Marquette City Charter Commission

The legal document that governs how the city of Marquette operates is in for some changes.

City residents have voted by a 3–to–1 margin to update the city’s charter.

At the same time, voters decided who would serve on the city’s new Charter Commission, the group that will make those chages.

Thirteen candidates were up for seats.

Several of them were former City Commissioners, like former mayor Tom Tourville.

He and eight other candidates were voted in.

Tourville says it’s been so long since the charter was last revised that large sections of it have been superseded by changes to state law, and those are the main areas that need to be examined and changed.

Some of its language concerns laws like where residents can and can’t hitch their horses outside of restaurants.

Tourville says he’s not sure yet how often the group will meet.

But he expects it’ll get together at least once a month, perhaps more often, and within a year they should have a draft of their revisions ready to be presented to the city.