DTE-funded group sues Ann Arbor after it approves November ballot question for city-owned utility

A DTE-funded group called the Ann Arbor Responsible Energy Coalition sued the city of Ann Arbor and its clerk, Jacqueline Beaudry, over her certification of petitions for a November ballot measure on a citizen-proposed municipal electric utility. The measure, backed by Ann Arbor for Public Power, would create a board as a first step toward the city potentially replacing DTE Energy as its power provider.

The lawsuit claims the petitions fall nearly 200 valid signatures short even after supplemental sheets were counted, that Beaudry improperly allowed those late submissions, and that the proposed charter amendment illegally bundles more than one topic. Ann Arbor for Public Power's executive director Brian Geiringer defended the clerk's process as rigorous and called the suit an attack on voters' right to consider an alternative to DTE.

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