CITY CHARTER COMMISSION SUBMITS A PROGRESS REPORT

Progress Report from the Port Huron Charter Commission

The citizens of Port Huron elected a Charter Commission to review and update our charter. One
of the first steps we took was to solicit public opinion. The commission conducted a public hearing
on May 12, 2009. We heard from many citizens, both in-person and via letter and e-mail. Concerns
of citizens and commissioners included:

The form of government
Election of the Mayor
Staggered terms
Ward vs. at-large elections
City Council compensation

Form of Government

The Charter Commission believes the Council-Manager form of government is the best for our
community. It provides for political leadership by an elected City Council and professional
management by an educated, experienced and qualified administrator.

Mayor

Under the existing charter, Port Huron’s Mayor is selected by the City Council after the general
election. It has been the custom of Port Huron City Councils to select the highest vote getter, even
though this is not required by charter language. The Charter Commission believes that the Mayor
should be directly elected by the citizens at large every two years. According to the Michigan
Municipal League Charter Commissioners Handbook “the Mayor elected at-large can process the
politics of that community into policy decisions until the next election.”

Staggered Terms

The Charter Commission believes that it would be beneficial to have a six member City Council
elected for four-year staggered terms. Under such a system, three Councilmembers and the Mayor
would be up for election every two years. This will provide Councilmembers with more time to
devote to effective governance and less to political campaigning.

At-Large vs. Ward Council Elections

The Charter Commission had a great deal of discussion regarding at-large vs. ward election of
City Councilmembers. In summary, the advantages and disadvantages of these two alternatives can
be summarized as follows:

The advantages of the at-large system are:

At-large elections provide voters with the opportunity to vote for all elected positions in a
municipality and are not limited to geographic areas.

At-large candidates represent the municipality as a whole and may have a broader view of
the City’s overall needs.

The advantages of the ward system are:

Elected officials have the ability to build stronger relationships with a smaller group of
citizens they represent thus becoming more aware of their needs and concerns.

Because ward elections take place in a smaller area, there is less cost to campaign.
Candidates without a lot of money or financial backing can still be successful.

Although Charter Commission members unanimously agreed on the first three items, there was a
great deal of discussion and debate regarding the at-large vs. ward issue. No Commissioner was
interested in changing to a full ward system, but there was substantial support for a hybrid system
where three Councilmembers would be elected on a ward basis and three on an at-large basis.
Ultimately, the commission supported, six to three, an at-large election.

City Council Compensation

The final significant provision of Chapter 2 that the commission considered was the Council
compensation. Since 1969 the compensation of the City Council has been unchanged.
Councilmembers receive $20 a meeting and the Mayor receives $30.

In our review, we learned that city charters provide two basic options for compensation:

• A fixed amount set in the charter
• Local Officers Compensation Commission. (LOCC)

Under the LOCC provision, the City Council appoints an independent citizen commission to
prepare a recommended compensation adjustment every two years. The City Council then must vote
to accept or reject it. While the commission believes the compensation should be adjusted, we did
not feel our citizens would support a LOCC process. Tentatively we have decided to increase the
compensation to $50 per meeting for Councilmembers and $60 for the Mayor, upon adoption of the
charter. Every five years this compensation will be increased by $5 per meeting.

The process the Charter Commission has decided to employ in developing a new document is to
review the charter chapter by chapter and vote on issues as they come up. When a preliminary draft
is completed, we will take a final vote and then submit it to the voters for approval. This report
summarizes the progress we have made on Chapters 1 and 2.

We welcome your comments and input concerning our tentative decisions on the above areas of
the charter, and the issues involved in our future deliberations on Chapters 3 through 14.

Port Huron Charter Commission Members

Pauline M. Repp, Chair
Karl S. Tomion, Vice Chair
Karen S. Jamison
Melinda K. Johnson
B. Mark Neal
Patrick D. Parcell
Laurie Sample-Wynn
Gregory T. Stremers
Jeffrey Wine

If anyone wants to make comments about the Progress Report, the e-mail address to write to is charter@porthuron.org, or they can send written comments to Charter Commission, c/o 100 McMorran Boulevard, or they can attend a meeting which are being held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month in the Municipal Office Center at 7:00 p.m. in Conference Room 408. The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 14. The commission encourages comments and input into the charter review process.

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