Lansing charter commissioners support removing restriction barring candidates with felony convictions from holding public office

(This story has been updated. The previous version of this story inaccurately reported that the Lansing Board of Water & Light violated the Lansing city charter by not depositing its funds in the city treasury. Because of a reporting error, the story did not mention that a 1988 city ordinance later permitted the BWL board to manage and disburse its funds.)

(This story has also been updated to clarify that the  Charter Commission members voted to recommend that restrictions on candidacies by convicted felons be loosened. An earlier version said they had voted to allow some candidates with felonies to run for be appointed to office. The commission's author is limited to recommendations to the governor, who would decide whether to put them on the ballot.)

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 13 — Lansing Charter Commission members voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend allowing some candidates with felony convictions to run for or be appointed to public office.

The decision came after several residents spoke in public comment at previous meetings calling for commissioners to eliminate a charter provision prohibiting anyone with a felony conviction from holding any city office “for a period of 20 years from the date of conviction.” 

The commission met with attorney Kristen Rewa, of the Grand Rapids-based law firm Cummings, McClorey, Davis and Acho, in Tuesday’s regular meeting to consider her legal opinion on the matter.

At present, she explained, the state Constitution contains less restrictive guidelines for who can run for and hold public office.

According to a 2010 amendment to Michigan’s Constitution, “a person is ineligible for election or appointment to any state or local elective office and ineligible to hold a position in public employment if, within the immediately preceding 20 years, the person was convicted of a felony involving dishonesty, deceit, fraud, or a breach of the public trust and the conviction was related to the person's official capacity while the person was holding any elective office.”

In other words, Rewa explained, “if you had a candidate that was convicted of a felony for embezzling for a local nonprofit two years ago, the state Constitution does not prohibit that person from running, because that activity was not done within the scope of being a public official."

Anderson moved to alter the charter’s language to “be aligned with whatever the state constitution is.” It passed 8-0, with member Liz Boyd absent. Boyd had also previously indicated her desire to consider the change.

While Rewa noted that the new language wouldn’t apply to members of the city’s boards and commissions, Lansing voters already approved a charter amendment in 2022 that allows residents with an existing felony conviction to serve on them. Commissioners did not express an intent to alter that amendment.

Speakers like Julie Vandenboom, a candidate who finished one spot shy of winning a seat on the commission in May, indicated a desire for reforming the felony provision as early as the July 16 meeting.

“I see no reason for Lansing’s charter to contain language that’s more restrictive than what's in the Michigan State Constitution. Barring an individual who has committed any felony within the past 20 years, rather than barring only those who meet the more limited criteria delineated in the Constitution, is just putting up another barrier for folks who are leaving incarceration. Our neighbors who are returning citizens already face discrimination trying to find employment, trying to find housing. Let's not unnecessarily bar them from public service as well,” Vandenboom said at the time.

Others came out to address the matter at the Aug. 27 session. One, a resident who identified himself only as Walker, said the provision needed “to be destroyed,” noting that “Nelson Mandela could not be a city employee” in Lansing.

“We're living in a time where an individual with 34 felonies can be the President of United States, and now we're saying one can stop them from public office in our city. It's time that we wake up and realize these criminal convictions are garbage,” he said.” “They come from an era of racism, and this is a hardcore reality. In the 1960s, there was a lot of mass movement of blacks for upward mobility, and the FBI director decided that the way to stop this was felony convictions.”

On Tuesday, Commissioners followed up on these concerns. 

After compiling their suggested changes, the commission is charged with reporting possible changes to the Governor’s Office. If the governor agrees, they will be put to a vote of Lansing citizens. So far, the commission’s only vote on charter content was to confirm its commitment to the existing strong mayor system.

Rewa was also asked to provide an opinion on how the commission should go about modernizing the charter’s language as it relates to anti-discrimination practices.

She noted that the existing charter doesn’t fully reflect the state’s Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act and recommended that commissioners add language to permit the charter to automatically conform to future changes in state law and city ordinances.

“Remember that the charter, like the Constitution, sets a floor, not a ceiling. This is you setting the floor that should guide city policy and ordinance, but then also allows it to expand as the years and the decades go on,” she said.

Members opted to hold a vote at a future meeting to give them time to gather more information. They can choose to specifically add protected groups and classes to the document themselves, or follow the state’s definitions.

The Commissioners also resumed discussions from previous meetings on the City Council’s makeup. The eight-member Council comprises four elected at-large and four in wards. Members have expressed a desire to move to either seven or nine seats to prevent a split vote.

Vice Chair Lori Adams Simon suggested removing one at-large seat.

Commissioner Jody Washington and Anderson expressed a preference for expanding the number of wards, arguing that it would foster a more diverse Council makeup. The latter said more wards would make it easier for candidates from minority groups and a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds to run and win a seat.

Commissioner Muhammad Qawwee noted that the city’s population has shrunk since the first charter was implemented in 1978. Though he said he supports moving to an odd number of Council seats, he added that a potential expansion should reflect the city’s changing population.

“We could probably put in a provision that, if the city gets to 150,000 citizens, it triggers adding more Council members. But as far as us expanding it to nine right now, I don't agree,” Qawwee said.

Commissioners Guillermo Lopez and Joan Bauer said the commission needs more time to deliberate on these possibilities before coming to a consensus. Lopez added that each member should come to the next meeting with their own written recommendations on potential changes.

“I would hope that we kind of take a step back and look at the various proposals and what makes sense,” he said.

With member Liz Boyd absent, the eight remaining members voted unanimously to table the vote until at least the next meeting, Nov. 26.

Earlier on in the evening, members heard a presentation from Lansing Board of Water and Light general manager Dick Peffley and BWL Board Chair David Price. The former wrote a letter to the commission suggesting a few changes to the charter’s section regarding the BWL.

One such change was procedural. While the original 1978 charter states that “the funds and revenues of the Board of Water and Light shall be deposited in the city treasury,” a subsequent 1988 ordinance permitted the BWL to “disburse moneys of the board by checks issued by the board.”

Peffley said the charter had simply not been updated to reflect that change. Therefore, he said, as the commission moves forward in “cleaning up the language” in the original document, Peffley said the BWL would like the commission to consider giving the BWL Board of Commissioners “full control” over all of the public utility’s funds.

He added that, since he first joined the utility company in 1976, the BWL has always retained its funds in its own account.

“We went back as far as the record would go, and it has always been separate. We don't know why, if it ever changed or if it was ever done,” Peffley said.

He also noted in his letter that “the protocols currently set forth are at best cumbersome and at worst unworkable.”

Charter Commission Chair Brian Jeffries expressed concerns over “turning everything back over” to the BWL board.

“I think this was set up to have some tie between the city and the BWL board, at least on some of the financial stuff, to provide some controls that would safeguard some of the expenditure of these funds,” Jeffries said. “There are a number of provisions in the charter that provide for that, but we're finding that they're not being implemented, and there's absolutely no consequences if they don't follow those.”

“It's kind of frustrating,” he added. “As we go forward, we want to make sure that we're putting in provisions that are going to be respected and followed, and that there will be consequences if they’re not.

While commissioners did not vote on the matter, some had questions for Peffley and Price.

In an effort to promote more transparent practices, Commissioner Jazmin Anderson asked Peffley to weigh in on a resident’s suggestion that they should consider language adding two City Council members, with full voting powers, to the BWL board.

“That would be disastrous,” Peffley replied. “They’d have to run for election after they get appointed. You can't run a utility on politics. You have to do what's best long term for your customers, and those decisions are tough when your job is being held over you.”

Resident concerns about the BWL’s transparency have followed the commission ever since it began reviewing the charter last May. At present, the BWL’s board hires its own internal auditor to oversee its financial practices, but some have called for the City Council to appoint that position. The issue was spurred, in part, by the BWL board’s decision to fire its previous auditor, Frank Macciocca, last year after it was discovered that he had been making unauthorized personal purchases on a company credit card.

Commission members pledged to take a closer look at the BWL structure as they continue to rework and modernize the existing charter over the course of the next year or two. They did not set a timeline on when they could vote on potential changes, however.