Mayor Proposes Citizens Advisory Commission Should Continue To Be A Whites-Only Country Club

by P.D. Lesko

John Hieftje is proposing to reappoint 10 people to the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Commission (CAC) at City Council’s May 13th meeting. By law the CAC Board is charged with advising the Board of the Downtown Development Authority, on downtown development and TIF plans. The CAC has openings for 15 people, but between October 2009 and October 2012 had only three legally appointed and confirmed members. Contrary to the rules governing the appointment of downtown citizens to the CAC, former CAC Chair Ray Detter invited friends and neighbors to serve on the CAC, an entity whose existence is mandated both by city Charter and state law. In addition, the CAC’s former Chair has served on the CAC for 28 years, despite the fact that in 1982 Council passed a resolution that limited CAC terms to 3 years.

Documents produced by the CAC Chair suggest the group is run like a private club. Between 2001 and 2012 all of the CAC Board members were white.

Despite the fact that Ann Arbor’s Mayor and DDA Board members harp on the need to attract, retain and cater to “young professionals” with development downtown of housing stock supposedly meant to appeal to those young professionals, past appointees to the CAC Board have been primarily individuals past retirement age.  Between 2001 and 2012, there were no students on the CAC, even though students make up a large percentage of the residents in the city’s downtown area.

At the most recent meeting of the Downtown Development Authority, Ray Detter, who A2Politico revealed had been parading as the Chair of the Downtown Area Citizens Advisory Commission for months after his term had ended in October 2012, included in his comments that members of the CAC were “appointed by the Mayor” and confirmed by City Council. He made his statement after A2Politico revealed Detter’s own appointment was listed as having expired October 2012, according to records posted to the City Clerk’s office. The records were posted by the City Clerk after A2Politico sent an email inquiry noting that on the city’s website there were no members of the CAC listed nor records of members’ appointment or expiration dates.

How did the CAC end up without any members in October 2012? According to the City Charter:

1:171. – General provisions.
Such of the boards and commissions provided for in this chapter, as are in existence at the time of the adoption of this Code, shall be continued and the members serving thereon shall remain in office for the duration of the term for which they were appointed. Except as otherwise provided for by law, Charter or this Code, the following provisions shall be applicable to all boards and commissions of the city.

(1) Vacancies. Any vacancy occurring in the membership of any board or commission shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the manner provided for original appointment to such board or commission.

(2) Notice of appointment. The mayor shall notify council at least 30 days prior to the expiration date of the term of office of any person serving on a board or commission. The mayor shall place on the table the name of all reappointments no later than 60 days after the expiration date of the term of office.

John Hieftje allowed the CAC Board to dwindle to three members between 2009 and 2012, and then to none as of October 2012. In trying to reappoint the 10 people whose appointments expired between 2001 and 2012, he is attempting to cover up his mistake. In seeking to quickly and quietly reappoint en masse 10 white, elderly downtown residents to the CAC many of whom have already served multiple 3-year terms, Hieftje is attempting circumvent the Charter, and to perpetuate the exclusion of minorities, students, residents with young children and young professionals from the group charged with advising the DDA Board on downtown and TIF planning. It has been suggested that Hieftje is getting help from Detter and Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere.

According to a comment recently posted to the AnnArborChronicle.com a resident who wanted to perhaps serve on the CAC and encourage other downtown residents to do so was told by, “Sabra Briere (to whose campaigns Detter has routinely donates) according to campaign finance records) …that essentially that ship had sailed. Ray told me they would be welcome on the board, but the chairs were full, and Sabre told me that all the seats were up for renewal, so they would have to wait (I paraphrase their remarks) until someone passed on their renewal or decided to vacate a seat. So… once again we see that attempts to interrupt the status quo go unheard by the powers that be.”

At the May 6, 2013 City Council meeting, speaker Mark Karoi spent three minutes asking Council how Detter’s appointment, as well as the appointments of all of the members of the CAC, could have been allowed to lapse. It was then sometime on May 6, 2013 according to city records that Council’s agenda was amended to add the reappointment of Detter and his friends to the CAC.

The city’s website lists members of the CAC whose appointments expired in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. City records also show that at the October 19, 2009 City Council meeting, only Detter, Dr. Herbert Kaufer and his wife Jane were appointed to the CAC, meaning that between October 2009 and October 2012 the CAC had only three members duly appointed by Mayor and confirmed by City Council. Between 2009 and when his appointment expired in October 2012 (and well beyond) Detter, has repeatedly spoken at public meetings as representing the “CAC,” “downtown residents,” “members of the CAC,”  and the “Board of the CAC.” In reality he was speaking on behalf of himself, Dr. Kaufer, who is an Orthopedist, and Dr. Kaufer’s wife.

Council members can refuse to confirm the reappointment of Detter and the nine other downtown residents nominated by John Hieftje. They can postpone the appointments so that the openings can be posted to the city’s website to recruit new members. To be sure, since all of the individuals whom Hieftje proposes for reappointment have already served 3 years, none should be confirmed by Council.

“These people (the CAC and DDA) need more oversight,” said Mark Karoi in his comments before City Council of May 6, 2013. “This is a situation that is, I think, unprecedented in municipal government.”

Perhaps, but playing fast and loose with the Charter, the law and the truth has defined John Hieftje’s administration for over a decade.