is approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Are there communications from the city administrator?

>>STEVE POWERS Yes, there are. I’d like to update City Council on the snowstorm yesterday and the city’s response to that storm, and then I would like chief Seto to come up and make a comment. First, on the storm we received about 14 inches of snow in 28 hours, it’s been reported as the third-largest event since 1970. As of this afternoon all major roads have been plowed at least twice. And we are working on the local streets. We have 22 plow sections and as of 3 o’clock this afternoon seven sections had been plowed and we are working in seven other sections. Our crews are working, are working 12 hour shifts, 24 hours a day and it’s expected that all local street streets will be powered by 1 PM on Tuesday. We will then go back in on dead in streets and cul-de-sacs. We will also begin working in the downtown area to clear alleys to allow access for solid waste and will be clearing snow that has been plowed into parking lanes and sidewalk extensions and also clearing sidewalks and driveways and parking lots and city parks and pathways that receive winter maintenance. We are unfortunately the tracking website has been down. We have been in contact with the contractor who has assured us that they will be actively working to bring it back up. Also a reminder that we do have a considerable amount of information on the city’s website under our snowplowing frequently asked questions page. Thank you. If Chief Seto could please come up.

>>JOHN SETO Thank you, Mr. Powers and members of Council. Now that the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office has concluded there will be no criminal charges filed in the shooting death of Ms. Rosser, I am able to make some additional comments regarding this unfortunate incident. I would like to begin by expressing my condolences once again to the family and friends of Ms. Rosser. Although the officers’ response was justified, it had a tragic outcome nonetheless. This has been a very difficult time for our community and the entire Ann Arbor Police Department specifically officers Ried and Raab, who responded to this incident. I have previously stated that Ofc. Reid has been an excellent officer who has earned my confidence by routinely demonstrating sound judgment and professional –professionalism. His actions during this incident are consistent with my prior assessment. The community expects its officers to resolve a wide range of conflicts. When doing so they have a duty to protect citizens who are in danger and they have a right to protect themselves. Both were required of officers Ried and Raab on November 9. In the weeks following the incident I have witnessed a great deal of patience and restraint shown through many peaceful demonstrations that have occurred. I’m grateful to be the police chief in a community where its citizens can express their opinions in a peaceful and respectful manner. While we all waited the completion of the Michigan State police investigation and subsequent decision by the prosecutor’s office, I have continued to move forward with several initiatives. With the Council’s authorization for the appropriation of funds, the Ann Arbor Police Department has placed an order for 86 body-worn cameras. While we await delivery, we have continued the process of developing the policy and training associated with this deployment of this technology. I have also been reviewing our current training topics to identify any additional needs. For the 2015 training calendar, I have added modules to include diversity awareness, conducted by the Anti-Defamation League of Michigan as well as autism awareness. These are in line with previous training programs which have exposed our officers to other specific population groups. Some examples include response to incidents involving citizens with Alzheimer’s or dementia as well as those who are deaf or hearing impaired. Annually all officers are also trained in both less lethal and a lethal force tactics and techniques. I will continue to explore and evaluate any other relevant training opportunities for our officers. Prior to this incident I have regularly met with the chairperson of the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission. As the Commission began to hear more questions from the community these meetings have increased in frequency and have included additional Commission members as well as new topics of discussion. I will continue to work with the Commission members to answer any questions they identify. I plan to continue with all of these efforts and initiatives going forward. Thank you.

>>STEVE POWERS That’s all I have, thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Thank you very much. It is – the city staff does so much to make our city a better place, but they certainly can’t do it all. And so what we do in the city of Ann Arbor, we are so grateful to have residents, large and – in large number and in small number, who work with city staff and work as volunteers to improve their community. And one of the pleasures of every other City Council meeting is that there are introductions to recognize such volunteers. And today we have as a volunteer of the month a proclamation honoring the Student United Way at the University of Michigan and I would be delighted to call them up to the podium and I will read a proclamation in their honor. So please join me.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Tighten up so that the cameras can see. Excellent. Proclamation and Appreciation of the Student United Way of the University of Michigan February 2, 2015. Whereas, the Student United Way University of Michigan has dedicated themselves to volunteering in the assistance of the Ann Arbor parts and whereas Student United Way has worked with the Give 365 volunteer program at several of our recreational facilities and parks assisting with river cleanups, special events, park cleanups, facility and landscaping maintenance, and also volunteering with natural area preservations to remove invasive species, and whereas their consistent participation with Give 365 volunteer programs since 2011 has made a positive impact on the facilities and parks as well as the customers in which they have interacted and whereas the city of Ann Arbor appreciates the tireless work of volunteers and the assistance of our parks, now therefore I, Christopher Taylor, Mayor of Ann Arbor Michigan in recognition of these personal and volunteer endeavors conducted to the greater good of our community do hereby proclaim a commemoration of the Student United Way of the University of Michigan on February 2, 2015 in the city of Ann Arbor. Congratulations. [Applause]

>>CAITLIN TICE Good evening my name is Caitlin Tice and I am president of the Student United Way at the University Michigan. We are honored to be here today and appreciate the nomination from Give 365. We are some of the executive board members of our student chapter of United Way. Student United Way is a small student run volunteer group on campus. And we have about 50 active members. We volunteer locally in Washtenaw County with a variety of organizations. We focus on giving our time to help in any way we can. Whether that is helping at after school children’s holiday parties, completing garden cleanups, helping with seasonal parks and recreation events, or any other events that we facilitate. Student United Way has multiple events each month, including volunteering, social events and networking. Just last week we went on a tour of United Way of Washtenaw County giving our members an opportunity to see how our efforts contribute on a larger scale. We have benefited significantly from having strong partnerships with local organizations such as United Way of Washtenaw County, and Give 365. Thank you again for this nomination and we look forward to continuing to give back to the Ann Arbor community. Thank you. [Applause]

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR We now come to public commentary reserved time. This is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to Council and the community about matters of municipal interest. You need to have signed up in advance. And so we have an order and speakers are limited to three minutes so please pay close attention to the timeclock. In order to be fair we ask that there be only one person speaking at a time and you are not able I’m afraid to delegate your time to others. If you require assistance in speaking before Council we would be delighted to provide it to you. Our first speaker today is Karen Healey.

>>KAREN HEALEY Good evening, Mr. Mayor and councilmembers. My name is Karen Healey and I’m here to express concerns about the resolution you are proposing to enter into an agreement with DTE for the use of the airport for a solar installation. I would like to start by being clear that I am  very pro-sustainable energy and I’m very glad that you guys are too. I am however in strong objection to this resolution as it stands for a number of reasons. Firstly, this resolution is in support of a two-phase project for which phase 2 does not seem to be yet very well defined. It is not yet clear exactly what DTE’s plans for this second significantly larger phase are, nor how close to the surrounding roads and homes the plant will extend. There also seems to be no description of what responsibilities DTE will be expected to take in ensuring that as the plant is developed in a manner that is sensitive to the surrounding area. Is it not vital that the content of phase 2 is fully described, fully risk assessed and that all DTE responsibilities outlined before any agreement is signed by Ann Arbor? Secondly, although the proposed site lies on city-owned land, geographically it is totally encircled by Pittsfield Township. While the northern east boundaries of the airport are well developed the proposed site is an attractive area of undeveloped land that is bordered solely by people’s homes. Whilst I applaud Ann Arbor in wanting to have the biggest solar plant in the state, it doesn’t seem environmentally correct to ask Pittsfield Township to take the full burden of what could become a very very large and possibly unattractive solar power plant. This project will drastically change the entire feel of this neighborhood whilst not impacting a single Ann Arbor resident. I’m hoping that you as councilmembers will reflect on the negative reaction of Ann Arbor residents to the Plymouth Road solar power plant and realize that this project will have similar negative impacts. Financially, I don’t understand why the city of Ann Arbor is choosing a site from which all generated revenue – all revenue generated from the solar project can only be used by the airport for aviation related activities. Surely the Council would be serving its residends better by choosing a site that allowed the income generated to benefit the majority of the city rather than one small airport and its users. I also note that the city of Ann Arbor is very committed to its greenbelt program and that the proposed site for the solar panel project lies within your greenbelt district. Pittsfield Township is one of five townships included within this program and the program aims to protect farmland and open space for the future enjoyment of local residents. Yet Pittsfield Township is significantly less supportive with only 90 protected areas in comparison with up to 1,500 protected areas in other townships. Rather than considering preserving this attractive open area, the current plan is to destroy up to 41 acres instead. To me this project does not make environmental sense. Surely it would be more environmental to source a site somewhat like the Ford solar power plant whereby the city could utilize an existing structure and complement it rather than destroy greenland. In view of phase 2 of the project is so poorly defined, this project will have significant negative impact to the surrounding area and in view of only aviation areas will benefit, I strongly appeal for you to consider not supporting this resolution as it stands this evening. Thank you.

>>ANNIE WOLOCK Good evening, mayor Taylor, hello councilmembers and the rest of Twitterland and everybody else. My name’s Annie Wolock and I am a proud Ann Arbor citizen. I am also in Ward 3 and I own a business on Main Street here in Ann Arbor. Basically I just want to say thank you so much for showing your support of the DeBoer v. Snyder case, this is a landmark case that will determine equality and marriage for the entire country. It’s not just a Michigan case. And I just want to say this for everybody out in the world there that might be watching this, a little review of the case. This case is about two women who are nurses. One is an ER nurse and one is a neonatal nurse, very loving women who are in a long term committed relationship. Together, they have each adopted two kids. The court issue is if one – if something were to happen to one of them, they would probably lose custody of their other kids. This case is about bringing justice and civil rights to all same-sex couples. And I want to express my sincere gratitude for your bringing this up for the city. Thank you.

>>AUDREY WOJTKOWIAK Hello, and good evening, Mayor Taylor, City Council and everyone else who braved the elements it’s a little sparse. My name is Audrey Wojtkowiak. I’m an Ann Arbor resident and have been for the majority of the last 20 years, currently in the First Ward. I serve on the Housing Commission for the city of Ann Arbor and tonight I’m going to serve all of you by being very brief. I also want to say thank you for considering this resolution. This is a landmark case. It means a lot not just to the city of Ann Arbor and the residents of the city of Ann Arbor, but to the rest of the world that we stand up and say this is the right thing to do. Thank you. And especially to the sponsors of the resolution: mayor Taylor, councilmembers Briere, Grand, Warpehoski and Westfahl. I’m gay. The reason I live here is because it’s so welcoming. Your support as city leaders is just one more example of Ann Arbor being an inclusive community. Your support for this case makes it very clear that it’s not only a desirable community for the gay community but for everybody else. It’s an example to say that we are welcoming. For those of you listening and watching and tweeting, if you want to support the case with either time or money there will be events in the future where you can write a check, bring cash bring your smiling face. You can go to the website that is on the T-shirt that these lovely ladies behind me, called nationalmarriage.com. I encourage the rest of Council to vote for this resolution so that it passes unanimously and thank you for your time.

>>SANDI SMITH Hello, I’m here tonight as past president of the Jim Toy Community Center and I’m currently am on the fundraising team for the nationalmarriagechallenge.com. And it is a grassroots effort. The attorneys are pro bono. They have not been paid they have been fighting this for about five years now. It’s very expensive to go to the Supreme Court so I’m just making a pitch that you know famous people such as yourselves could lend your names to house parties, and whatnot, help get the word out throughout the community that, and throughout Michigan really quite frankly. And it should be a nationwide effort, it costs a lot of money to do this. But really I’d like to just say thank you for putting this forward for support with your amicus brief that your filing. It is another reason that I’m proud to be from Ann Arbor. Michigan sometimes makes me scratch my head and say why am I going to stay here. A lot of people are leaving. I know people that have left specifically because of this issue. And if this case goes wrong way, a lot of people will leave. And it’s going to be hard to retain any – any talent, it’s going to be hard to attract talent, and so this is critical. This is not just the fact that our constitutional rights are violated on a regular basis, that’s minor really. It’s about what’s can happen to Michigan, and Michigan is gonna be – if we lose, Michigan will be one of a handful of states that will be left behind if the Supreme Court ends up with a state by state solution. So we need all the support we can get. Your support is very much appreciated. I look forward to hearing a unanimous, resounding yes when you get to that part in support of it. So I’m gonna leave with a minute left.

>>KATHY GRISWOLD  Good evening. I’m here to urge Council to support both of the DTE related resolutions and to also lift the 10-year moratorium on new streetlights. I’M mentioning that because that is also a DTE related action that the Council can take. Regarding the proposed rate increase, I believe that it is DTE’s responsibility and function to deliver energy but not to structure costs based on the type of lightbulb that is being used. That function belongs to the elected leaders of our community. As a personal experience, I built a passive solar house over 30 years ago. I installed motion-activated switches in most of my rooms and as soon as LED lights became available, I started using them. I believe that it is my right to use any kind of lightbulb I want in my home, and I believe that it’s Ann Arbor’s leaders responsibility and right to use any type of bulb that they are using. I know that there are rate increases and a lot of other things involved in this. But I see it as a very simple rights issue. The second thing is I urge you to support the solar panels because we can use that $200,000 item as another person mission concerned that it can only be used for airport functions because we have a serious problem with streetlights in this community. One of the issues is just being able to identify lights that are out and possibly DTE could install sensors and then they would know when a streetlight was not drawing electricity. Today Ann Arbor has 74 open streetlight requests, some of them are for multiple streetlights on the a2fixit system and this is down from 90 requests a few weeks ago. And the majority of these requests are for lights owned and maintained by DTE. The lights near Stadium and Washtenaw where the split is has been out since mid-December. And last Friday on the way to the movies I counted 27 streetlights out on Huron Pkwy., Stadium, and Washtenaw. And I realize that Council has many important issues before them tonight, but I believe that the safety of our individuals is paramount. And I’d also like to say that without micromanaging, Council needs to ensure that a management process exists to balance both costs and sustainability, but most importantly safety, because right now staff cannot address unlit mid block crosswalks including two, one that is near Huron High School and another one at Packard. When I say unlit I mean no streetlight within a block. Thank you.

>>FRED EATON Mayor, members of the Council, thank you. I’m here from Comcast. I am the senior manager for government affairs in this region and I’m here with Lisa Birmingham who is our vice president for external affairs for the region. You have a piece of business of concern to us on your agenda. And we are here available to answer questions if you have any. And otherwise I’m going to yield back my time. Thank you.

>>BLAINE COLEMAN I went to the national lesbian and gay march in Washington DC in October 1979. Thirty-five years later finally the demands of that march are being met. It should be that way, except it should not have taken 35 years. I also went to my first Palestinian rights event in 1979, and 35 years later Palestinians are still treated by this City Council and by every City Council as lower than human. That’s not right. You have to boycott Israel and stop your party, for all of you for almost all of you that is the Democrats, you have to boycott Israel and stop your party from supporting war criminals. You have to boycott Israel and stop your president from supporting war criminals. You have to boycott Israel and stop your Congress from supporting war criminals. What is so controversial about that? People who help war criminals get tried at the Hague. Hundreds of your constituents marched for a boycott Israel resolution this summer right outside this City Council. A hundred of your constituents marched right up into this City Council to tell you, as if you didn’t know, about Israel’s massacre of Gaza last summer. Those hundred people demanded in this room a boycott Israel resolution as loudly and as clearly as they possibly could. You, all of you, turned a deaf ear to them instead of hearing them. You hid in your work room until they left. You have repeatedly, in my opinion, let your Arab constituents know that you barely even consider them human. And that is a shame. That’s a shame. You act as if the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian. Chuck, you can’t even make eye contact can you after all these years. One of you is enough to allow a public hearing on the boycott Israel resolution. Just one of you, to show that you have an ounce of humanity. If you refuse to even allow a public hearing on the boycott Israel resolution then I will be glad to testify all about it at the Hague. Thirty-five years.

>>KONSTANTIN TENIN  [distributes some papers] I was hoping you would follow along, but. Okay, just want to – good evening, by the way. Just want to bring your attention to some of the issues that we are having with the property we purchased in Ann Arbor and ask for somedirections about how to deal with it. The first page demonstrates that the property, it is a quite modest neighborhood on the northwest Ann Arbor. We purchased the property about a year ago and we spent just enormous amount of time to design a house that would fit the neighborhood and blend with that a well-developed neighborhood, there are some homes as old as 100 years old. In the end we came up with a design that was very modest, but our focus was on energy efficiency, potentially solar panels in the future, good insulation, but it was so-called Level I according to the builder. For selection of materials. So the main focus was energy efficiency. The issue is highlighted on page 3 and it’s something we learned just recently that the lot does not have any connection to the main water and the sewer system. So that came quite – we just learned about it about a week ago when, after we had a contract signed, and we had signed contract with the bank on the construction loan, and we learned that it’s an extremely expensive procedure to connect the property or run lines from the main to the property line. On page 4 it summarizes the expenses that we budgeted for and there’s a lot, there’s the construction page includes normal fees for the tapping sewer and water, but on the bottom it shows all the additional costs that we learned about and some of them came early enough in the process, but so that we could budget for it, but the bottom – the last one the tapping fee of $23,000 in tap for building that line is just putting this property in completely different category. And the following page shows the comparison if we build this house and include all the fees how it would compare with the rest of that neighborhood, and as you can see it would be, you know, over 40% higher compared to any house in that neighborhood. So, it’s – there is no blame, but the history of that property got lost, I don’t even know – but I need direction on how to deal with it.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Are there communications from Council? Councilmember Lumm.

>>JANE LUMM Thank you. I would just like to share an announcement that has been, the city issued a press release on I think there’s a story in AnnArbor.com on this, so that’s very helpful and appreciated, so just a reminder if you will, that the second deer management public meeting will be held this Thursday, at February 5at 7 PM at the Slauson Middle School auditorium, which is located at 1019 W. Washington in Ann Arbor. And the public meeting will include a review of the survey highlights, a Q & A  with a staff member from the city of Rochester Hills regarding their experience implementing a nonlethal deer management plan. And also will include a presentation from the members of the Washtenaw Citizens for Ecological Balance. They will present a deer management plan that includes lethal methods. So, a lot of people have been following this and again I appreciate that the city issued a press release about this meeting.

>>SABRA BRIERE Two points. Councilmembers have been sent separately a resume from Bob Needham. Tonight I’d like you to take the time to look at this. I am putting his name forward for the environmental commission, replacing John German. And I would like to especially thank John German for his long commitment to environmental issues and his service on the environmental commission. And the second thing is to thank those of my colleagues who were able to help in the Point in Time Count. Because of the inclement weather we don’t know what the Point in Time Count reveals. I had looked forward to driving to hear about that this morning, but was very grateful not to do so. So sometime in the next few days that Point in Time Count data will be released, and we will be able to look at how many people who are without homes that the various volunteers, including members of Council were able to find and to interview. I do want to point out that because the weather was particularly benign for a January day that we were very successful in finding a lot of people. If the weather had been like it was yesterday and today I think that the count would be very altered, because many areas would become impassable. Thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further communication from council? Councilmember Warpehoski.

>>CHUCK WARPEHOSKI Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First of all, a question for the city administrator regarding the issue raised by Mr. Tenin. My understanding was that we have approved a review of our utility connection charges. Can you please give an update on where that process stands?

>>STEVE POWERS Actually there will be a discussion with Council at your next work session, February 9. Regarding the status and some tentative directions that Council can choose to take, and I will provide contact information for you so we can follow up separately.

>>CHUCK WARPEHOSKI Thank you. That’s all.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further communication from council. Councilmember Eaton.

>>JACK EATON On the same evening that the deer management meeting is taking place, if you don’t have an interest in deer management there will be a citizen participation meeting related to a development at 1300 S. Maple. Which has previously come before us as 42 North. I think it’s the Meadow Winds apartment complex this time. The meeting will be on February 5 at 6:30 PM at the Dicken Elementary School and I welcome anybody to come and listen to the developer’s plan. Thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further communication from Council. Communications from myself. I would like to request confirmation of the following appointments which were presented to Council at the January 20, 2015 regular session. To the Airport Advisory Commission David Canter which is a reappointment. To the Design Review Board Geoffrey Perkins, which is also a reappointment. And filling three vacancies on the Local Officers Compensation Committee [sic] Juliet Pressel, Carey Chesney and Brian Weinert. May have a motion. Moved by councilmember Lumm seconded by councilmember Kunselman. Are there discussion is there discussion of these appointments? I guess I just like to say following up on my statements of last meeting with respect to the Local Officers Compensation Commission I believe this gets us up to five, which is what is necessary for the commission to move forward. I look forward to the commission’s short work, short and good work hopefully to get this issue moving forward and I will here again state that I will accept whatever decision they make whether they suggest that they double our salaries or halve them. I have faith in our, our – you know, our citizens volunteers’ judgment on this matter, working in such consultation of course with best practices as given to them by HR and whatever expertise they are able to employ. Further discussion of these appointments. All in favor? All opposed? They are approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR We now come to a series of public hearings. Public hearings are opportunities for the public to speak to Council and the community about specific matters on the agenda. Your comment must remain germane to that particular topic. You do not need to sign up in advance, but you are limited to three minutes, as previously described. If you require assistance in speaking before Council we will be happy to provide it to you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR PH-1 An Ordinance to Amend Section 9:42 of Chapter 107 (Animals - Keeping Chickens) of Title IX of the Code of the City of Ann Arbor (Ordinance No. ORD-14-28)  Is there anyone who would like to speak at this public hearing? Please just come up to the podium.

>>MEMBER OF PUBLIC Hello I’m Eileen Dickensen in the Fifth Ward. I’ve been keeping chickens since 2009 and they’ve become an integral part of my garden ecology. In addition to egg production they recycle nutrients from kitchen scraps and spent grain from homebrewing, they produce manure for my compost system, they provide entertainment, they reduce garden pests, and they support many aspects of community life. They have provided data for middle school science projects and introduce chickens to local, children to local food, composting and nutrient cycling. They have been a destination for out-of-town guests of neighbors and they are always a source of conversation. I’m assuming the city thinks these are all good things consistent with many of the values that underlie sustainability and environmental policy and goals. Why then would the unfounded fears of a few be allowed to hijack the process? To continue to keep chickens even without needing a variance, I have to get permission of six neighbors half of them landlords, again. Thankfully, in a Groundhog Day experience, yesterday in a blizzard, I was able to get those taken care of. But to think that any of them could in a moments notice take away what I’ve developed in my backyard is sickening. Meanwhile I have put up with domestic and feral cats using my vegetable garden as a litter box and outdoor dogs that bark far louder and longer than any noises chickens make. I’m awakened by cat fights and fireworks during the night and tolerate cars without working mufflers coming and going all day and night in a rental house next door. I’ve accepted these as a part of neighborhood life and since these disturbances seem far more disruptive to residents than keeping four birds in a coop, I would argue that keeping chickens without neighbor engagement could be just a regular fact of life in Ann Arbor. No big deal. But why might somebody deny me a permit? Well, a few people think that chickens are noisy. In fact they make contented chortling sounds. Occasionally they sound like a flock of geese flying over, and they are completely quiet at night. A few people fear the chickens attract flies. In fact, they eat flies and mosquitoes voraciously. A few people fear that rats and mice will be attracted to the coop. Chickens actually eat mice. A few people fear that the coop will smell. Perhaps if we were putting in Tyson or a Perdu chicken factory it would. Backyard chickens are not the same. I think it’s time to stop indulging in ungrounded fears of a few, educate our citizens, relieve city staff of extra busywork and allow people to keep chickens without having to engage neighbors in any fashion other than to let them know that they can expect to receive a few of the most nutritious and best tasting eggs they have ever had. With your help I believe this is possible. Thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Is there anyone else would like to speak at this public hearing? >>MEMBER OF PUBLIC Good evening Mayor and Council. My name is James D’Amour and I live at 2771 Maplewood Ave. In the Third Ward. Forgive me if my comments are, you know, disjointed I’m trying to read my chicken scratchings here. Yes, I went there on that. I think, you know, we’ve come a long way, and hats off to Steve Kunselman for you know braving the fire, you took a lot of crap from a lot of people, getting this started and look how far we have come. It’s not a question of whether or not to have chickens, and now the possibility of ducks, but the number. And I think it’s a good thing. As the previous speaker had noted, they really provide a lot of benefits to the community and to the neighbors and it’s a wonderful process and councilmember Warpehoski, I am glad that you are moving forward some changes on that. I do have a little bit of concern in terms of the notification issue. Even for one or two additional birds and here’s why. And I realize that we’re talking about chickens compared to you know to roads, to development, and even to world affairs, it’s kind of, we are at the edge of city issues and Chuck you made the issue that maybe neighbors shouldn’t veto one’s life and maybe the city is really coming in the weeds here in terms of this. But the issue here is how neighbors deal with each other, and the city needs to have a framework of how neighbors work with each other. I think the notification system whether it’s 1-6 birds, chickens or ducks, should remain the same and here’s why. And that is what if an existing neighbor has dogs and we came in real time experience real situation where I had to miss the meeting, I won’t say what the subject matter was, it wouldn’t be germane here, because I had to rescue a chicken from our dog which unfortunately had gotten loose, and got a chicken. Fortunately, all that was lost was a couple of hen feathers, but at any rate I really think that when a bird owner is coming in to develop a coop for the first time I think he or she really needs to get the input of their neighbors. It would be a good chance for the neighbors to interact with each other and get to know each other and get to work a framework of that situation – that way they can work out issues such as how to deal with dogs and other threats that may happen to the coop. And although I would say once that the coop has been established, if one of the neighbors should leave that neighbor should not have to get the input of the new neighbor, it should be grandfathered in as a matter of course. Think in short conclusion I think we should keep things the way they are. Just an opportunity to build the neighborhood input and build a stronger neighborhood as a result. Thanks for considering my comments, folks.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Is there anyone else would like to speak at this public hearing? Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR PH-2 An Ordinance to Amend Chapter 55 (Zoning), Rezoning of 2.96 Acres from PUD (Planned Unit Development District) to C3 (Fringe Commercial District), Plum Market Rezoning, 3601 Plymouth Road (Ordinance No. ORD-15-01)  Is there anyone who would like to speak at this public hearing? Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR PH-3 Resolution to Approve the Plum Market Site Plan, 3601 Plymouth Road  Is there anyone who would like to speak at this public hearing? Seeing no one, this public hearing is closed.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR  May I have a motion to approve the minutes? Moved by councilmember Krapohl seconded by councilmember Briere. Is there discussion? All in favor? All opposed? The minutes of January 12, 2015 and January 20, 2015 are approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda. Discussion. All in favor? All opposed? The consent agenda is approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR B-1 An Ordinance to Amend Section 9:42 of Chapter 107 (Animals - Keeping Chickens) of Title IX of the Code of the City of Ann Arbor (Ordinance No. ORD-14-28)  Discussion of B-1. I’ll observe that we have discussed this on numerous occasions.

>>SABRA BRIERE Over the past week I’ve talked with several people who keep chickens. And they have all said the same thing to me. They don’t really have a problem with neighbor notification, but they do have concern that if there have been no violations of the ordinance, they don’t understand why they have to jump through all the hoops again. And so I wondered if councilmember Warpehoski would consider amending this ordinance to require neighbor notification only if violations of the ordinance have been recorded – for the renewal of licenses.

>>CHUCK WARPEHOSKI I would be comfortable with that if…

>>SABRA BRIERE… I don’t want to send it back to first…

>>CHUCK WARPEHOSKI… Would that require going back to first reading?

>>STEPHEN POSTEMA I think it would in the sense that, I think it would because the consent provision for the five-year licensing would make me say yes…

>>SABRA BRIERE Then I will drop the idea, thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? Rollcall vote please starting with councilmember Briere.

councilmember Briere, yes
councilmember Westphal, yes
councilmember Lumm,  no
councilmember Grand, yes
councilmember Kunselman, no
councilmember Krapohl, yes
councilmember Eaton, no
councilmember Warpehoski, yes
councilmember Anglin, yes
Mayor Taylor, yes
councilmember Kailasapathy, yes

>>CITY CLERK: Motion carries.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR It’s approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR B-2 An Ordinance to Amend Chapter 55 (Zoning), Rezoning of 2.96 Acres from PUD (Planned Unit Development District) to C3 (Fringe Commercial District), Plum Market Rezoning, 3601 Plymouth Road (Ordinance No. ORD-15-01)  Discussion of B-2.

>>JANE LUMM Just would like to thank staff for their response to questions about the you know what triggers traffic impact analysis to have this performed for this and what doesn’t. The information was helpful because there have been concerns raised about, you know, we get a lot of traffic on Plymouth and Green, this is close to that intersection and so there are concerns about the movements that this retail establishment, the additional traffic movements could cause that would be that would further impede the movements in and around this area. So again the information that was provided was helpful and satisfies the questions I think.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR C-1 An Ordinance to Amend Chapter 55 (Zoning), Rezoning of 0.22 Acre from TWP (Township District) to R1C (Single-Family Dwelling District), Anderson-Pebbles Property, 375 Glenwood Street  Discussion of C-1. Councilmember Kunselman.

>>STEPHEN KUNSELMAN Thank you. Knowing that this is a vacant lot, and I think it’s pretty relevant, we just had a speaker talking about the infrastructure fees. I want to bring to everybody’s attention that the same sort of situation is also existing here. I know the individuals that are petitioning for this rezoning, the water, the infrastructure tapping fees are pretty expensive, it’s pretty apparent that these fees are really making it difficult to do infill development in our community, as I have attested on a number of occasions, there are at least four or five or six lots in my neighborhood that are not going to ever be developed with the infill development, because the price of the land is you know not as great in terms of what the market will bear over on the east side of Ann Arbor, and so the idea that we are going to – you know we need to do something about these infrastructure fees and I look forward to staff at the work session at the next Council work section session to deal with this.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion of C-1. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-1 Resolution to Re-appoint Stephanie Buttrey as a Member of the City of Ann Arbor Greenbelt Advisory Commission. Discussion of DC-1.

>>JANE LUMM Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Just a quick comment to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for presenting the appointment consistent with the charter amendment related to residency for board and commission appointments that was passed by voters last fall… oh, that’s the next one? I apologize.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Thank you for the preview.

>>JANE LUMM I was anxious to thank you. Sorry.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR I’ll take it both times. Discussion of DC-1. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-2 Resolution to Appoint Kenneth J. Winters to the Building Board of Appeals (7 Votes Required) Discussion of DC-2.

>>JANE LUMM Thank you, sorry I was jumping the gun clearly. I really do want to acknowledge that it’s great that you are doing this and that it is consistent with the new charter rules, and Mr. Winters has not been a registered voter for at least a year and the charter amendment requires that  at least seven members of Council approve the appointment and I think that’s appropriate and obviously the voters did as well. I’m comfortable supporting Mr. Winter’s tonight and will certainly be supporting this I just wanted to acknowledge and thank you, Mr. Mayor, for presenting this separately. Proper process is always a good thing, so thanks.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Thank you. Further discussion of DC-2. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved unanimously with 11 councilmembers present thus satisfying the seven-vote requirement.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-3 Resolution to Approve a License Agreement with DTE Energy to Construct a Solar Installation at the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport. Discussion of DC three.

>>SABRA BRIERE I want to acknowledge the questions that people have had about whether this is an appropriate location and whether it’s appropriate that all of the revenue from this installation go to the airport fund. I have personal issues with that second concept. It seems to me that the last thing we really need to do is provide more funding for the airport, because it manages to break even most of the time. But that’s also because I’m always a little bit concerned that the airport will work to – even harder to expand the length and width of the runway so they can handle heavier and more frequent flights. But at the same time this is the best place I heard of for such a solar array. I’m particularly aware of the fact that from the – the proposed location, it’s far enough from the adjoining residential housing developments that it’s not going to be visible, and I’m relatively confident that when we hear of a design for this, as opposed to approving the concept, they will have done what they can to make certain that there is no dangerous glare for landing pilots, and no dangerous glare for adjoining traffic here. Indeed the traffic could even spot it. I do want to ask a couple of things. One is that since phase 1 and phase 2 design, we don’t have the designs for either, I hope that the Council will see those designs before they are approved. And the second is that I really like to hear that DTE is building the array with trackers so that the solar panels can follow the sun and maximize the output. Thank you.

>>JANE LUMM Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few questions. If Mr. Naud is here. To follow on to, we have received a number of questions about concerns, some were articulated by the speaker tonight, thank you, about this phase 2 we don’t have any details about that. So I wonder if you could provide little more detail about that about the process for phase 2 would work.

>>CITY STAFF Yes, Matt Kulhanek, I’m the airport manager. Actually in the attachment to the agenda item tonight there was a, there’s a map at the end an appendix that was attached to your agenda item. And that actually shows the phase 2 area on it. You’ll see that the total site license area is about just under 14 acres. And the first phase of that will be approximately 11 acres in size. The second phase if DTE constructs it, will be under 3 acres in size and as indicated on phase 2 on this map.

>>JANE LUMM Yeah, so there was some speculation, we could be talking about upwards of I think I saw a number hundred acres, I mean just because it was a big unknown, you’re talking about 3 acres remaining…

>>CITY STAFF… For phase 2, yeah. I think some of the confusion, councilmember Lumm, was there is an overall parcel of 41 acres. And, excuse me, and that’s what’s been submitted to the FAA for what is called a land release.

>>JANE LUMM It was the 41 number, yeah, sorry.

>>CITY STAFF But the only portion being considered by DTE at this point is the 14 acres, which includes phase 1 and phase 2 of the plan.

>>JANE LUMM And on this question about potential glare, I’m sure that the Airport Advisory Commission, that’s been…

>>CITY STAFF… It’s been discussed, actually the FAA has a very in-depth process. It’s called a solar glare hazard analysis tool. It’s a tool that is been developed by the Department of Energy for specifically this purpose. What they do is they take a look at the panels being proposed and they take a look at the angles being proposed and they literally put those in a Google Earth simulation, with our runway and our approaches where our aircraft takeoff and land and then they run a 365 day simulation based on the sun angle to make sure that they are not getting glare or glint to the aircraft or the tower or the adjoining residential areas. So they have not, that has not gone to the FAA for approval. DTE has I think they either the consultant has prepared that document, but they are waiting to submit that to the FAA, once they get approval of the license agreement this evening.

>>JANE LUMM So obviously you’re doing all the work necessary to thoroughly ensure that there is no risk to aviation safety.

>>CITY STAFF Yes the FAA, one of the, one of the things in the memorandum you’ve noticed is FAA approval, and the glint and glare analysis is the primary focus that they’re looking at.

>>JANE LUMM How long does the FAA and MDOT reviews do you anticipate?

>>CITY STAFF There’s two things they need to do from their perspective. One is the land release. And the second is what we call the constructibility of the project. So the solar glare and glint analysis is part of the constructibility of the process. They’re actually reviewing both the land release and the constructibility at the same time. And they’re I don’t know how long it will take them. I have not been real good with guessing FAA time frames in the past. But I’m expecting they are aware of it, we have provided them information to a certain point on what we could, and I think that DTE is ready to get things rolling with the FAA based on this action tonight.

>>JANE LUMM Okay thanks and then just a question about the revenue. I understand the FAA stipulates the revenue from DTE needs to be used by the city for airport and aviation, which certainly seems reasonable. I’m just wondering if there’s also any flexibility on that and if not, do we have any sense of how this additional revenue would be used at the airport?

>>CITY STAFF The – well,  the first part is the grant assurances. So the FAA provides airports are one of the, I’ll say one of the last great funding mechanisms, where for every dollar we spend on improved capital projects down there, we get $.95 back from the FAA and MDOT. Including land purchases and those type of things for airports. So one of the things they look at is each time that we do, they have these what’s called terms, or terms and conditions, it’s a thick document that they do whenever they do sponsor contracts, that Council approved, the most recent one was about two years ago, and one of the requirements in there is that revenue generated at the airport stays in the airport fund.

>>JANE LUMM So will use these for operational improvements, capital projects?

>>CITY STAFF Yeah I mean it’s a long-term revenue source – from a budgetary perspective the airport, we do break even, we have the last couple of years. But unfortunately, like many areas of the city we have deferred maintenance and those type of things, and we’ve got 150 hangers down there that are 30, 40, and 50 years old that need maintenance. So the anticipation is you know as revenue is available, we’d look at our capital maintenance projects to determine you know, put money back into the infrastructure, you know to maintain the airport in a competitive condition, excuse me, competitive condition to keep aircraft and aircraft owners there.

>>JANE LUMM Thanks. I just like to thank you for developing this agreement and framework, I mean you have obviously done a lot of work on this.

>>CITY STAFF Mr. Naud, and Mr. Nate Geisler are also very important. Any other questions?

>>MIKE ANGLIN Oftentimes as consumers we sometimes view the utility company as in an adversarial position because of the fees that they charge. And I’m glad they are moving forward with the city negotiating the possibilities of how we can interact with one another. I think that’s a very good sign of the future. And I want to thank the staff who work so long on this. I know a lot when went into it and it seems as you read it, a pretty fair agreement.

>>CITY STAFF I would agree with that. I think that DTE – and Matt Naud can speak to that. He dealt with DTE part more than I did more directly. But I think in genrall both sides felt that they are getting good value out of this and that it is a real positive for the community.

>>MIKE ANGLIN Not to mention its environment impact. Thank you.

>>JACK EATON I’m not sure if you can answer this question. Paragraph 22 of the contract is a confidentiality agreement that says that neither party shall disclose any information related to the contract. Do you know what kind of information we are agreeing not to disclose?

>>CITY STAFF I’m going to turn that around to legal and I know that Abby Elias is here and Abby worked on the contract so I will… That’s above me.

>>ABIGAIL ELIAS If you also notice there is a running footer in the agreement that DTE recognizes that the city of Ann Arbor is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. And our commitment is to let DTE know if there is a request for information. And we would comply with the Freedom of Information Act. We would leave DTE to do whatever it felt was appropriate.

>>JACK EATON What kind of information, I mean there are two parts of this. The first part is that we are not going to disclose anything, and the second part is that any information that must be disclosed under FOIA, we’ll tell them before we do it. So what’s, what are we addressing in the agreement not to disclose information?

>>ABIGAIL ELIAS That’s something they required. We required the footnote that we would comply with the Freedom of Information Act, that’s a law that trumps any agreement in the contract.

>>JACK EATON Did they give us any idea of what information they think is not disposable under this?

>>ABIGAIL ELIAS No. I mean it’s anything. But we are not – it is up to them to take steps. They recognize that we must follow the Freedom of Information Act.

>>JACK EATON Thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion of DC-3. For my part I think that this is a you know, an exciting effort, I’m so glad we are moving forward with it, having the largest solar field in Michigan is going to be an important thing for the city of Ann Arbor even if it is just over the line in Pittsfield Township. We are sponsoring it with the airport. I’m delighted that we are working together with DTE on it. As the project moves forward hopefully to the next stage and maybe even thereafter, under and with further review and further consideration there may be opportunities for a community solar element to the project, which would I think be a great benefit and give people the opportunity to participate in a meaningful way in renewable carbon free energy. So I think this is a great step. I’m sensitive to the concerns that have been stated at the podium and elsewhere coming in via email. The site is as I think has been indicated still under development with respect to the particulars. I know at least from the map it’s going to be over 600 feet away from Lohr Road or thereabouts and that’s a pretty substantial distance in terms of its impact on the neighbors and the people driving on Lohr road and certainly to the good people at the FAA are not going to mess around when it comes to the safety of the installation. And we will certainly comply with anything and everything that they request of us. Further discussion of DC-3. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-4 Resolution to Consent to Assignment and Change of Control from Comcast Corporation to Midwest Cable, Inc.  Discussion of DC-4, and I should say if councilmembers could move their mics to up close to them, to bare inches away from their mouths so that members of the public can hang upon our every word, both here in the room and at home it would be it of great benefit. Discussion of DC-4.

>>STEPHEN KUNSELMAN Yes, I’m bringing this forward as a member of the Cable Commission. I think this is pretty straightforward. If there’s any questions direct them toward staffs because I by no means am an attorney in antitrust law, which is really what is driving this. It’s pretty straightforward. Nothing seems to be changing in the next couple of years and so with that I hope that we can have a speedy approval.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion.

>>SABRA BRIERE Will the Council indulge me and allow me to ask a question of Mr. Eaton. Not you.

>>JACK EATON Ask away.

>>FRED EATON Hello, cuz.

>>SABRA BRIERE Over the last few days, I’ve mentioned to several people that this was going to be on the agenda. Each of them turned a whiter shade of pale when told that they would lose their Comcast account and have to transit to another email provider. So I was specifically asked if there is any way that Comcast and whatever the name of the new company may be, would continue to allow people to keep their Comcast accounts. One person said it’s the only thing that is stable in my life.

>>FRED EATON Well, I guess the best answer I can give you Councilwoman is that the Comcast dot net domain is owned by Comcast. And this new company is not going to be part of Comcast. Consequently it will have to establish its own domain. Now, residents or customers if they wish to can keep everything in front of the @ the same but what comes after the @ will at some point change to a domain owned by Greatland Connections. However, we do have an understanding with Comcast that for a reasonable period of time after the transition takes place, Comcast will forward emails that are sent to the old address to the new address, so nobody will lose their email while they are re-training their friends and neighbors on their new address.

>>SABRA BRIERE Thank you, I really can’t ask more than that, but I’d like to.

>>FRED EATON I understand.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further question for discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved.

>>FRED EATON Thank you very much.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-6 Resolution in Support of Municipal Intervention in DTE Electric Company Rate Case U-17767

>>MULTIPLE Five. DC-5.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Thank you very much. My apologies

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-5 Resolution Authorizing the City of Ann Arbor to be Listed as a Supporting Municipality in an Amicus Brief to be filed with the United State Supreme Court in April DeBoer, et al., v. Rick Snyder, Governor of Michigan, et al.  Discussion of DC-5.

>>JACK EATON Could I be added as a cosponsor, please?

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Absolutely. Further discussion of DC-5.

>>JULIE GRAND I would just like to thank the many members of the public who came out in support of these efforts.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR This is, you know we have been watching this case for quite some time and when the opportunity arises, the city has participated and given support to amicus briefs as they have gone from the District Court to the Court of Appeals and now to the Supreme Court. The defense of the right to marriage, and its,  the righteousness of its expansion to all of our residents is a core issue and is of core importance to the residents of the city of Ann Arbor, and I am delighted that the City Council has over the course of time proven supportive of that principle again and again. Equal protection of the law is fundamental to our society and if we all, if what happens come June is what we all hope happens come June, then it will be a good day and that principle will be ratified and move forward.

>>CHUCK WARPEHOSKI Thank you, Mr. Mayor. What I teach my kids is love makes a family, and the sooner that that that’s the law of the land throughout the land the better. And I want to thank Sandi Smith for the invitation to host house parties. I’ll do one as soon as I can get my house clean enough to have other people sit in it.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved and let the record show that it was unanimous with 11 council members present.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-6 Resolution in Support of Municipal Intervention in DTE Electric Company Rate Case U-17767.  Discussion of DC-6.

>>SABRA BRIERE Last week, I heard at the Environmental Commission that the city was looking forward to intervening in this case. I’m happy that we have done so. I also want to point out for those people who get a little bit confused that there is no specific data right now about how our rates would change. But it is clear that the rate for those LED powered lights would increase. It’s also clear that if the rate for the older lights that burn more energy and are more labor intensive and more expensive to replace would not decrease, – I mean would decrease, would not increase. And so, it creates an odd and unnecessary incentive to not make changes at a time when we are trying desperately to reduce energy costs and energy consumption. And so on a night when we are working with DTE to embark on more solar energy, I really hope that we can also remind DTE that the purpose behind reducing costs and reducing consumption goes along with building solar arrays. It’s to save our community.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion of DC-6.

>>JANE LUMM I’ll be supporting this tonight, would just like to thank the city administrator and city attorney in acting expeditiously on this. I recognize that streetlights aren’t a huge portion of DTE’s business but I am at a loss to understand the rationale for DTE raising the LED streetlight rates and lowering of the conventional sodium streetlight rates. It certainly does appear to be creating a disincentive and will adversely impact cities like Ann Arbor that have invested heavily in LED. And as the resolution mentions, DTE has been a pretty good partner with the city in our efforts to conserve energy use. DTE has provided technical support on our conversions and obviously we’re also excited to partner on the solar array project we just approved. This rate action, however, does I think require some explanation and perhaps there’s a solid economic rationale for all of the streetlight rate changes, but we’ve not heard it yet. And based on the information that we received from staff, DTE will be providing information later this month, but that’s not particularly helpful now when municipalities must decide whether or not to object to DTE’s proposals. So given the lack of explanation or details on all of the rates, we have no choice at this point but to object to the proposed rate actions on streetlights. So I have a couple of questions, and first and I guess this would be for Matt. Perhaps. Thanks.

>>MATT NAUD Nate Geisler’s here also.

>>JANE LUMM Thank you very much. I understand that the other municipalities can join this, still join the coalition for objecting to the rates, but what’s not clear to me is whether or not they share in the legal costs incurred if they do and so if you could clarify that.

>>CITY STAFF Sure, yeah. The discussion so far is that anyone who participates in the intervention should be participating based on the number of DTE lights that they have because that’s likely to be where the benefit occurs. If there is a benefit from the intervention. So, it would be apportioned, and as more cities joined our cost should go down.

>>JANE LUMM In terms of legal costs, do they share in the legal costs incurred?

>>CITY STAFF Oh, yeah, that’s what I’m talking about, the legal costs. The rough number is there looking at about $50,000 total. MML is participating – probably about 20%, so we’re looking for the other cities to make up about $40,000.

>>JANE LUMM Okay, that’s great. Thank you. And the story that was,  just appeared the Ann Arbor News yesterday, I think included cost numbers for running 250 W LED and sodium bulbs, which is apparently what’s used in streetlights, and the numbers showed that there is currently about 33% savings with LED – $157 versus $235 a year. With the proposal the LED advantage would drop to 19% – $178  to $220, so I’m wondering if you could just speak to those numbers, if they are are directionally accurate. Because if so, these proposed changes are pretty significant.

>>CITY STAFF I don’t know about those specific numbers, I would need to sit down with the math and I can let Nate speak to specific wattages and bulbs. What I can tell you is that I think our position is: We are unique compared to most of the other cities because we actually own 2000 of own lights. And then we paid DTE for 5000 of their lights. So we have 10 years of experience putting in LEDs and managing them with our own staff for our own lights, and so our experience is that the cost curve for LED bulbs is, like solar, dropping significantly and on maintenance costs have gone down significantly also. You know we calculate roughly something like $80 to change a lightbulb, with two union people depreciating a lift truck, significant maintenance savings. We are putting in LED bulbs that now have 10 year warranties when they used to have three and five year warranties. And even the 10 year warranty bulbs we think are going to last probably 20 years. So given our experience the rate changes don’t make sense to us. And again this is a public process. Is just like a public hearing. This is the only way to do it. They propose a rate, and the only way to even ask the question but how you get to the rate is you have to intervene. So.

>>JANE LUMM Thanks. Again the proposed changes are obviously significant and the LED savings would be, if these numbers are directionall accurate, would be almost cut in half.

>>CITY STAFF Would significantly reduce and incentive we would have to to switch out the rest of the DTE lights that we have that are incandescent to LED, which is what our goal is.

>>JANE LUMM Thank you, Matthew.

>>MIKE ANGLIN Mr. Naud, what would be DTE’s position on not turning those lights over to us, the remainder, if we were to – and how do we acquire that many lights? Wasn’t there a transition period that took place? And why would they be not amenable to allowing us to take more of those into our own?

>>CITY STAFF That’s actually a different question. I don’t know the history of how we came down to 2000 and why there’s 5000 that are DTE’s. Right now we haven’t been really taking over any of their lights. If anything, they have given us a few opportunities to invest our own money to change out their poles to LEDs. But we get put on a lower rate so it makes economic sense for us to do that. So I think we have done that for about 500 out of the 5000 so far. Would like more opportunities to do that because we are looking for every opportunity – we spent about $1.6 M on streetlights and that competes with other general fund priorities so anything we can do would be great to reduce that cost.

>>MIKE ANGLIN Absolutely. And the savings that you are doing by our maintenance perhaps could be put towards the objective of purchasing further as time goes on and making clear to DTE that perhaps that’s what we want to do, would that be a decision of Council? To have this as a priority saying that this is a way for us to reduce our energy costs and to save money while at the same time letting DTE out of this policy that they have of maintaining streetlights.

>>STEVE POWERS It actually works I think the other way. We can have specific answers for Council perhaps as early as your work section. It works the other way in that when a local government, a municipality is inquiring or is seeking control and ownership of the DTE streetlights, DTE will propose a price – a price that I think is a regulated price and again this is where we can get specific information for Ann Arbor – generally that price has been cost prohibitive. So it actually works the other way where they are not looking to release themselves from that responsibility and if a local government wants to take it on for the reasons that you are discussing and that Matt has articulated for you this evening, then that comes at a price that must be paid to DTE. Again, we will get some specific information for Council regarding Ann Arbor’s experience.

>>MIKE ANGLIN Okay and for the public to know, my personal experience with this has been that when you see a light out, the identification process takes a while to identify who owns it  – I found that to be, and the pole wasn’t even listed, it had some sort of identifier on it and they couldn’t find it, so it seemed to me that there was all this extra when this is something that could easily be handled. It doesn’t seem like the hardest thing in the world to do to keep the streetlights on.

>>STEVE POWERS We can share that feedback with DTE.

>>MIKE ANGLIN Thank you very much. Thank you, Matt.

>>CITY STAFF Thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion of DC-6.

>>SABRA BRIERE Just a thank you to our colleagues in Ypsilanti City. Ypsilanti City Council is going to be considering a similar resolution to join in the intervention. The more communities that do join in the intervention, the less the city will incur costs.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DC-7 Resolution Accepting Annual Renewal Recommendations of the Council Liquor License Review Committee and Setting Hearings for Non-Renewal of Liquor Licenses.  discussion of DC-7.

>>JANE LUMM As you know on-premises liquor licenses are reviewed annually and the Council Liquor License Review Committee is charged with the responsibility of conducting the necessary reviews. The process must be completed by March 31. The committee has completed its reviews and staff has invested a lot of time and effort and I would like to commend them, our clerk, the city attorney’s office, the treasurer’s office, the fire department, police department, the building apartment – this is everyone’s chance to review and it was a process that was set in place a number of years ago, and the process works. In fact today we had a couple of businesses walk in with checks. So, which is great to see basically. So my commendations to all the staff for all the hard work that they put into this so the reviews have been competed. We are recommending renewal of all the on-premises liquor licenses except those before you. You have five nonrenewal recognitions in your packet, but two settled their accounts this morning. We are also recommending a hearing date on the nonrenewal of those three. In each of these cases recommended for nonrenewal there are outstanding personal property taxes owed, in one instances, other outstanding obligations due as well. In the past these have typically been resolved prior to the hearing and hopefully that will be the case again this year. Again I want to thank staff for all their work on this. It is one of those things that isn’t particularly glamorous but it’s important and staff does spend a good bit of time doing the necessary due diligence. So we’re recommending Council approve the committee’s recommendation  that the hearing be set for nonrenewal of the three on-premises licenses on March 4 and that all of the licenses be renewed for the one-year period. Thanks.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR For the discussion of DC-7.

>>MIKE ANGLIN I want to thank councilmember Lumm for wanting to serve on the committee as head of the committee, and also the hearing officer at the time if we have to have hearings on these. She did it last year. It means that she would meet with the people who are behind on their taxes, listen to their views etc. the city attorney’s staff there to clarify what the issues are. It’s largely a tax, a taxing issue here. The committee that set this up years ago did a really good thing in terms of its process. The city makes sure that they get paid for all the work involved in this process, which is significant. And rather than simply staff time being put out for the renewal of the licenses, it means that staff time is actually being helped to be paid as the license fees are paid, so it’s again a service that the city offers. And it also allows the other departments to operate more efficiently, so we have fewer problems with our different businesses that hold liquor licenses. So the whole process seems to have worked quite well, and in this year very well because very few people are behind on their taxes. And it’s only the right thing to do, that if you know if we are licensing businesses they should at least respect us and pay their required fees necessary to do so. So thank you, thank the committee also.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further discussion. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DB-1 Resolution to Approve the Plum Market Site Plan, 3601 Plymouth Road.  Discussion of DB-1. All in favor? All opposed? It’s approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR DS-1 Resolution to Approve a Contract with Brock Associates, Inc. to Replace the Wooden Picnic Shelter at Gallup Park ($102,500.00)

>>JULIE GRAND I would just like to publicly thank Ms. Irene Fast, who is like many of us a lover of Gallup Park and whose generous donation is funding this project almost in its entirety. So thank you for that donation. And I’m sure Gallup shelters are the most popular shelters in the system and it’s also going to actually reduce some of the impervious footprint as well. So many people will enjoy her donation for years to come. Thank you.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Well said. Further discussion of DS-1. All in favor? All opposed? It is approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Are there communications from council?

>>KIRK WESTPHAL Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a quick question, this is likely better suited to a later discussion. It strikes me at how many of the renewing liquor license folks were behind on taxes, it just makes me wonder how prevalent delinquency is among businesses of these types. I don’t know if that’s something that is a one-word answer or is something we can look into. It would seem that that money would be good to have.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Further communications from council? Communication from the city attorney? I have before you the clerk’s report of communications, petitions and referrals. Discussion. All in favor? All opposed? They are approved.

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR We now come to public comment general time. It’s an opportunity for members of the public to speak before Council and to the community about matters of general interest. You have three minutes to speak, you need not have signed up in advance. We can have only one speaker speaking at a time. Is there anyone who would like to speak at public comment general time? Seeing no one, do we have any close session today?

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR Can we have a motion to adjourn? Discussion. Gasp.

>>SABRA BRIERE Can we do this again?

>>CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR With your collective indulgence, perhaps. All in favor? All opposed. It is approved. We’re adjourned.