Christopher Taylor is the Third Ward incumbent who announced plans to run for Mayor.

• Julie Grand (D) - On Jan. 14 the Chronicle reported: Grand to Run Again for Ward 3 Council. With twice as much money and a well organized campaign, Grand was unable to beat the quirky campaign of the incumbent in 2013.
  
• Robert Dascola (D) - announced his candidacy March 12

Bob Dascola for City Council
1815 Baldwin Ave.
Ann Arbor , MI 48104
bdascola@gmail.com

Soon after the 2013 election season concluded with the November elections the next cycle began. The 2014 local elections may be particularly interesting because of the potential number of open seats. Here are a couple of news articles about the upcoming race for Mayor:

• September 27, 2013 Ann Arbor Chronicle - Kunselman Pulls Petitions for 2014 Mayor’s Race
• October 11, 2013 mLive.com - Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje says he won't seek re-election in 2014
• October 17, 2013 mLive.com - Who could be Ann Arbor's next mayor? Several eyeing open seat in 2014
• December 20, 2013 Ann Arbor Chronicle - Taylor Pulls Petitions to Run for Mayor

Council Members Petersen and Taylor would be facing re-election this year for their Council seats and if they run for Mayor instead would leave those races open for new candidates. Similarly, County Board of Commissioners members Smith and Rabhi cannot run for re-election for their County positions if they choose to run for Mayor.

In Michigan, we will be selecting a Governor, U.S. Senator, State Representatives, some State Senators, all State House members and many local officials in 2014. The money and time needed to run a good local race will be harder to acquire with so many other campaigns going on in the same election season.

I apologize for hijacking your problem to make my own point, but I think it's relevant: we the taxpayers are investing money in a new, purportedly more efficient, trackable system to help provide accountability and results for requests like yours, as well as paying customer service people to answer phones and make referrals. Some council members have taken it upon themselves to circumvent these systems, encouraging constituents to "call me first," and making requests directly to staff, which may help with re-election but is not considered good form. It is also not the role of a council member (yes, "not their job") to be a front-line maintenance request person. Some enjoy doing this, but I would venture it is often to the detriment of the job they were elected to do, which is passing the budget, supervising the city administrator and attorneys, hiring an auditor, and making good policies that help our future and make us financially sustainable.

Now, if a dedicated citizen like you attempts to solve a problem through the established methods and it doesn't work (or if a citizen doesn't know about the established channels), then that's a staff problem that needs to be fixed for good, not circumvented in a one-off fashion. Given there's no clear chain of command published on the city's website, that seems to warrant a call to a councilmember, who will contact the city administrator to find out what the root of the problem is. It seems he has a good track record of doing so.

In summary, I hear your frustration. I was unsuccessful last night in placing my first request via the new A2 Fix It, so that's today's volunteer activity to troubleshoot. I wish I could offer more hope but honestly, I think we may be in for more frustration as our city's costs grow faster than our revenues in the short term. Ideas for cost savings, revenue generation, process improvements are always welcome.