Vote NO on Flint Charter Amendments November 4th!

Vote NO on Flint Charter Amendments November 4th!

Vote for your future!
Reject the policies of the emergency manager
Vote NO on Flint Charter amendments November 4th!

On Tuesday November 4th Flint residents will have the opportunity to reject the actions of the emergency manager. We urge you to vote NO on the five proposed charter amendment changes. We also ask you to vote NO on the ballot question to form a Charter Revision Commission.

PLEASE VOTE NO BECAUSE:
• This was not a citizen led or citizen initiated process. These charter amendment recommendations came from the Blue Ribbon Committee on Governance, a group hand picked by emergency manager Darnell Earley. This group met in secret and voted to not have their meetings open to the public.
• Once power is restored to the city council and the mayor they will have the power to rescind the emergency manager’s executive orders. With a yes vote, these changes become permanent.
• Don’t be fooled. Do not enshrine or cosign the actions of the emergency manager. Through executive order, the emergency manager has already eliminated the office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service

Charter Amendment Proposal #6: An amendment to eliminate the office of the Ombudsman:

On December 8, 2011 Emergency Manager Mike Brown signed Executive Order 5, which eliminated the office of the Ombudsman. An excerpt from the executive order is below:

“Pursuant to Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager may, at his discretion and notwithstanding any
charter provisions to the contrary, eliminate departments of local government; and
Pursuant to Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager may, notwithstanding any minimum staffing
level requirement established by charter or contract, establish and implement staffing levels for
local government; and
Based on the foregoing, it is hereby ordered that the Office of Ombudsman established by Flint
City Charter §3-501 through §3-517 is eliminated. All employees assigned to the Office of
Ombudsman are terminated.”

Once Flint is out of receivership, the mayor has the power to rescind this executive order and Flint City Council could appoint an ombudsman. The ombudsman is the people’s watchdog. If you felt mistreated by a city employee, you could file a complaint with the ombudsman and they would launch an investigation. This question has been on the ballot several times since the creation of this office in 1974. Every time the public has voted to retain the office of the Ombudsman. A yes vote will eliminate this office. Over the years the Ombudsman has investigated police brutality and has been a place for residents to complain about city services. Flint and Detroit are the only communities in Michigan that has this office.

Charter Amendment Proposal #5: An amendment to eliminate the Civil Service Commission

On December 8, 2011 Emergency Manager Mike Brown signed Executive Order 6, which eliminated the Civil Service Commission. An except from the executive order is below:

“Pursuant to Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager may, at his discretion and notwithstanding any
charter provisions to the contrary, eliminate departments of local government; and
Pursuant to Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager may, notwithstanding any minimum staffing
level requirement established by charter or contract, establish and implement staffing levels for
local government; and
Based on the foregoing, it is hereby ordered that the Civil Service Commission established by
Flint City Charter §5-101 through §5-402 is eliminated. All employees assigned to the Civil
Service Commission are terminated.”

A yes vote would make this executive order permanent.

Charter Amendment Proposal #4: An amendment to eliminate the requirement for specific executive departments

According to section 4-203(A)of the Flint City Charter, the executive departments are: public safety, public works, utilities, parks and recreation, transportation including aviation, finance, community development, and environmental protection. The mayor already has the authority to reorganize and create new departments to meet the needs of residents through the charter. Currently executive department heads are appointed by the mayor with the approval of city council. The executive department heads serve at the pleasure of the mayor. This is charter amendment is unnecessary.

Charter Amendment Proposal #3: An amendment that would establish a budget stabilization fund and require budgetary “best practices.”

This amendment would require that future budgets presented to council include a message explaining the budget, multi-year financial plans and revenue projections, and establish a budget stabilization fund. The public receives an oral explanation of the budget during the mayor’s presentation to council. During the budgeting council hears testimony from department heads. Budgets from previous years are available and can be compared to determine trends. It may not have highlights or fancy graphs, but the meat of any budget is in the numbers. This part of the amendment is purely for aesthetics and totally unnecessary.
The crux of this amendment is the establishment of a budget stabilization fund. Current Flint funds are: general fund, major streets, local streets, police and fire millage, neighborhood police millage, parks millage, lighting special assessment, waste collection, drug forfeiture, HUD grant 2014, other grants, federal stimulus grant, building safety fund, public improvement fund, sewer fund, water fund, and internal service fund . The budget stabilization fund may be necessary, but it can be created through ordinance process.
Charter Amendment Proposal #2: An amendment to reduce the amount of mayoral principal staff appointments

This amendment will amend sections 4-202 (A) and (C) of the charter to reduce amount of mayoral principal staff appointments from a maximum of 10 to a maximum of 5. Principal staff officials are responsible for budget, planning, personnel, legal counsel and administrative services. This amendment is unnecessary. It has not utilized to it’s full capacity in years.

Proposal #1: General revision of city charter

With this proposal, Flint residents will decide if they wish to start the charter revision process. The impact of the charter is far reaching. It can affect a generation. We need more democracy, accountability, efficiency, and transparency in our local government. Unfortunately the individuals behind this current effort do not adhere to these values.

With our current charter we have the tools to create our own destiny. It just isn’t being used to it’s full capacity. As residents we have to power to launch our own petition drives to amend the charter. This should come from residents, not special interests.

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