Charter Review Committee approves multiple section revisions, including board-review and document‑access wording

At its Feb. 6 meeting the East Lansing City Charter Review Committee approved a series of resolutions recommending targeted changes to the city charter and related procedural language.

Votes at a glance
- Section 11.6 (resolution change): Motion moved by “Hank,” seconded by Veronica Wilkerson Johnson; committee recorded the motion as approved by voice vote. (Transcript records mover as “Hank,” seconder Wilkerson Johnson; tally not specified.)
- Section 11.8 (board of review language, appeals): Committee approved an amended text for 11.8 by voice vote; mover/second not specified in the transcript; tally not specified.
- Section 4.9 (charter violation / misdemeanor default penalty language): Motion to approve by Jonathan Forman, seconded by Veronica Wilkerson Johnson; motion approved by voice vote (tally not specified).
- Section 10.9 (annual report language): Motion moved by Weyers; motion approved by voice vote (second and tally not specified in transcript).
- Gender-neutral language resolution (chapter 8 and related references): Committee voted to recommend changing references to individuals in the charter to gender-neutral titles (referencing positions rather than gendered pronouns); motion approved by voice vote; mover/second recorded as motion and second but names in the transcript were partially garbled; tally not specified.

What the votes mean
The approved recommendations are procedural and editorial changes to charter text that the committee will forward to the City Council as recommended amendments or clarifying language. The items approved at this meeting include adjustments to how property-assessment appeals are described (11.6 and 11.8), clarifying that charter violations that do not specify a penalty default to the city code (4.9), and a clarified requirement for the annual reporting language (10.9). The gender-neutral resolution directs that references to persons in charter text be reframed by position/title.

How the committee recorded outcomes
All recorded approvals were taken by voice vote. The meeting transcript records “all those in favor say aye” and subsequent aye responses; the transcript does not include numeric roll-call tallies for these motions. Where the transcript did not identify a mover or seconder for a particular motion, this article marks those fields as not specified rather than inventing attributions.

Next steps
These committee recommendations will be transmitted to City Council for consideration. As with prior charter-review work, Council retains authority to accept, modify or reject recommended language and to determine whether any changes should be placed before voters.

Ending
Committee members and staff noted some editorial follow-up (wording details and cross-references) would be required before packeting the final recommended charter text for Council review.