A public hearing on the transfer is set for the commission’s April 6 meeting. This is part of a standard process whenever a transfer is requested, said Molly Notarianni, market manager. The commission will then make a recommendation, which will be sent to the city’s community services administrator for a final decision.
Responding to a question from commissioner Diane Black, Notarianni said there are limited conditions under which seniority can be transferred: When someone dies, retires or the business is purchased.
Peter Pollack told commissioners that they should plan to vote on the transfer at the April 6 meeting."
We at Fuzzbollah think that the commission was not counting on the stinking pile of crap below:
What the complaint, from 2005, indicates is the displeasure of a group of 28 other vendors at the market with any seniority being given to Carleen Goetz, since she was maintaining a stall of her own at the market, along with or alongside Preilipp. The complaint also states that a previous complaint had been filed about Preilipp/Goetz seniority by another vendor - George Merkel - two years prior to this complaint!!
So why didn't the Market Manager(s) at the time - Louise Wireman in 2003, or Jessica Black in 2005 - DO ANYTHING about these seniority complaints??? These complaints were never even brought up before the commission in 2003 through 2007 (Look at the meeting minutes for those years - oh, wait a second, that would require an FOIA). Why do issues at the market drop out of sight and fester for years before action is taken?
With the issue of seniority and transfer of seniority rights at the market (Ann Arbor being probably the only Farmers Market in the whole US that has such a convoluted set of seniority and transfer rules), one gets the sense that seniority is "important". This next bit comes from another paragraph out of the Chronicle's article: "After the meeting, Notarianni clarified why the status of a vendor’s seniority is valued. There is a seniority list that records how long each vendor has been selling at the market – some vendors go back several decades, she said. At 6 a.m. every Saturday, the market manager gathers with the vendors to assign stalls for the day. A vendor’s seniority determines the order in which those stall assignments are made – the most senior vendor gets first pick, and so on." What Mollie won't acknowledge is that the City of Ann Arbor does not have COMPLETE records to indicate true seniority. In fact, in the past, seniority was determined by date of first APPLICATION to sell at the market, and was only recently changed to date of being issued a permanent stall.
Furthermore, just 3 years ago, Community Services Administrator Jayne Miller allowed Scott Robertello, who claims he owns Kapnick Orchards - which he most certainly DOES NOT - to transfer seniority rights from Kapnick Orchards to Kapnick Farm Market (or Kapnick LLC, or R&S Farms - or all 3 business entities - the City's Legal Department isn't clear about this) all WITHOUT ANY PUBLIC HEARING!! Such selective enforcement of rules is blatantly unfair.
All one has to do is ask Ann Arbor attorneys Kevin McDonald, Abigail Elias, and Mary Fales of the City's Legal Department the following: At what meeting of the Market Commission was a transfer of seniority recommended for approval for Scott Robertello to change from Kapnick's Orchards to Kapnick Farm Market (or any other business entity)? How was this transfer officially documented?
So, I can just picture everybody lawyering up depending on the outcome of this April 6th hearing for Preilipp and Goetz. If the PMAC recommends an OK for the seniority transfer, then at least one of the group of 28 that signed the complaint may bring suit against the City. But if the transfer is denied, then Preilipp and Goetz may sue the City for giving a pass to Robertello - and to Wasem's (when old lady Wasem died in 2007, a transfer of seniority would have been a mere formality, but then, per the rules, Bruce Upston would only be able to transfer seniority to 3 stalls - not the 4 they currently sell from). At the very least, you will see a whole bunch of angry vendors.
Better yet, why not just scrap the corrupted seniority system, start fresh and unbiased, and go to an annual lottery system?
