Title
Resolution Regarding Proposal E
Staff
Reviewed by: Atleen Kaur, City Attorney
Body
Whereas, Proposal E is a citizen-initiated petition to modify the Ann Arbor City Charter to create a Municipal Electric Utility Board and require the City to establish a municipal electric utility;
Whereas, Proposal E would vest in a nine-member Ann Arbor Municipal Electric Utility Board broad powers the City Charter now reserves to the City Council and the City Administrator, including independent authority to acquire property, enter contracts, borrow money, and hire and direct staff;
Whereas, Proposal E would let the City Council amend or void the Board's operational decisions only by eight affirmative votes, an extraordinary threshold that inverts ordinary majority control and strips residents of meaningful elected oversight of an enterprise able to obligate millions of dollars in City funds;
Whereas, Proposal E would create internal inconsistencies within the City Charter by conflicting with existing provisions that vest the creation of boards and departments, contracting authority, property acquisition, and staffing decisions in the City Council and the City Administrator;
Whereas, Proposal E identifies no tax, millage, or other funding source;
Whereas, To fund Board operations, the litigation certain to accompany the Board's creation and any acquisition of DTE's distribution assets, and create any resulting utility, the City would have to raise taxes, borrow without any identified means of repayment, divert other revenues, or cut existing services;
Whereas, Establishing a municipal electric utility would, as a practical matter, require the City to forcibly acquire DTE's local distribution system at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly exceeding $1 billion;
Whereas, Acquiring that system would require condemnation proceedings that would be prolonged, uncertain, and costly, committing the City to millions of dollars in legal fees;
Whereas...
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