LINCOLN PARK — Five city ballot proposals await voters’ decisions Tuesday, most of which deal with how and when the City Council meetings will run.
Charter Amendment 1 would change the meetings from their current weekly Monday schedule to the first and third Monday of each month. Charter Amendment 2 would move the start time up to 7:30 p.m. from the current 8 p.m.
Officials say the changes would bring the city more into the modern age, and that there’s no real reason to meet every week. They believe the move would save tens of thousands of dollars by reducing the need for camera operators that the city must pay to broadcast the meetings and for staff time to prepare and be present for the meetings; it also would free up staff to respond to residents’ concerns.
Charter Amendment 3 would remove the requirement that the council adopt rules of procedure in May. Officials say the reasons the language first was included have long since passed out of existence.
Charter Amendment 4 would require members to register votes by saying “yes” or “no” rather than “yea” or “nay.”
Charter Amendment 5 would change the due date for the third city tax installment from Feb. 28 to Feb. 15 each year. The move would match the city’s due date with that of Wayne County, which recently changed it to the 15th.