"The proposed Macomb County charter, as written, has many of what I call “dead zones” that justify voting no on November, 3, 2009. So many people have not read this charter that the anthem should be, “If you don’t know, vote no.” If it fails this time, the charter commission can (within 180 days) submit it to the voters again with all the dead zones removed. Let’s do right by getting it right.
What’s a charter dead zone? Giving powers to the Governor to remove the county executive; the only problem with that is that the Governor, by law, has no power to remove a county executive. Yet, it’s in a charter written by many seasoned lawyers; go figure.
The size of commission districts will double. A 100 percent increase in district size will make access to a commissioner problematic. Right now, each commissioner represents about 33,000 citizens. With the increase in population since 2000, that will change to approximately 70,000 plus. Ed Bruley, who worked hard to create the 26th commission seat in 2001, stated in an April 19, 2001 Macomb Daily article that, and I quote, “County commissioners are supposed to be close to the people they represent….If you have big districts, you get away from that.” Made sense then, and it makes sense now.
A huge dead zone is that the proposed charter does not clearly state that the 13 commissioners “shall be part-time,” There is no law preventing charter commissioners from attaching those four words. The county commissioners can later claim their districts are so large that they need to be fulltime AND need a staff. They should re-write that part.
Another dead zone is that there is no term limit attached to the county executive position. Three terms might be more than some can stomach, but to not put a limit on it means a politician could possibly hold that position forever (Ed McNamara comes to mind).
The charter creates a Public Defender’s Office. The PDO is in the charter without budget details. Where is the money coming from for the administrators of the PDO when the county is laying off workers, slashing services, and cutting county department budgets? If you don’t know, vote no.
The biggest dead zone is the power to adjust the property tax millage up from 4.56 to 5.19. There’s some slippery language in Sec.8.5.2 that everyone should read. Property owners beware: If you don’t know, vote no.
The charter also allows the commissioners to adjust the county executive’s salary 60 days after the charter goes into effect. Wait for it. There goes those so-called savings right out the window.
Again, voters can demand more clarity by voting no. A no vote does not doom the charter: it sends it back for more fine tuning. There are serious flaws in this charter that scream for attention. It can be re-submitted when it is fixed.
The only way to go, if you don’t know, is to vote no on November 3, 2009." "
