$2 million transfer from DDA to city of Ann Arbor moving forward, agreement being worked out

DDA board member Newcombe Clark announced today he's going to bring forward a resolution to bring back beat cops downtown.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

A working group of seven members of the Ann Arbor City Council and DDA governing board issued a joint memorandum today, stating they believe the $2 million transfer is necessary to advance the congruent missions of the city and DDA.

"It'll help us to move forward with the whole budget and bring amendments forward that I think will help us at least delay layoffs another year," said City Council Member Margie Teall, a member of the group.

Teall and Council Member Sandi Smith, who also serves on the DDA board, agreed the $2 million will go a long way toward solving the city's budget crunch. The city had faced a deficit of between $5.2 million and $5.8 million in its general fund for 2010-11.

"I don't know what the ramifications are as far as safety services, but certainly it will help us retain some, if not all, of those scheduled for layoff," Smith said, hopeful the money can help avoid cuts to police and fire particularly.

Under City Administrator Roger Fraser's proposed budget, 40 positions are slated for elimination in police and fire in July to save $3.6 million. Even with those cuts, Fraser's budget still includes a $1.53 million deficit, so $2 million might not go far beyond patching that hole.

The DDA's governing board voted 7-4 last month to approve a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that included a $2 million contingency. Whether the city received that money hinged on the pending renegotiation of a downtown parking agreement between the city and the DDA.

The expected $2 million commitment from the DDA is a continuation of annual payments the DDA has made to the city for years. About five years ago, the city and the DDA negotiated a contract for the DDA to operate the city's parking system. That contract required the DDA to pay the city $1 million a year over a 10-year period that will end in 2015.

The city has been drawing an extra $1 million on top of the contracted $1 million for each of the last five years, depleting the entire $10 million worth of the contract five years early.

DDA board member Newcombe Clark, who is considering a run for City Council, said he ideally would like to hear that no layoffs are going to happen if the DDA ponies up the $2 million. But as it stands, there are no strings attached.

"It's just, 'Here's $2 million — here's a bailout,'" he said.

Clark engaged in a boisterous debate with fellow DDA board members today regarding the $2 million agreement, which is predicated on continued conversations between the DDA and city. Clark was successful in getting a clause added to the resolution that mandates that those discussions will happen in meetings open to the public at least once a month.

Clark said his concern is that the DDA hands the city $2 million on good faith, and none of the proposed agreements ever reach fruition.

"There hasn't been evidence in the past that would indicate that there would be positive movement, so I remain Chicken Little thinking the sky will fall because I've seen it fall," Clark said. "If it moves forward and there are public meetings where other DDA members can talk, I think it's at least a step in the right direction to see if good faith will prevail. If after a year of public meetings and nothing happens, I hope that everyone remembers this day."

Clark said he's planning to bring forward a separate resolution at next week's DDA meeting to bring back downtown beat cops. His resolution would set aside $60,000 a month as a contingency while discussions take place.

Until last summer, a handful of police officers were assigned to walk or bicycle downtown, but as part of a restructuring of the Ann Arbor Police Department, those patrols were eliminated. Some say panhandlers have become more aggressive since the city pulled beat cops off the street.

Clark said he's still waiting on the costs from the city's administration, which he claims is stonewalling him from getting the information.

"I firmly believe that the only way we'll ever get a beat cop back is if it's contracted directly, similar to how the school contracts for police officers in the school and how AATA contracts for people at Blake Transit and in Ypsilanti," he said. "The hope would be that if we contract the services directly, we'd bring back a service that was vital for the health and safety and protection and perception of downtown. We contract it, it's free from political whims, it's free from budgets, and I think it's a good use of our money."

Roger Hewitt, chairman of the DDA's Operations Committee, laid out the framework of a possible agreement today to continue the $2 million payments to the city for at least this year — with a formal agreement yet to be finalized.

Hewitt said discussions will continue, leading up to the finalization of a new agreement hopefully by Oct. 31. He summed it up the tentative framework:

• The DDA would continue to pay the city $2 million a year.
• The DDA would be responsible for all the public parking management and policies within the city, though certain policy decisions still would go through City Council.
• The DDA would take over parking enforcement that is now currently a city function. The DDA also would take over community standards enforcement within the DDA area, which is now a city function.
• The DDA would be responsible for certain city services that are now done by the city within the DDA area.
• The DDA would become the engine for the implementation of development of city-owned surface parking lots within the DDA area.

Hewitt said the services in discussion include items like tree trimming, maintenance of Liberty Plaza and Sculpture Plaza, maintenance of historical markers and graffiti removal.

"We sort of philosophically kind of drew a line at the curb — the street would be the city's responsibility, and the curb and sidewalks and alleys would be the DDA's responsibility," Hewitt said. "There are many details to be worked out, but that's the approximate breakdown."

Arbor Brewing Co. owner Rene Greff, a former DDA board member, criticized DDA officials today for deciding to "write a blank check to the city for $2 million with no strings attached."

"This money will be pilfered from the parking system and even though you will deny the connection, we all know it will be paid for by struggling small businesses owners, our employees and our customers through higher parking rates, increased fines, and evening enforcement," she wrote in an e-mail to DDA officials. "There is so much that stinks about this resolution and the process that led to it that I hardly know where to begin."

Read the full text of her e-mail here.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-6223-2529.