News
A judge again orders Nelsonville’s City Council to act on a proposal to change the city’s government
By: David Forster
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — A judge has given the Nelsonville City Council until Monday afternoon to take action to put an initiative on the ballot that would change the city’s form of government.
The last time was in late July and the city appealed the judge’s decision. The city may also appeal the judge’s decision on Friday but must act quickly if it plans to do so.
(Read the Nelsonville initiative ruling here)
The initiative would return the city to a government with day-to-day operations run by an elected mayor who is independent of the City Council.
This is the form of government the city had until it adopted a charter in 1994 under which the city is run by city manager who is hired, and can be fired, by the council.
The Monday deadline set by the judge is significant because one of the residents behind the initiative said in a court filing that any later would be too late to get the initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot.
A group of Nelsonville residents proposed the initiative under a section of the city charter that allows residents to submit initiatives to the ballot.
The Athens County Board of Elections determined in June the initiative received enough signatures, and under the charter the City Council was required to pass an ordinance directing the board to place the initiative on the ballot.
The council refused. The council argues the initiative process under the charter does not provide for the dissolution of the charter itself. The council says to dissolve the charter, residents must pursue a petition under a section of the Ohio Constitution that provides for amending city charters.
McCarthy noted in his decision Friday this provision in the state Constitution only mentions amending charters. But the judge said it could include dissolving them, which is the city’s argument.
The judge said there must be some way for citizens to abolish a charter.
“The citizens previously voted to replace the statutory form of government with a charter form of government,” McCarthy wrote. “It is axiomatic that the citizens can also (choose) to go back to a statutory form of government.”
Under the state Constitution, a petition to amend a city charter requires signatures equal to at least 10 percent of the number of people in the city who voted in the last gubernatorial election. Under the Nelsonville charter, the signature requirement to get an initiative on the ballot is 15 percent.
Because of this conflict between the charter and the Constitution regarding the required number of signatures, the Constitution prevails, the judge said.
Because the Board of Elections already found the Nelsonville initiative received more than enough signatures to meet the 15 percent threshold under the charter, there shouldn’t be any issues, the judge wrote.
McCarthy ordered the council pass an ordinance sending it to the Board of Elections no later than 3 p.m. on Monday. The board will then verify the initiative has enough signatures to meet the 10 percent threshold under the Constitution.