Ypsilanti residents who go to the polls Tuesday will have to decide whether they want a general revision of the city charter. They'll also be asked to select a charter commission that would develop it.

Per the current city charter implemented in 1994, the issue is to automatically go before voters every eight general elections, or 16 years. The question has not been put on the ballot by any individual.

This is the first time since the current charter was adopted that the question of its revision has come before voters.

Residents will be asked whether or not to establish a charter commission to do a general rewrite of the city charter. Voters will then be asked to choose up to nine candidates for the charter commission. Those who vote no on the establishing the commission can still vote for charter commission members.

Five candidates will be on the ballot and five more have filed as write-in candidates. Those who are on the ballot include Cheryl Farmer, William Fennel, John Gawlas, James Hawkins and Karen Quinlan-Valvo. Candidates on the ballot collected at least 92 signatures and turned them in before July 15.

Write-in candidates include Rodney Nanney, James Fink, Karen McConnell, Robert Doyle, Peter Fletcher and Kim Porter-Hoppe. Write-in candidates had to file with the clerk and the deadline to file has passed.

Once established, the committee would have 90 meeting days to develop a new charter. No schedule or timeframe is provided on when or how frequent those 90 days must be. The proposed charter would then go in front of voters no less than 60 days after it was developed.

All City Council members and Mayor Paul Schreiber have expressed their opposition to revisiting the charter. Schreiber said he is pleased with the ethics policy, the human relations board and four-year terms for council instead of two. He added that the lines between administration and decision-making policy are clear and the city manager keeps operations going while reporting to City Council.

“That’s where the buck stops as far as accountability,” he said.

Council Member Pete Murdock said there is simply no need to revisit the constitution and he has not heard of anyone in support of the idea.

“There’s no compelling need to change it and no has expressed a need," he said. “It’s only been in existence for 16 years, we just went through this process relatively recently and it seems to be serving us well to this point.”

Council member Brian Robb said there is nothing wrong with the charter that couldn't be fixed with a special election, and that there is no need to rewrite it entirely.

"In 2010, considering the circumstances, I'm against it," he said.

Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com. For more Ypsilanti stories, visit our Ypsilanti page. For more election coverage, visit our elections page or check out our voter's guide.