Council Refuses To Advance Ward Reduction Charter Issue

[Peggy Gurney]

I hope the Mayor and City Law Director RIDE council like a bunch of work horses in the
field, until they do what is right.

I could not agree more.

[iwasthere]

I hope the Mayor and City Law Director RIDE council like a bunch of work horses in the
field, until they do what is right.

and horse whipped when they fall out of line

[Towntalk]

Wordless commentary.

[AllanY2525]

I hope the Mayor and City Law Director RIDE council like a bunch of work horses in the
field, until they do what is right.

[iwasthere]

don't ya all love mah cty politics?

[Towntalk]

http://wkbn.com/2014/08/22/council-ignored-ballot-petitions-at-meeting-to-redraw-wards/

Now that it has come from OFFICIAL sources, I have no argument. The key being "official source" ie. the City Law Director.
"Hume said council has opened the city up to a law suit, one it would probably lose. A court would order that council send the petitions to the Board of Elections but if it they are not in before the deadline, there would have to be a special election rather than a vote during the general election." SOURCE: WKBN
So what's to stop the city from turning the petitions over to the Board of Elections Monday morning? This would save having a dragged out court action.

[Towntalk]

Tnx. See, I canbe quite reasonble to deal with 

[PD]

It has to pass council by 9/4 but could have been passed last night

[Towntalk]

Excuse me but my computer is giving me tizzy fits here so my full response was lost.
As I understand it, the motion was to wait 10 days before moving forward. What is the final point of no return date beyond which the CA can not be placed on the ballot?
And where would the money come from to pay for taking it into court? Even if an attorney stepped forward to volunteer his time, there are still court costs, then there will certainly be appeals no matter which way the court rules, and the whole plan lays in limbo until one side or the other cries uncle, and that could take years.
Your goal is to have the reduced ward plan take effect ASAP ... preferably immediately, but that is not going to happen if it is taken into the courts.
Again, is the 10 day waiting period so long that it still wouldn't have time to get on the November ballot?

[PD]

According to Ohio Constitution Council "shall pass" charter amendments to the board of elections
According to the city law director council not doing so will constitute a mandamus lawsuit against council to perform this action
The group is already looking into this and contacting attorneys in case it doesn't go through

[PD]

Swierz voted no to suspend the rules of council
He voted yes to put the motion back up for re vote
I am sure he would have voted yes the second time after he found out that council could be sued for not putting the amendment on the ballot

[PD]

Swierz voted no for the charter amendment suspension, the vindy got it wrong

[Towntalk]

Council could have a set of rules that it goes by (Robert's Rules of Order) that would not have to be in the City Charter, and since the POC is on the record as saying that he does not favor having the CA placed on the ballot, there is no logical reason why he couldn't have broken the tie. Every legislative has a set of rules governing the workings of that body that are not written into the constitution, or a body of law, and they have people there who oversee that set of rules (Parliamentarian) but apparently there is no one in City Council to fulfill that position. And as iwasthere pointed out the POC should have broken the tie, but he didn't, and for that he needs to answer for it.

Council President Charles Sammarone said even though he does not support the five-ward charter amendment, he does agree the issue should be brought to the voters. - See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/aug/21/council-approves-plan-for--wards/#sthash.Z7zka7ev.dpuf

To my way of thinking that sounds like political double talk on Sammarone's part.

[iwasthere]

i would look into the ten day waiting period if i was on the committee to see if that is true. tt, if poc is not required by the charter to brk ties then what good is this pos. it is rare tht poc takes over in case of mayor'-s death or they leave office . this pos is a waste of taxpayers monies.

[AllanY2525]

Question: Is the President of Council allowed to vote on stuff like this, or must he
(or she) remain neutral?