Charter commission renames mayoral aide, adds strategic-plan requirement; debates timing of State of the City report

The Lansing Charter Commission voted Feb. 4 to replace the charter term “executive assistant” with “deputy to the mayor,” and adopted language requiring the mayor to publish a strategic plan, while deferring a final decision on moving the annual State of the City report date.

The change to the deputy title passed after commissioners debated whether the role should be called “deputy mayor,” “chief administrative officer” or “chief of staff.” Commissioner Lori Boyd said the existing charter language describing duties was broad enough and favored a title change so the role better reflects responsibilities. Commissioner Jasmine Anderson said she opposed “deputy mayor” because the title suggests succession; Commissioner Adam Simon and others said the charter should require the deputy to have qualifications relevant to administering city operations.

Commissioners also voted to add a strategic-plan requirement proposed by Mayor Andy Hollister; the commission inserted the mayor’s suggested text into Article 4 and agreed to renumber subsections. The strategic-plan language was moved and supported and adopted by voice vote.

Members debated whether to move the State of the City presentation from its current timing in January to a later date. Several commissioners and staff said the current marching order gives tight timing ahead of the city budget process; staff counsel suggested March 1 as a compromise to provide more time for departmental inputs. No formal motion to change the date was adopted at the meeting; the commission discussed retrieving the mayor’s recent State of the City reports for review before deciding.

Commission counsel also led discussion about how charter language should treat the mayor’s principal deputy and how to describe minimum qualifications without locking the charter into a rigid job description. Counsel recommended keeping descriptive, broadly phrased qualifications in the charter and letting the mayor’s office and human-resources professionals develop job descriptions that can be updated without charter amendments. Commissioners asked counsel to draft suggested qualification language for later review.

The commission also approved clarifying edits and an internal delegation provision that lets the mayor delegate duties by filing a notice with the city clerk. Commissioners said they will return to refine language about public reporting (for example, the State of the City) and annual departmental accountability and asked staff to propose draft language on response expectations and transparency.

The vote to rename the position was recorded as a motion and second; the motion passed on a voice vote with one recorded dissent. The strategic-plan insertion passed by voice vote. No change to January deadlines was adopted; commissioners asked staff to bring examples and recent mayoral reports back for the next meeting.