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Limited charter vote may spur referendum, recall
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Drennen
YOUNGSTOWN
City council could face political repercussions for wanting to put only four of 17 charter amendments proposed by a citizens committee on the Nov. 6 ballot, members of both bodies say.
“The public gave us those proposals,” said Jerome Williams, president of the charter-review committee. Council “forgot who they work for: the citizens. The citizens have spoken. If [council is] not sure what the citizens want, then put it on the ballot and let them vote.”
As to the potential fallout, Williams said, “They may lose their jobs.” That’s because citizens could gather enough signatures on petitions to place their own charter amendments on the ballot to make it easier for a recall vote.
A citizens initiative to get proposed charter amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot would require 1,793 valid signatures, a number equal to 10 percent of city residents who voted in the last presidential election, submitted by Aug. 8.
It’s more likely that citizens will get the needed signatures for charter amendments on the 2013 ballot, said Phil Kidd, a member of the charter-review committee.
Also, he said, “There are groups out there willing to do what’s necessary to file a civil lawsuit” over redistricting the city’s seven wards so each would have similar populations.
Ward redistricting hasn’t been done in more than 30 years.
While proud of the work done by the committee, William Carter, a member of the charter-review committee, said everyone knew from the start that the final decision rested with council.
On Monday, council approved having the city law department write ballot language for only four of the 17 proposed charter amendments recommended by the 11-member charter-review committee. It’s a step necessary before the proposals can go on the ballot.
The committee, whose members were selected by city council and the mayor, wanted to mandate redistricting be done no more than 90 days after a decennial federal census.
Council members said they support redistricting, but need more than 90 days to get it done.
Council’s proposal would require redistricting after a “reasonable population change,” a phrase open to interpretation.
Council is tentatively scheduled to meet July 30 to vote on ballot language for the amendments they support.
Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th and chairman of its legislation committee, said he is “concerned about [political] backlash. There’s the potential for that, but I stand by my decisions.”
As for a number of the other charter-review proposals, they “aren’t off the table,” and will likely be considered for the 2013 ballot, Ray said.
Thomas Humphries, president and chief executive officer for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, which publicly endorsed putting all 17 proposed charter amendments in front of voters, said he “was a little disappointed that only four will be on the ballot.”
By not putting the others up for a public vote, “it creates a level of risk for council members,” he said.
Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th, who voted in favor of 15 of the 17 proposals, said he “would not be surprised if [citizens] took a few and put them on the ballot. People are angry that council as a whole didn’t want all of the proposals to pass.”
One proposal from the committee was to reduce the annual salary of council members from $27,817 to $20,721.60, 80 percent of the average full-time salary for a city resident.
“Salary would be one to get on the ballot and with petitions they could make it even less,” Drennen said. “They could make our salary $10,000. When it comes to our salary, I’m OK leaving it in voters’ hands.”
Councilman John R. Swierz, D-7th, said, “The easiest thing would have been to say yes to all of them. Instead, we took the ones we felt should go on the ballot that we all could agree on.”
Besides redistricting, council agreed to two committee recommendations: to have the charter be in compliance with the starting and ending dates of daylight saving time and to create a conflict-of-interest policy for all city employees.
Also, council supports ending term limits for mayor, recommended by the committee.
There will be a “small subset of people” who are upset by council’s decision, but “people would be complaining if we put 17 amendments on the ballot,” said Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-3rd. Rodgers said he expects some charter proposals to be approved by city council for placement on the 2013 ballot.