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[edit] Membership and Elections

Ypsilanti has a seven member City Council. The Mayor is elected in city-wide election every four years, concurrent with Michigan's Gubernatorial elections. Two Councilmembers are elected from each of the City's 3 Wards; Councilmembers serve four-year terms, with one seat in each Ward up for election in every even-numbered year.

Mayor: Paul Schreiber

Council Members:

• Trudy Swanson, Ward 1 - Mayor Pro Tem
• Lois Richardson, Ward 1
• John Gawlas, Ward 2
• William Nickels, Ward 2
• Brian Robb, Ward 3
• Brian Filipiak, Ward 3

[edit] Meeting Schedule

The Council meets twice monthly, usually on the first and third Tuesdays, at 7:30pm, in the City Council Chambers. Additional budget meetings are typically held during May and annual "goalsetting" sessions during December and January.

The City's website provides both agendas and the complete meeting packets that Councilmembers receive, typically by the Friday afternoon prior to a meeting. The website additionally includes Council Information Letters, communications from the City Manager to the Council providing responses or updates on various topics of interest to Council that may not require action as a formal agenda item.

Ypsilanti's Council meetings are not televised, but local resident Steve Pierce provides live streaming internet broadcasts of meetings on his website, YpsiNews.com, as well as archived videos beginning in August 2006 on Google Video and Ustream.tv.

[edit] How to Participate

Ypsilanti City Council meetings include opportunities for public participation both in public hearings for individual agenda items and in open public participation segments. Comments are limited to 3 minutes per person during a given public hearing or a given open participation segment.

Public hearings are noted on Council agendas, and are held near the beginning of the meeting, after any presentations. Depending on the number of presentations on the agenda, public hearings may begin almost immediately at 7:30pm, or may be as much as an hour or more into the meeting. Comments are expected to be directed to the particular agenda item at hand. After each public hearing, the Council discusses and takes action on that agenda item.

Open participation segments are provided once near the beginning of the meeting, after any public hearings, and once at the very end of the meeting. "Near the beginning" is a relative term - if the agenda also includes a number of presentations and/or public hearings, the first open participation segment may begin one to two hours after the beginning of the meeting.

For general information on public meeting etiquette, see How to Participate in a Public Meeting.