AUBURN – City Charter commissioners have no real sense yet of changes they might make in city rules.

Much of the commission’s agenda depends on the group’s first public hearing, set for 7 p.m. Thursday.

“We have a very broad authority to make changes,” said Chairman John Cleveland. That doesn’t mean the commissioners will be recommending a huge re-write of the city’s rule book.

“Overall, I think we’ll stay with the city manager-council-mayor form of government,” Cleveland said. “But the rules and regulations they need to follow, that will certainly be up for discussion.”

Voters selected six Auburn residents to serve on the commission in November’s election, and councilors appointed three more. The group is expected to make its first report nine months after the election.

Commissioners have met twice to discuss process and organization. They’ve divided their review into mayor and city council operations, school committee and education department functions, elections, finance and budget operations, and city departments and commissions.

They should release a report in about nine months, suggesting changes to the City Charter. Voters have to approve those changes at the polls before they become the city’s rules.

Commissioners will start working on the details after Thursday’s meeting, Cleveland said.

“There are areas commissioners have discussed, but we’re asking them to suggest them after that meeting, when we have the public’s input,” he said.

Local attorney Ron Lebel, the chairman of the 1990 Auburn Charter Commission, will kick off Thursday’s meeting. He’s scheduled to discuss the changes his group made to the charter and explain why. That group drew up rules that require a five-member City Council majority to approve the sale of bonds. Before that, bond sales required a simple 4-3 majority vote.

“That was a response to the issues of the times,” Cleveland said.

Most of the meeting will be reserved for the public, however. Cleveland said Auburn residents are urged to bring their ideas, questions and concerns.

“They can comment on any part of the charter and any issue they think should be addressed,” Cleveland said. “It’s really their process. We can propose any kind of change we want, but it’s the voters, ultimately, that have to accept or reject it. Anything we propose has to be reasonable.”

It will be the first complete review of the city’s charter in 15 years. It was adopted in 1990, and small changes and amendments were made in 1992 and 1994.