Results.

CLEAN WATER

Clean, reliable drinking water. Safe and efficient waste water treatment. These are non-negotiable. I am proud of our fight against the polluter to force them to clean up the 1,4 dioxane plume.  Taking the polluter to court resulted in a Court Order that doubles the rate of extraction and substantially expands monitoring.  When the court case was in jeopardy, I was hesitant about EPA involvement, but now that the accelerated cleanup and monitoring is secured by Court Order, I fully support turning to the EPA for additional help over the years to come.

PFAS+PFOA is another important threat. We took aggressive and successful action to install carbon filters and have a zero detect in 2021. In addition, the Water Treatment Plant has a new ultraviolet light water disinfection system to better address present and future contaminants. 

ROADS

Roads all over Michigan are unacceptable and Ann Arbor’s are no exception. We get most of our road money from the state, and Michigan has for years been 50th out of 50 states in per capita road spending.  The Legislature has not provided Governor Whitmer the funds she needs to make meaningful change. Despite decades of chronic underinvestment from the State, however, we have invested in a chip sealing program, spent $30M+ a year from the road, street, sidewalk, bridge funds, installed dozens of new streetlights, completed 58.5 miles of road preventative maintenance for FY2021, and have a 100% reported potholes filled within 72 hours for FY2021. 

It’s still not enough, so this next year we are looking to accelerate road spending 300%.  This summer, look for orange cones. Everywhere.

SAFETY

We have lowered Serious Crime Response Time to a 3.28 min/avg and fully staffed school crossing guards.  AAPD is one of 11 municipal law enforcement agencies in Michigan to receive accreditation from CALEA, the gold standard in third party public safety policy/practice review. Even as we value the work and dedication of our officers, we also are examining the role of law enforcement in Ann Arbor.  That’s why I spearheaded both the creation of the Independent Community Police Oversight Commission to provide for civilian review of AAPD policies and complaint resolutions, and the effort for us to envision, plan for, and ultimately implement unarmed response. We ask our police to do too many things outside their training – not every public safety call requires an officer response.

I’m so proud too of our Ann Arbor Fire Department.  We have completed our Fire Station Master Plan to improve workplace conditions, safety, equity, and to help effect our carbon neutrality goals.  We have also improved our responsiveness – the average turn out time is 1.55 min, with an average travel time of 3.15 min.

PARKS

If you look around Ann Arbor, you’ll see parks. A lot of parks. 10% of our land is parkland. Almost every home in Ann Arbor is less than ¼ mile away from a city park (all of Ann Arbor, I believe, if you count the UM Arboretum). These parks and natural areas are a large part of what makes Ann Arbor special – Tree City. Our efforts to protect and improve these jewels include: universal access improvements scheduled for Argo Livery, renovating and expanding Bryant Community Center, remediating legacy pollution at Leslie Science and Nature Center, making Ann Abor a Monarch Friendly Community, and implementing our Goatscaping Program at Gallup Park.

FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP

It all starts with responsible budgeting.  Even during the pandemic, Ann Arbor has maintained its stable AA+ Bond Rating, continues to receive annual Government Finance Officers Association Awards, and has received yet another clean audit, with no internal control deficiencies or compliance issues. Fund balance reserves in all funds remain within policy guidelines.  Our Pension and Retiree Health Care funds are at 88% and 76% funded, “significant strides” according to our CFO.

The best news is that with prudent spending and a smart growth strategy, we have solved our longstanding structural deficit.