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Appeals court says Nelsonville charter gives residents the means to change their government

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — A state appeals court said in a decision Wednesday that Nelsonville residents have a right under the city charter to abolish the charter.

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 court affirmed a decision by an Athens County judge, who ordered the Nelsonville City Council to place an initiative on the ballot that would change the city’s form of government.

The initiative would abolish the city charter and return the city to the government it had before the charter was adopted 30 years ago.

Under the charter, the city’s day-to-day operations are run by a city manager who is hired, and can be fired, by the council. Before the charter, the city was run by an elected mayor independent of the council.

The council tried to stop the initiative from getting on the ballot, leading to a flurry of legal activity.

The council argued the initiative process under the charter cannot be used to abolish the charter itself. The council argued a section of the Ohio Constitution for amending charters should have been followed instead.

The appeals court rejected this argument.

Ohio citizens have a right under the state constitution to choose their own form of government. This includes adopting charters and abolishing them.

However, while the constitution spells out how to adopt a charter, it doesn’t say how to abolish one. This isn’t addressed in any Ohio law either.

The Nelsonville city charter includes a section that allows residents to propose initiatives for the ballot. The appeals court said a proposal to abolish a charter most closely fits the definition of an initiative, not an amendment.

The court cited two Ohio Supreme Court decisions that said amending a charter is not the same as abolishing or abandoning one.

For these reasons, the court said, the proper way to abolish the Nelsonville charter is through the charter’s own initiative process.

Nelsonville City Attorney Jonathan Robe said the council is evaluating its options on whether to appeal the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. No appeal will happen before the election on Tuesday, he said.