News · Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor council votes tonight on opposing the city power proposal
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Ann Arbor City Council votes tonight on a resolution urging residents to reject Proposal E, a November ballot measure that would create a municipal electric utility board, WEMU reported.
The resolution calls the proposal financially reckless and says it would burden Ann Arbor taxpayers and ratepayers and create inconsistencies in the city charter, according to MLive. It would also direct the city attorney, at the appropriate time, to challenge the proposal’s legality, including its changes to the charter.
Mayor Christopher Taylor and council members Dharma Akmon, Erica Briggs, Ayesha Ghazi Edwin and Chris Watson are the sponsors, MLive reported.
Proposal E comes from Ann Arbor for Public Power, a grassroots group that wants a city-run electric utility that could replace DTE Energy. The measure would set up a nine-member board, five elected and four appointed by the council. WEMU reported that the first board candidates would be elected in 2028.
The resolution says the board would get powers the charter now reserves for the council and the city administrator, including acquiring property, entering contracts, borrowing money, and hiring and directing staff. The council could overrule the board only with eight of its 11 votes. The resolution calls that “an extraordinary threshold that inverts ordinary majority control and strips residents of meaningful elected oversight of an enterprise able to obligate millions of dollars in city funds.”
Taylor told WEMU that such a resolution is rare but that voters should know the consequences. “The proposal is financially reckless. That it would transform Ann Arbor’s system of government and would reduce our ability to meet so many of our existing challenges,” he said.
Ann Arbor for Public Power called the resolution ludicrous, WEMU reported. “The citizen-initiated ballot initiative process is about the only way that residents can make their own decisions,” executive director Brian Geiringer said.
Supporters say the proposal would cost the city nothing and only allows the board to be created. Opponents say it would be the start of a very expensive process to take over from DTE.
The city recently went to court to defend the clerk’s certification of the petition signatures that put the measure on the ballot. It prevailed against a lawsuit brought by the DTE-backed Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition, MLive reported.
The council meets at 7 p.m. at Larcom City Hall, 301 E. Huron St. The agenda also includes the introduction of an ordinance banning the sale and use of glue traps and a rezoning for The Dean II apartment project at 548 S. Fifth Ave., according to WEMU and city records.
Sources:
89.1 WEMU, “Ann Arbor City Council to vote on opposing municipal utility board proposal,” Oct. 5, 2026, https://www.wemu.org/wemu-news/2026-10-05/ann-arbor-city-council-to-vote-on-opposing-municipal-utility-board-proposal
MLive, “Ann Arbor may legally challenge public power proposal,” Oct. 2026, https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2026/10/ann-arbor-may-legally-challenge-public-power-proposal.html
Kevin Meerschaert, 89.1 WEMU, “Ann Arbor City Council to vote on glue trap ban,” Oct. 5, 2026, https://www.wemu.org/wemu-news/2026-10-05/ann-arbor-city-council-to-vote-on-glue-trap-ban
City of Ann Arbor, City Council meeting, Oct. 5, 2026, https://a2gov.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?GUID=E08B2FA0-04D4-4BAC-AD5A-83D3E46027A8&ID=1368512
City of Ann Arbor, File 26-1519, The Dean II Rezoning (548 S Fifth Ave), https://a2gov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?GUID=69E054EF-F183-46A6-9A52-A2C5396CB86D&ID=8237305
Photo: Michael Barera, “Ann Arbor August 2013 14 (City Hall),” Aug. 2013, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-corrected, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ann_Arbor_August_2013_14_(City_Hall).jpg
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