EDITORIAL: Council Can Send A Strong Message By Rejecting Proposed Appointees to the Environmental Commission

SINCE NOVEMBER 2013, City Council members have shown they are prepared to more closely scrutinize proposed appointees to city boards and commissioners. Council’s newly-found backbone—comprised primarily of council members Mike Anglin in Ward 5, Jack Eaton in Ward 4, Jane Lumm in Ward 2, Sumi Kailasapathy in Ward 1 and, to a lesser degree, Sally Hart Petersen in Ward 2—means appointments to boards and commissions are discussed frankly.

These discussions have touched upon crucial issues, including appointee qualifications, conflicts of interest, cronyism, sexism and the maturity of candidates based on their public behavior. Certain Council members wish to dismantle what we believe has become a “professional class” of appointees. These people are allowed to remain on city boards for decades and/or shuffled between city boards and commissions for purely political purposes.

Environmental Commission nominations are made by City Council. David Stead was initially appointed to the Environmental Commission in 2000 and has served multiple successive terms. His most recent term having expired in January 2014, Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere seeks to have Stead reappointed.

We urge City Council members to reject Briere’s nomination.

While Mr. Stead served on the Environmental Commission in 2010, his employer was awarded a no bid contract by the city to consult on the proposed switch to single-stream recycling. Between 2010 and 2014, Ann Arbor paid RRSI (Stead’s employer) $3.69 million. It was the RRSI consultant whom city staff alleged over-estimated by 60 percent the increase in recycling collections we could expect under the auspices of single-stream.

While a member of the Environmental Commission, Mr. Stead served on a subcommittee of that group which recommended Ann Arbor move to single-stream recycling. At the same time, he served as a member of the Recycle Ann Arbor board of directors. The city’s contract extension with Recycle Ann Arbor to manage our single-stream recycling collections and processing was a no bid multi-million dollar agreement.

Mr. Stead currently serves on the Board of Recycle Ann Arbor as its “Government Relations” liaison. Not only has Mr. Stead neglected to avoid actual and/or perceived conflicts while a member of the Environmental Commission, his employer, as did a nonprofit he directed, both benefitted financially from his recommendations as a member of the city’s Environmental  Commission.

The members of the Planning Commission have indicated that they wish City Council to approve Kirk Westphal as that group’s representative to the Environmental Commission. In October 2013, Mayor Hieftje told the public that it was inappropriate and his practice—as well as that of City Council—to refuse to nominate to boards and commissions residents who are in the midst of running for City Council. This was the explanation offered when Ward 1 City Council candidate Jeffrey Hayner’s October 2013 nomination to serve on the Art Commission was withdrawn by Hieftje. Mr. Westphal is once again running to represent Ward 2 on City Council. His proposed appointment, then, is inappropriate.

In addition, we do not find Mr. Westphal’s support of the commercial development of Ann Arbor parkland compatible with an appointment to the Environmental Commission. As a member of the Planning Commission, Kirk Westphal pushed for the commercial development of Argo Park—an idea city staff quashed.