Editing Saginaw, Michigan (section)

====Governance====
[[File:Saginaw City Hall burning in 1935.jpg|thumb|Saginaw city hall burning in 1935. It was replaced with a modest [[Art Deco]] building a year later.]]
In 1908, a new [[Michigan Constitution|Michigan state constitution]] was adopted. The new Michigan state constitution mandated increased [[home rule]] powers for local units of government, and the Michigan state legislature enacted the [[Home Rule Cities Act (Michigan)|Home Rule Cities Act]] in 1909. Under this [[statute]], cities were permitted to frame and adopt their own city charters and were given great flexibility in structuring their local governments. The government, under the 1889 charter, had continued to be inefficient and provided for much political infighting. In 1913, a new city charter was adopted with voter approval and which followed a [[City commission government|commission form of city government]] that had gained in popular interest among various cities across the United States in the early 20th century. The new government consisted of five commissioners, each elected separately [[at-large]], who served both as the city council and as the executive heads of various city government departments. One of the commissioners served as the mayor, which was a mostly ceremonial role.

The 1913 city charter was followed for little more than two decades when the voters of the city again adopted another new city charter in 1935 following the [[Council-manager government|council-manager form of government]]. The government under the 1913 city charter retained some of the independent boards that were given authority independent of the elected city commissioners. This caused some inefficiency and political friction. The economic consequences of the [[Great Depression]] during the 1930s provided the final catalyst for municipal government reform.

In contrast to the previous government structures, the 1935 charter, having taken effect in 1936, provided for all administration of city government to be headed directly by a single officer, the [[city manager]], who was appointed by, and accountable to a city council of nine members elected as a group by the entire city at-large. The system was designed to address two principal issues with Saginaw's history of municipal government, the inefficiency and politics associated with having executive and administrative authority spread among many different officers and boards, and political rivalries and friction between various geographic areas of the city, mainly the east side and the west side.