Charter Commission Sends Final Draft To Lansing For Review

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit's Charter Revision Commission is sending its final draft of the charter to Governor Rick Snyder and the Attorney General's office Tuesday for review.

The proposed revision would keep the number of Council members at nine; seven would be elected by district and two at large.

Council President Charles Pugh expresses regret that the Charter Commission did not give Council the authority to investigate citizen complaints.

Pugh says the number of council members is not the issue for him, he's more concerned with the executive branch working with Council by District to handle citizen complaints.

"Part of the roller-coaster, at first they said the council should be able to investigate complaints of residents, but then they took that away and put the ombudsman back. The real commitment should be made from whoever is the mayor and whoever those district council members are to say "we are going to work together" because ultimately we're helping our citizens," says Pugh.

Council gets calls daily about the lack of city services, says Pugh, but has no power to direct the Mayor's department heads to make corrections.