ANN ARBOR, MI - A City Council member argues politics in Ann Arbor reached a new low recently.

"I've been an elected official in Ann Arbor a long time and it's really disheartening how far we've seen the bar drop in Ann Arbor politics on this Y Lot issue," Council Member Jane Lumm lamented during public remarks at the council's meeting Monday night, May 7.

"First were the insinuations and suggestions about council members being bought by campaign contributions, and now a back-door attack on council colleagues that accomplishes nothing other than perhaps gain a few political points," she said.

"It appears that, like national politics, Ann Arbor is racing to the gutter and that's pretty disappointing. Ann Arbor residents expect and deserve more than this from us."

Lumm, an independent from the 2nd Ward, said she was responding to a recent statement from Mayor Christopher Taylor, who criticized some of his colleagues for holding up the approval of a $4.2 million repurchase of a downtown property known as the Y Lot. After a month-long delay, the council voted 11-0 on the matter last week.

Taylor claimed last week the month-long delay weakened the city's position in a lawsuit brought by developer Dennis Dahlmann, who purchased the Y Lot from the city four years ago and is now suing the city over it as the city tries to regain possession.

Taylor has argued not voting to repurchase the property on April 2, Dahlmann's deadline for developing the property, and instead waiting to do so on May 1 may have cost the city big money.

Though she was not at the April 2 meeting, Lumm was one of four council members, along with Anne Bannister, Jack Eaton and Sumi Kailasapathy, who held out on approving the repurchase in recent weeks, preferring instead to try to negotiate with Dahlmann.

After negotiations over the past month hadn't proven fruitful, they were in favor of repurchasing last week.

Echoing some of Eaton's recent remarks responding to Taylor, Lumm publicly took issue with the mayor Monday night.

"The gist of the statement was that postponing repurchasing of the Y Lot for a month weakened the city's position and could cost the city a significant amount of money," she said. "The statement itself was false and the way in which it was delivered, I believe, was inappropriate."

Taylor declined to respond to Lumm's criticism of him at Monday night's meeting.

Lumm asked the mayor why he would issue a statement "essentially attacking your colleagues when it serves no purpose."

She suggested it may be election-year politics. Eaton is challenging Taylor for the mayor's seat in the Aug. 7 primary.

"Effective, inclusive leaders don't throw their colleagues under the bus, not even the ones who occasionally disagree," Lumm said. "That's just not how high-performing teams are built. And since absolutely nothing changed as a result of the statement, the motivation can only be political. Whether it's to gain an advantage in an election or to try to establish a narrative on why it may be necessary to settle the lawsuit, it's still political and I won't sit idly by and be collateral damage for someone's scorched-earth campaign strategy."

Lumm said Taylor's statement doesn't make sense, because any court is going to decide the case on its merits, not council votes.

Taking an extra month to negotiate with the other side, she said, demonstrates good faith.

"If any impact at all on the litigation in court, the delay in repurchasing the property would improve the city's position," Lumm argued.

"If weakening the city's position refers to the negotiations themselves, that's wrong, too," Lumm added. "Waiting to repurchase and taking the time to negotiate resulted in two better offers, from the city's perspective. If waiting had weakened the city's position in the negotiations, the offers from Mr. Dahlmann would have gone in the other direction -- worse for the city, not better."

Now that the council has voted 11-0 to exercise what the city believes is its contractual right to repurchase the property for $4.2 million, City Attorney Stephen Postema has said lawsuit settlement negotiations with Dahlmann still can continue.

Tom Wieder, the attorney representing Dahlmann in his lawsuit against the city, said the city hasn't presented his client with the $4.2 million yet, so he has not had a chance to accept or reject it.



"We can continue negotiations now and are in exactly the same position as we would have been April 2, perhaps stronger with a unanimous vote," Lumm argued Monday night. "So, the postponements have no impact on the negotiations."

Lumm said fiscal responsibility means a lot to her and is one of her core values.

"So when someone suggests my actions cost the taxpayers money and it's not true, I'm going to react," she said.