Warren residents should talk about the future of their city

In 2003 and again in 2007, members of Warren City Council toyed with the idea of a charter form of government to replace the current statutory form, but nothing happened.

Why? Because there wasn’t a sense of urgency to find permanent solutions to the myriad problems confronting Warren.

Even Councilman Alford Novak’s warning two years ago that “the city is going to hell” didn’t sway his colleagues. Novak, D-2nd, introduced legislation for a charter or home-rule form of government, saying that change is needed to better the community.

In 2003, a similar argument was put forth, but there wasn’t support in council to place the charter issue on the ballot.

Any change must be approved by the voters, which is why residents should be brought into the discussion at the outset.

On Monday night, nine of the 11 members of council attended a reorganization meeting at which President Robert Marchese said the city should not permit itself to become insignificant or ineffective just because of pressure it is now under due to high unemployment, decreases in revenue and cuts in services.

Marchese wants a more professional atmosphere during council meetings and believes lawmakers should attend training sessions.

Other lawmakers insisted that the administration of Mayor Michael O’Brien should take them more seriously.

Law department

Councilmen Vince Flask and Novak singled out the law department for ignoring the requests of members. They noted that a month ago, nine lawmakers asked the law department to prepare legislation requiring the city to bid out its health-care plan. Nothing had been received as of Monday’s reorganization meeting.

The skyrocketing cost of health insurance was a major issue in the at-large council race in November, with the consensus being that competition is necessary to lower the costs.

A month ago, five members asked for legislation to hire a professional negotiator to lead the contract talks. Again, this issue was raised during the campaign because of the belief that concessions from the unions must be aggressively pursued.

Lawmakers have yet to receive the legislation they requested.

It is against this backdrop that a discussion of the way Warren should be governed — statutorily or by charter — would be conducted, if Marchese has his way.

The council president has proposed forming a citizens study committee to determine whether the city, with all its problems and challenges, would benefit from having its own rules and regulations.

The issue was not raised at Monday’s meeting, but there is another session scheduled for Dec. 16.

Given that this is not a new topic for the residents of Warren, community-wide hearings are essential. Indeed, sending our a survey to establish residents’ priorities could form the basis of the citizens group’s deliberations.

Warren officials have Youngstown, Niles and Cortland to guide them.

The question that should be asked is this: Will turning Warren into a charter city solve the problems it now confronts?