Tecumseh voters to elect commission to revise city charter
TECUMSEH — In 1954, the first transistor radio was developed, Al Kaline played his first full season with the Detroit Tigers, Oprah Winfrey was born and Tecumseh adopted its city charter.
A lot has changed since then, but Tecumseh's charter has remained largely the same. That could change in the next year or two.
In this coming Tuesday's election, Tecumseh voters will choose the nine members of a charter commission that will review the current charter and recommend updates. Three names are on the ballot: Robert E. Haeussler, Jeanne G. Knight and Adrienne Voelker. They went through the nominating procedure to be on the ballot, Tecumseh City Clerk Tonya Miller said.
Seven others have filed to be write-in candidates: Heather Burdick, Roger Hart, Gina Nowak, Jane Poczatek, Martha Putt, Louise Salamin and Barbara Vallieu. With there being 10 candidates for nine spots on the commission, Miller said, the person who finishes in 10th place will serve as an alternate on the commission.
In-person voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 7 at the AJ Smith Recreation Center, 810 N. Evans St. All of the city's precincts will vote at the rec center in this election.
Once established, the commission will have occasional meetings over the next year or so, Miller said. Those meetings will be open to the public. While state laws says it can have up to 90 meetings, it's more likely that there will be four to six meetings. The commissioners will be paid, but the city council still has to set that amount.
The commission will be empaneled for up to three years. If a revised charter is not adopted by then, a new charter commission would have to be elected, Miller said.
The process is not expected to take three years, Miller said.
"We're hoping we're on the shorter side of that, between 12 to 18 months," she said.
Once the commission has drafted a revised charter, it will then go to the governor for approval. If the governor approves the revised charter, it then goes to the attorney general for a legal review to identify potential problems before being put before the city's voters for adoption, Miller said. The governor or attorney general could send the revised charter back to the charter commission with feedback on what still needs work.
Any proposed changes will come from the charter commission and not the city's elected or appointed officials, Miller said. The revised charter will then have to be approved by the city's voters in order to take effect.
Changes in the state's election laws were the main motivation behind the city's decision to revise the charter.
"We just had so many charter provisions that no longer complied with state law," Miller said. "And when it comes to elections, state law trumps the city charter."
Other procedures listed in the charter have changed over time as roles and responsibilities have changed, she said.
The charter is the city's governing document, like the state or federal constitution. It spells out the format of the city's government, the city's departments, when and how elections are conducted, and budgeting and taxation procedures, among other things.
There have been some amendments to the charter over the years, Miller said, but there have been so many changes in state law since 1954, particularly with regards to elections, that doing a full revision made more sense than putting several amendments before voters.
"When you amend a charter, you actually have to put the current language and then you have to show the revised language, and to do that for everything that we want to cover or we want reviewed, it would be a phenomenal ballot, so a revision was the best approach," Miller said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh city charter commission on Nov. 7 ballot
