CHARTER REVIEW City official to propose changes

Council salaries and abolition of term limits appear to be on the fast track.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The chairman of the city's charter review commission says he plans to put some proposed charter amendments before city council at council's special meeting July 21.
After Thursday's commission meeting, William Carter, commission chairman, said he hopes members will vote within the next two weeks to recommend some amendments to be put before the voters in November.
Council can place proposed charter amendments on the ballot anytime between July 5 and Sept. 3, but has scheduled only two meetings during that period, one July 21 and the other Aug. 18.
Commission member Arlette Gatewood said he supports an amendment that would abolish the current eight-year term limits for the mayor and city council members beginning with the 2007 election.
"I think the voters are intelligent enough to either keep someone in office or vote them out of office if they're not performing the job that they should. And I think that term limits hinder a good representative from continuing to serve," he said.
Salaries, aides
Gatewood said he also favors increasing council members' salaries above the current $600 a year, abolishing their individual $30,000-a-year aides (typically their spouses or other family members), and replacing their aides with a fourth clerk to answer complaint calls in council's office.
"Council had to go through the back door to get themselves a salary," under the present arrangement with the aides, Gatewood told his fellow commission members. The city should pay directly to the council members the money that the aides now receive, he said.
Gatewood also wants to establish a civilian police review board to investigate allegations of police misconduct and brutality.
The issues of terms limits, council member salaries and aides will likely be on the commission's fast track, Carter said.
Other issues
Carter said he favors an amendment that would give city residents 10 points of extra credit when they pass a competitive civil-service exam, similar to extra points awarded to veterans in the civil-service system. "I think that the people who pay the taxes in the city should reap the benefits," he said.
Carter also favors requiring the health and park and recreation departments to adhere to the same affirmative action contracting requirements as other departments of city government.
Consideration should also be given to possible consolidation of human resources, civil-service commission and human-relations commission functions as an economy move, he said.
Commission member Laureen Scahill said she favors setting minimum job qualifications for all department head positions appointed by the mayor. "The appointed positions in the charter need some requirements and regulations and job descriptions. I think there needs to be some elimination of that favoritism," she said.
Currently, only a few city department head jobs have minimum requirements, she said. For example, the city law director must be an Ohio-licensed attorney who has practiced law for five years, and the health commissioner must be a medical doctor or have a master's degree in public health.