search
Donate

News

Nelsonville residents again ask a judge to order City Council to place an initiative on the ballot

By:
Posted on:

< < Back to nelsonville-residents-ask-judge-initiative-on-the-ballot

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Two Nelsonville residents are again asking a judge to order the City Council to put an initiative on the ballot that would change the city’s government.

Photo of town square in Nelsonville Ohio. The town's fountain in on the left hand side of the image with buildings on the right.
The town square in Nelsonville [WOUB]
The new request was filed Wednesday and comes two days after an appeals court dismissed an attempt by Nelsonville City Council members to block the initiative.

The initiative would abolish the city charter, under which the city is run by a city manager who is hired, and can be fired, by the council. The city instead would be run by an elected mayor who is independent of the council, which was the case before the charter was adopted 30 years ago.

The initiative got the number of signatures required under the city charter for initiatives, but the council refused to direct the county elections board to put it on the ballot.

The council argues an initiative to abolish the charter should instead be processed under a section of the Ohio Constitution for amending charters, which requires more signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Two Nelsonville residents, one of whom organized the petition drive for the initiative, took the City Council to court last month to force it to get the initiative placed on the November ballot.

With the deadline for ballot submissions fast approaching, the two residents asked the judge to issue an order right away rather than wait for the case to work through the process and issue a decision at the end.

The judge agreed but also scheduled a hearing where the council could argue why it shouldn’t have to comply with the order.

The council quickly appealed, before the date of the hearing.

On Monday, the appellate court dismissed the appeal, saying it was filled too early because the Athens County judge had not yet had an opportunity to hear the council’s arguments and make a final decision.

This is what led the two residents to again ask the judge to quickly order the council to get the initiative on the ballot.

If the judge grants this second request, another hearing will be scheduled to give the council a chance to object. The case could then end up back in the appeals court depending on the outcome.

The whole process would have to move quickly to get the initiative on the ballot. According to the court document the two residents filed Wednesday, the deadline for printing ballots for Nelsonville for the Nov. 5 general election is Sept. 16.