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Request from ACLU leaves city officials somewhat confused
By JEANNE STARMACK
campbell
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio wants the city to return $480 a group spent on police protection at a gun-rights rally last month.
But the city has nothing to do with the money, said Mayor George Krinos.
The Young Americans for Liberty’s Youngstown State University chapter hired off-duty officers to work at the rally as security and paid them for their time, he said.
The group organized the April 17 rally that took place in Roosevelt Park.
He said the city told YAL, which also invited members of Ohioans for Concealed Carry to the rally, that it would cost $2,000 for the group to have police at the rally if it used on-duty officers. The fee would be associated with expenses such as overtime.
He said the group was not told it had to pay the fee, and city officials suggested the cheaper option.
The ACLU said there is no city policy that allows officials to charge residents a fee or requires them to pay for police protection.
The ACLU said it sent a letter Friday to city law director Mark Kolmacic “expressing deep concern” over the $480 and asking the city to return it.
The ACLU also questioned why the location of the rally was changed several times with less than 24 hours’ notice.
The rally was originally supposed to be in front of the city buildng on Tenney Avenue.
It was moved to the park, then moved from its location in the park to the amphitheater there.
Krinos said organizers were aware that the location could change. The city was concerned about road work going on nearby, and thought that would be a problem with the amount of people expected at the rally.
Krinos said he tried to notify organizers, starting on Wednesday of that week until Saturday, that the location was changing. He said he did not receive a call back.
The YAL is a group that protests what it perceives are constitutional violations. It organized the rally because of an ordinance the city council passed that banned gun sales citywide.
The ordinance has since been repealed. Ohioans for Concealed Carry threatened a lawsuit over it, which was filed last month.
Kolmacic recommended repealing the ordinance after he got a letter threatening the suit in March from the gun-rights group.
He told council at a caucus meeting Wednesday that he wants proposed legislation on his desk a week before meetings so he has time to review it.
Kolmacic said that when he first saw the gun-sales legislation, it banned gun sales in residential areas. That is allowed under Ohio law. By the time it got to the floor, he said, the language had been changed to banning gun sales citywide, which is not legal.