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Royal Oak Voters Have Two Proposals on Nov. 7 Ballot

(City of Royal Oak, Sept. 25, 2017)

Royal Oak, MI –  Royal Oak voters will be asked to consider two charter proposals on Nov. 7.

Charter Proposal 1: Proposal to Remove Obsolete and Superseded Charter Provisions in Chapters Three and Four of The Royal Oak City Charter

While the city’s charter was amended by the voters in November 2011 to adjust the date and time that city commissioners would start and end their terms in office from the ‘first Monday in December’ to the ‘third Monday in November,’ the current charter still contains references to the older ‘first Monday in December’ date.

Proposal 1, if adopted, would remove obsolete references to the ‘first Monday in December.’

Charter Proposal 2: Proposal to Remove Charter Provisions in Chapter Fourteen, Section 11 of the Royal Oak City Charter

The current charter stipulates that no public improvement costing more than $1,000 can begin unless drawings, profiles and estimates are submitted to the city commission

It is a longstanding goal of the charter review committee to amend or eliminate language in the charter with fixed dollar amounts that through the passage of time and the rate of inflation will become obsolete. For example, $1,000 in 1921 would be more than $14,000 in today’s dollars.

Today’s procedures require that physical plans for public improvements are not prepared until after money is allocated in the budget by the city commission and based on engineering estimates. There are also charter provisions that safeguard, control, and regulate how money is
allocated and spent.

Proposal 2, if adopted, would eliminate obsolete language from the charter while continuing oversight of public improvement dollars.

You can read the complete language of these proposals at romi.gov/election2017.

Know Before You Vote

The Voter Information Center at michigan.gov/vote has answers to frequently asked elections questions, including finding your polling location and viewing a sample ballot.