ANN ARBOR, MI - Concerns about lack of transparency surrounding Ann Arbor's train station study reemerged Monday night, Sept. 19.

As the City Council was asked to approve additional consultant expenses, Council Member Sumi Kailasapathy, D-1st Ward, noted she has received a lot of emails from constituents about the train station project.

Some residents spoke out at Monday night's meeting, and transparency was one of the issues raised.

Ann Arbor City Council Member Sumi Kailasapathy, D-1st Ward, holds up copies of redacted emails between the city and the Federal Railroad Administration on June 6, 2016.

"Part of this nagging problem is the whole issue about transparency," Kailasapathy said, referring to

the city's decision to heavily redact emails

between the city and the Federal Railroad Administration before turning them over to The Ann Arbor News under the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year.

The city also refused to release a draft copy of a report the city submitted to the FRA last year, though on Sept. 1 it made a current version public.

Citizens who have been closely following the process still are interested in seeing what discussions took place between the FRA and the city this past year, and so far the city's administration has been unwilling to release the emails. The City Council also voted 6-5 against releasing them in June.

"Now that the report is out, is it possible at all to release the emails that were all redacted so that we provide more transparency?" Kailasapathy asked at Monday night's meeting. "Or is that not possible?"

Eli Cooper, the city's transportation program manager, responded to Kailasapathy's question.

"That may not be in the best interest of transparency," Cooper said. "And it's not that there's anything that is hidden."

Cooper said all the materials necessary to make a decision about potential sites for a new Amtrak station are in the report released Sept. 1.

"Back-and-forth machinations between the various governmental offices in Washington, D.C, and in Lansing and in Ann Arbor, and what was important at a point in time historically may bear no relation and even at this time may be confusing to some citizen who would come across (the emails)," he said.

Cooper suggested citizens reading the emails, if the city released them, might see things that were said in 2015 that weren't carried forward.

"And that was part of the deliberative process in drafting and reacting, and reviewing and responding," he said. "So, although it may not be the satisfactory answer that 'we'll just put it all out there, people are smart enough to figure it out,' rest assured, having been the project manager working through this period of time, some of the information that comes forward and how it gets reviewed and responded is at times not abundantly clear. And it was an institutional review/decision that we believe that it is in the best interest of the decision-making process to provide clear information that the public can understand."

Cooper said members of the public have an opportunity to get an overview of the remaining train station options at meetings this Wednesday, Sept. 21, as well as a broader community meeting next Monday, Sept. 26.

"We'll answer any question that someone has about the materials that are provided for public review," Cooper said.

"There's no hidden agenda," he added. "It's the deliberative process that, in working with multiple agencies with a variety of interests, results in some of the information not being, in the city's view, suitable for (public review) or might be more confusing than beneficial for understanding of how we're to move forward with the project."

Cooper said the goal is to keep the messaging and information clear and consistent, and to move forward as quickly as possible.

Ann Arbor's options for a new Amtrak station 34 Gallery: Ann Arbor's options for a new Amtrak station

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.