Saline voters will decide if mayor, council term lengths will increase to 4 years

SALINE, MI - Voters will decide if the term lengths of Saline’s city council and mayor will increase from two to four years.

The Saline City Council voted unanimously at its Monday, Aug. 5 meeting to place a proposal on the Nov. 5 election ballot to move the mayor and council terms to four years and align election cycles during presidential and gubernatorial election years and change mayor and council member compensation methods.

Any changes to the city charter, originally drafted in 1962, require a vote of the people.

The proposed amendment is the latest in a string of changes intended to go before voters after the 2023 recommendations of a city working group on ways to modernize the charter and eliminate conflicts with state law.

Read more: Residency rules for elected leaders in Saline could shift under proposed charter changes

A city charter amendment to change election requirements for city officials failed in the Aug. 6 primary election, with 50.3% saying no.

This amendment would have required people running for City Council or mayor or who would like to be appointed to boards or commissions to have one year of residency in Saline, rather than the current requirement of two years.

Read more: See how votes went on 13 ballot proposals in Washtenaw County

As it stands, Saline City Council members and the mayor serve two year terms. That’s an aberration compared to most Michigan municipality governments, in which people serve four-year terms, City Manager Colleen O’Toole said.

“Four years is certainly more of a standard,” O’Toole said at the council’s Monday, Aug. 5 meeting.

If the charter amendment is approved, council members elected in 2025 will serve three-year terms to align the election cycles. The four-year terms would begin for officials elected in 2026.

Saline Mayor Brian Marl said he supports the changes, especially the potential alignment of Saline’s election cycle to the presidential election cycle.

“I do think it’s very advantageous for us to get off the odd election year cycle,” Marl said at Monday’s meeting.

Council Member Dean Girbach, who served on the Charter Review Working Group, said not having elections in odd years would put less stress on the clerk’s office. He also said the cycle change would save the city money.

“That’s probably the biggest benefit,” Girbach said.

The working group also cited greater consistency of operations by reducing the rate of turnover in suggesting the changes.

Additionally, if approved by voters in November, the proposal on the November ballot would change city officials’ compensation.

Currently, the city charter sets the compensation of the mayor and councilmembers. Under the new proposal, the mayor and councilmembers compensation would be established by a local officers compensation commission in a manner consistent with state law, O’Toole said.

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