A DTE-funded group, the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition, is suing the city of Ann Arbor and its clerk, Jacqueline Beaudry, over Beaudry's certification of petitions which could result in the city taking the first step toward a city-owned electric utility, replacing DTE.
A citizens group called Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2) wants voters in November to say yes to a charter amendment that would establish a Municipal Electric Utility Board, in order to eventually separate the city from its electric power supplier, DTE Energy, and create a city-owned electric utility.
The lawsuit claims there were not enough valid signatures on the petitions submitted by A2P2, and that Beaudry wrongly allowed the group to submit supplemental petition sheets after her initial canvas.
The lawsuit says even after counting signatures on the supplemental sheets, the petition is still nearly 200 valid signatures short of the number required to be certified for the November ballot.
Finally, the lawsuit says the proposed charter amendment includes more than one topic, in violation of the Home Rule City Act's single-subject rule for proposed amendments.
The city of Ann Arbor has not responded to the lawsuit.
"We’re confident that Clerk Beaudry followed procedures correctly,” said Brian Geiringer, executive director of Ann Arbor for Public Power. “Her reputation for both rigor and fairness is impeccable. This groundless lawsuit is a direct attack on the will of the people to have an alternative to DTE on the ballot this November.”
