City Clerk Rejects Petitions to Amend Charter 28
On July 1, 2022, petitions were filed with the City Clerk’s Office for a ballot proposal which would ask the voters to amend City Charter Section 28 to remove the language requiring an affirmative vote of the electorate prior to the City approving a building with a height of 60 feet or more.
The petitions submitted to the City Clerk’s Office were required to contain a minimum of 658 valid signatures. Of the 697 submitted, 623 were determined valid, which alone requires the City Clerk to reject the petitions. Additionally, the City Clerk is rejecting the petitions as advised by the City Attorney because they do not comply with provisions of the Home Rule City Act and Michigan Election Law. Specifically, the petitions do not state what body, organization, or person who is primarily interested in or responsible for the circulation of the petition. This a mandatory requirement and not a discretionary requirement. In addition, the petitions are not addressed to the City Clerk which is also a requirement.
“We respect and appreciate the work from the citizenry that has gone into this effort. Regardless of the subject, when any petition is filed with our office, and we must rejected, we respect that it is disappointing to many involved in the effort to ask voters to weigh in on an issue,” says City Clerk Benjamin Marentette.