Clawson special election asks voters to choose size of City Council

CLAWSON — A special election will take place in Clawson May 6, when voters will be asked to decide on two proposed city charter amendments. Both proposed amendments must pass in order for them to take effect.

The first proposed charter amendment asks voters whether they would like to continue with the council’s current size of four council members and the mayor, or if they want the terms of the adopted 2023 city charter to go into effect, whereby the City Council in the regular election later this year would expand to six council members and the mayor.

Charter Amendment No. 1 reads: “Clawson Proposed Amendment Number 1 to maintain the size of Clawson City Council at four members plus the mayor. Under the City Charter Adopted in 2023, commencing with the 2025 regular city election, the city council shall be expanded from four to six city council members, plus the mayor shall continue to be on the city council. The proposed amendment will provide that the Clawson City Council shall consist of four council members, plus the mayor shall continue to be on the city council. Shall the amendment as proposed be adopted? This proposal is contingent on proposal 2 being approved by the voters at this election.”

The second charter amendment deals with the term of office of City Council members. If the first and second charter amendments are passed, all council members will be elected to four-year terms with council members on the ballot every two years. A no vote means to continue with the 2023 city charter, which states that beginning with the regular 2025 election later this year, the top three vote-getters will win four-year terms and the fourth-place vote-getter will win a two-year term. The council will have seven members including the mayor, in that case.

Charter Amendment No. 2 reads: “Clawson Proposed Amendment Number 2 to set the term duration and election schedule of the Clawson City Council Members. Under the current charter adopted in 2023, at the 2025 regular city election, four city council members shall be elected. The three highest vote-getters shall hold office for a term of four years. The fourth highest vote-getter shall hold office for a term of two years. The proposed amendment will provide that the Clawson City Council members shall be elected to four-year terms every two years. Shall the amendment as proposed be adopted? This proposal is contingent on proposal 1 being approved by the voters in this election.”

In a document of frequently asked questions that the Charter Commission compiled in 2023, the commission stated that there are three reasons why it proposed the addition of two City Council members.

“First, the larger the city council, the more representative it may be of the general public,” the document states. “When the charter commission explored other communities, it found that more city boards, commissions, and councils comprise seven or more members.”

The document also states that “individual members of a seven member city council have less power on their own than members of a five person city council.”

The final reason listed is that a seven-person City Council has more people overseeing and asking questions regarding administration policies of the city, which the commission felt balances the outcome and outlook on different issues.

City manager Joseph Rheker said that increasing the number of City Council members does not make sense.

“It made sense to stay at five, so why go to seven? I don’t know how that made sense, because the real troublesome provision in the old charter was that if somebody was running for mayor, they would have to resign, other than obviously the mayor running for reelection,” Rheker said. “So if a council member wanted to challenge the mayor, they would have to resign from the council, and that created vacancies, which created problems. That’s been remedied under the new charter.”

Rheker said the outcome of the vote could go either way, and that the vote really depends on perspective.

“It all depends how you look at it; some people think you will have greater representation,” Rheker said. “The problems that Clawson has had in the past did not come from the City Manager’s Office, it came from the council where everyone is seated. It’s never been from the City Manager’s Office.”

Rheker said that from 2018 to his arrival in 2022, Clawson had gone through a handful of city managers and interim city managers.

“From an administrator’s perspective, I don’t see that adding two more to the council is adding value to it,” Rheker said. “And I made that clear to the charter commission when they were meeting.”

Clawson City Council member Bruce Anderson said that the charter commission, which has since disbanded, did a good job revising the charter, but this is the one element that he said doesn’t seem to make much sense.

“When they proposed to go from five to seven, it kind of seemed a little puzzling,” Anderson said. “The charter commission people really worked hard and did a good job. And they kind of looked at five to seven and said, OK, and they accepted it and the thing is there are arguments for and against it.”

Anderson said it is possible to revise charter amendments over years of time, which he would have preferred instead of having a vote now to change the council from five to seven.

“To be honest with you, I think five is better than seven, but if it goes to seven, I don’t think it’s a horrible thing,” Anderson said. “Bottom line, the documents are pretty well done. But that’s the one element that I wish they had left alone.”

 

Voting information
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 6.

For the special election, some Clawson voters will be voting at temporary voting locations. Precinct 1 and Precinct 3 will be voting at the Baker Administration Building, 626 Phillips Ave. Precinct 4 and Precinct 5 will be voting at Grace Apostolic Church, 700 E. Elmwood Ave. Precinct 2 will be voting at the City Hall Community Center, 425 N. Main St.

Early in-person voting will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 26 to May 4 at the Troy Community Center, 3179 Livernois Road, in room 303. On May 1, early in-person voting will begin at noon and go until 8 p.m.

The last day to register by mail or online for the election is April 21. In-person-only voter registration is open April 26 to May 6, and the Clerk’s Office will be open for absentee voting ballots from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 3.