Neighbors,
City Council meets on Monday, February 5th. Here are some updates before my preview of our agenda.
Coffee Hour
I will be hosting my next monthly Ward 4 constituent coffee hour, Sunday, February 18th from 10-11am at York Food and Drink (1929 Packard). RSVP or just swing by!
Seeking Reviewers for New Washtenaw County Human Services Partnership Grant
Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED) is recruiting community reviewers to review grant proposals for the 2024 mini grant funding round via the New Human Services Partnership. Your input will help shape the trajectory of how the New Human Service Partnership funds are invested. Previous experience reviewing grant applications, serving on a review panel/board, or participating in a focus group is desired, but not a requirement.
Apply to be a reviewer at bit.ly/oced-mini24. Applications will close Monday, February 12th.
Upcoming Bicentennial Events
I hope you're all keeping in eye on upcoming Ann Arbor Bicentennial Events! Tomorrow, February 4th, from 2 to 3:30pm, the Ann Arbor District Library is hosting a documentary film screening of "There Goes the Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School." From the description: "In 1965, the Board of Education closed the majority-Black school. Ann Arbor joined a nationwide trend of school desegregation during the Civil Rights Era. But for these young students, the loss of a neighborhood school foreshadowed changes to their close-knit community. Gentrification came to Ann Arbor on the heels of desegregation."
This documentary will be available to watch on demand at the Library's annarbor200.org site following this premiere.
City Council Meeting, Monday, February 5th at 7pm
Agenda Highlights
Response to R-24-019 - Resolution Reaffirming Commitment to Establish an Unarmed Crisis Response Program in the City of Ann Arbor (AC-2). In this memo, the City Administrator provides us with an updated schedule of milestones for a new unarmed response RFP process. The updated timeline has expected Council approval happening in August or September of this year.
Resolution to Support the Leslie Science and Nature Center Nature Playscape and Appropriate $250,000.00 (CA-3). This resolution would take $250,000 from undesignated developer parks contributions and put it toward the Leslie Science and Nature Center Nature Landscape. While the LSNC separated from the City in 2007 to become a non-profit, it is located on a city public park, and the City owns and maintains the buildings and grounds. LSNC has secured $602,490.00 in funding of the needed $1,497,690.00 to complete the project.
Resolution to Accept a Community Project Funding Grant and Approve a Grant Agreement from the State of Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity for Advancing the Wheeler Center Solar Park ($5,000,000.00) (CA-8). This resolution seeks City Council acceptance of a grant and approval of a Grant Agreement with the State of Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to support the development of the Wheeler Center Solar Park, previously known as the landfill solar project. Secured by Representative Morgan and Senator Jeff Irwin, the $5M will go directly towards financing the cost of solar panels and racking necessary to build the system. This grant was previously reported in an MLive article.
Resolution to Approve Fees for the Fire Department Ambulance Transport and Lift Assists And Appropriate Funding (PH-1). The Ann Arbor Fire Department provides emergency medical services and ambulance transport to patients regardless of their ability to pay. In an effort to recover cost for services that are customary with ambulance transport, the City recently signed a professional services agreement with Medicount to provide ambulance billing services. For the City to bill for services, the City must adopt a fee structure. The Fire Department proposes to collect fees in alignment with the third-party entity (Huron Valley Ambulance) that also provides ambulance transport within the City. The fee structure was based upon calculations done with the City of Ann Arbor Finance Department based on cost for service. The actual cost was calculated at $471.42 for basic life support transport and $226.89 for a lift assist. This is in alignment with other communities.
Public Hearing for the Stone School Road Sidewalk Special Assessment (PH-2). I wrote about this sidewalk gap assessment in my January 6th newsletter. Because the gap includes non-taxable parcels, the cost can not be covered by our sidewalk millage and, therefore, a special assessment was conducted necessitated this public hearing Monday.
Please reach out if you have questions, concerns, or thoughts on any of the agenda items. Email: DAkmon@A2gov.org | Phone/text: 734-492-5866
You can also communicate your thoughts via:
Email City Council: CityCouncil@a2gov.org
Comment at the meeting (remote or in person): Call the City Clerk's office at 734-794-6140 beginning at 8 a.m. on the day of the meeting to reserve a public speaking time. NOTE: you do not need to reserve time to speak during a "public hearing (PH)" item.
How Council Voted
The Ann Arbor Voting Charts Project is a community-maintained record of voting history for City Council. Check out the January 22nd, 2024 Council Voting chart.
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