Get to Know Your Government
East Lansing City Hall
Have you ever wondered who decides if your street gets plowed in the wintertime, if your school gets new computers, or if there is a park in your neighborhood?
You might guess the President of the United States, or Members of Congress - but these decisions are actually made by your city’s local government.
The choices that your local government makes often affect your daily life much faster than decisions made in Washington, DC or the state capitol.
Branches of Government
One of the simplest ways to understand the structure of your local government is to first think about the organization of the federal government. Just like the federal government has branches, your city’s local government has people who make laws, enforce them, and problem solve. These three functions of government are separated into three branches, known as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The graphic below displays the governing body for each of these branches for the federal, state, and local level.
Council-Manager Government
In local government, cities can choose their forms of government. Most cities pick between two types of roles for leading the local level executive branch: either the Mayor or the City Manager. In the case of East Lansing, the city is operated as a Council-Manager government, meaning that the City Manager is the leading executive.
Under the Council-Manager system in East Lansing, the city council members are elected by the voters. Once those elected members enter office, they collectively hire a city manager- who is not elected- to act as the main authority of the local government. Just as we see in the graphic, this means that the city manager executes the laws, while the city council creates the laws to serve the East Lansing community. If the city manager does not properly implement the policies passed by the city council, they have the right to fire the city manager and appoint a new one. The graphic below illustrates this relationship between the city council and manager. The Mayor of East Lansing is a more ceremonial role- they are not directly elected by the voters, but instead chosen by the council to preside over meetings.
Executive Branch: City Manager
Now that you know the basics of what East Lansing’s government structure looks like, we can talk about each branch of local government individually. Let’s start with the executive branch!
So far, we know that the executive branch in East Lansing is run by the city manager, whose main job is to execute the laws that are created by the city council - but what does this really look like? Well, some of the biggest responsibilities for this role include overseeing the city’s annual budget and finances, managing city services and local government offices, and helping the city council implement their law-making priorities.
Alongside these responsibilities, the city manager also has the authority to:
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Hire and fire local government employees
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Enforce contracts and lawsuits
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Oversee council meetings with tie-breaking and vetos
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Call special council meetings
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Serve as the ceremonial head of the local government
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Approve or disapprove bonds
Current City Manager (April 2025): Robert Belleman
Legislative Branch: City Council
The East Lansing City Council is composed of five council members, each elected by voters for four-year terms. When voting on the East Lansing ballot, you may notice that you can only vote for council members, and not for the Mayor (the leader of the city council) or Mayor Pro Tem (the leader of the city council in the absence of the Mayor). This is because these roles are elected by the council to members in the council. The city council creates laws to regulate East Lansing, usually through city ordinances and resolutions.
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What is a city ordinance?
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A local regulation created by the city council, implements a law.
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What is a resolution?
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A formal document that addresses a stance on an issue by the city council, but does not implement a law.
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Alongside these responsibilities, the city council also has the authority to:
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Enact the budget
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Define the roles of local government employees
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Oversee retirement and pensions
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Give fines and penalties
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Enter contracts
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Regulate property
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Provide services
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Impose taxes
Current Council Members (April 2025): Mayor George Brookover, Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Ebersole Singh, Erik Altmann, Mark Meadows, Data Watson.
The Youngest Mayor of East Lansing
Did you know that the youngest Mayor in East Lansing history ran for city council while he was still attending undergrad at Michigan State University? Political Science alumni Aaron Stephens served on the East Lansing city council from 2017 to 2021, becoming Mayor in 2020 at the age of 24. At the time, he was the youngest Mayor in the country, and was responsible for leading the city council during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Judicial Branch: Municipal Court
The last branch of East Lansing’s local government is the judicial branch, which as we know, evaluates laws created by the legislative branch and enforced by the executive branch. The court for East Lansing is the 54B District Court, which oversees a variety of criminal, civil, infraction, and miscellaneous cases. The court is divided into five divisions, Civil, Criminal, Parking, Probation, and Traffic, which are organized in the graphic below.
How Does Our Local Court Work?
Our local court in East Lansing, also known as the Trial Courts, is made up of the Court of Claims, Circuit Court, District Court, Probate Court, and Municipal Court. These courts are in charge of things like traffic violations, civil disputes, criminal misdemeanors, and other lower level crimes. Most cases are solved at this level rather than going up higher.
For a more indepth breakdown: click here.
What About Higher Level Courts?
If the case gets appealed, it is moved to the Court of Appeals. There are only three Court of Appeals in the state and they are located in Detroit, Lansing, and Grand Rapids. Michigan’s Court of Appeals has some of the highest volumes in the country.
Finally, if the case is still not resolved it is sent to Michigan’s Supreme Court which has the ultimate say in its outcome as it is the highest level in the judiciary system in Michigan.
What is Jury Duty?
Most people will be called to jury duty at least once in their lives. You acting as a juror on jury duty is important to the judicial process because you get to make sure there is no abuse of power occurring within the courtroom. As a juror, you are to listen carefully to each side of the case and then based on those facts, you and your fellow jurors make a decision on the verdict of the case. While the judge is the ultimate decision maker, your decision as a jury heavily influences the judge’s decision.
Watch a short video on the full process of jury duty here.
How are Judges Elected in Michigan?
Could you be a judge in East Lansing? To be a judge you need to meet the following requirements:
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Must be less than 70 years old
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Must be allowed to practice law in Michigan
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Must be a qualified elector
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At least 21 years old
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A resident in the state they want to be a judge in for at least 6 months
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Must have at least 5 years of experience practicing law
While you might not be able to yet, if you’re interested, these are the basic requirements! Surprisingly, both local judges and state judges, so Trial Courts and the Court of Appeals, have the same requirements but they have different ways of being elected.
To become a local judge, you will be elected through a nonpartisan election meaning that you are listed on the ballot when you’re up for election without anything saying what political party you are affiliated with. This allows for judges to be unbiased in the decisions that they make in court as they aren’t feeling pressured to make their decision based on whatever party they align their values with.
To become a state judge, it’s a little more complicated. You would be elected using the “Michigan Method” which, unsurprisingly, has only ever been used in Michigan. This method entails getting a partisan nomination followed by a nonpartisan election. A partisan nomination would mean that the members of a political party would nominate people that they want to go as their representative to go and be a judge at the state-level and then that person would be appointed as a judge through a nonpartisan election.