Youngstown voters refuse to reduce size of council, ban fracking

YOUNGSTOWN

City voters narrowly rejected a charter amendment to reduce the number of wards from seven to five and loudly said no for the fourth time since May 2013 to a proposal to ban fracking in Youngstown.

Members of the Committee for Responsible Redistricting, which got this issue on the ballot, said it is needed to make government more efficient in Youngstown, among the cities leading the nation in population decline over the past several decades.

“There’s two very passionate sides to this: one side felt it was a cost savings and would make the city more efficient and the other side felt we need more council members to address the challenges the city faces,” said Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th, who supported the ward-reduction proposal. “Now, let’s get back to work.”

The proposal lost by less than 1 percent, according to unofficial but complete results.

“The results were very close,” Chris Travers, the committee’s treasurer.

The committee hasn’t decided if it will seek to put the proposal back on the ballot at a future date.

Read more about the measure and other charter amendment votes in today's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.