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Mon, Apr 26, 2010 : 9:41 p.m.

But the UM has no legal reason to agree to a PILOT and given that they are the STATE OF MICHIGAN why would they and if they did the state legislature would cut them off from state funds so they would never do it to begin with. You assume the mayors and council members of A2 would cave in because they work for the UM. I doubt the mayor would if he thought it was a possibility. Note that he voted against the development you mention. So you advocate throwing Kunselman out of office? He works for UM full time, the mayor only teaches one class and I doubt he really needs the money. So mayor Wheller was in the pocket of the UM? Mayor Harris too? Or Wendy Woods the last African American on Council before the so called "progressives" drove her off. You would disenfranchise at least 40% of the population? Go for it man. Lesco should put it in her campaign literature, sounds really progressive and pro-democracy.

ChuckL

Mon, Apr 26, 2010 : 5:19 p.m.

Logo, Is it lame that one of the top negotiators for the LEO was fired in the middle of contract talks? You say a PILOT will never happen but Pat Lesko is committed to getting one with UofM. Mayor Hieftje himself has said the city needs, "...to work on that." And you would be correct, as far as I think it is not a good idea for voters to elect people to council or to the mayor post who have financial ties (jobs/careers) with UofM; but the voters are entitled to shoot themselves in the foot anyway they please. If you want to understand why I think having people in local government with ties to UofM (I'm sure your just dying to hear this!) is a really bad idea, look at the recent controversy surrounding the Moravian. The Moravian was conceived by the developers to be a luxury dorm. So why are developers in Ann Arbor choosing to develop mega luxury dorms in the middle of an established neighborhood? Simple, fat profit margins complements of the U! It is less profitable to build conventional apartments since UofM will be charging about $1500/month to live in a crappy dorm (that is a double, not even your own room.) The companies that are building luxury dorms are signing contracts per bedroom and putting three and four bedrooms per apartment; with rents around $3000/month per apartment. UofM is rolling in cash, but does that mean they will help the AA Fire Department that is facing cut backs? Hell no! UofM is already getting good fire response times, so why should it pay for the cow when it gets the milk for free? This is the problem that the city of Ann Arbor will have when dealing with UofM when it comes to negotiating a PILOT. Finding the leverage to force them to sign a deal is the biggest problem; having people who are beholden to the U's administration will make it hard to cut a deal even if they can find a leverage source.

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Mon, Apr 26, 2010 : 2:02 p.m.

That's lame Chuck. The mayor makes $16,000 per year from the UM. I couldn't find his wife listed as faculty but if she works for them it would be easy to find out what she makes. But the two main points: Only private Universities do pilots and besides UM has a special place in the state constitution. It will never happen. Most importantly though your rule would exclude 40% of the people in town from ever serving and negate the service of all the Democratic Mayors of recent times along with the council members who have contributed over the years. Mayor Brator's, husband is/was a full time professor, Mayor Harris, Mayor Wheeler, Mayor Eldersveld, were all full time professors. Mayor Jernigan, (R) full time staff at UM. On Council currently, Stephen Kunselman, full time staff - recently Wendy Woods, full time staff, Jean Carlberg's husband was a professor who is now retired. So, why not just say it. You want to put a cloud on the work of all the past democratic mayors and current past council members and make it so 40% of the residents can't serve on council?

flyingsquirrel

Mon, Apr 26, 2010 : 12:52 p.m.

At least we know who Hieftje works for. Patricia Lesko won't even answer the question. Maybe she has a conflict of interest?

ChuckL

Mon, Apr 26, 2010 : 11:32 a.m.

Mayor Hieftje and his wife derive a substantial part of their annual income from jobs at/with UofM. If you want to talk about a conflict of interest, having a job with the largest employer in town ought to be a huge red flag. The consequences of this show up when it comes to negotiating "Payments In Lieu Of Taxes" or PILOT agreements with UofM. UofM gets millions of dollars a year in services it does not pay for; one way of compensating for this is through a PILOT agreement which requires tough negotiating with the University. Given the way UofM fires its internal critics, I doubt the Mayor or his wife would be able to count on any future employment with the U if negotiations got tough.

citizenx

Mon, Apr 26, 2010 : 10:15 a.m.

@A2city12 Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Fire and the other surrounding depts have been working together for years and will continue to do so on the rare occassions when things get to busy for each dept to handle alone. This mutual aid understanding is not unique to Ann Arbor, many other communities use it and it works just fine. The FF's in A2 are trying to make it seem like a bad idea because of the layoffs, when in reality it will continue to be viable. Also unfortunately people die in fires all across the country, and there are many contirbuting factors as to why. Stop trying to make it seem as if Fire Dept staffing is the only reason. If that were the case Depts with substaintial manpower would never have deaths (ie. New York).

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Sun, Apr 25, 2010 : 4:12 p.m.

The taxpayers would have a whole lot more to worry about if it was the mayor the unions endorsed. In Ann Arbor's system the mayor is the chairman of the board. We sure don't want him in the pocket of the unions.

Moose

Sun, Apr 25, 2010 : 10:52 a.m.

The reason Hieftje didn't ask for union endorsement is that the chances are good that he would not have been offered an endorsement regardless of whether he asked for one or not.

Independent

Sun, Apr 25, 2010 : 12:19 a.m.

"There are laws in place that regulate where the money can go. If it was voted on by the community and they said this is where we want the money to go, that is where the money must go." Perhaps if the Mayor would have been upfront that bridges were crumbling, City Hall was full of asbestos and radon, the Argo Dam was eroding, water mains were severely aged and that the old vehicle maintenance yard on N. Main was and STILL IS seeping hazardous materials into the Mallet Creek bed below - voters may have not approved the greenbelt millage. He has known for years that the infrastructure was in serious trouble yet he went ahead with his self promotional "greenbelt." This City administration has gone unchecked for too long!

Dominick Lanza

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 6:55 p.m.

Many years ago Firefighters were able to bank unlimited amounts of comp time and instead of getting paid in dollars for overtime they were allowed in contract by the city to get comp time at the rate of DOUBLE time because the city didnt have the money to pay overtime. The city offered it they took it then the City years later realized how costly it would be to pay out all those hours Firefighters afraid they would lose the huge banks ran and retired and used those large banks to collect BIG lump sum payments and fat forever pensions. That was years ago the problem was realized it was taken away and now they cant build those monster pensions so dont beat a dead horse about something that happened years ago because the city offered it to "save money". Oh and by the way we DONT own Greenbelts we RENT green belts we pay people to not develope their land or sell it to developers we DONT own it those dollars are for RENT

Jack Eaton

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 3:53 p.m.

@bedrog, "it's my understanding that ms. lesko was instrumental in running the unsuccessful campaign of a recent would-be city council candidate who, had he won, actually would never have been able to fulfill his duties since he'd already applied to grad school elswhere ( and in fact went!!)...." I assume you are referring to Hatim Elhady's campaign for 4th Ward Council Member. I, too, worked with Hatim on that campaign. Hatim did lose, but had he won he would have served. He had applied various grad schools including the University of Michigan and some back up schools. He decided to take off a year to earn some money before resuming his studies and remains in the area. In fact he was one of the approximately 120 people who attended the campaign kick off event for Lesko and her fellow challengers last Sunday. He says "hi" to all. In light of the facts, I think your assessment that "if so,issues of her judgement/candor seem reasonable to raise" seem particularly inappropriate.

logicnreasoning

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 10:07 a.m.

@KJMclark and @Ryan Stanton I believe Hieftje said that he would not take an endorsement from a CITY union (not all unions as you said above), which implied to me that he meant any union that the city is responsible for directly negotiating with for it's employee salaries and benefits. Hieftje: ""I've never asked for an endorsement from a city union and wouldn't accept one," he said. "I think that you're getting onto thin ice when you do that because if you're mayor of the city, there's some tough decisions that you have to make, particularly in the midst of the worst financial downturn in 80 years.

KJMClark

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 8:44 a.m.

Patricia Lesko - I'd actually prefer you stick to my screen name here. I appreciate your perspective on how the Mayor is involved with contract negotiations, but it doesn't really change what I wrote. My point is that we have a "weak Mayor" form of city government, where the Mayor has a fairly small role to play in negotiations. (The Wikipedia has two articles talking about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor%E2%80%93council_government (weak mayor) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council%E2%80%93manager_government (administrator). Ann Arbor is kind of an amalgam of the "weak mayor" and "council-manager" forms, where we have a manager, but kept a weak mayor position as well.) In cities with a "strong Mayor" form of government, which we *don't* have, the Mayor is also the administrator, and *is* in charge of negotiations. That's like the Governor or US President, who's the elected leader and also the head of the administrative branch. In cities with a "weak Mayor" form of government, like Ann Arbor has, the Mayor is only a little more than a member of Council; the Administrator is the person who runs the city government. Council (and the Mayor) have the final say on the results of the negotiations, but the professional Administrator is the lead negotiator and in charge of the negotiations. I've found that lots of people don't understand that we have a "weak Mayor" city government, and so don't understand that the Mayor isn't the one doing the negotiating - the Administrator does that.

Ryan J. Stanton

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 8:38 a.m.

@ KJMClark I believe he did, in fact, mean no endorsements from unions altogether.

KJMClark

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 8:14 a.m.

Ryan - It might help if you could clarify something with Hieftje; did he really mean that a mayoral candidate shouldn't accept endorsements from unions, or that a mayoral candidate shouldn't accept endorsements from unions when the city is in active contract negotiations with those unions? Those seem like fairly different situations to me, and while I don't agree with the first, I might agree with the second. I don't see anything at all wrong with unions making endorsements. However, we elect Council and the Mayor to look out for the best interests of the residents. It would seem better to have people in office who clearly haven't pre-judged how contract negotiations should end. That isn't to say that Lesko has pre-judged anything, but getting an endorsement from one side should raise some questions. I appreciate that Ms. Lesko directly addressed those questions in her comment here (no funds accepted), but accepting an endorsement is of value, if not monetary value.

rossianroulette

Sat, Apr 24, 2010 : 7:50 a.m.

If Lesko doesn't want to make any cuts in firefighter and police compensation packages, she must have no clue about how much these are contributing to the city's precarious financial situation. She must simlpy think the citizens of Ann Arbor will pay more taxes, or cut other needed services, to keep these Unions in their current unsustainable benefit/pension packages. Well, we're not prepared to do that, Ms. Lesko, we all have families too to support, and unlike these pampered Unions we pay healthcare deductibles and co-pays, and contribute to defined contribution (not defined benefit) pension plans, and don't get retirement pensions set based on egregious overtime payments. Hieftje and Fraser seem to have much more backbone and sense than Lesko and they get my support.

LiberalNIMBY

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 9:07 p.m.

I pity incumbents when our tax base is in the crapper. It is so easy to criticize others when you've made no solid proposals for anyone to pick apart. I, too, have seen ZERO in the way of a vision for how Hieftje or his challengers actively plan on building back up the tax base, only meaningless ideas on how to better scrimp on fire engine oil changes, eliminating art from the city, and raiding funds that have a "surplus" (uh, isn't that money being saved up to pay for future improvements?). Since we're turing away development in the city, I'm waiting for other money making ideas to surface. [Cue cricket sound.] While I disagree strongly with him on certain decisions, I don't think enough recognition has been given to Hizzoner for putting in the effort to partner with the U and other entities. The sad fact is that the mayor can't do a lot singlehandedly -- he's really just another council member -- but at least he's getting nipped at both ends from folks who want to push the city forward and those who want to hold it back. It's a thankless balancing act where the most sensible course pleases most of the citizens but very few voters. My message? Public: BEWARE of those who claim to know how to do professional staff's jobs better than they do. (A little knowledge is truly a dangerous thing.) BEWARE of those who see "backroom deals" and "hidden pots of money" in their crystal balls. (It's all a smokescreen to avoid talking about how they have no vision for how to generate sustainable revenue.) And judging from all the name calling and venom coming from a certain someone's writings, I truly feel sorry for the kinder sort on council should the election go that way. Keep your chins up for our sake.

AACity12

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:29 p.m.

@irritated what are you basing your claims that "True enough staffing in the fire department may have been reduced over the years, but it has not affected their ability to serve the community" Do you think that the families of the 7 people killed in fires since the reductions would agree? Or the 10 people that have had to jump to their own safety would agree? Now there will be 20 less on top of the current reductions. @citizen What you are saying is so dangerous. To expect firefighters to continue to perform at the same level with FAR less people is dangerous. It takes alot of manpower in a really short amount of time to mitigate a fire scene. You can't expect Pittsfield township to subsidize Ann Arbor's emergencies. Its lose lose for them. They send their people out of town a few times a week and for what? They have to pay people to come cover their stations while they are in Ann Arbor or else leave their own township unprotected. Pittsfield is alot of new construction with alot less population and FAR less fires. Ann Arbor would never be able to repay the favor. Pittsfield knows it and doesn't want any part of it.

StopThink

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:21 p.m.

at LOKA, first I only hit submit once, I'm not an idiot. To answer your question, I only know from my experience with being engaged to an AA FF. They need min 3 FF's to man a station and say they only have 2 due to someone being out for illness or personal reasons, then it stands to reason they would need to call someone in or hold someone over to work OT to fill that spot. And yes, it is a 12 or 24 hour shift that person works - BUT consider that FF's work 24 hour shifts at STRAIGHT time every single time they work. They do not get paid OT until hour 25. And the only FF able to cover the spot has to be on OT because they will have either worked the previous 24 hours or will be scheduled to work the following 24. I may not be explaining it clearly, but at least I have an understanding of how it works. You have no idea how it works, yet you are on these articles ALL the time judging. I appreciate that you asked for clarification, but you did it in a rather backhanded snotty tone. But I'm not surprise.

Anonymous Due to Bigotry

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:07 p.m.

I agree that accepting the union endorsement is not right. The problem is that the unions don't exist for the purpose of maximizing public safety, they exist to get employees as much money as possible. These goals may coincide to some degree (layoffs are bad for both goals) but the fact is that city officials are in the position of trying to make sure pay for these jobs is as reasonable as possible, not as high as possible. So believing that cuts in public safety are wrong is one thing, but working for the unions (or anything that gives one that appearance) is more like saying that you'll be working to increase salaries and benefits even if it's not in the city's best interest.

citizenx

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:05 p.m.

My fellow citizens have you given any thought as to how much it would cost you in taxes to staff enough fire fighters to handle 2 major emergencies at once in the city? You better start encouraging your fire department to work with it's neighboring departments. Do not get caught up in Ms. Lesko's political promises because she will have to come up with the money to back up those promises. In order to beef up public safety something else will have to suffer, ie: your beautiful city. Don't be swayed by the fire fighters scare tactics. No matter what staffing level they are set at, they will perform to a level necessary to maintain citizen safety.

irritated

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:56 p.m.

@loka Firefighters work 24 hour shifts therefore if they work an overtime day chances are it's for 24 hours. @stopthink You wanna see how rich firefighters are look into some of the past retirements. True enough staffing in the fire department may have been reduced over the years, but it has not affected their ability to serve the community.

AACity12

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:06 p.m.

I think things got a little off track with this OT conversation. I assure you that Overtime is not a major concern of most of the union members. What is important is our safety and the safety of the citizens. You are paying taxes for a fully staffed, professional, high quality and highly trained fire department. After July 1st you won't have that but you will still be paying for it. You will still have fully trained professionals but without enough help around they will not be effective. It will be like having the payment for a car with a V8(fast and powerful) but getting a car that is only running on 4 cylinders.

Lynn Lumbard

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 6:48 p.m.

WLD1," I think Every one making over $11/hr in the city of ann arbor should get a 10% pay cut, 15% if over $20/hr. To start. New Hires should be started at a lower rate like, $29,000 per year and get raises the longer they work." I'm not sure if I am reading this correctly, but it seems like if everyone making $11.00 per hour, took a 10% pay cut, that would take them down to less than $10.00 per hour, which would make their annual income around $20,000 per year. Then you would like to see New Hires start at $29,000? That doesn't seem fair.

Diagenes

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 6:38 p.m.

It is good to see a little competition in the Politburo of Ann Arbor. The Commissars who have been running the city has done so with little to no public debate of the issues that effect the functioning of the city. We concentrate more on council email traffic that street traffic. With our August primary and November election cycle, the election will be decided by a small fraction of eligible voters in A2. The Commissars want it that way. The less competition the better. Ms Lesko may or may not be a better Mayor. I welcome her entry in the race. I am incliced to vote for her because I think she might understand the primary function of city government is public safety. If she is elected I hope she can discern the difference between our public safety requirements and union desires.

WLD1

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 5:21 p.m.

First of all I never said there where any sickouts, we know that there is always a threat of it. Strong arming also includes the threat of lawsuits to get what they want, which costs taxpayers money. When I say Unions threaten strikes, I am not only talking about Public safety, they can not strike, just sickout. I am talking about the other departments and Teacher unions. I think the City of Ann Arbor Should Start a paid on call system. Each station should be Staffed with 2 FF, and rest Paid on call. It would save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. I think Every one making over $11/hr in the city of ann arbor should get a 10% pay cut, 15% if over $20/hr. To start. New Hires should be started at a lower rate like, $29,000 per year and get raises the longer they work. I do not think any police officer/detective/FF in the city of Ann Arbor is worth over $55,000/yr. Greed is becoming terminal, Jobs are dying hourly. Money has to come from somewhere. We can't afford to pay more taxes. Like I said, ignorance and greed go together.

BHarding

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 5:03 p.m.

I don't understand why Mr.Hieftje would say that accepting endorsements from unions is not right. It would be wrong only if Ms. Lesko was not sincere. There are ways of economizing and streamlining systems without reducing manpower, and I'd bet that those Police and Firefighters could offer some.

Lokalisierung

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:56 p.m.

I apologize for the "fleecing" statement. Yes the former Chiefs did that with the bump/retire scheme, but I shouldn't say that about normal FD until I have all the facts.

WLD1

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:55 p.m.

I think if we overpaid over $1M then a criminal investigation should be made on the greenbelt contracts. See if any improper transaction happening. Money path should be traced. See if any city officials or relatives made money off this transactions. And it should be done by the State Police Or FBI.

Lokalisierung

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:44 p.m.

Explain to me Stop Think (only once please :) - what "shortage in man power that needs to be filled." There is a very good chance I am wrong and I will have 0 problem admitting and learning from it if this is explained to me. I need to know exactly what that term means. How many FF need to miss time for someone to be called in for OT. How much of the time are they required to work in a given shift, and how long is a shift? So if you could actually tell me these things if you know we could work this all out. Or if you're just sort of guessing at tese things just tell me that and maybe we can get these answers from someone else. I have heard that if a FF is transfered to work a shift at another fire house they recieve time and a half for that work. Is this true? If say, 3 FF are all out for whatever reason, is this when 1 FF is pulled in to work overtime? Is there a guide, or number to all this? As to the procedural way OT works no need to explain that I understand it very well. Thanks.

StopThink

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:35 p.m.

Your comments regarding OT don't make sense LOKA. Do you seriously think FF's work OT for fun, just to make "fat money", even when there are plenty of people already on shift? FF's are not and have never been allowed to work overtime unless their is a shortage in manpower that needs to be filled. And when other FF's turn down the OT, which happens on holidays, sunny Saturdays, then FF's are even forced to work the OT. Working OT to fill in spaces that MUST be filled. Exactly how is that FLEECING the city? It cracks me up when I read these comments about how FF's are just out for the money, how rich they are. It's insane. Also it's sickening to read comments as if they are not even people, not human beings with families to support, it's like Frasier - who refers to FF's as "FTE"'s - so as not to confuse them with living breathing PEOPLE. They are more easily disposable that way I guess.

StopThink

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:30 p.m.

Your comments regarding OT don't make sense LOKA. Do you seriously think FF's work OT for fun, just to make "fat money", even when there are plenty of people already on shift? FF's are not and have never been allowed to work overtime unless their is a shortage in manpower that needs to be filled. And when other FF's turn down the OT, which happens on holidays, sunny Saturdays, then FF's are even forced to work the OT. Working OT to fill in spaces that MUST be filled. Exactly how is that FLEECING the city? It cracks me up when I read these comments about how FF's are just out for the money, how rich they are. It's insane. Also it's sickening to read comments as if they are not even people, not human beings with families to support, it's like Frasier - who refers to FF's as "FTE"'s - so as not to confuse them with living breathing PEOPLE. They are more easily disposable that way I guess.

Lokalisierung

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:23 p.m.

"Would you take OT?? I am sure you would/or have dont deny it.." Yes I would. Of course most people do not get overtime. And most people don't work over 10 hour shifts. And certainly, most people do not get 2 chunks of OT a month. So your husband used to fleece the city a couple times a month but know he's kicked that habit, and you're upset about it?

Gill

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:16 p.m.

Why would unions endorse someone who is anti-unions?

prinzsbus

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 4:08 p.m.

well it was years ago, also OT is assigned when there is NOT ENOUGH MAN POWER, so would you rather shut a station down or have the man power to save You Butt?? Your priorites are in the wrong place.. Would you take OT?? I am sure you would/or have dont deny it.. Like I said He would gladly give it up completly to save FFs but if he didnt then the residents are at Risk.. But OT would not be offered if city was employeed with enough man power for sick days injuries and family emergancies..

Lokalisierung

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 3:32 p.m.

Well it makes a big difference if your husband was getting 2 shifts of OT a month; which would be completely insane. FF shifts are usually longer than 8 hours correct? If he was clocking in at least 16 hours at time and a half things like that can factor into safety services being so much of the overall budget.

prinzsbus

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 3:21 p.m.

to Loka.. OT can be any amount of hours, why should it really matter the Fact is he said OT and there is NONE.. I am sure that you would take OT if offered to you money is money.. unless you are a housewife who was blessed to stay home.. Then maybe its your spouse who would take it, or maybe he gets some big huge bounses cause he met is quota, regardless on how you earned a little extra money at your job; money is money.. My husband doesnt care about OT he cares mainly for his "Brother/sisters" who are in jeporady of losing their Jobs, he would NEVER take another day of OT if he was promised they would be safe from layoffs.. My husband also LOVES his Job he Loves what he does he loves that he can help some one.. You dont get Rich by being a FF and we never thought he would but you do get rich in your heart knowing you saved someone life.. The difference between Public Servants and any other JOB

Lokalisierung

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 2:45 p.m.

"Compensation??? Compensation... is not nearly what it used to be OVERTIME is be basically null n void, my husband used to get OT at lease 2x a month he is lucky if he gets it once every 6 months.." Yes let us discuss this point you are making here. Basically, your husband used to get OT 2X a month...so what do you mean by OT? Are you talking about a shift worth of OT, or are we talking an hour or 2 work continuation? Becasue that's a very important point when speaking of OT.

prinzsbus

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 2:36 p.m.

"...AAPD and AAFD are excellent departments. For 30 years I never felt the city treated them well, but the total compensation is way too generous, in terms of overtime, health care and especially retirement benefits. It has to be pared down. If not then the layoffs are pretty much a done deal. Benefits for municipal and state employees are a major issue throughout the country." Compensation??? Compensation... is not nearly what it used to be OVERTIME is be basically null n void, my husband used to get OT at lease 2x a month he is lucky if he gets it once every 6 months.. Their Compensation does not compare to what they do for the residents of AA, any FF or Police officer in the entire USA. Our health care is always talked about, and really do you think FF or Police officers can afford to pay for their own let alone an entire family on their Salary?? So dont tell me about Compensation My Husbands life is worth soooooo more then any city would give.. Do you know that the average FF or PO dies within 5 to 10 years of retirement because of the stress the endure.. Believe me I know there are other jobs out there just as stressful such as a coal miner iron worker or on a oil rig.. as I am grateful that you feel AA has never treated FF or POs fairly I will totally disagree with you on the compensation end.. They wouldnt need to hire OT if the city was employeed correctly...

Mick52

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 2:19 p.m.

All I can say is I went to Ms Lesko's blog once and it took about five minutes for me to think "no way." She talks but she does not offer real solutions. No explanations. Okay so she wants to hug the PD and FD, but where will she make the cuts to balance the budget? She is doing what the president did during the '08 campaign-whatever it takes to get elected whether or not it can be done later. The mayor is correct, Public Act 312 does make negotiations difficult, but it does work both ways. The unions do not always receive a positive decision in arbitration. AAPD and AAFD are excellent departments. For 30 years I never felt the city treated them well, but the total compensation is way too generous, in terms of overtime, health care and especially retirement benefits. It has to be pared down. If not then the layoffs are pretty much a done deal. Benefits for municipal and state employees are a major issue throughout the country. Its not really what the mayor wants, its what the public wants. If I think its goofy for million dollar fountains, housing the homeless for the State of Michigan, buying greenbelt properties, and having a record number of parks, it does not matter. If the public votes for it, directly or through council elections, so be it, its what they want. What is considered essential services varies based on one's preferences. But to pay for it by raising parking fees and a city income tax, that is wrong.

Lokalisierung

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 1:38 p.m.

This doesn't really clear anything up for me; it's kind of obvious really. City administrator is trying to sneak some extra layoffs in FD after they took the 3% reduction in good faith. So obviously the FD is going to stand behind whatever challanger there is. So we've got a little group going to try to all get on council and try to change things around. Good for them, but they are still running for political office so I don't believe them anymore than the correct council.

prinzsbus

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 1:29 p.m.

to stopnthink I totally agree with 100% we as spouses say good bye each shift not knowing if it is Truely "good bye" Granted AA is not Detroit or any other high risk city, but S**T HAPPENS.. Every one should try and remember The female Fire Fighter who lost her life several years ago on a Traffic accident in AA as she was hit by a car helping another victime.. Did she think as she went to that accident that, that was her last day as a fire Fighter, a savior who sacrificed her self before others??? That is why Fire Fighters and Police should be paid more then they are, should be RESPECTED more then they are and they should never be forgotten f

prinzsbus

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 1:07 p.m.

Goverment Laws prohibit sick outs/strikes for police and fire, they have to work regardless of work conditions poor equipment etc.. They put their lives at stack regardless.. support your public servants and be grateful for them instead of bashing

StopThink

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 1:06 p.m.

"I'll vote for whoever the police and fire fighters unions don't endorse..."...REALLY? That's quite a lovely comment. While clearly you are free to vote for which ever candidate you choose, the fact THAT is your main criteria is just astounding to me. As the future wife of a FF, I take offense to that mindset. My fiance goes to work every shift knowing that his job is on the chopping block, to protect the people of Ann Arbor. It is both amazing and sad to me, because these are some of the same people who will likely throw a party and dance the day he gets his pink slip. Yet, he does it happily because he loves it. Personally, I WISH there were a list of people who don't support the FD and PD, then when those people have an emergency the FD and/or PD can decide if they choose to help those selfish $%&#'s or not. But, luckily for those people, FD and PD employees serve selflessly and don't look at it that way. Meanwhile, I get to say goodbye every shift day with that twinge of "not sure" he'll ever be home again, and knowing it could be because he was rescuing some jerk who didn't appreciate it and can't wait to see him unemployed. And all for FAR LESS MONEY than these self righteous people choose to believe FF's make, trust me, I've seen the paychecks. Unbelievabley selfish attitudes!!!

BornNRaised

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 12:22 p.m.

@WLD1... speaking from what factual basis? I defy you to name one occasion where there has been a 'sick out' as you claim. Also, using the $20 vs $10 example is a poor attempt to push your low opinion of unions onto the readers of this site. Speaking of knowing your facts... where are you coming up with the unions 'strong arming' the city into pay raises? Seems the FD just gave a 4% concession (more than what the Mayor asked for) and were slapped in the face with an increase in the lay off numbers. About the only thing I agree with your post is your comment, "Once Again the Ignorance of the people come out." Only I think it's more specific that calling out all the people.

flyingsquirrel

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 11:19 a.m.

Since Pat Lesko has been commenting here, maybe she can answer these questions. What is the name of the corporation of which you are CEO? What is the gross revenue of the corporation? How many employees do you have? On a previous thread on annarbor.com, several commentors mentioned that they asked these questions on Pat's blog, but the questions were not answered and in fact she deleted the posts from the comments section. I have heard virtually nothing about her qualifications to be mayor other than her assurances that she has years of relevant experience.

Thick Candy Shell

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 10:52 a.m.

@SonnyDog09, It would not be possible to do that. There are laws in place that regulate where the money can go. If it was voted on by the community and they said this is where we want the money to go, that is where the money must go. Other monies are required to stay where they are due to state and or federal rules/laws. Water/Storm/Sanitary are all utility funds that must be spent on the same. Gas tax Revenue must be spent on R-O-W maintenance. The millages must be spent on what the ballot language stated. The millages can be changed by vote, but others can not be changed by anyone locally.

E. Manuel Goldstein

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 10:47 a.m.

On Pat's own blog, I asked the following specific questions: Pat, if you are elected mayor, what exactly is your plan to correct the citys budget? What is meant by the term value engineer? What services are you willing to cut? What measures would you take to raise revenues? As mayor, would you launch an investigation into financial malfeasance generally or specifically? Will you try to get City Council to fire Roger Fraser? Will you try to get City Council to fire Tom Crawford? Who exactly would you replace them with? Is it your intention to get City Council to hire Karen Sidney as CFO, or in any other position in the city that has financial oversight? Comment by Luis Vazquez February 15, 2010 @ 12:24 pm This is the disappointing, non-specific, "typical politican" response I received: There are 746 city staff who work very hard on behalf of our city, and that includes the City Administrator and the CFO. Holding those employees accountable is the job of the Administrator. One of the jobs of Mayor and Council, as I wrote, is clearly defined by the Charter, and it is to hold the City Administrator accountable and to evaluate his performance. I have written that I most certainly would not have supported raising the pay of the Administrator through lump sum payments, additional vacation days and cash-outs between 2006 and 2010. Were not Bank of America or AIG; were a midwestern town with a structural budget deficit. Mayor and Council have a legal fiduciary responsibility to understand the citys finances. If that means requesting additional information, or asking questions of staff, the duty is clear. I have heard from several Council members that getting information from city staff sometimes requires multiple requests and lengthy waits. Unfortunately, this includes requests for financial information. Ive also heard from city union leaders that requests for financial information from city staff have gone unanswered. I would like to see a policy implemented under the auspices of which City Council requests of staff are responded to uniformly within 24 hours with an estimate of the time required to provide the requested information. If the time required is longer than 72 hours, I would like Council members to have a clear explanation why the information will take longer than that to compile. If a union president requests financial information from the city, it must be provided within the same reasonable amount of time. I have many years of experience in financial management and the interpretation of standard accounting documents and budgets. However, these skills are not requisites for holding local office, so it seems logical that Council would benefit from training sessions designed to bring everyone to a level of expertise necessary to interpret standard accounting documents so as to be able to make informed decisions, and cast votes based on equal access to information. Fourth Ward Council member Marcia Higgins, Chair of the Budget Committee, was recently quoted in the Press as worrying that the new monthly financial documents provided to the Budget Committee during their meetings could not be provided to the rest of Council and Mayor at the same time. She was concerned that the rest of Council and Mayor would not be capable of interpreting the statements.

goblue7182

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 10:47 a.m.

I'll vote for whoever the police and fire fighters unions don't endorse...

Thick Candy Shell

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 10:38 a.m.

@SonnyDog09, It would not be possible to do that. There are laws in place that regulate where the money can go. If it was voted on by the community and they said this is where we want the money to go, that is where the money must go. Other monies are required to stay where they are due to state and or federal rules/laws. Water/Storm/Sanitary are all utility funds that must be spent on the same. Gas tax Revenue must be spent on R-O-W maintenance. The millages must be spent on what the ballot language stated. The millages can be changed by vote, but others can not be changed by anyone locally.

SonnyDog09

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 10:25 a.m.

Ed Wrote: The notion of "buckets of money" may be "ludicrous" to you, but they were voted into place by the electorate. If you want to eliminate the buckets, start a petition. I agree with you that the "buckets" are not cast in concrete. If we made it, we can change it. Why wait for a petition? If we truly had a leader in city government, he might say the following: "I know that we have these buckets of money, and they seemed like a good idea back when we were rolling in the dough. But times have changed. It makes no sense to spend bucketed money on frippery while we are cutting essential services. So, I am making an executive decision to ignore the buckets for the duration of our financial difficulties and spend that money on essential services. If you don't like it, don't vote for me next time. Have a nice day." That would be a display of leadership.

WLD1

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 9:41 a.m.

Once Again the Ignorance of the people come out. The Unions Are the ones that help fuel the budget deficit. Where does the pay come from? of Course Us tax Payers, and when the unions strong arm the communities to outrageous pay raises and benefits. By threatening sickouts and strikes. And Don't allow barriers on the maximum amount an employee can make. It hurts us all. Greed is becoming a terminal disease. Besides Top Executives no one else suffers from greed as much as unions. When You Vote you have to consider, Union = More Money - and for us tax payers it is out of our bank accounts. If you have a budget of $200 per day to fill a 10 hour job/position and you pay someone $20/hr You can only afford to employ one person for the job. If you Paid them $10/hour can employ 2 people to do that job. And not even have to raise the taxes.

Ryan J. Stanton

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 9:25 a.m.

@ Jennifer Santi Hall I didn't write the poll, but I believe our pollsters here at AnnArbor.com were trying to gauge how people might vote in the Aug. 3 Democratic primary if it were today.

bedrog

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 9:24 a.m.

it's my understanding that ms. lesko was instrumental in running the unsuccessful campaign of a recent would-be city council candidate who, had he won, actually would never have been able to fulfill his duties since he'd already applied to grad school elswhere ( and in fact went!!).... if so,issues of her judgement/candor seem reasonable to raise.

Patricia Lesko

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 9:08 a.m.

On Mayor's Hieftje's web site, there's a photo of him shaking the hand of a trade union president, and on his campaign finance forms over the past decade are donations from multiple trade unions to which the city has awarded contracts.

Patricia Lesko

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 9:04 a.m.

@JackieL: The Greenbelt Millage was a 30 year additional tax that was approved overwhelmingly by voters. It is expected to raise $80-$100 million dollars over the life of the tax for land acquisitions (both inside and outside of the city). Ryan Stanton wrote a piece in January 2010 that included a map showing the extent of the purchases. Suffice it to say that after almost a decade and spending $20 million tax dollars we are nowhere near having a "green belt" around the city nor a greenway through it. In going door-to-door, I have proposed that as a community, we need to study and discuss all of the additional millages we pay. None of them could be modified in any way without a vote, but I want us to look carefully at the additional taxes we pay and evaluate objectively the pros and cons. As I see it: We're paying a roads millage and have the third worst roads in Michigan. We're paying a Greenbelt millage and don't have a green belt, and recently overpaid by over $1,000,000 for a green belt purchase thanks to a poorly written contract that held the city to a two year old property assessment. We're paying a park millage, and now we're being told there's not money for parks upkeep. There are communities all over the United States, including many right here in Michigan, in which parks, roads and land acquisitions are financed out of general fund revenue (property taxes). As I was quoted in the post above: The current administration has repeatedly created phantom deficits by budgeting multimillion-dollar surpluses to certain departments, such as fleet, IT, solid waste, water and sewer," she said. "Then theyve dealt with the so-called 'deficits' by cutting services, recreational programs, police and fire as we see in the most recent budget. Since 2003, the current administration has decimated our police and fire departments to fuel a building spree and feed a bureaucracy that has been allowed to grow virtually unchecked." An unchecked bureaucracy will do anything to feed itself, including cutting city services, and demanding additional taxes as opposed to reining in spending and living within the means of the taxpayers.

DrD

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:57 a.m.

Judging from what I have read so far from her blog, I see that some of her comments are critical of positions people have taken without the full context and facts. I think that she has put in effort to point out flaws, but it's coming out all negative which is distracting. Does Hieftje prefer to layoff the police & firemen over clear better options? Her opinion of the Fuller Transportation Station is a clear case of lack of understanding (from her blog: "The Politics of Singing and Dancing: Eli Coopers $14 Million Dollar Variety Show"). Just look up the news articles that summarize facts and show how the majority of the community feels about this project. The University's & city's planned alternative was MUCH worse for both. This project is the best of both worlds for both. For her benefit, she needs to get some informed advisors to help her understand the history behind the issues so her positions could be more logical for people who know the whole truth and not the sound bites. I have issues with the way our govt makes decisions, but we still have to have a fully informed person in charge, where emotions and anger are based on the entirety of facts not just the sound bites.

Ryan J. Stanton

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:55 a.m.

I met with Mayor Hieftje this morning and discussed the public safety issues related to this year's budget. His additional comments have been added to the story. He says the proposed cuts to police and fire will not happen on the scale that Roger Fraser has proposed. He also questioned Lesko's acceptance of the endorsement, saying it isn't right for a mayoral candidate to accept support from unions.

Patricia Lesko

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:44 a.m.

@Ken Clark: The City Administrator does, indeed, "handle" negotiations with the city's various unions. There are several facts which are important to understand: 1. The Administrator has, over the past several years, been granted several hundred thousand dollars to hire a consultant to do the actual negotiating. That consultant is never given the ability to counter during negotiations. So, if the current administration or Administrator yelp about contracts (as they did with the AFSCME contract recently), they have only their own negotiation skills (or lack thereof) to blame, not to mention the money wasted on the poorly managed consultants. 2. City Council and Mayor have a Charter mandated task to hold the City Administrator accountable in the performance of her/his duties. Thus, ultimately, the course bargaining takes, and the results of any bargaining done "by" the City Administrator must be approved by Council. Council has the final say so on all union agreements by voting to ratify the agreements. This is why I took no donations from the respective police and firefighter union PACs; there must be a relationship built on trust between the city and its unions, but ultimately I will work for the taxpayers to make sure contracts are negotiated in their best interests. 3. There is a Labor Committee on which the Mayor and four Council members sit (Higgins, Rapundalo, Teall and Derezinski) and this committee is responsible for overseeing the City Administrator's contract negotiations. This committee used to be called BUDGET and LABOR, but was split by the Mayor in November 2009 because Council members Briere and Anglin wanted on the Budget and Labor Committee, which had been populated by the same five Council members (Hieftje, Higgins, Teall, Greden & Rapundalo) for many, many years. The newly created Labor Committee is where half of our General Fund is spent and, thus, a very powerful Council Committee. So, there is absolutely a Charter-mandated direct line of accountability between Mayor, Council and the City Administrator. It just that the Charter mandate hasn't been adhered to for almost a decade.

Barb

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:42 a.m.

Good point Jennifer. :)

xmo

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:32 a.m.

I like they way the poll was written, you had a choice of Democrats, no one or write in. You could have put "any republican" also in the poll so that us educated voters would have had a choice. I know that no one is running but at least give up hope for a better tomorrow! I like diversity and I wish we had more in our candidates.

Ed Kimball

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:19 a.m.

@SonnyDog09: The notion of "buckets of money" may be "ludicrous" to you, but they were voted into place by the electorate. If you want to eliminate the buckets, start a petition. From what I've seen of Lesko so far, she seems more of a gadfly than a leader. We'll see what she, Hieftje, and Bean say during the campaign. Remember that it's easy to criticize one aspect of city government if you don't have to make the whole thing work.

Awakened

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 8:18 a.m.

The Mayor says police and fire are more than half the budget. Why? Because their budget includes paying City IT cost and servicing their fleet vehicles for instance. Both those funds are over-funded because of this. Another example is football overtime for the Police Department. Their budget includes the overtime...which is reimbursed by U of M...and put in the General Fund. Hence all the money looks like it comes form the police budget. These are examples of "pass-through" funding. What is the purpose of artificially balooning the police and fir budgets Mr. Mayor? "Hieftje...also has said cuts to police and fire are hard to avoid when they make up half the city's budget, and the city faces unprecedented revenue challenges." So give more money or lose cops and firefighters. Blackmail? Notice that Police Officers on the street are being cut, but no Sergeants, no Luitenants, no administrators... That just wouldn't be scary would it?

SonnyDog09

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:46 a.m.

Jackie wrote: We desperately need a way (city income tax?) to collect from the many non city residents who are using city services and resources. I disagree. We "desperately need" for government to learn to live within its means. Simply feeding more money to the beast is NOT the answer. There is plenty of money to fund essential services if one gets past the ludicrous notion of "buckets" of money that cannot be touched.

Jennifer Santi Hall

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:39 a.m.

Your poll doesn't list Steve Bean as a choice.

a2grateful

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:36 a.m.

Wolverine3660 has imagined tremendous power for a mayoral aspirant... changing Ann Arbor to Detroit... single-handedly in a short amount of time... Ordinary people imagine the following from a mayoral candidate and mayor: + Commitment to public safety and protection + Reasonable service levels + Fiduciary responsibility + Civic vision appropriate for a small city + Ethical relationships between the city, business, schools, citizens, and vendors... The current mayor, administration, and council, may have lost sight of these ordinary civic values. Mayoral leadership steers the administrator and council. Hidden values have become apparent in the current administration. As values become clear, decision making is much easier to make and understand. The upcoming election is about restoration of values, and value, or continuance of status quo hidden agenda. That the very people that would possibly save my family in an emergency endorse a candidate is meaningful to me... especially when the incumbent team believes these service providers, and their service provision, are non essential, placing folly fountains above fire fighting and police protection... 1% for folly is 1% too much when safety and protection are on the chopping block...

JackieL

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:31 a.m.

The one area that Ann Arbor spends way too much money on is parks. We keep acquiring more of them and don't have the money to maintain them. We desperately need a way (city income tax?) to collect from the many non city residents who are using city services and resources. A note about the fire fighters responding to auto accidents -- all of those non city residents receive this service, as well as police and parks, for free. Living in Ann Arbor no longer means living in the city as it did 20 years ago. Ann Arbor needs to find a way to collect taxes that does not further burden the property owners. What is Ms. Lesko's position on this subject?

aes

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 7:04 a.m.

I have not heard any "ranting" from Candidate for Mayor Pat Lesko, but I have heard sensible, positive statements about putting funding toward the basics: safety, services and infrastructure (streets and bridges). Ms. Lesko is a competent, very intelligent woman with excellent financial sense, who believes in transparency in government, rational spending on necessities, and fairness in appointing local Board members. She would make an outstanding mayor. Look around at what has been happening in Ann Arbor! A falling-down bridge. Streets in worse shape than those in a Third World country. A huge hole in the ground next to the library which will be topped by what--a convention center that needs subsidizing? It is definitely time for a change!

KJMClark

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 6:56 a.m.

In our form of city government, the City Administrator handles contract negotiations, not the Mayor. The Mayor can play a role, since any contract eventually ends up at Council for approval, but the Administrator actually runs the city and handles contracts. I'm always surprised that people don't get this. The Mayor can say whatever he/she wants, but the Administrator actually runs the city. Unless we're amending the city charter at the same time we're electing a mayor, none of them, incumbent or challengers, will have much say in the negotiations. That's what we have a professional Administrator for.

Moose

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 6:52 a.m.

If anyone has bothered to read what Patricia Lesko says about the issues facing Ann Arbor, they will discover that her passion, "ranting" to some, is greatly exceeded by her ability to ask the questions and explore the issues in a way that a majority of citizens here have not seen in quite a while. It's about time for some real debate about the issues facing the city instead of the paternal and condescending attitude that we've come to expect from Fraser and Hieftje.

A2K

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 6:35 a.m.

"water and sewer" expenditures are essential in Ann Arbor...miles of ancient infrastructure, backed-up basements, and a crumbling treatment plant. Sounds like a good allocation of money to me, as I don't want to start using an outhouse or boiling my water anytime soon.

Wolverine3660

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 6:32 a.m.

God help us all if Ms Lesko gets elected. Except for her "angry" rants, what else has she got to offer? Ann Arbor will become another "failed" city like Detroit if Ms Lesko gets elected.

Steve Hendel

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 5:52 a.m.

The one thing lacking in local politics for several years has been effective competition to the dominant power structure. I look forward to some spirited debate, in which I trust the Mayor will participate, regarding the issues Ms Lesko has raised. I have voted for Mr Hieftje before, and I may again, but a mayoral campaign in which there is some actual discussion of alternative solutions to the issues facing the City instead of the avoidance of such discussion more typical of recent years is welcome.

A Pretty Ann Arbor

Fri, Apr 23, 2010 : 5:27 a.m.

Good for the city, good for the police and fire. We need to return to the basics of running a city. Good roads, a real bridge that isn't falling down, cleaning up the city and an appropriately staffed police and fire department. Remember they are a core element to a properly functioning city. Someone previously in another article pointed out that there is less than one fire a day to respond to, however they respond to more than just fires. Car accidents, help during storms with various efforts, help with paramedic emergencies etc. I will be really mad when my home owners insurance goes up because they cut the staff. I will make sure get it reduced again when Patricia is in office and brings back staffing to a reliable level that my insurance will be happy with.