Ypsilanti council appoints eight to Water Street committee after community poll and council ranking

The Ypsilanti City Council appointed eight people Feb. 17 to the Water Street citizen committee, combining results from a community participation meeting with council members’ tallies.

Mayor Pro Tem moved a slate of eight nominees drawn from a larger applicant pool and from a community straw poll; council voted to approve the slate by roll call. The appointed members named on the motion were: Arielle Ojibwe, Ed Carisno, Chuck Boltman, Juanita House, Allison Krueger, Deron Witherspoon, Dallas Ford and Diana Gonzalez. The council discussed ward balance, community representation and whether the community straw poll should carry extra weight; members raised concerns about errors in the spreadsheet used to catalog applicants’ ward addresses and asked staff to confirm residency data.

During the discussion council members debated selection methods: some urged an “approval-style” consensus tally (a show of hands for each candidate) to identify broadly supported candidates; others argued for further review of applications, background experience, and outreach strengths before finalizing. Council member Fellows emphasized a desire for broad buy-in and said the public straw poll could be one useful data point. Council member McLean urged the council to finish selections promptly to avoid further delay in the Water Street process.

The council’s slate satisfied the charter’s requirement that at least three committee members be selected from the community participation meeting recommendations. Council directed staff to correct applicant residency fields where necessary and to publish the committee roster.

Council members emphasized that the committee’s meetings will be open to public observation and that applicants not selected remain welcome to participate in public comment and committee meetings.