Neighbors,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I'm just getting back in town after spending a couple of weeks off seeing family and traveling around the Southwest. Much as I enjoyed the sun and warmth, it's always nice to return home.
This newsletter will be brief as I'm still digging out of email after being away. As a reminder, the City will provide drop-off disposal locations for used, undecorated Christmas trees beginning Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, through Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. The city provides four free drop-off locations at city parks. To learn more, visit: https://www.a2gov.org/news/pages/article.aspx?i=1118
City Council Meeting, Monday, January 6 at 7pm
Responses to Council Member Questions. No memo has been provided to City Council yet.
Agenda Highlights
Solid Waste Regulations for Bike Lanes (AC-1). This communication from the City Administrator contains updates to the City's solid waste regulations to address the appropriate placement of curb carts where there are marked bicycle lanes and bicycle paths in order to align with the recent amendment by City Council to the City ordinance. Please don't place your bins in marked bike lanes: instead, place them in the buffer zone if it is accessible. If it's not, place it in the lawn extension or at the end of your driveway.
Resolution to Approve a Professional Services Agreement with NewGen Strategies and Solutions, LLC to Complete an Electric Grid Asset Valuation and Municipalization Study ($1,728,000) (CA-9). Due to DTE's failure to provide reliable, sustainable electricity to Ann Arbor, our community has been engaged in a discussion on the merits and possibility of full municipalization of the City's energy provider. The City's first step in this process was a Phase 1 study where the primary focus was to determine the viability of a number of potential pathways the City could take to meet A2ZERO energy-related emissions goals. This study contained several recommendations, including pursuing a sustainable energy utility (which voters passed in November). On the topic of full municipalization, which would include the condemnation and taking of DTE's electrical assets, the study found that some taking scenarios could lead to cost savings and some could lead to cost increases for ratepayers and asserted that, should the City be interested in continuing to understand the viability of a traditional municipalization/taking process, a Phase II valuation study would be needed. In response, City Council included money for a phase 2 study in our adopted FY25 budget and a request for proposals was released. The City received one proposal that City staff feels is strong. City Council has received many emails over the weekend from Ann Arbor for Public Power advocates asking that City Council postpone this agenda item in order to amend the proposal to dedicate a larger portion of this study to the "legal analysis that can reliably quantify intangible costs." As I understand it, however, the entirety of the needed legal analysis is not being conducted by the study contractor. Rather, it will be conducted by an (as yet unidentified) legal counsel. The goal is still to establish the offer number that we will present to the voters as we ask them for authorization to move forward with the condemnation case. I have been open about my reluctance to take on full municipalization as I'm concerned with the expense, a lengthy legal battle, and taking on DTE's crappy wires and poles. That said, DTE's repeated and lengthy power outages leave residents and businesses vulnerable. Only two other states in the country have had more severe outages than Michigan over the last five years, and our State regulatory body (MPSC) has thus far proven ineffective at dealing with DTE's terrible performance. Ann Arbor residents deserve a clear picture of the likely costs of taking on an MEU before moving forward with one.
On-Street Snow Parking Ban Ordinance (PH-2). Currently, City ordinance allows the City Administrator to, during snow emergencies, implement a ban on street parking on an odd/even side basis between 8pm and midnight. Due to the fact that the current ordinance is "complicated, difficult to enforce, and does not provide the operational flexibility needed to effectively respond to various snow and ice events," it has rarely been used even when warranted.The proposed amendment eliminates the current odd-even parking ban. It requires a minimum 12-hour notice for an On-Street Snow Parking Ban to be declared and includes new exemptions from the ban, including vehicles with Disability License Plates or Parking Placards; blocks on which there are no driveways, and other streets for which there is inadequate off-street parking, safety concerns, or other site constraints. This will allow snow plow crews to more effectively remove snow from our streets. If this ordinance change passes, staff intend to request additional funds in future operating budgets to ensure effective public education and outreach on an ongoing basis to educate both residents and commuters about the on-street snow parking ban, how to receive notifications, and how to comply when the parking ban is declared.
Ordinance to Address Rental Application and Pre-Tenancy Fees (PH-3). This ordinance would regulate residential rental fees to protect rental housing applicants from the unnecessary and predatory collection of unreasonable fees assessed to tenants and prospective tenants. These fees are a serious burden on many would-be tenants, widely differ in the amount required to secure a rental unit and the conditions under which they are refundable, and lack transparency in many cases. Under the new law, rental application fees are limited to $50 which must be refunded if the applicant is not offered an apartment. Pre-tenancy fees would be banned all together. (Sponsors: Radina, Harrison, Watson, Cornell, Briggs)
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