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CHAPTER 1. NAME AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
SECTION 1.1. NAME.
   The city shall be a body corporate under the name "The City of Charlotte."
SECTION 1.2. BOUNDARIES.
   (A)   The city shall embrace the territory constituting the City of Charlotte on the effective date of this Charter, together with such annexation thereto and less any detachment therefrom that may be made from time to time.
   (B)   Upon annexation or detachment of territory the boundaries shall be deemed thereby to be changed without amendment of this section.
   (C)   The Clerk shall maintain and keep available in his office for public inspection an official description of the current boundaries of the city.
Statutory reference:
   Incorporation, consolidation of territory and alteration of boundaries of home rule cities, see M.C.L.A. §§ 117.6 et seq.
SECTION 1.3. WARDS.
   (A)   The City of Charlotte shall be divided into two wards, from each of which a member of the City Council shall be nominated and elected.
    (B)   Each ward shall have the same boundaries as the current councilman districts. Within 120 days of the effective date of this amendment, the City Council shall revise the boundaries of the wards using the figures from the 2000 census.
   (C)   The City Council shall revise the boundaries of the wards within 120 days after the figures from the Federal decennial census become available. New ward boundaries created within 120 days of a City general election shall become effective after the general election.
   (D)   The City Council shall, to the greatest extent possible, establish wards that are compact, contiguous and of equal population.
(Amended by electors 11-2-2004)
Statutory reference:
   Election precincts, see M.C.L.A. §§ 168.654 et seq.;
   Mandatory that Charter provide for one or more wards, see M.C.L.A. § 117.3(e)
SECTION 1.4. RECORDS TO BE PUBLIC.
   All records of the city shall be public, unless otherwise provided by law; shall be kept in city offices, except when required for official reasons or for purposes of safekeeping to be elsewhere; and shall be available for inspection at all reasonable times.
Statutory reference:
   Freedom of information act, see M.C.L.A. §§ 15.231 et seq.
SECTION 1.5. PUBLIC RECORDS AS EVIDENCE.
   All public records of the city, or copies thereof duly certified by the custodian thereof, shall be prima facie evidence of their contents in all suits at law or in equity and in other proceedings.
SECTION 1.6. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS.
   Except as otherwise specifically provided or indicated by the context of this Charter:
   (1)   The word "board'' includes the word "commission";
   (2)   The word "city" means the City of Charlotte;
   (3)   The word "Council" means the City Council of the City of Charlotte;
   (4)   The word "law" denotes applicable Federal law, the constitution and statutes of Michigan, the applicable common law, and this Charter;
   (5)   The word "officer" includes the Mayor, the members of the Council, the Municipal Judge or Judges, and, as hereinafter provided, the administrative officers, and deputy administrative officers;
   (6)   The word "person" extends and may be applied to bodies politic and corporate and to partnership and associations as well as to individuals;
   (7)   The words "printed" or "printing" include typewriting, printing, engraving, stencil duplicating, lithographing, photostating, or any similar method of reproducing written language which is understandable by average literate persons conversant with the English language;
   (8)   The words "publish" or "published" include publication in the manner provided by law, or, where there is no applicable law, in one or more newspapers of the city qualified by law for the publication of legal notices, or if such newspaper publication is not available, by posting in at least three places in each election precinct;
   (9)   Except in reference to signatures, the words "written" and "in writing" include hand written script, printing, typewriting, teletype and telegraphic communications, and other forms of written language which is readable by average literate persons conversant with the English language;
   (10)   All words indicating the present tense are not limited to the time of the adoption of this Charter, but extend to and include the time of the happening of any event or requirement to which a Charter provision is applied;
   (11)   The singular includes the plural, the plural includes the singular, and the masculine gender extends to and includes the feminine gender and the neuter.
Editor's note:
   The Municipal Court was abolished by M.C.L.A.§ 600.9921
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