FLINT, MI – The committee behind Flint’s newest charter proposal is holding community meetings to answer questions on its updates to the 43-year-old document.
The Flint Charter Review Commission will host four informational meetings over the next month to explain its proposed changes to the charter on Flint primary ballots Aug. 8.
All meetings will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The dates and locations of the meetings are:
Tuesday, July 18, Charity United Methodist Church, 4601 Clio Road
Thursday, July 20, Asbury Methodist Church, 1653 Davison Road
Tuesday, July 25, New Jerusalem Baptist Church, 1035 W. Carpenter Road
Tuesday, Aug. 1, Christ the King Catholic Church, 1811 Seymour Street
The new charter — drafted over the last two years by the City of Flint Charter Review Commission — is aimed to boost transparency by providing notice of public meetings to residents, creating a water and sewer bill payment assistance plan, and preventing the city from raiding its water and sewer funds for other uses.
The 83-page proposed charter update (available here) also looks to appoint an ombudsperson, who would enforce the regulations and ethics requirements of the charter, investigate complaints and conduct performance audits on city officials.
The City of Flint Charter Review Commission, chaired by Cleora Magee, consists of nine residents elected to draft an update to the city’s current charter, written in 1974.
Full explanations from the commission on each of the proposed charter’s changes can be found here.
The proposed charter updates, along with primary city council elections for seats in wards 2, 3, 6,7, 8 and 9 will be on the Aug. 8 ballot.