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More litigation is expected as Nelsonville gets another ‘No’ from the Ohio Supreme Court
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Ohio Supreme Court made clear Wednesday it has no intention of removing any Nelsonville candidates from the November ballot.
Fourteen candidates are running for office under Issue 23, a citizen initiative passed by voters last year that would switch the city to a new form of government starting next year.
But last month the City Council decided to repeal Issue 23, arguing it has the power to overturn citizen initiatives.
This means there would be no change in government next year, and the candidates running under Issue 23 would have no positions to occupy after the election.
After voting to repeal the initiative, the City Council asked the Ohio Supreme Court to order that Issue 23 candidates be removed from the ballot.
The court denied this request last week, saying there was no legal authority to remove candidates who have already been certified to run by the county elections board.
The city asked the court to reconsider its decision, and on Wednesday the court denied this request in a single sentence.
Attorney Dan Klos, who represented one of the Issue 23 candidates in the Supreme Court case, said he will likely be filing a legal action soon in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas, but could not provide more details at this point.
Klos argued in documents filed in the Supreme Court case that the council’s repeal of Issue 23 is invalid because it deprives Nelsonville residents of their constitutional right to choose their own form of government.
This question of the validity of the repeal is something the Athens County Board of Elections was hoping the Supreme Court would decide.
The board warned of a dire scenario after the election in which there were two competing City Councils come January. One would consist of the candidates elected under Issue 23, who claim they are the rightful council because the repeal was invalid. The other would consist of people already on the council at the end of this year, who claim there is no transition to a new government on Jan. 1 because Issue 23 was repealed and therefore they do not have to give up their seats.
This would create chaos and lead to more litigation, the board argued.
Meanwhile, Nelsonville City Manager Fred Holmes, who is running for mayor under Issue 23, suggested another way out at Monday night’s council meeting: He encouraged council members to repeal their repeal of the initiative.
City Attorney Jonathan Robe said this would likely be the cleanest solution at this point as far as avoiding more litigation is concerned.