Ann Arbor City Council 
convened Monday evening 
to 
discuss 
a 
range 
of 
policy topics ranging from 
municipal 
staffing 
levels 
to permit fees for medical 
marijuana facilities. 
The 
council 
discussed 
CA-4, 
a 
resolution 
to 
increase the amount of full-
time city employees. The 
resolution would increase 
the 
budget 
to 
include 
funding 
for 
new 
staff 
members, 
which 
caused 
discussion 
across 
the 
council. 
Councilmember 
Jane 
Lumm, 
I-Ward 
2, 
discussed how she believed 
adding 
another 
full-

time city employee was 
unwise from a budgetary 
standpoint. 
“For 
fiscal 
year 
20, 
we 
added 
14 
full-time 
employees 
to 
the 
city 
budget, and over the last 
three years, we’ve added 30 
FTEs,” Lumm said. “That is 
a huge number...It roughly 
represents 
three 
million 
dollars a year additionally…
Adding FTEs during the 
year and outside of the 
budget 
process 
is 
poor 
budget discipline at any 
point during the year, and 
it’s especially poor process 
when we’re three and a half 
months into the fiscal year.”
Lumm went on to discuss 
how seeing the budget as 
a flexible document is a 
bad habit for the council to 

cultivate. 
“We rarely used to do 
it, now it seems we do it 
frequently,” 
Lumm 
said. 
“Instead of a firm, binding 
document, 
the 
budget 
has become a suggested 
starting point that council 
just adds to during the year. 
Emergencies are one thing, 
but adding resources for 
normal business activities 
this soon into the fiscal 
year is not the kind of fiscal 
responsibility I believe we 
need to maintain.”
Councilmember 
Jeff 
Hayner, D-Ward 1, agreed 
with 
Lumm’s 
concerns 
about 
budget 
flexibility. 
He also argued that city 
residents didn’t specifically 
indicate a desire for these 
new positions. 
“We reach out to 
these communities and 
we ask them, ‘Would 
you want us to lower 
your 
revenues 
next 
year or do you want 
more service?” Hayner 
said. “They say they 
want 
more 
service. 
That’s 
great, 
and 
I 
think that’s great that 
the city is going to 
provide that service...
But I’m not so sure 
they knew that they 
were going to get a 
sustainability person.”
Overall, the motion 
carried, authorizing an 
increase in community 
service staffing. 
The 
council 
went 
on to discuss a new 
permit fee for medical 
marijuana 
facilities. 
The ordinance would 
establish 
an 
initial 
$5000 fee for suppliers 
of medical marijuana 
when 
obtaining 
a 
permit, 
and 
a 
subsequent 
yearly 
$5000 renewal fee. 

Councilmember 
Ali 
Ramlawi, 
D-Ward 
5, 
discussed 
how 
this 
provision was a part of 
the process of legalizing 
recreational marijuana use, 
and expressed his desire for 
the fees to fund programs 
targeting social injustice. 
“I 
sponsored 
the 
ordinance 
allowing 
recreational 
marijuana 
to take effect November 
1st, this is just protocol 
in allowing that to follow 
through,” 
Ramlawi 
said. 
“The fees that are associated 
with 
the 
permitting 
process will go back into 
administering the program, 
I just hope that future fee 
that we collect give us the 
latitude to put money into 
social programs associated 
with the social ills and 
social injustice that come 
along in everybody’s life.”
Hayner 
expressed 
concern 
with 
the 
high 
fees, citing they may act 
as barriers to entry in 
the market for supplying 
medical marijuana.
“There’s 
some 
equity 
issues 
with 
these 
fees,” 
Hayner said. “That seems 
for small business owners to 
me, five grand just to ask for 
a permit and then five grand 
to renew it…it just seems 
like a large amount.”
He went on to express 
concern that the fees were 
unfairly 
high, 
and 
did 
not provide an equivalent 
benefit to permit-holders.
“Does this not have to 
be commensurate with the 
service provided?” Hayner 
said. “What is it that we are 
doing for that five thousand 
dollars?” 
The 
motion 
passed, 
authorizing the permit fees 
for suppliers of medical 
marijuana. 

ANN ARBOR CIT Y COU NCIL

2 — Tuesday, October 22, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

OLIVIA CELL/Daily
Ann Arbor residents discuss issues at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting at City Hall Monday evening. 

TUESDAY:
By Design 

THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
FRIDAY:
Behind the Story
WEDNESDAY:
This Week in History 

MONDAY:
Looking at the Numbers

Sudoku Syndication
http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/

1 of 1
10/27/08 1:10 PM

4
8

9

6

9

5

2

5

7

1
3

5

4

1

8

9

7

8
5

4

2

7

9

4

6

8

7
5

© sudokusolver.com. For personal use only.

Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku and Godoku puzzles at sudokusyndication.com!

HAVE HOPE
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com

DESIGN BY KATHRYN HALVERSON

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327
www.michigandaily.com

ARTS SECTION
arts@michigandaily.com

SPORTS SECTION
sports@michigandaily.com

ADVERTISING
dailydisplay@gmail.com

NEWS TIPS
news@michigandaily.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
tothedaily@michigandaily.com

EDITORIAL PAGE
opinion@michigandaily.com

TOMMY DYE
Business Manager
734-418-4115 ext. 1241
tomedye@michigandaily.com

MAYA GOLDMAN
Editor in Chief
734-418-4115 ext. 1251
mayagold@michigandaily.com

PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION
photo@michigandaily.com

NEWSROOM
734-418-4115 opt. 3 

CORRECTIONS
corrections@michigandaily.com

The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during 
the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is 
available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the 
Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long 
subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription 
rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. 

FINNTAN STORER
Managing Editor 
 frstorer@michigandaily.com

GRACE KAY and ELIZABETH LAWRENCE 
Managing News Editors 
 
 news@michigandaily.com

Senior News Editors: Sayali Amin, Rachel Cunningham, Remy Farkas, Leah 
Graham, Amara Shaikh 
Assistant News Editors: Barbara Collins, Julia Fanzeres, Claire Hao, Alex 
Harring, Angelina Little, Madeline McLaughlin, Ben Rosenfeld, Emma Stein, 
Zayna Syed, Liat Weinstein

JOEL DANILEWITZ and MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA
Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Senior Opinion Editors: Emily Considine, Krystal Hur, Ethan Kessler, Miles 
Stephenson, Erin White

MAX MARCOVITCH and ETHAN SEARS 
Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com

ARYA NAIDU and VERITY STURM
Managing Arts Editors 
 
 arts@michigandaily.com

Senior Arts Editors: Clara Scott, Emma Chang, Cassandra Mansuetti, Sam 
Della Fera, Trina Pal
Arts Beat Editors: John Decker, Sayan Ghosh, Mike Watkins, Ally Owens, 
Stephen Satarino, Izzy Hasslund, Margaret Sheridan 

ALEXIS RANKIN and ALEC COHEN
Managing Photo Editors 
 photo@michigandaily.com

ROSEANNE CHAO and JACK SILBERMAN
Managing Design Editors 
 
 design@michigandaily.com
Senior Design Editor: Sherry Chen 

ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA
Statement Editor 
 statement@michigandaily.com 

Deputy Editors: Matthew Harmon, Shannon Ors

SILAS LEE and EMILY STILLMAN
Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com

Senior Copy Editors: Dominick Sokotoff, Olivia Sedlacek, Reece Meyhoefer 

CASEY TIN and HASSAAN ALI WATTOO
Managing Online Editors 
 webteam@michigandaily.com

Senior Web Developers: Jonathon Liu, Abha Panda, Ryan Siu, David Talbot, 
Samantha Cohen

ELI SIDER
Managing Video Editor 
 video@michigandaily.com

NA’KIA CHANNEY and CARLY RYAN
Michigan in Color Editors 
 michiganincolor@michigandaily.com
Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Samuel So, Ana Maria 
Sanchez-Castillo, Efe Osagie, Danyel Tharakan
Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Harnoor Singh, Nada Eldawy, Maya 
Mokh 

MADALASA CHAUDHARI and HANNAH MESKIN 
Managing Social Media Editors

Editorial Staff

Business Staff

RYAN KELLY
Sales Manager

ROBERT WAGMAN
Marketing Consulting Manager

ZELJKO KOSPIC
Special Projects Manager

ANITA MICHAUD
Brand Manager

Senior Photo Editors: Alexandria Pompei, Natalie Stephens, Alice Liu, Allison 
Engkvist, Danyel Tharakan
Assistant Photo Editors: Miles Macklin, Keemya Esmael, Madeline Hinkley, 
Ryan McLoughlin

Senior Sports Editors: Anna Marcus, Aria Gerson, Ben Katz, Mark Calcagno, 
Theo Mackie, Tien Le
Assistant Sports Editors: Bailey Johnson, Bennett Bramson, Connor Brennan, 
Jacob Kopnick, Jorge Cazares, Rian Ratnavale 

MOLLY WU
Creative Director

CATHERINE NOUHAN
Managing Podcast Editor

Sudoku Syndication
http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/

1 of 1
9/8/08 
2:06 
PM

1
7

1
2

8
7
9

5
1
2

4

9
8

7

2

2

6
5

1

6
8

3

6
2

4

3
8

2
1

GETTIN’ CHILLY
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com

Senior Video Editors: Ryan O’Connor, Joseph Sim

Senior Social Media Editor: Allie Phillips 

City Council talks fees for medical 
marijuana, full-time staff increase

Councilmembers discuss matters of budget concerning municpal employees

MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN
Daily Staff Reporter 

