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County residents vote
in Home Rule Charter

by CHRIS GRAY
Observer Staff Writer

      A historic vote on whether to overhaul Macomb County's government showed people are ready for a change.
       Residents of the county voted in favor of the Home Rule Charter presented by the Macomb County Charter Commission at the Nov. 3 election, which will drastically alter the face of governmental operations.
       The charter, which will become the county's constitution, passed by an overwhelming majority. A total of 95,605 votes were cast regarding the Home Rule Charter, with 52,839 votes (60.4 percent) in favor while 34,627 (39.6 percent) voted against it.
       A happy Jacob Femminineo Jr., charter commission chairperson, said he was surprised at the results, thinking it would be a closer margin.
       "It's a great day for Macomb County," he said. "If you give people the opportunity to streamline government, to make something that is going to be efficient and transparent, then they're going to jump all over that, and that was evident by the turnout of voters from the people in Macomb County."
       The bi-partisan 26-member charter commission worked for six months to put together the document. Among the changes it will render, the most significant will be to reduce the number of the Board of Commissioners from 26 to 13 and will create the position of county executive.
       These changes will make it so the Board of Commissioners wield legislative power, while the new executive position will have executive powers the commissioners currently have.
       The executive will have the power to veto decisions, though the commissioners can overturn it with a two-thirds majority vote.
       Grace Shore, co-chair of the County Equals County Executive coalition, said she wasn't surprised the charter passed since people seem to desire strong leadership.
       "The people of Macomb County are very conservative, they understand the need to keep the size of government in check," said Shore. "This form of government provides a county executive, which provides leadership to the county."
       The first changes made by the charter will begin in January or February, when the county prosecutor, treasurer, clerk, and the chairs of the Democratic and Republican county parties begin to re-draw the 26 districts.
       Femminineo said the head of the Democratic Party, Ed Bruley, is also the county commissioner for District 17, so the Board of Commissioners will have to appoint someone else.
       "The re-drawing will try to keep districts and townships as much together and not divide them up as much as possible," he said.
       The people will vote during the 2010 August primary and the November general election to select the candidates for the 13 Board of Commissioner spots and the county executive. They will take office on Jan. 1, 2011.
       The charter will also create an independent ethics board as a form of checks and balances. One factor that will not change, though, is that any tax increases still have to go before voters.
       As the Nov. 3 results show, not all are in favor of the new charter. The Taxpayers Against Bloated Government group was formed to oppose the document, and plan on becoming a watchdog group.
       The group argued against the charter for reasons such as creating a more costly form of government and how the executive could pass anything so long as they had "eight friends" on the commission.
       "Our concerns are still valid, so we'll continue to monitor the issues and see where we go from here," said Bonnie Hayter, a member of the group and Washington resident.
       The vote to reorganize the Road Commission had similar results, with 55,378 (63.5%) voting in favor and 31,871 (36.5%) voting against it.
       Despite the major changes the adoption will cause, only 16.1 percent of county voters came out for the election. In terms of local municipalities, 17.9 percent of Bruce voters cast a ballot, while 16.3 percent of Ray Township voters went to the polls.
       Washington Township had a turnout of 15 percent, beating out Shelby Township's 13.7 percent and Armada Township's 13.4 percent. Richmond Township had the lowest at 11 percent.