News
A proposal from City Council could create conflicting processes for electing a new Nelsonville government
By: David Forster
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Nelsonville is supposed to begin next year with a new City Council and, for the first time in 30 years, a mayor.
The City Council in a special meeting Tuesday night voted to put on the May ballot an amendment to the city charter that would create a new government.
If it passes, it would create a conflict with a ballot initiative approved by Nelsonville voters in November, known as Issue 23, that also calls for a new government.
Both Issue 23 and the proposed charter amendment would return the city to the form of government it had three decades ago, with power shared between the council and an elected mayor.
The problem is that if both Issue 23 and the charter amendment are in place, there would be two separate processes in motion for electing a new City Council and a mayor.
A decision would have to be made which one to follow, otherwise there could be candidates running under Issue 23 and candidates running under the charter amendment.
“I don’t think there’s any way given council’s action to avoid a confusing situation,” said Jonathan Robe, the city’s attorney.
“I don’t know how the Board of Elections resolves that,” he said. “I don’t think that they can have competing elections on the same ballot.”
Debbie Quivey, director of the Athens County Board of Elections, said she’s not sure how this would get resolved.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” she said. “I’m as confused as anyone is. We just don’t understand.”
The City Council fought a monthslong legal battle to keep Issue 23 off the November ballot. It argued the people behind the initiative did not follow the right procedure for placing it on the ballot.
The city lost this argument, and a judge ordered the initiative be placed before voters. It passed with overwhelming support.
But Issue 23 did not provide much detail on how to make the transition back to the previous form of government.
For example, under the city charter that took effect 30 years ago, all of the City Council members are at large, meaning they each represent the entire city. Before the charter, four of the seven council members represented wards and were elected by the voters who resided in those wards.
Robe told council members after the November election that they do not have the authority under the charter to draw wards, and Issue 23 did not empower the council to do this. Without wards, the Board of Elections cannot certify candidates for those four council seats.
Quivey had suggested the council agree to use the city’s four voting precincts as the wards for this election. The newly elected council could then draw ward boundaries for the next election.
The council voted against this option Tuesday night. A representative of the League of Women Voters of Ohio told the council it could be opening itself up to a lawsuit if it adopted the precincts as wards.
The league has suggested another option to avoid this issue with the wards: All candidates for council could run as at-large members and the new council could then draw up wards for the next election.
The council is trying to get around the wards problem and some other transition issues not addressed in Issue 23 through the proposed charter amendment. The amendment would give the current council “authority to effectuate all necessary steps to implement these changes,” which would include creating wards.
“I think this is a far better way to accomplish what the citizens said they want,” said Councilmember Cory Taylor.
Councilmember Tony Dunfee said he and other council members are not trying to prevent the switch to a new form of government. “I agree there needs to be a change,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anybody disputing this on this council.”
“Let’s do it the right way,” he said.
But while Issue 23 and the proposed charter amendment would both create the same type of government, there are differences between the two that would create conflicts if both are in place.
Under Issue 23, the city’s elected offices, including mayor, City Council, auditor, treasurer and law director, would be partisan. This means candidates for these offices will first run in the May primary, and the winners for each political party represented will move on to the general election in November.
Under the proposed charter amendment, the mayor and council positions would be nonpartisan. The charter does not address the other elected offices. Also, the amendment calls for eight council members, while under Issue 23 there would be seven.
This becomes a problem because at the same time Nelsonville voters are deciding the fate of the proposed amendment in May, they will also be voting for candidates running for office under the terms of Issue 23.
Resolving this conflict could potentially present a choice of rejecting the will of the voters, either with respect to the candidates they voted for or for the charter amendment they approved.
This conflict could be avoided if no Nelsonville candidates end up running for office in the May primary. Quivey said Wednesday afternoon that so far no candidates had filed petitions with her office. The deadline for filing is Feb. 5.