Royal Oak, Clawson voters to decide changes to charters

ROYAL OAK/CLAWSON — Residents in Royal Oak and Clawson will have proposed charter changes to decide on for the November election.

On the Tuesday, Nov. 7, ballot, Royal Oak residents will vote on two charter amendments, while Clawson residents will vote on one.

The first proposed Royal Oak charter amendment seeks to raise the city’s road millage, which had decreased due to Headlee rollbacks, to 2.5 mills.

The entire ballot language reads, “Proposed Amendment to Chapter 8, Section 11(d) of the Royal Oak City Charter to Reestablish the 2.5 Mill Road Millage Previously Approved by the Electors that Expires as of the December 2023 Levy. The proposed amendment to Chapter 8, Section 11(d) of the Royal Oak City Charter, if approved, would allow the City to levy a millage annually not to exceed 2.5 mills, of which 2.3026 is a renewal of the previously authorized millage and a restoration of the 0.1974 mills previously rolled back by the Headlee Amendment, for a period not to exceed ten (10) years beginning December 1, 2024, to defray the costs for maintaining, repairing and reconstructing roads and right-of-ways in the City of Royal Oak. Shall the proposal be adopted?”

According to City Manager Paul Brake, the millage originally was passed in 2015 at a rate of 2.5 mills, but through Headlee, it reduced to around 2.3 mills. Under Headlee, if the assessed value of a local taxing jurisdiction increases by more than the inflation rate, the maximum property tax millage must be reduced so that the local jurisdiction’s total taxable property brings in the same gross revenue as adjusted for inflation.

If the amendment is approved, Brake estimates it will generate about $8 million a year. Combined with another $2.5 million that comes from a city gas tax, Royal Oak’s annual road budget would be $10.5 million.The proposed millage is for 10 years.

“We are focusing primarily on what we would term the major streets or roads that are wider and more heavily used,” he said. “So your major corridors, and to resurface, to repave, or whether they’re streets or whatever the case may be, we’re projecting out 33 miles worth.”

If the amendment doesn’t pass, then the millage would go away and only the $2.5 million gas tax would be collected, stated Brake.

“The improvements that we’re projecting that will be done in the next 10 years will take 25 years (in that case) because … we’d have to scale back improvements from $10.5 million down to $2.5 (million),” he said.

More information from Royal Oak on the millage can be found at romi.gov/1748/Road-Millage-Renewal-2025-2034.

A group in the city called Royal Oak Roads has come out against the proposal

“Just because the Royal Oak City Commission asks for more money doesn’t mean it’s needed or will be well-spent,” reads a portion of its website, royaloakroads.com.

A representative from Royal Oak Roads could not be reached for comment by press time.

The second charter amendment in Royal Oak is to install a new voting system for elections called ranked-choice voting.

The ballot language reads, “A proposed Royal Oak city charter amendment, to provide that the Mayor and City Commissioners are to be elected by a Ranked Choice Voting method when a RCV election process is allowed by law. Shall this proposal be adopted?”

The proposed amendment comes from Rank MI Vote, which submitted a petition to get the proposal on the ballot.

According to its website, “In Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), voters rank as many candidates as they want in order of preference. This improved voting method gives voters more freedom, more expression, and more power. Instead of picking just one candidate, a voter has the option to rank their candidates in order of preference — 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on.”

The Royal Oak Review could not reach Rank MI Vote for comment on the proposed amendment. For more information, visit rankmivote.org/royal-oak.

 

Clawson
Clawson’s proposed new charter will be on the ballot. It has several changes based on the feedback of the nine-member Charter Commission that was elected in November 2021.

According to a press release, this will be the first time that residents will have a chance to revise the document since 1940.

Chair of the Charter Commission Laura Slowinski told the Royal Oak Review that some changes are more substantial than others, but in terms of how important they are, that depends on the perspective of each resident.

She said the commission deleted items that are state law and no longer need to be in the charter.

“Then we clarified responsibilities, roles of the city officials, and basically, we read, word for word, each article in the charter and the nine of us said to each other, does this make sense?” she said.

“When we revised it, we made (it about) greater accountability, ethical standards and transparency. That was really important to the commission,” she continued.

Changes also were made to the charter in regard to appointing members to the council and the need to resign from office to run for different elected positions.

“The proposed revised city charter requires City Council to pass ordinances in place for filling vacancies with the most qualified people, but it limits the length of time that those who fill vacancies by the appointment may serve in the office before their seat is up for election,” she said.

Appointments will last only to the next regular city election, at which point the position will be up for election on the city ballot.

People serving on city bodies, such as the council or the Planning Commission, will no longer have to resign from their seats first in order to run for another office.

The charter commission proposes increasing the City Council from five to seven members and increasing the mayor’s term from two years to four years. The changes would start with the 2025 elections. It also proposes lowering the age limit for City Council members from 25 to 21.

The proposed revised city charter would mandate that a charter review question appear before voters every 12 years. The question would ask whether the city should review its charter and elect a charter commission.

To review the proposed changes to the Clawson charter, visit cityofclawson.com/your_government/charter_commission_.php. For any questions, email charter@cityofclawson.com.