The Ann Arbor City Council met in Larcom City Hall Monday evening to hear staff updates from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Public Services Administration, Ann Arbor Housing Commission, Sustainable Energy Utility and the Downtown Development Authority on recent projects. The SEU, a new voluntary renewable energy program, and the Downtown Service Team, responsible for maintaining downtown cleanliness, are both expected to begin pilot programs within the next year.
Skye Stewart, PSA chief of staff, began the meeting by notifying the council on two recent studies — the Ann Arbor Water Distribution Plan Update and the Sanitary Sewer Collection System Comprehensive Plan — which assess the city’s water and waste collection system. Stewart said the sewage system in southeast Ann Arbor would need upgrades to support growth outlined in the city’s recently adopted Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
“The most pressing constraint in the sanitary collections is the sanitary collection system in the South-Southeast part of the city,” Stewart said. “And we will need to deal with that to be able to unlock the density envisioned in the Land Use Plan in this area.”
The council then heard a presentation from SEU executive director Shoshannah Lenski. Through the SEU’s energy service, households can use renewable sources such as solar and geothermal energy while remaining connected to the city’s DTE Energy grid. The council’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget identifies the launch of the SEU in 2026 as the city’s top priority, with the initial program expecting to be trialed in the Bryant neighborhood in the coming months.
Lenski said the SEU requires a close partnership with DTE to ensure a smooth rollout of the new program.
“We have been working very closely with DTE to prepare for this pilot and are getting some sort of assistance from them in making sure that we have as smooth as possible of an interconnection process,” Lenski said. “I fully expect there may be some bumps, because it is quite a technical and lengthy process and we’re trying to do a lot in a concentrated area, which is unusual for them.”
The council then heard from DDA executive director Maura Thomson on the DDA’s new Downtown Service Team, which is responsible for sidewalk cleaning, landscaping and trash removal downtown. The DDA has allocated $1.15 million for a 12-month pilot of the Downtown Service Team. Thomson said the team represents the DDA taking a more active role in downtown service beyond infrastructure improvements.
“This is the DDA expanding its role into service, so this is taking on tasks that we currently don’t manage,” Thomson said. “We’re talking about cleaning our sidewalks, expanding our role in landscape maintenance — to really get to all of that weeding that’s needed downtown — to operating bollards.”
Thomson presented the council with two options for the pilot program — a city-run service through the Public Works department, or a private service through maintenance contractor Block by Block. The public works option would take 12 months to implement and cost $930,000, while the private alternative would take four months and cost $834,805. Thomson said either pilot study would allow the DDA to assess the scope of the Downtown Service Team prior to hiring new staff for the initiative.
“There may be things that we have in the scope of service that we realize don’t make sense,” Thomson said. “There may be things that we have missed. So with that refined scope, we will then be able to look at the job descriptions and make sure that we have a job description that’s actually accurately reflecting exactly what those job duties are.”
Councilmember Travis Radina, D-Ward 3, said he supports the public works option due to slightly higher pay for workers compared to Block by Block.
“There’s a little bit of difference in what appears to be the number of hours and cost, which seems to maybe indicate to me that through public works, the employees doing this work might be getting higher pay and higher benefits, which I think is a value that I have in this process,” Radina said.
The public works plan would employ workers from the AFSCME Local 369, a union representing employees of the City of Ann Arbor. However, Thomson stated Block by Block would agree to sign a contract stating it would not oppose employee unionization. Councilmember Jen Eyer, D-Ward 4, said she believes the public works option would compensate workers more fairly than Block by Block.
“Clearly the city model would provide better pay (and) better benefits, and there isn’t money that’s being siphoned off the top going into CEO pay and shareholder profits — this is money that’s going to stay in our community,” Eyer said. “Block by Block committing to not oppose unionization doesn’t really impress me — that’s federal law. So thank you for saying you’re not going to violate federal law. That’s bare minimum stuff.”
Thomson said the DDA hopes to eventually use city crews to run the Downtown Service Team, but is considering initiating the program with Block by Block due to the company’s contracting experience and quick implementation of service teams.
“We all want to bring this in-house — I think that seems clear to me — it’s just a matter of how we get there,” Thomson said. “In terms of the timeline, Block by Block is a faster implementation, and we would, during that pilot, be continuing working on making sure we can transition to an in-house program.”
Mayor Christopher Taylor said the Downtown Service Team aligns with broader efforts by the city government and police to keep downtown clean and safe.
“For years and years, we have been talking about having a set of dedicated folks who are focused on the downtown providing service to downtown infrastructure, the immediate needs and visitors and residents who give our downtown vitality,” Taylor said. “We’re seeing this in the DDA, we’re seeing this with police who are providing additional focus, we see this with Supportive Connections — we’re working on our downtown on so many different levels.”
The City Council and DDA will continue discussing implementation of the SEU and Downtown Service Team at upcoming meetings.
Daily Summer News Editor Niko Wilson can be reached at nikow@umich.edu.
