by P.D. Lesko

To buy or not to buy. That has been the question before Ypsilanti City Council since Nov. 2023. In the space of one month, Council members have voted four times on the purchase of a $3.7 million property at 599 S. Mansfield. The Ypsi Council members have flip flopped more than a pile of fish out of water.

On Dec. 5, Ypsilanti City Council members met and voted not to purchase a $3.7 million building at 599 S. Mansfield. It was the fourth time the group has voted on the purchase and the second time the Council members voted not to purchase the building. At the Nov. 9 City Council meeting, there were two votes: in one vote, Council members reversed their purchase of the Mansfield property, a decision which had been made in a Nov. 7 closed session, a violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Shortly thereafter, at the Nov. 9 meeting Council members voted again to buy the building.

Almost one month to the day later, City Council members voted 5-0 against the purchase of the 599 S. Mansfield property. Council member Desirae Simmons abstained and Council member Jennifer Symanns, who resigned Dec. 2, was absent.

The Dec. 5 vote was taken after interim City Manager Andrew Hellenga presented Council members with information about the financial impact of the purchase.

Hellenga told Council members: “The past few decades of austerity have really put our facilities in a place where they’re going to need a lot of work to come up to the level that [we need] to provide the services that the city needs,” he said of the current DPS depot. According to a Nov. 9 presentation to City Council by the head of the DPS Dept., much of the building on W. Forest Ave. is cordoned off over concerns about the roof.

Ypsilanti’s 2023-2024 general fund budget projects $16 million in revenue and $18 million in expenses. The purchase and renovation of the 599 S. Mansfield Building was projected to cost upwards of $5.7 million, money the City of Ypsilanti doesn’t have to spare.

Hellenga told the Council members that they need to live within their budget. “There needs to be [a] sound [financial] strategy moving forward, but we also need to stay within the means of the city.”

The Interim City Administrator’s plan is that the DPS depot remain in the over 135-year-old wooden structure at 14 W. Forest Ave. The city will make needed repairs. Hellenga wants a comprehensive analysis of the current DPS site. Then, city officials can hammer out a repair timeline. The analysis will also include strategies to make sure DPS street maintenance and snow removal are not impacted.

There was virtually no discussion as Ypsi Council members decided to repair the current building as opposed to going through with the 599 S. Mansfield St. purchase.

Part of the public uproar about Council’s votes to purchase the building and 4 acre parcel for $3.7 million was the lack of transparency in selecting a real estate professional to broker the deal.

Former Ypsilanti City Council member Brian Jones-Chance ended up as the broker of record for the 599 S. Mansfield purchase.

In a phone conversation, Jones-Chance said he “was contacted” about the broker job for unnamed city officials, and that City Attorney James Barr had given his blessing for Ypsilanti to hand the job to a former City Council member. Public complaints about the selection of Jones-Chance centered around the lack of transparency involved. There was no RFP issued.

City Attorney James Barr, when asked whether the selection of Jones-Chance presented any conflicts of interest, replied in an email that he preferred not to answer the question.

Hellenga praised Jones-Chance at the Dec. 5 meeting, but added that city officials owed the public a more transparent process. “We owe the public…a sound process [that] everything is done correctly,” said Hellenga.

The City Council’s flip-flopping votes to buy and not to buy the 599 S. Mansfield property led to a recall campaign. Ypsi residents, led by former Mayor Cheryl Farmer, filed recall petitions on Nov. 21 to give the heave-ho to two Council members and Mayor Nicole Brown because they had voted in favor of the purchase of the S. Mansfield property. The citizen-led effort targeting Mayor Nicole Brown has been rescinded. Council Member Jennifer Symanns submitted her resignation on Dec. 2. The recall effort targeting Ward 3 Council member Desirae Simmons is still active.

On Dec. 8, the County Election Commission (County Clerk Kestenbaum, County Treasurer McClary and Judge Darlene O’Brien) will meet to determine if the group’s recall petition language is sufficiently factual and clear. If the group gets the green light, they will have 60 days to gather a little over 600 signatures to force the recall of Council member Desirae Simmons.

“She [Simmons] continues to show poor decision-making on behalf of our community,” Farmer reportedly said.