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There’s now a slim chance Nelsonville residents will see an initiative on the ballot in November to change their government
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – A proposed initiative that would change the city government in Nelsonville will not appear on at least the first ballots printed for the November election.
An attorney for two residents who support the initiative filed a motion late Monday afternoon asking the appeals court to lift this hold.
The appeals court could have made a rush decision on the motion, but attorneys on both sides said this wasn’t likely. No decision was made as of Tuesday.
Absentee ballots for Nelsonville residents who are in the military or living overseas must be printed and ready for mailing on Friday.
Given that it’s too late to get the initiative on those ballots, the question now is whether the case is moot.
The proposed initiative would abolish the city’s charter, under which the city’s administration is run by a city manager who is hired, and can be fired, by the City Council. It would return the city to the form of government it had before the charter was adopted, under which the city is run by an elected mayor independent of the council.
Dan Klos, the attorney for the residents, believes there’s still a path forward for the initiative. If the appeals court were to grant his motion to lift the hold on the judge’s order, the council would have to vote to put the initiative on the ballot.
Klos said it’s possible the appeals court could then order that new absentee ballots be printed with the initiative and sent out to those who were already mailed a ballot, with instructions to fill this one out as well.
This of course presumes the court makes a decision soon enough so the new ballots could be returned by the legal deadline.
Nelsonville City Attorney Jonathan Robe said it’s much more likely the court will declare the case moot and dismiss it.
However, Robe said he would like to see the case continue, even though a dismissal would be a win for the city, which has fought to keep the initiative off the ballot.
Robe said the city would like to get a definitive answer from the court on the central issue in this case, which is how to go about abolishing a city charter.
Ohio residents have a constitutional right to choose their own form of government, but there’s no clear guidance in the law on how to dissolve a charter.
The residents behind the Nelsonville initiative were operating under the city’s charter, which allows residents to put initiatives on the ballot provided they get the required number of signatures.
The initiative in this case got enough signatures. The charter says the council is then required to vote to place the initiative on the ballot.
The council refused to do that. The city argues the charter does not permit initiatives to abolish the charter itself. Instead, the city argues, such an initiative must proceed under a section of the state Constitution that specifies how to amend charters.
The appeals court doesn’t have to let the case continue just because the parties involved would like an answer, Robe said. But one possibility, he said, is the court could ask both sides to submit arguments on the question of mootness, and if there’s agreement the case is not moot, this might persuade the court to let it continue.