East Lansing City Council Candidates Share Thoughts On Proposed Amendments to the City Charter

This year, six candidates are competing for two seats on the East Lansing City Council. To get to know candidates better, ELi asked candidates to respond to three different questions in 200 words or less.

The second question we asked candidates regards recommended changes to the city charter.

Recently, a city committee wrapped up a thorough review of the city charter. The next City Council will review recommendations made by the Charter Review Committee and decide whether or not to put them on the ballot for voters to decide on. To gauge candidates’ stances on the recommended charter changes, ELi asked the following question:

“The next City Council will decide whether or not to put many recommendations made by a Charter Review Committee on the ballot for voters to decide on. Are there any recommendations made by the committee that you oppose putting on the ballot? Any that you think the city should prioritize putting on a ballot sooner?”

This is how candidates responded:

Joshua Ramirez-Roberts

“I want to thank the charter review committee for putting in the work on reading through our guiding document as it is not an easy task. Looking through its recommendations, I fully support establishing a clear timeline for getting a proposed budget to council so that we can put the needed time and effort into creating a balanced budget instead of having to rush against the clock. I also support the committee’s recommendations to increase transparency such as setting publishing timelines for budget audits, making FOIA accessible to residents and preventing punitive fines for accessing public documents,and giving residents access to financial impact statements on tax incentives given out to developers. Something I’m happy to see made it into the recommendations is pushing the city to double down on our efforts to get a voting member on the board of BWL. East Lansing deserves to have a vote on the utility services provided to our community, and to be able to take a stand on fighting against rate hikes and fighting for clean energy.”

Liam Richichi

“The work that the Charter Review Committee does to find ways to better our city is commendable and should be applauded by our community. I stand firm in my belief that we should have a series of town halls, with accessible options for everyone, on each one of the recommendations to receive direct feedback from the community. As we gather input from the community, we can gauge which ones are most popular and palatable and, from there, put them on the ballot accordingly for a vote. A city is only as strong as its people, and we should not make decisions for residents unilaterally.”

Kath Edsall

“Section 6.6 of the City Charter calls for a periodic review of the Charter. This should have happened in 2020 but I am sure Covid delayed a lot of governmental procedures.

“As a member and recurrent chair of the ELPS Board of Education Policy Committee, I view most of these changes as necessary work to clean up the language to align with current law or to align with community values. I do not oppose any of these amendments. I feel all of them should be put to a vote of the
residents of East Lansing. However, if the decision is to bring these forth at different times, I feel that the amendments that prioritize transparency and specific timing of the Budget and Audit process (Sec. 10.2, 10.4, 10.5 and 10.9) as well as the changes to Chapter 17 that address the functioning of the library
and the added language to the Charter under Chapter 3 to address Transparency and Records Access should be prioritized and are important to building trust in the community.”

Chuck Grigsby

“I do not oppose putting any of the Charter Review Committee’s recommendations on the ballot. From the outside looking in, they put in months of careful work, and I respect that process. My priority would be the emergency succession update for the City Manager. Residents deserve uninterrupted city services, and we should clearly name a second in command who can step in if the City Manager is unavailable. That gives staff and the public certainty in a crisis and keeps daily operations on track.

“I would also move the regular ordinance and code review to voters. This adds Charter language that requires the Council, in scheduled review years such as 2030, to pass a resolution initiating a ten-year review and clean-up of city ordinances. It puts accountability on the calendar and keeps our rules up to date for residents and businesses.

“I appreciate the committee’s service to the city. Their time, care, and thoroughness give voters a clear set of choices, and I am grateful for the work they did to get us here.”

Steve Whelan

“I recognize the outstanding work that was done by the charter review commission. It was an incredible amount of work by volunteers and the previous City Attorney. Regarding the Charter, I am not personally opposed to any of the proposed changes. I would like to see these go through the standard process of city staff and the new City Attorney’s review, before going to the public vote for affirmation. Due to the amount of change, this would need to be carried over a significant amount of time.

“I particularly endorse the change to the start of the newly elected City Council, the requirement of the city managers parameter of living within 25 miles of the city, and the proposed adjustments to the library board, bringing it more in line with standard council protocols.”

Adam DeLay

“After reviewing the nearly 30 proposed charter amendments, there aren’t any that I would oppose putting on the ballot. While I would have preferred the city to have initiated an elected Charter Review Commission instead of the process it ultimately chose, I believe the Charter Review Committee worked hard on these proposals and residents deserve the opportunity to weigh in. Given the number of proposals, I think they should be spread out among two or more elections, so that voters aren’t overwhelmed by a ballot with nearly 30 questions on it. There are some proposals, such as the one that would move the beginning of council member terms to after the canvass of that election, that should be given priority, as right now the city is, I believe, in violation of state law in terms of when council member terms begin (and, having served on the Ingham County Board of Canvassers, I’ve seen firsthand how much this change is needed.)”