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Get to Know City Boards and Commissions

Boards and Commissions provide citizens with the exciting opportunity to participate in city conversations across multiple areas of interest. These groups assist the community by studying city issues, policies, and future proposals across many different disciplines relevant to local government. 

 

East Lansing has a variety of Boards and Commissions including those centered around housing, human rights promotion, environmental protection, senior support services, and police oversight, among others.​

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Click here to see a full list of all boards and commissions in the city.

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Click here to see a complete list of the 2025 meeting dates and times.

Public Comment

As required by the Open Meetings Act of 1976, all public meetings are open for public attendance with time allotted for encouraged public participation, allowing citizens to directly speak with the public leaders, voice their concerns, or simply observe the actions taken by the board or commission during meeting times.

 

City boards and their authorities are required to:

  1. Offer a complete schedule of regular meeting dates and times to the public,

  2. Notify citizens of upcoming meetings or meeting date changes,

  3. Adhere to an open-door policy promoting the attendance of all members of the public,

  4. Encourage public comment; OMA requires a designated time slot during meetings be established to hear public comment.​​​

Join a Board or Commission

If you are a resident with community concerns, East Lansing currently has nearly 30 boards and commissions available to engage with. Currently, there are also plenty of opportunities to apply for a position on different boards and commissions. To view the application page along with the City of East Lansing Board & Commission Handbook outlining the responsibilities of board and commission members, click here.

Words from a Current Councilmember

If a real-life story could inspire you to participate in local government, we need not look further than East Lansing City Councilmember Dana Watson. Dana Watson is currently appointed to various boards and commissions including the Housing Commission, Human Rights Commission, and the Transportation Commission to list a few. Watson encourages public participation in local government, advocating for more accurate representations of communities in government decisions; “Our median age is 21, there’s no reason our local government and the decision makers should trend so high in age.”

Meeting Minutes

What Are They?

Meeting minutes are the written account of a public meeting. It outlines what was discussed, the resolution to the issues that were discussed, and actions that are going to be taken towards the resolution. Most of the time there is a designated person for the meeting who is to take down the meeting minutes and make them accessible to the members of the group that met. 

Why are They Important?

  1. Fosters Efficiency: Notes are looked back on and used as a guide for future meetings.

  2. Discourages Conflict: If conflict occurs because of a misunderstanding, they can look back at their notes and check what was said.

  3. Promotes Accountability: Each individual’s tasks are written in the notes so everyone knows what they’re responsible for as well as what their peers are responsible for.

 

To see an example of meeting minutes, click here.

How do They Differ From Agendas?

​While meeting minutes come out after a meeting happens, the agenda comes out before. The agenda details what the plan for the meeting is and what things they want to achieve during their meeting. Meeting minutes are the reality of what was covered during the meeting with context added as most of the time, meetings won’t go exactly as planned. 

Where Can I Find Them?

Meeting minutes are pretty easy to find online on the website that the meeting is affiliated with. For example, the meeting minutes for board and commission meetings for East Lansing can be found by going to the official City of East Lansing website and clicking on the Public Meeting Portal, it shows you all the meetings that are happening.

 

Once you select a meeting, it shows you the agenda. If you can’t see the meeting minutes, it would be because the meeting hasn’t occurred yet but once it does, the meeting minutes can be found in the same place as the agenda.

Have Questions?

For questions relating to meeting minutes and agendas, or general questions relating to the city’s boards and commissions, citizens are encouraged to reach out to:

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Current Assistant to the City Council, Sherry Bent

East Lansing Police Department and Oversight

Law enforcement has the important responsibility of keeping our communities, including citizens like you safe and protected. There are plenty of opportunities to positively engage with local and state departments through community outreach activities and board and commission participation.

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The East Lansing Police Department was created in 1921 consisting of one police chief and three officers. Today, the department is employed with approximately 41 non-sworn staff and 43 sworn officers although they are facing recent leadership difficulties with the resignation of Chief Kim Johnson in May of 2024.

 

Current Interim Chief, Jennifer Brown, has an extensive law enforcement career and aims to improve the emergency management program and mental health awareness programs as two of her top goals. Although Brown holds the position of Interim Chief, a nationwide search for applicants to fill the Chief position is being conducted with application reviews beginning in late March of 2025.

 

For those wanting to learn more about daily police officer encounters, information is widely available. Here, citizens can view past instances of officer-initiated contact with citizens along with traffic stop data categorized by race and residency; this provides a way citizens can hold their law enforcement accountable for.

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If you’re interested in participating in overseeing your local police department, East Lansing has a commission, the Independent Police Oversight Commission (ELIPOC), with regular meetings open to the public. Approved by the City Council on July 13, 2021, the ELIPOC and has since established an 11-member commission to increase the accountability of law enforcement, paying special attention to racial inequities and police use of force in the city.

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Current Interim Police Chief of ELDP, Jennifer Brown

Public Records

Central to citizen knowledge of government records or information is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), enacted in 1976 to promote transparency between citizens and government workers and to hold government entities accountable. Citizens of East Lansing can request police reports, accident reports, and other additional information such as agency records, documents, or emails as long as they don’t fall under FOIA exemptions; information related to national security or personal privacy have certain exceptions.

 

To make a request for public records, complete this form or email foia@elpolice.com for more information or any questions you may have.

Police Encounters: Know Your Rights

Knowing your legal rights in police encounters is an essential way to ensure your safety and maintain your legal protections as a citizen. Law enforcement have certain actions they are legally able to conduct, but often citizens are unaware of whether they can deny searches of consent or other acts police often ask of citizens.

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If you’ve been stopped by a police officer, you are not required to consent to a search of your person or belongings, however from the rulings of Terry v. Ohio (1968) by the United States Supreme Court, officers are able to conduct a “Terry Pat” to search you for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion to believe you are armed and dangerous.

 

Officers do not have to read you your Miranda Warnings until you’ve been taken into custody (meaning arrested, not just detained), however anything you say up until those rights are read can be documented and used in court. Once you’ve been arrested, it is federally mandated that officers read you your Miranda rights prior to questioning, if they fail to do so tell your lawyer immediately as it’s grounds for excluding your statements in a court of law.

Know Who’s Representing You!

At the state and federal levels of government, our legislatures are divided into two parts, known as chambers, which are the House and the Senate. Both the State House and Congress have representatives who serve a specific district within a State. As for the Senate, the federal Senate is composed of representatives who serve the entire State, while the State Senate has Senators who serve specific districts. Michigan has a state level independent redistricting commission that creates the districts after each decennial Census.

 

Senators and House Representatives vote on influential legislation that impacts your community. It’s crucial for democracy that citizens hold these individuals accountable for representing community opinion on issues. If you are unsatisfied with the work of the official representing your state or district or State, it’s greatly encouraged to voice any complaints or public concerns directly to their office, most commonly by calling their office, sending them an email, or mailing a letter to their office address.

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