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Youngstown council rejects the final three recommendations from the charter review commission
YOUNGSTOWN
City council rejected three final recommendations from the charter review commission to put in front of voters Nov. 8.
Among the recommendations council rejected Monday was one requiring its members to redistrict its seven wards no later than 90 days after a decennial census if it shows at least a 7 percent difference in population between the largest and smallest wards.
Council agreed, however, to redistrict no more than 180 days after a census if it shows at least a 10 percent difference between its least- and most-populous wards.
“We absolutely made a substantive change to redistricting,” said Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd.
“We made major progress on redistricting,” added Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th. “We didn’t like their 7 percent and took it to 10 percent.”
Council will take formal action at its Aug. 17 meeting on what its members would put on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Council redistricted its wards for the 2015 election. It was the first time that was done since the early 1980s, which had led to a 40 percent population change between its most- and least-populous wards.
That redistricting took 13 months to finish from the first meeting council members had about it.
Council members agreed last week to three other proposals from the charter review commission for the ballot.
But Monday, council rejected two other commission proposals.
A two-part proposal would have deleted outdated language requiring city employees to live in the city, as state law already does, and allow the mayor to appoint nonresidents to city commissions with the approval of city council.
Mayor John A. McNally previously said he didn’t support the latter part of the proposal, and council members agreed.
Council members said there’s no reason to pay the cost of putting the residency requirement on the ballot so the language of the city charter matches state law.
Council also said no to a proposal requiring its members to be a resident and elector of the ward from which he or she is elected for at least a year before the general election in which the person is a candidate.
It also would have allowed candidates to be exempt from the proposal if their home is redistricted into another ward no more than one year before an election.
During the two-hour meeting, Rodgers found state law that already requires candidates to live at least one year in the city to be eligible to serve.
As for a candidate’s being exempt from the law because of redistricting, the earliest that could be an issue is 2031, so council opted not to put it in front of voters.
Christopher Travers, commission chairman, said, “What I see is some worthwhile and hard work not go to its full extent. I’m certainly disappointed that work the commission did over 10, 11, 12 weeks [was] rejected.”
Travers said, however, he was “happy that [council is] putting a hard and fast number on when redistricting should take place.”
Council agreed last week to three recommendations from the committee: deleting a $12 meeting penalty for council members, eliminating outdated references to disbursing public money by checks only, and removing a reference to appointing a member of the abolished park and recreation commission to serve on the planning committee.
At last week’s meeting, council rejected changing the word “will” to “shall” when it comes to having the commission convene every four years.
Meanwhile, two citizen-backed charter amendments will be on the city’s fall ballot.
To get on the ballot, the citizen initiatives needed at least 1,259 valid signatures, an amount equal to 10 percent of those who voted in Youngstown’s last general election.
Backers of an anti-fracking initiative, called the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights, turned in petitions with 2,445 signatures with 1,993 found to be valid, according to the Mahoning County Board of Elections. The anti-fracking committee gathered the signatures itself.
The proposal has failed five previous times.
Also, a first-time proposal to give part-time workers increased rights such as health care benefits and equal hourly wages as full-timers will qualify for the ballot.
Bob Goodrich of Grand Rapids, Mich., executive director of Part-Timers Rights who is backing the initiative, said he paid about $15,000 to hire a professional firm to gather signatures for his initiative.
The part-time workers initiative submitted petitions with 3,500 signatures with 1,636 – less than half – deemed valid, according to the board of elections.
“A lot of people thought they were in the city limits, while a good number of signatures and addresses weren’t legible,” Goodrich said. “Also, others who signed weren’t registered voters.”
The board of elections will certify the two proposals in the coming weeks.