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Mayor John Hieftje takes a question from a member of the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor during a luncheon last June. Hieftje said he regularly gets invited to speak before groups and meet with people and it helps that he doesn't have a full-time day job.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

As four City Council members compete for the chance to become Ann Arbor's next mayor, the question of whether the mayor's job demands one's full attention or whether it can be balanced with a full-time day job is being debated.

Christopher Taylor and Stephen Kunselman both have full-time jobs outside of council and say they would not give up those jobs or reduce their hours if elected mayor.

"The mayor's position is an elected position. It is not considered a full-time job by charter," Kunselman said. "We have a city administrator who is a professional that has been hired by all of council to manage and administer the city."

The other two candidates in the race, Sabra Briere and Sally Hart Petersen, do not have jobs outside of council.

Briere said the expectations of being mayor in Ann Arbor have changed over the years, and it's more than just a ceremonial role.

"I'm not certain somebody can do a full-time job and meet all of the expectations," she said. "I think the expectation now is that the mayor is more of a full-time position."

Mayor John Hieftje, who is stepping down in November after 14 years in office, said he found out quickly after he became mayor in 2000 that he couldn't perform the duties of mayor and work a full-time day job at the same time.

"I think the expectation now is that the mayor is more of a full-time position," said Council Member Sabra Briere, D-1st Ward.

He had been a real estate agent for 18 years, working for the Charles Reinhart Company in Ann Arbor most of those years.

"What I found when I became mayor was it was impossible for me to do my regular job, so I quit my regular job soon after," Hieftje said. "The mayor's job is such that, when you need to be there, you need to be there."

Hieftje said he thinks someone with a regular full-time job could do both only if he or she had a lot of flexibility in the job.

"City staff is there during the daytime, so if I want to work something through with staff, if I have a daytime job that doesn't have flexibility to it, it doesn't work," he said, adding Ann Arbor's last three mayors have pretty much been full-time mayors, too, but he believes the demands of the job have grown.

Kunselman and Taylor both said they're confident they could put in 40 hours a week and still perform the duties of mayor, which are described in the City Charter as presiding over council meetings, providing council with information concerning city affairs, recommending measures, acting as ceremonial head of the city and appointing or nominating council members and others to city boards and committees.

Taylor is a corporate law attorney downtown and Kunselman is the energy conservation liaison for the University of Michigan.

"I've talked it over with my partners and I am 100 percent confident I would be able to do the job of mayor and continue my legal practice," said Taylor, who is a partner with the Hooper Hathaway law firm on Main Street.

Taylor said he has a lot of flexibility to set his own hours, and he would find a way to balance his mayoral duties with his legal work.

"The mayor's position is an elected position. It is not considered a full-time job by charter," said Council Member Stephen Kunselman, D-3rd Ward.

"The formal obligations of the mayor are limited. It is not a full-time job," he said. "The practice of a transactional business attorney is a very flexible one."

Kunselman said he keeps more traditional 9-to-5 hours, but he could make arrangements with his employer to take time off as needed.

"If there's something that's planned ahead, I can make arrangements with my work," he said. "I think the important thing is to be available to the public."

Petersen said she considers public office to be a 24/7 responsibility, meaning elected officials are always accountable. And if any of her opponents think they can balance a full-time job with being mayor, she said, more power to them.

"As with anything, you get out what you put in," she said.

Even though Ann Arbor has a weak-mayor form of government, where the city administrator manages the city, Briere said there are high expectations that the mayor will be a leader for the city and the council, identify a vision for the city, and meet with other community leaders and officials to work on issues.

"As with anything, you get out what you put in," said Council Member Sally Hart Petersen, D-2nd Ward.

"All of that takes time, and it generally takes time during the day," she said. "I think we expect the mayor to be flexible that way."

Kunselman said he sees the mayor as simply "an at-large council member" for all of the city, one who must attend special events from time to time and perform ceremonial duties like giving out keys to the city when dignitaries come into town.

Hieftje, who has an office inside city hall and a secretary, said there are weeks when he'll put in 30 to 50 hours, especially during budget season, and he often gets invited to speak before groups and meet with people.

"People expect to see the mayor," he said. "It's not 40 hours every week, but you do need to have flexibility to go to daytime meetings and evening meetings."

As the expectations of the mayor's office have changed over the years, so has the mayor's salary, now set at $42,436.

The position paid just $18,300 when Hieftje was elected. It went up to $28,000 in 2004, then $40,000 in 2005, $41,200 in 2008, and $42,436 in 2009.

Briere said she struggled in the past to balance a full-time job with her service on council, and she'd get phone calls from city staff while at work.

"They would want me to focus on talking to them about an issue while I was supposed to be focusing on my job," she said.

"The formal obligations of the mayor are limited. It is not a full-time job," said Council Member Christopher Taylor, D-3rd Ward.

"I found that a really difficult thing to do — to satisfy my responsibility to a full-time job and satisfy my responsibility as a council member."

Petersen said she approaches public service the same way she saw her father approach being a parish priest.

"I grew up in a rectory on the church 'campus,' so we had people knocking on our door, people asking for help, all the time," she said. "My dad worked six days a week, Saturday was his day off, and he was judicious with his time."

Petersen said her father took his full allotted vacation, but was never out of touch with his parishioners or community.

"He was 'all in,' and that has been my approach to being a City Council member, as it would be mayor," she said.

All four council members running for mayor are Democrats. They'll compete in the August primary, with one of them advancing to the November general election. So far, no Republican or independent candidates have emerged.

Ryan Stanton covers Ann Arbor city hall for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com or 734-623-2529 or follow him on Twitter.