Mayor vetoes recycling center
Mayor vetoes recycling center
■ Sheldon wants to halt project for review by city attorney.
By RUSSELL GRANTHAM
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
As promised, Mayor Ingrid Sheldon today vetoed plans to build a materials recycling center in Ann Arbor, at least until attorneys can iron out legal snarls that could land the city in court.
Sheldon had promised last week to halt work on the Materials Recovery Facility after City Council Democrats tried to avoid potential lawsuits by splitting the $11.9 million project and begin design work while re-bidding the construction contract.
But Sheldon vetoed that resolution today because it didn’t include funds for a review by the city attorney. The mayor also said it would amount to sole sourcing of a multi-million project and could still be challenged as irregular bidding procedure.
“It is not now, nor has it ever been, my desire to undermine the good intentions of hard-working former councils which have made conscientious decisions based on the best and most accurate information presented to them,” Sheldon wrote in a letter to City Council accompanying the veto. But “before we can make that decision, I believe that we need outside counsel to assist us.”
A losing bidder, Massachusetts’-based Container Recovery Inc., (or CRINC), has repeatedly threatened to sue the city.