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Mayor: City’s charter to be reviewed
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Sammarone
YOUNGSTOWN
Mayor Charles Sammarone wants to form an 11-member committee to review the city’s charter and make suggested changes to be in front of voters on the November 2012 election ballot.
Sammarone said he’ll ask the seven members of city council and the council president next month to each select a representative, and he’ll choose three.
The city charter calls for “a charter review committee [to] be convened by the mayor every four years to review and consider recommending amendments to the charter.”
The last charter review committee was formed in 2004 by then-Mayor George M. McKelvey. That committee placed two charter amendments on the ballot. Both passed.
One requires city council to review and update when necessary Youngstown’s comprehensive plan after each census.
The other eliminated council legislative aides and their annual salaries of $27,817.24 — $28,117.24 for the council president aide — and gave those salaries directly to council members. Before the change, council members made $600 a year with the council president earning $900 a year.
In April, then-Mayor Jay Williams announced a charter-review committee would be formed in May or June to discuss significant changes to the charter that governs the city.
Williams said at the time that items to be considered included fewer council members, different ward boundaries for council seats, eliminating term limits, and having the city run by an appointed executive rather than an elected mayor.
But the committee never got off the ground with Williams resigning as mayor in August to take a position in the President Barack Obama administration.
When Sammarone became mayor in August, he said a charter-review committee was a priority, but he wanted to wait a few months into his administration to move ahead with forming one.
Sammarone declined to discuss recommendations he’d offer to the committee saying it was too early to do so.
“When they ask, I’ll give my opinion,” he said. “I don’t want to say anything before to influence the committee.”