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Campbell council reviews charter amendments to be placed on ballot
By SARAH Lehr
CAMPBELL
City council reviewed proposed charter amendments and discussed a breakdown of the police dispatch radio system during a regular meeting Monday night.
A resolution introduced by council would place a series of amendments to the city’s charter before voters on November’s ballot.
A charter defines the organization, powers and basic procedures of a locals government, similar to the Constitution at the federal level.
The city’s Charter Review Commission, which meets once every 10 years, proposed a total of 15 amendments.
Some of the amendments aim to revise language in the document, but a few of the most significant include an amendment that would extend the mayor’s term of office from two years to four years and another which would establish seven city council positions rather than five.
Currently, the city has four council members overseeing their respective wards and one council president. The proposed amendment would add two council at-large positions. In other cities, a council member at-large is responsible for the entire community.
Council will likely give the resolution another two readings before sending the amendments to the Mahoning County Board of Elections to be approved for placement on the ballot.
“I have reservations about a few of these,” 4th Ward Councilwoman Juanita Rich said of the proposed amendments. “We are simply placing [them] on the ballot for the electorate to decide.”
Before the regular meeting, council met in executive session with Mayor Nick Phillips, Charter Review Commission Chair Mike Maillis, Law Director Brian Macala and City Administrator Jay Macejko to discuss the amendments.
Executive sessions are closed to the public. Council President George Levendis requested the closed-door session, saying it was justified as a matter of “pending litigation.” Macala affirmed the legality of meeting behind closed doors.
When asked by The Vindicator which specific amendments presented “pending litigation,” Macala said there were none. Rather, he said, his ruling pertained to all the amendments and the legality of submitting them to the elections board.
Though conceding that no active lawsuits exist, Macala contended the amendment resolution carried the “threat” of legal action.
In other business during the caucus, council discussed problems with the police dispatching system after the police department completely lost its phone and radio signals during a power outage Saturday night.
Mike Romeo, who provides technology support for the police department, said the radios cut out at about 11 p.m. and came back on at about 3 a.m. During that time, Campbell used Struthers Police Department’s radio system.
To fix issues with the current system, Romeo estimated the city would need to spend about $100,000.
“But, that’s putting a band-aid on it,” he said, noting that the existing system is plagued by static.
Instead, Romeo recommended the city join a digital dispatch system currently used by Mahoning County, Austintown and Boardman. That option would cost the city about $5,500 in yearly membership fees and about $113,000 up-front for a new repeater, Romeo estimated.
That system would be virtually fail-safe, and also would include the option of encrypting sensitive communications.
Council will further discuss the dispatch issue during a public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.