Let the Dysfunction Games Begin? Vote to Exclude CPA From Budget Committee, Repetitive Pleas for Concision
The Dec. 1 City Council meeting included members grappling over their own rules, a failed floor motion to put Council’s only CPA on the group’s Budget & Labor Committee and a lengthy debate centered around limiting members’ speaking times.
by P.D. Lesko
MAYOR CHRIS TAYLOR doesn’t have an easy job. Then again, some of his problems are of his own making. Video recordings of meetings over the past 36 months show that prior to his run for mayor, he was openly hostile and condescending to those on Council with whom John Hieftje was not politically allied.
While running, Taylor claimed he would work with all members of Council, including those with whom he disagreed on issues such as public safety and transit. Behind the scenes, after his election, he left a number of Council members off the guest list to his celebration and did not make an appearance at the election-night celebration of Ward 1 Council member Kailasapathy. He had given money to her opponent, a pro-life, anti-marriage equality candidate.
Likewise, when Hieftje and Taylor co-hosted a fundraiser for future U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan), once again several of the same Council members didn’t make that guest list. When asked about the shindig for Peters, multiple members of City Council had no idea the event had ever taken place.
It has been about a month since Chris Taylor took over from John Hieftje. The Dec. 1 City Council meeting revealed chinks in Taylor’s leadership and evidence that Ann Arbor’s mayor does not have a poker face.
For starters, the Council Rules Committee, on which Taylor sits, produced a compendium of Council rules that several members of the group criticized as “anti-democratic.” The Rules Committee suggested that the best way to keep the twice monthly meetings from running into the wee hours would be to put a 25-minute cap on the total speaking time of all Council members.
Council member Stephen Kunselman (D-Ward 3) at one point grinned at his one-time mayoral opponents Sabra Briere and Taylor saying, “You know how I like to talk.” He went on to say he would not support the 25-minute cap.
Council member Jane Lumm (I-Ward 2) suggested that it would be better to put a time limit on Council meetings rather than a cap on the total speaking time of the Council members. Lumm told her colleagues that she thought such a cap would discourage thoughtful deliberation and “silence” members of City Council.
Mayor Taylor became visibly agitated as Council members’ debate concerning the 25-minute cap stretched well past 25 minutes. At one point, Taylor was caught on camera frowning and openly exasperated as he called on a Council member who wished to comment on the proposed 25-minute cap.
Graydon Krapohl (D-Ward 4) stepped unopposed into the seat vacated by long-time Council member Margie Teall. He did not campaign or participate in public candidate forums. The Council member, who has been in office for just about 30 days, made a plea for his colleagues to “be concise.” In making his comments, Krapohl repeated himself at length.
Julie Grand (D-Ward 3) confessed to “being a bit of a night owl” then went on to speak in support of the time limit. She argued that Council does not do its best work when meetings stretch well after midnight.
In the end, the proposal failed 5-6.
When it came time to confirm Council members’ own committee appointments, Jack Eaton (D-Ward 4) made a motion from the floor to remove “junior” Council member Grand from the group’s powerful Budget and Labor Committee, to which she had been nominated by Mayor Taylor. Taylor, stunned, was momentarily speechless. He eventually explained that he’d placed Grand on the committee to achieve “balance.” Grand provides him with two allies (and will be one of three votes he can control) on the five-member committee.
Eaton argued that it made better sense to place Council member Kailasapathy, an experienced CPA, on the Budget and Labor Committee instead of Grand, a newly-elected Council member who holds a Ph.D in public health and is a public health lecturer at U-M Dearborn. Grand, who served multiple terms on the Parks Advisory Commission, has modest experience with municipal budgeting. Kailasapathy has a broader range of education and experience with municipal finance, including auditing, and is in her second term on Council.
Eaton argued that his motion was based on the use of seniority and qualifications.
On City Council it has customarily been the job of the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore to divvy up committee appointments between the Council members based on their preferences and other criteria, including political maneuvering.
The new Mayor Pro Tempore is Sabra Briere.
Eaton’s motion to replace Grand failed 4-7, with Briere, Westphal (D-Ward 2), Grand, Kunselman (D-Ward 3), Kraphol (D-Ward 4) and Warpehoski (D-Ward 5) voting against placing the Council’s only CPA on the Budget and Labor Committee.
Council member Eaton, a labor lawyer, then proposed giving up his seat on the Budget and Labor Committee in exchange for Kailasapathy’s appointment to it. The motion passed, but Eaton then asked for a voice vote.
The same Council members who had just moments earlier voted against placing Kailasapathy on the Budget and Labor Committee then all voted in favor of the motion.
Kailasapathy, however, voted against the removal of Eaton from the committee.
A comment left in response to a story about the incident on The Ann Arbor News site pointed to the politics involved: “While the nominations are (unfortunately in this case) the Major’s prerogative, the politics inherent in his committee assignments shows that despite Hieftje’s ‘retirement,’ it’s still politics as usual in this town, and we can expect more of same. Kudos to CM Eaton for calling for a vote on Grand’s removal from the budget committee, and putting the political question to a vote — I now know where each CM stands.”
Kai Petainen said, “The decision by Mayor Taylor to exclude CM Kailasapathy from the budget committee sounds political and not based on sound decision-making. Kailasapathy is the only CPA (Certified Public Accountant) at council and she is the only one with those credentials for the position. I mean no disrespect to CM Grand, but compared to Kailasapathy, Grand does not have the credentials.”
In approving the rules for City Council members proposed by the Council’s Rules Committee, a portion of the Dec 1. meeting was devoted to discussing the use of social media during open meetings. In 2009, Ann Arbor City Council members found themselves in the middle of an email scandal.
Thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests by both the former Ann Arbor News as well as a group of citizens, 2009 Council members were caught rigging votes, scripting debates and deliberating in secret during open meetings. The former Ann Arbor News published a series of articles that subsequently were credited with costing former Ward 3 Council member Leigh Greden his seat.
Mayor Chris Taylor, lampooned as a baby in an editorial cartoon, is the only Council member remaining whose alleged misuse of email during open meetings triggered an Open Meetings lawsuit against the city. City Attorney Postema settled the suit rather than defend Council members’ actions.
As a result, Council rules were changed to require emails sent during Council meetings to go to city staff, including the City Clerk, who serves as note-taker during the meetings. In Dec. 2013, both Council members Sabra Briere and Chuck Warpehoski were caught breaking Council rules concerning electronic communications. Briere was engaged in a discussion on Twitter while Council was discussing the establishment of a tax abatement district.
Almost exactly one year later, the Council members debated a proposed rule allowing the use of social media by Council members during open meetings.
Council member Briere, commented that some on council might not be able to multi-task and might not pay close enough attention to the meeting. She also defiantly pointed out that she’s been caught using Twitter during an open meeting and would not apologize for it.
Council member Eaton, reminded his colleagues that if a quorum of them (six) were to use Twitter at the same time and discuss a single issue with, perhaps, the same hashtag, it could be construed as a violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act.
“I don’t think we should be engaging in that kind of communication,” he said. “If enough of us participated on Twitter using the same hashtag, it could conceivably be a deliberation that’s not open to the full public. Twitter and Facebook are only available to people who have a computer and have the appropriate social media account.”
“I understand the objections; I don’t share them,” Mayor Taylor shot back. “I think Tweeting is a publicly accessible act, and that’s really what’s key here.”
In reality, there are and have been Council members who have difficulty answering constituents’ emails and telephone calls much less engaging with Ann Arbor residents on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.
In 2013 Council member Grand, when campaigning against her now Ward 3 colleague Stephen Kunselman, lambasted him for what she alleged were his poor communication skills. Jack Eaton, similarly, criticized his opponent, a 7-term Council member, for her alleged inability to return phone calls and emails from constituents.
Ann Arbor’s new mayor has a Twitter account with 80 followers. His last Tweet was June 29. The following Council members have Twitter accounts:
Sumi Kailasapathy (http://twitter.com/sumi4aa) 33 Followers, last Tweet Sept. 2013
Sabra Briere (https://twitter.com/sabriere) 259 followers, last Tweet Dec. 2014
Julie Berson Grand (https://twitter.com/votegrand) 41 Followers, last Tweet Dec. 2014
Jack Eaton (https://twitter.com/Eaton4Council) 36 Followers, last Tweet Dec. 2014
Chuck Warpehoski (https://twitter.com/ChuckWarp) 433 Followers, last Tweet Dec. 2014
Council members also voted unanimously to ask the City Administrator to review the city’s Freedom of Information Act policy. It was last changed at the Nov. 5, 2009 meeting. Leigh Greden, who lost his seat by six votes, delivered an emotional apology to his colleagues for his part in the email scandal. In addition, Greden introduced a resolution restricting the city’s FOIA policy.
While Council members offered up a variety of opinions on the proposed changes to the city’s FOIA policy, all voted in favor of reviewing it.