Checking in With the Charter Review Committee

It’s been nearly eight months since the committee appointed to review the East Lansing City Charter held its first meeting, and so far the group has recommended 19 changes to the city’s guiding document. 

As of the March 20 Charter Review Committee meeting, there have been 18 changes recommended to specific chapters of the charter, and another recommendation that gender-neutral language be used throughout the charter, Charter Review Committee Chair Diane Goddeeris told ELi in an April 8 interview. 

The committee will continue to meet twice per month through the end of June, if it stays on schedule. So far, the committee has reviewed 17 of the charter’s 20 chapters. 

After the committee completes its review, City Council will decide whether or not to put the committee’s recommended changes on the ballot for residents to vote on. 

The city charter is East Lansing’s foundational document that provides guidelines on everything from the powers granted to City Council to how city government is structured and how local taxes are collected.

Goddeeris explained some of the highlights from the committee’s work so far. 

Committee recommends changing swearing-in date for newly elected City Council members. 

Goddeeris said one of the important recommendations is switching the swearing-in date of new City Council members to be done after the canvassing (vote counting) process is finished. The charter change would ensure the city complies with state law. 

In 2023, a similar proposed charter amendment to delay the swearing-in date of new council members to allow for canvassing was rejected by voters. That proposed amendment, however, moved the swearing-in date to January, which would create a lame duck period. 

The recommended charter change from the committee would move the swearing-in date to the first scheduled meeting after canvassing is completed. 

Goddeeris said the intent of this proposed amendment is to comply with state law, which requires time be given canvassing before new officials are seated, while avoiding lame duck periods for sitting council members. Right now, newly elected City Council members are typically sworn-in one week after Election Day. It may take more than a week to finish canvassing after some elections. 

Goddeeris, a former East Lansing mayor, explained that when she was on council there was a meeting scheduled when canvassing was not yet complete. She said she opened the meeting and then quickly adjourned because council did not want to conduct business while seats were still in doubt. 

“I opened the meeting, there wasn’t a quorum, so I closed the meeting,” she said. 

Committee recommends future City Managers be required to live in or near East Lansing, emergency succession spelled out more clearly.

Goddeeris said the committee is recommending a couple changes around the city manager position, which is East Lansing’s top ranking employee. 

One recommendation is to require future city managers live within 25 miles of East Lansing. They would be given one-year after they begin their tenure to comply with the requirement. 

Current City Manager Robert Belleman, who started in September of 2023, lives in Saginaw. If approved, this charter amendment would not apply to Belleman because he is already serving in the position. 

Another amendment clarifies the city’s succession plan for the city manager if there is an emergency and no deputy city manager position in the city’s ranks. 

If the proposal is eventually approved, the city manager would recommend an individual, likely a city department head, to also be deputy city manager. City Council would vote whether or not that recommendation is approved. The deputy city manager would then take over atop city government if needed. 

“If the city manager, I’m going to use an example, died suddenly, instead of having everybody have to come together, try to figure out what to do, there should be somebody that’s designated that will take over from that point until council takes action on what to do next,” Goddeeris said. 

At some points previously, the city has had a deputy city manager. Right now, however, the position is not budgeted for. 

Committee recommends loosening requirements for petition-initiated referendum.

The charter provides a process residents can pursue a referendum, or change, to a local law by collecting signatures to trigger a vote. The committee is recommending that process be made easier. 

Currently, residents can trigger a referendum by circulating a petition and collecting signatures from 15% of residents during a six-month collection window. Goddeeris said that if the recommended charter amendment passes, only 5% of resident signatures will be required and the allowed collection window will be expanded to 12 months. 

The 5% figure mirrors the amount required to get a charter amendment placed on the ballot. 

Additionally, Goddeeris explained that the charter requires the city to conduct a review of its ordinances every 10 years. The next review is scheduled for 2030. The committee is recommending that language be added to the charter requiring that council pass a resolution in January of the scheduled years directing the review to take place. 

If passed, this amendment would ensure that the start of the review is not put off until later in the year, Goddeeris said. 

Transparency, FOIA on the horizon. 

Goddeeris said the committee has had discussions about transparency in city government and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, but are still figuring out how to address the topic in the charter. 

There is not a transparency or FOIA section of the city charter, with some guidelines scattered throughout the document. The committee will be discussing how to best address the issue in the next couple months. 

“We’re not exactly sure whether it’ll be a separate chapter, a replacement chapter or in a preamble,” Goddeeris said. “That’s what’s really on our agenda to be discussed coming up.

“We feel like it’s really important now that everyone has easier access to documents and information,” she added. 

Committee still has a couple of months of work left. Then decisions will be turned over to City Council.

The Charter Review Committee is scheduled to wrap up its review by the end June, and then the recommendations will be turned over to City Council, Goddeeris said. 

City Council will decide whether or not the recommended charter changes be passed on to residents to vote on. At the first Charter Review Committee meeting, council liaison Mark Meadows explained the last similar review of the charter was done in the 1990s. After that review, “47 or 48” changes were recommended, and voters approved all recommended changes during two different elections that did not have much else on the ballot.

Goddeeris said the committee has two more meetings dedicated to gathering public feedback. The next public feedback meeting is on May 29, and is focused on chapters 15-20 of the charter. The final is June 26 and focuses on the entire charter. In addition to speaking at meetings, residents can email the Charter Review Committee at elcharter@cityofeastlansing.com. 

For those interested in learning more about the charter review committee’s work, it has set up a website that includes its meeting schedule, links to video recordings of the meetings and more.