The new Flint City Charter is done and it goes to the voter on August 8th. We have moved into campaign mode and are seeking financial assistance to inform Flint voters about the new charter.
We are holding a fund raiser on July 11th, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the White Horse Tavern 621 W. Court St. We would love to have you attend. A copy of the invitation is attached.
For thirty months, the Charter Commissioners received input from Flint residents, carefully reviewed all sections and debated issues to prepare the proposed 2017 charter. When we first began the charter revision process we enumerated principles that we would pursue: government accountability and transparency, public involvement in government, and effective government.
About 15 major changes are made to the 1974 charter that change the way the City’s government currently functions. In addition to these major changes, we incorporated minor tweaks to comply with state law, and some general clarification of language. We believe these changes will have considerable impact toward changing the current professionalism, behavior and atmosphere in city government.
What we did not change was the form of government and the number of council members. When the commission studied and talked with citizens about potential changes to the form of government, ward structure, and council persons we concluded that such changes were both extremely divisive in the community and would not lead to significant improvement in the quality of our government.
We have, however, identified changes that would lead to great improvements in the quality of our government that we believe the community can unite behind. In short, we opted to set aside controversial, low-benefit changes in favor of low controversy, high-benefit changes.
We are confident that with the enactment of this revised charter there will be a significant improvement with the governance of our city. The task before us is to convince Flint voters to vote for the new charter. We are asking for your help to communicate the importance of this new charter.
If you have any questions please call me and thank you for your help.
Jim Richardson
810-348-5331
zich@att.net
