Meet the people who could rewrite Lansing's city charter
LANSING — A slate endorsed by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce established a supermajority on the new city charter commission, winning six of nine commission seats in Tuesday's election.
The commission's task will be to start looking at the city's charter, essentially a city constitution or blueprint, with a May 21 meeting.
Approved by voters in November, the commission is expected in the next two and a half years to come up with potential changes to the charter, which would need to go back to voters.
The commission can suggest changes that could range from updating gendered language to adding city council seats and the changes could alter just about any part of the city's operations.
The winning candidates endorsed by the chamber includes some familiar names in Lansing circles, including Joan Bauer, Brian Jeffries, Guillermo Lopez, Elizabeth Driscoll Boyd, Muhammad Qawwee II and Ben Dowd.
Steve Japinga, the chamber's vice president of public affairs, said the commission ended up with a diverse group representing Lansing.
"They have a tough task to do, and there is great experience on there," he said.
Former elected officials fare well
The winners include four current or former elected officials.
Here's a list of the commissioners, in order of most votes received.
Joan Bauer is a former state representative and city council member, who won 56% of the total 11,000-plus votes cast. No one else crossed the 50% mark.
Brian Jeffries is a former city council member and is lead attorney for Michigan State University's Student Legal Service. He received 5,112 votes.
Guillermo Lopez is a Lansing School District trustee and a former equal opportunity specialist for the city. He captured 5,032 votes.
Elizabeth Driscoll Boyd operates Liz Boyd Public Relations and was press secretary for former Gov. Jennifer Granholm. She received 4,553 votes.
Lori Adams Simon is interim director for equity and inclusion at Lansing Community College. She received 3,628 votes.
Muhammad Qawwee II is a U.S. Army veteran and president of the UAW Local 4911 which represents workers for University of Michigan-Health Sparrow. He captured 3,407 votes.
Jody Washington is a former city council member and Michigan Department of Corrections employee. Her son, Adam Hussain, is a council member. She received 3,222 votes.
Jazmin Anderson is the director of equitable economic development for the Lansing Economic Area Partnership. She received 3,106 votes.
Ben Dowd is the associate director and chief operating officer of the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan. At the tail end of the nine winners, 27% of the votes - or 3,007 - went to Dowd.
What they plan to do
"The next step is to roll up our sleeves and get to work," Bauer said.
She said the commission will hopefully start by looking at the city's charter and at other examples.
"I think it's extremely important that the commission hear from everyone within our community, from every facet of the community including our residents first and foremost but business and labor community and educational and safety communities," Bauer said.
The chamber, along with other organizations and people, plans to work with the commission on various parts of the potential rewriting of the charter, Japinga said.
In addition to the chamber slate, a group of nine candidates banded together as the Lansing Community Alliance. Anderson was the only member of that slate to win.
Julie Vandenboom was a member of the slate. She was the first person to file to run for the commission and came 18 votes short of winning.
Vandenboom said she was excited to see Anderson, who she got to know well while campaigning, elected to the commission, along with Washington and Simon.
Washington and Simon were the only winners who were not part of the Chamber or Community Alliance slates.
"There’s a lot of folks who don’t completely understand what's happening," Vandenboom said. "It’s the matter of having conversations with Lansing residents to tease out what's working and what needs to be improved and then adjusting the charter accordingly."
Qawwee said he has had experience negotiating a half dozen contracts between labor and Sparrow.
"If we all come to a consensus that what we do and what we propose to put in front of the Lansing community, it will be for the greater good of the community," he said.
"I want to make sure Lansing keeps thriving and growing," Qawwee said.
Dowd said the process has been confusing for many residents.
"I’m really hoping there is a lot of active participation and I’d like to ensure all the folks that didn’t get elected come along. They have strong support and their thoughts are integral in the process," he said. "We can’t lose those voices of the people who were interested, why they wanted to run."
Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Meet the people who could rewrite Lansing's city charter
