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Detroit clerk’s budget holds roughly steady; council approves studies and short-term funding for public access tools
Summary
Detroit City Council members heard the city clerk’s fiscal-year presentation showing only minor budget changes, then approved motions to study and fund a city legislative search system, add four FTEs for the project and provide short-term funding to publish ordinances online.
The Detroit City Council’s Internal Operations Committee received the City Clerk’s office budget presentation and approved several motions to study and fund improvements to public access to legislative records.
Clerk Winfrey told the committee the clerk’s baseline budget is largely unchanged from last year, with a difference of roughly $3,500 on a total budget of about $3,000,000 and a net reduction of two positions that were replaced by a single higher-paid role to improve staff retention. She said the office is accounting for rising costs for closed-session court reporting, transcription services and the Detroit Legal News, which she said has raised prices amid general inflation.
The committee’s discussion focused on public access to voting and legislative records. Member Durhall moved — and the council approved by unanimous consent with no objections recorded — a motion to direct staff to research and prepare an appropriation for a citywide legislative search system and to put that matter into executive session for appropriations planning. Durhall also moved, and the council approved, an additional appropriation to the clerk’s budget to fund four full‑time equivalent positions tied to that project. Durhall later moved, and the committee approved, a separate appropriation to support the clerk’s office in publishing current ordinances online while longer-term software options are explored.
Clerk Winfrey and Andre Gilbert, deputy city clerk, said the clerk’s office currently publishes ordinances in the Detroit Legal News and then transmits them to Civic Plus (and historically to Municode) for codification. Attorney Powell explained the charter requires publishing ordinances in loose-leaf form before codification, and the clerk’s office is discussing with Civic Plus a procedure to post published ordinances faster; Powell said that procedure might require a Charter amendment or a written procedure to remain compliant. Powell and staff described proofreading and the large volume and length of zoning ordinances as key reasons the municipal code updates can lag by months, and she said the office is preparing a supplement to incorporate dozens of passed ordinances.
Council members pressed for faster publicly searchable records and for vote-tracking tools that would let constituents see how council members voted and read members’ statements. Clerk Winfrey and Gilbert said the city has been working with eScribe, which has promised a public-vote suite; the vendor’s timeline was described as late 2025 to early 2026. Gilbert said the clerk’s office will issue a request for information (RFI) with the city’s OCFO to see what other vendors provide.
The motions approved at the meeting were taken by unanimous consent; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript. The clerk’s staff said they will return to the council with proposals and requested funding amounts for the FTEs and the ordinance-publication work.
The committee closed the clerk’s budget hearing and moved to the Department of Elections presentation.
For reference, the committee recorded no changes to long-term policy in the meeting text; items approved were study/appropriation actions and short-term funding directives pending follow-up by staff and purchase/RFI processes.
