7 charter revision recommendations sent to Youngstown council

YOUNGSTOWN

Seven recommendations of the Youngstown Charter Review Commission for revisions to the Youngstown City Charter are now in the hands of city council, which has the final word on what will be placed on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

Council is scheduled to meet in special session Aug. 17 when it is expected to act on the commission’s recommendations. The measure has to be submitted to the Mahoning County Board of Elections no later than 60 days before the election.

Six of the proposed revisions were adopted without comment at Tuesday’s final commission meeting.

However, language changes to Charter Section 83, which has to do with the division of the city into wards and redistricting, raised some questions.

The commission’s amendment to Charter Section 83 would maintain the seven wards now in existence, but proffers more specific language for redistricting than the existing “reasonable population change” language.

A subject that was not raised at Tuesday’s meeting, chaired by Chris Travers, was term limitations for the mayor’s office, which was heatedly debated at the June 28 commission meeting.

Read more on the recommendations in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.