Sunday, April 18, 2010
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
The Warren Charter Committee heard from two “voices of experience” last week — people who have made the transition from a statutory form of government such as Warren’s to a self-styled charter form.
Mark Kondik, a member of the Reminderville Village Council who also served on the village’s charter commission, said his reason for wanting a charter government was to establish some stability for the police department in the 4,600-resident village near Aurora.
His concern was that Ohio law allowed several village council members to decide to eliminate the police department and revert to policing by the sheriff’s department with a simple vote.
He felt such a decision should require a vote of the village, and by having a charter, such a vote would be needed. The village’s new charter has been in effect since Jan. 1.
Kondik said one of the biggest changes brought about by the charter was the enactment of a civil- service procedure to handle disciplinary matters.
Under the old form of government, the village was “clique-y,” and disciplinary matters were not always handled impartially, Kondik said.
Writing a charter takes a lot of time and energy and involves costs, such as printing a booklet that is mailed to every voter before the general election at which it is offered.
But Kondik’s advice to the Warren Charter Committee is: “Do it; get it on the ballot. Get good people, and get a charter.”
Tom Ault, city manager for Louisville, a city of 9,000 near Canton, said a charter spells out very clearly who has the power to make decisions.
“There’s no questions of powers, no question of who hires the police chief, who fires the police chief,” he said.
In Louisville, the key to running the city effectively is good communication between the city manager and the five members of city council.
“I have five bosses,” Ault said.
The average length of time a city manager stays in one place is five years, Ault said, noting he has been in Louisville six years and has no plans to leave anytime soon.
When he helped the village of Coldwater establish a charter form of government in 2000, the village didn’t want to change much. Its main goal was to hire a professional financial manager to replace a longtime clerk. Very little else changed, and the charter passed 73 percent to 27 percent, he said.
The Warren Charter Committee must make a recommendation to Warren City Council by July 1 whether to ask voters this November whether they want a charter commission to be formed to create a charter.
City council said no to such a recommendation seven years ago.
If such a commission is established, its job would be to give voters a specific charter later to approve or reject.