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MJ local mobileCouncil size, wards top charter issue
Issue has been a source of contention over way it came to be on the ballot.
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MIDDLETOWN — Middletown voters will have the chance to change the city’s charter and decide if it wants to reduce the size of City Council and eliminate the ward system of council representation.
For the past few months, the issue has been a point of contention concerning the way in which the proposed charter amendment reached the Nov. 3 ballot.
For most of Middletown’s modern history, the city has been governed by a city commission or council of five at-large members. And for many years, the city was divided into wards for administrative, rather than representative purposes.
The ward system was in place from 1888 to 1913, when city voters adopted the charter form of government and approved a council of five at-large members.
In 1981, voters rejected a proposal to return the ward system; but in 1990, voters narrowly approved the change by about 200 votes. The change went into effect for the 1993 city elections.
The 2009 Charter Review Commission voted 13-2 to return to an at-large system, with both 2nd Ward representatives, Wanda Glover and John Soppanish, casting the dissenting votes.
Proponents of the ward system say its elimination would jeopardize equal representation from all parts of the city and prevent a majority of council members coming from a single section of the city, namely the 3rd Ward, which has the largest block of registered and active voters.
Last summer, Glover said, “It’s not about what the ward system has done, but about what the ward system has prevented from happening.”
Opponents argue that an at-large election of council members would “attract the best candidates” from around the city.
“We just want the people to vote on this (proposal),” said Jeff Michel, who favors an at-large system of electing council members.
But in July, when all 12 charter recommendations came for council’s consideration and possible modification, approval or rejection, the approved change was voted down because a two-thirds majority could not be mustered. Nine recommendations were placed on the ballot by council, while three others were not.
Michel then spearheaded an unsuccessful effort to put the question on the ballot through the petition process.
The Butler County Board of Elections ruled in late August that the petition did not have enough signatures to place the question on the ballot.
But the number of people who signed the petition swayed 4th Ward Councilman David Schiavone, one of the three council members who voted against putting the proposal on the ballot in July, to change his vote in September.
That vote as well as the decision by city officials to obtain outside legal counsel that specializes in Ohio election law was perceived by some as a back-door effort to get the issue on the ballot after council had already rejected it.
Of the eight candidates running for the four open ward seats, the candidates are split equally between those who do and do not support the proposed change.
Time line of events
Here’s how the proposed charter amendment to reduce the size of Middletown City Council and to eliminate the ward system was placed on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Jan. 20: Council appoints the 15-member, 2009 Charter Review Committee. The committee is required to review the city charter every 10 years.
Feb. 9: Law Director Les Landen conducted an orientation and organizational meeting. He explained the charter is the equivalent of the constitution for the city. Landen said the committee could recommend changes to the charter or not. But he said only council can accept, reject or modify the recommendation or come up with their own proposal.
Landen also said the committee could also put things on the ballot through the petition process. Tom Brickey was selected as chairman and John Soppanish was selected as vice chairman.
March 2: The committee reviewed the charter. Landen said in 1912, the Ohio Constitution was amended to create the charter, also known as the “home rule,” form of self government. This provision, Article 18, Section 9, enables a municipality to form its own government and structure any way it saw fit, but it could not be in conflict with state law.
Middletown adopted its charter in 1913 and amended it nine times.
From 1913 through 1993, the city was governed by a five-member commission elected at-large. The 2009 committee also identified the charter sections it wanted to review.
March 16: Landen informs the committee that the vote in 1981 to restructure council to five members that included four ward representatives and a mayor was rejected by voters by a vote of 5,417 against to 3,363 for. In November 1990, voters approved the charter change to seven members, including four ward representatives, by a vote of 4,892 for to 4,699 against.
At this meeting, Landen also explained that in addition to the 10-year charter review, council can amend the charter by a two-thirds majority and a vote of the electors at anytime. He said citizens can amend the charter anytime upon submission of a petition containing signatures that total 10 percent of the electors who voted in the last municipal election.
April 6: Landen said it was possible all or none of the recommendations will go the ballot as council decides what do with the recommendations.
Other proposed City Charter amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot
• To make gender references in the Charter applicable to both genders.
• To reduce the required number of meetings of Middletown City Council from a minimum of two each month to one each month.
• To permit the annual report of City Council to be prepared other than in pamphlet form; to be on file at the public library; and to be available to any member of the public at the clerk of council’s office.
• To eliminate the residency requirement for the city manager.
• To eliminate the requirement that all appointments and removals of employees by the city manager be subject to the advice and consent of City Council .
• To continue to require that the title of legislation be published between its first and second reading; but eliminate that such publication be in a newspaper of general circulation.
• Effective Jan. 1, 2010, to eliminate reference to specific boards and commissions in the Charter and to permit the City Council to create boards and commissions and establish the size of membership, length of term of members and the method of appointing members of such boards and commissions, including the Board of Health, the Board of Library Trustees and the Civil Service Commission.
• To increase the number of words permitted in a recall rebuttal statement; require the rebuttal statement to be made available to the public; and eliminate the requirement that the rebuttal statement be mailed by the clerk of council to each registered voter of the city.
• To repeal the section of the Charter relating to the sinking fund.
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This agenda was rammed throough Council despite failing every way possible. Council did NOT serve the citizens here, and catered to the MMF agenda.
9:23 AM, 10/26/2009
6:47 PM, 10/25/2009
"The 2009 Charter Commission voted 13-2 to recommend to Council to return to an at-large system".
5:28 AM, 10/25/2009