Proposed Lansing City Charter goes to voters in November

MONDAY, June 30 — Lansing voters will decide in November whether to approve a new city charter, City Clerk Chris Swope said today.

It contains several major changes — such as expanding the City Council’s size and its election schedule — from the 1978 charter, which essentially sets the city’s operating rules.

Brian Jeffries, the commission’s chair, said the panel approved the new charter proposal June 3 and sent it to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel for legal review, as required by state law. Jeffries expressed confidence it would pass muster.

One major change is that the new charter would expand the Council to nine seats by adding a fifth ward. Right now, there are four ward members and four at-large members.

Also, voters would decide on choosing all Council members in one election every four years, beginning in 2029. Currently, voters elect two ward and two at-large positions every other year.

Another significant charter revision would give the City Council equal authority to remove or suspend the city attorney. That power resides entirely in the mayor’s control under the current charter.

The city’s internal auditor would become an independent post. Currently, the auditor reports to the mayor and the Council.

The proposed charter calls for a “Tax and Debit Dashboard for financial transparency.”

The City Clerk’s Office has issued an online document outlining the proposed changes. It is available at  https://www.lansingmi.gov/1233/Charter-Commission.

Voters will have to decide whether to approve the proposed charter, which would replace the charter that has been in effect since 1978. It has been amended multiple times, but this is the first complete revision, which Lansing residents voted in 2023 to undertake.

They elected the paid nine-member commission in May 2024, which began working the same month. The city allocated a $500,000 budget for it. Jeffries estimated that it has spent about half.

The City Clerk’s Office document defines the city charter as “founding document that outlines the structure and operations of the City of Lansing, establishing the framework for its government including Powers of the City, Structure of government, the Election Process, Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens, Fiscal Management, and the Amendment Process.”

Other revisions in the Clerk’s Office’s comparison affect the Lansing Board of Water & Light. The charter commission approved removing the three nonvoting members from suburban Lansing as BWL commissioners. Lansing residents amended the charter to add them over a decade ago, following complaints from suburban BWL customers about poor communications during the massive ice storm in December 2013.

The new charter would also require the BWL to hold two hearings instead of one before implementing a proposed rate change and mandate that the general manager or a designee meet with the public four times a year. Right now, there is no such requirement.

Other changes of note listed by the Clerk’s Office deal with candidates for elected office. One would require them to have been a city resident for a year before filing for office, as opposed to a year before taking office if elected. Another would reform a provision that bars candidates for city office with any felony conviction in the preceding 20 years. Instead, they’d be banned for felony convictions “relating to dishonesty, deceit, or fraud while holding elective office in local, state, or federal government.”

The charter proposal would also reform the charter process. Right now, the charter requires voters to decide whether to approve undertaking a complete charter review every 12 years. The new charter would ask voters every 16 years. And charter commissioners would be elected at the same time, not in a subsequent election.

Perhaps the most controversial issue the charter commission considered was whether to stick with a strong mayor form of government or adopt some version of a city manager system. After considerable discussion, it voted unanimously to retain the current system.

Plans to have the new charter on the ballot in November could still go awry. But Jeffries said he does not foresee any serious bumps.

Swope said the General Election ballot deadline is mid-August. Jeffries said he expected the state will complete its review in time for the commission to make any necessary technical changes before the ballot must be locked in.

Jeffries also said he was unaware of any significant concerns of Mayor Andy Schor over proposed changes. 

The Mayo's Office issued a statement today that said:

"Mayor Schor is carefully reading the draft Charter and looking at all of the proposed changes. He hasn’t seen anything that would make him opposed, so at this point he is undecided on whether to support or remain neutral until he has a chance to study it further."

If voters reject the new charter, the commission would have a second opportunity to revise it. Technically, it gets three chances to submit it to voters, but Jeffries said just one more was realistic, given the 30-month timeline it has under state law to complete its work.

Jeffries said the commission plans four community meetings between now and the Nov. 4 election to answer questions on its proposal.