Council Could Change Voting Years from Odd to Even, But Mayor Says It Won’t
There’s more to the story of the City Charter amendment proposal that sought to change when East Lansing voters elect members of City Council.
The Charter change, if enacted, would have shifted elections for East Lansing Council from odd-numbered years to even, substantially changing how the elections work.
Back on July 11, Council voted 4-1 to put the matter on the ballot for voters to decide. The matter then moved on to the governor’s office for approval. But on Aug. 15, the City Clerk’s office got word Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had not given approval. That means it won’t be on the ballot this November.
ELi has now obtained from the City Clerk’s office the communication from the state to the city about this matter. (See it here.) It explains remarks made by Mayor Ron Bacon at Council’s most recent meeting (Aug. 15).
There, without clarifying what he was talking about, Mayor Ron Bacon said he doesn’t want to change the voting year schedule via a Council resolution. He wants the voters to decide the matter.
“The goal is to get people a chance to vote on that subject,” Bacon said. “It wouldn’t be something that Council would do by resolution, so that would probably fall to the next Council if it’s something they have interest in. So, it wouldn’t be anything we do by resolution. It was gonna be kind of a democratic sorting of that issue.”
This is the first time there was any discussion at City Council of the possibility of Council enacting the change through a resolution. A communication from Assistant Attorney General George Elworth included in the packet provided to ELi by the Clerk’s office explains more.
According to the communication, a 2012 amendment to Michigan Election Law “requires a city council to adopt a resolution for this change.” This means Council could vote this change through, rather than having to get voter approval.
But passing this resolution isn’t as simple a process as in some cases. For this, according to Elworth, the Council would have to take the following steps:
- Adopt the resolution to change the voting year before Jan. 1 of the year the change would take effect.
- Hold at least one public hearing on the resolution.
- Before adopting the resolution, “the council gives notice of each public hearing on the resolution in a manner designed to reach the largest number of the city’s qualified electors in a timely fashion.”
Elworth wrote that these resolutions were passed in Pontiac, Flint and Grand Ledge, but after they instituted charter revision commissions – commissions specifically tasked with examining city charters and making recommendations for changes.
In June, before Council’s votes on the ballot proposals, a number of East Lansing citizens weighing in called for Council to not put any changes on the ballot until a charter revision commission had been assembled and completed its work.
Councilmember George Brookover agreed with that approach. But he was outvoted 4-1 by the remaining members of Council who opted to put three amendment proposals on the ballot.
Two other Council-approved Charter amendment proposals, approved by the governor, will be on the ballot. One calls for increasing the size of Council from five to seven members, and the other would change the date of swearing-in, responding to state election law changes and creating a lame-duck session.
Another Charter amendment will also be on the ballot. This one, brought through a citizen petition organized by RankMIVote, would change voting for Council to a ranked-choice system and would allow Council to call for special elections to fill vacant seats. ELi reported on Aug. 13 that this amendment proposal confused Council and now involves ballot language that doesn’t mention both proposed changes are presently illegal under state law. (Read more.)