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Charter commission debates whether city attorney should be elected, and how department heads report to mayor or council
Summary
Commissioners spent substantial time on March 4 discussing whether the city attorney should be an elected office and on clarifying appointment, reporting and removal authority for department heads including the police and fire chiefs; no final charter decision was made on an elected city attorney.
Commissioners on the Lansing Charter Commission spent a large portion of the March 4 meeting debating how the charter should treat the city attorney and department heads, including how officials are appointed, confirmed and removed.
Several commissioners voiced support for an elected city attorney. Commissioner Washington said an elected city attorney would “answer to the people and not to the mayor or the city council,” and argued the current arrangement—where the mayor appoints and has termination authority—creates a structural conflict. “The way it is written right now… the mayor has the authority to fire the city attorney. The council does not,” Washington said, calling the system “broken.”
Other commissioners urged caution. Commissioner Cooley and others noted that…
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