Campbell Council moves forward with charter amendments for ballot

By SARAH Lehr

slehr@vindy.com

CAMPBELL

Council agreed to move forward with 14 charter amendments to be placed before voters on the November ballot.

The Charter Review Commission convenes once every 10 years to brainstorm changes to Campbell’s charter, which is the city’s governing document.

After the commission met this year and recommended 15 charter amendments, several council members threatened to block some of the amendments from the ballot.

Though the amendments must be approved by voters, the commission does not have direct authority to place measures on the ballot. Voters must petition for a referendum, or city council must vote to send the measures to the Mahoning County Board of Elections for ballot placement. A few of the commission’s more controversial proposals include adding two new council members, increasing the mayor’s term of office from two to four years and prohibiting council from reducing or eliminating the fire department without a vote from the electorate.

Lawmakers objected to the fire-department amendment, saying it would interfere with a transition to a joint fire district staffed by volunteers, first proposed when the city was in fiscal emergency.

Council President George Levendis said although he personally disliked some of the amendments, he is willing to put 14 of them before voters if the commission agreed to rescind the fire-department amendment. Council will vote at its next meeting on final passage of a resolution to send the 14 amendments to the board of elections.

Law Director Brian Macala told city council last month it is legally obligated to send all proposed amendments to the elections board. The commission also consulted several attorneys, some of whom disagreed with Macala’s interpretation.

In other business, council discussed the city’s dispatch problems. The police department lost its dispatch signal for about four hours May 14 and eight hours May 28. During the outages, it relied on Struthers and Youngstown dispatch.

To join a digital dispatch system established by Mahoning County, Austintown and Boardman, the city would spend about $113,483 on equipment, which is at a 40 percent discount available through a state purchasing program. It also would spend about $8,500 each year on membership fees. If the city does not receive sufficient grant money, Judge Patrick Cunning agreed to contribute $25,000 from the court capital-improvement fund, according to Dr. Michael Evanson, finance director. The judge has broad discretion over that fund, which is furnished by court fees and has a $169,251 balance, Evanson said.

Lt. Kevin Sferra, acting police chief, said a new dispatch system is a necessity.

“Without radios, it only takes a couple of seconds for somebody to get killed,” he said.