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New legal action has been filed in the dispute between rival Nelsonville governments over which is legitimate

By: David Forster
Posted on: Thursday, February 26, 2026

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Another legal action has been filed in court as two rival governments in Nelsonville lay claim to their legitimacy.

The latest action was filed earlier this month on behalf of the members of what is known as the statutory government.

These are the people who were elected in November to take office under a new form of government at the start of this year. They argue they have been unable to take over running the city because the people who ran the previous government have refused to give up their positions.

That rival government is known as the charter government, which was created under a charter the city adopted three decades ago. In November 2024, Nelsonville voters overwhelmingly approved Issue 23, a citizen-led initiative that called for abolishing the charter and returning the city to its previous, statutory form of government.

The principal difference between the two forms of government is that under the charter, power is concentrated in the City Council, and under a statutory government power is split between the council and an elected mayor.

After Issue 23 passed, Nelsonville leaders spent months preparing for the transition to the new government. Then in August last year, the council abruptly voted to repeal Issue 23, arguing it has the power under the charter to overturn citizen initiatives.

Whether the council has such power is at the center of the new legal action, as it was in a case filed in January by one of the candidates elected to the new statutory government. That earlier case was voluntarily dismissed this week as the newer case makes its way through the court.

The central argument in the new legal action is that the people have a right under the Ohio Constitution to create their own laws at the local level through the initiative process, and the City Council does not have the power to override this constitutional authority. In other words, any power the council has under the charter is secondary to powers granted to the people under the constitution.

For this reason, the legal action argues, the repeal of Issue 23 is invalid and the charter government has no authority to lay claim to being the legitimate Nelsonville government.

The charter government has not yet filed a response to the legal challenge. However, it has argued in previous cases that the power of initiative does not apply when it comes to municipal charters. Instead, there are separate provisions in the state constitution that address how to adopt or amend a city charter.

While the court considers the arguments raised in this latest legal action, both the charter and statutory councils continue to have regular meetings. The charter council meets at City Hall and the statutory council meets at the Hocking College Lodge. It appears the charter council has control over the city’s finances and is able to appropriate funds and enter into contracts to keep the city running.

Actions taken by the charter council could potentially have to be undone if the court ultimately decides it is not the legitimate government.