Referendum Submited for Verification by City Clerk
Submited on July 26, 2024 as planned
A bit of an update…..
The Referendum
The referendary petition identifying ordinance #439 and the signatures of more than 25% of the City of Harbor Springs registered electors were submitted to the Harbor Springs City Clerk on July 26, 2024.
Ordinance #439 is the law that authorized the new zoning. The referendum would pause the new zoning until a vote by citizens. The City Clerk is in the process of validating the signatures. We have done the same.
To help understand the next steps, this is an excerpt of the City Charter:
Section 7.10 Initiatory And Referendary Petitions:
An initiatory or a referendary petition shall be signed by not less than twenty-five per cent of the registered electors of the city as of the date of filing the petition, and all signatures on said petition shall be obtained within one month before the date of filing the petition with the Clerk. Any such petition shall be addressed to the Council. No such petition need be on one paper, but may be the aggregate of two or more petition papers identical as to contents. An initiatory petition shall set forth in full the ordinance it proposes to initiate, and no petition shall propose to initiate more than one ordinance. A referendary petition shall identify the ordinance it proposes to have repealed. Each signer of a petition shall sign his name and shall place thereon after his name, the date and his place of residence by street and number or by other customary designation. To each petition paper there shall be attached a sworn affidavit by the circulator thereof stating the number of signers thereof and that each signature person is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be and that it was made in the presence of the affiant. Such petition shall be filed with the Clerk who shall, within fifteen days, canvass the signatures thereon. If a petition does not contain a sufficient number of signatures of registered electors of the city, the Clerk shall notify forthwith the person filing such petition and fifteen days from such notification shall be allowed for the filing of supplemental petition papers. When a petition with sufficient signatures is filed within the time allowed by this section, the Clerk shall present the petition to the Council at its next regular meeting.
We will provide more details when we hear from the city about signature verification.
Engage the Community
We do encourage you to go to WLHS on Facebook. The best way for you to help improve community engagement is to make polite, constructive comments on posts to show support. https://www.facebook.com/wlhs.org
Our long-term goal is to include citizens, full/part-time property owners, area townships, and visitors in decisions that impact the future of Harbors Springs.