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A councilmember’s planned resignation could lead to a ‘nightmare scenario” for the city of Nelsonville

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Nancy Sonick plans to resign from Nelsonville City Council in November, which could leave the city without a government for a month. 

“I am actually going to give a letter of resignation at the first part of November,” Sonick said. 

This leaves the city with one less solution for its upcoming “December problem.” All of the other councilmembers’ terms but Sonick’s end on Nov. 30, and the new City Council won’t take office until Jan. 1. 

Nancy Sonick writing down notes at the latest Nelsonville City Council meeting
Nancy Sonick at the latest Nelsonville City Council meeting. [Joshua Hoerner| WOUB]
This one-month gap is a result of ballot initiative Issue 23, approved by Nelsonville voters last November. It abolishes the city’s charter at the end of this year and switches the city back to a statutory form of government. 

If Sonick were to remain on council past November, she could appoint another member to council, then those two could appoint another member and so on until the council is full. This was going to be the city’s backup plan for December. 

The city’s Plan A is to have people run for a one-month term on the City Council on the upcoming November ballot. 

However, if no one were to run for these one-month terms, and Sonick resigns, the city might not have a council in December. Nelsonville City Law Director Jonathan Robe calls this his “nightmare scenario.” 

“There’s nobody to fill the vacancies because there’s no appointing authority under the charter,” Robe said. 

Sonick’s reason for resigning involves the citizens.   

“They do not appreciate anything that this council has tried to do for the city,” Sonick said. “I mean, there’s the infrastructure, there’s the streets, there’s the sewer, there’s water and all they do is sit and complain about the council.” 

The Ad Hoc Committee is a citizens’ group advising the council through the transition of governments. Chair Reid Courtney said the committee has not considered any other solutions.   

“I’m not prepared to say whether or not there’s another contingency,” Courtney said. “I’ve looked at this issue a lot. I don’t see one that’s obvious right now.” 

Given everything going on in the city of Nelsonville, Sonick said the citizens have been led astray.  

“Yes, I understand they want a mayor,” Sonick said. “But to do away with the council, they have made a big mistake.”