CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 1, 2007
REGULAR
MEETING
7:30
P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Hackworth and Mr. Fix were present. Mrs. Riggs was absent. Others present were Lynda Yartin, Phil Hartmann, and Steve Smith, Jr.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF July 11, 2007, Regular Meeting. Mr. Hackworth moved to approve; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Hackworth and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.
3. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and request for motion to appoint individuals to Tree Commission and Utility Fees Review Commission. Mr. Fix stated there were several appointments that were expiring and the individuals had requested they be reappointed. Mr. Fix stated the two terms expiring on the Utility Fees Review Commission were the initial appointments and the individuals were requesting reappointment to full terms. He further stated Mr. Goodrich of the Tree Commission and Mr. Boetcher of the Parks and Recreation Board were requesting they be re-appointed so they could continue with the projects that their boards have been working on. Mr. Hackworth moved to re-appoint Kevin Snyder and Rick Wright to the Utility Fees Review Commission, Lynn Boetcher to the Parks and Recreation Board, and Don Goodrich to the Tree Commission; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0. Mrs. Yartin stated these appointments will be included on the consent agenda at the next Council meeting.
B. Review and discussion regarding Charter revisions. Mr. Smith stated he had provided a handout to the Committee members regarding Charter review general information. He stated this basically provides information on what can and cannot be done by Charter, etc. Mr. Smith stated all of Council had been provided copies of charters from other communities for comparison purposes. Mr. Smith stated each charter is unique, and the ones provided are not meant to be a recommendation or suggestion of any kind, they are just examples of how other communities do it. Mr. Fix clarified that Schottenstein has been involved in a Charter revision for Dublin and for New Albany. Mr. Smith stated for all intents and purposes, the Ohio Revised Code lets municipalities deal with their own local self-government issues, and the Charter is the heart of the local self-government issue. Mr. Smith stated in the absence of a charter, the form of government is controlled by the statutes set forth in Ohio Revised Code Title 7, and this is similar to what school boards, counties, etc. have. Mr. Smith continued that if you adopt one of the three forms of government set forth in Ohio Revised Code; the Commission plan, the City Manager/City Administrator plan; or the Federal plan, you are cannot change that form of government for a minimum of five years. Mr. Smith stated with regard to the charter amendment process, if you are doing a Charter Review Commission, and by your current charter you have to look at it, basically, every ten years. He stated this forces the city to take stock of things because the needs of the community may change. He continued that, however, at any time you can make changes to the charter and generally these changes come about by either Council submitting recommendations to the voters for consideration or a Charter Review Commission will look at the charter and submit recommendations for amendments. Mr. Smith stated it has been suggested at this time that Rules Committee reviews the charter, then get community input, and finally forward recommendations to Council so it can be submitted to the voters. He stated some communities are big proponents of some type of Charter Review Commission because it gets a wide range of opinions and view points, however, you do not have to go through that process.
Mr. Hackworth stated growth of the community is an issue that should be considered when considering amendments to the charter. He stated he has heard discussion regarding wards and he was not sure we were at the stage where we could get representations out of all areas. Mr. Smith stated developing wards is a change you see a lot in growing communities, and that is a decision each individual community must make. Mr. Hartmann stated, for example, Dublin has four wards and three at-large council members. Mr. Hackworth stated if we would go to the ward system, the ward boundaries would have to be drawn to combine older neighborhoods with the newer ones. Mr. Smith stated that in most ward communities, provisions are made for the ward boundaries to be redrawn every time a new census comes out so it can be redistributed to make it as close to equal as possible.
Mr. Fix inquired how the changes would appear on the ballot, would it be an entire charter or just the changes, or what? Mr. Hartmann stated it could be done either way, but it would be up to Council. Mr. Fix stated, for example, we wouldn’t want say twenty-seven different things to vote on, and Mr. Hartmann stated you would want to keep some of them together. Mr. Hackworth stated he felt that editing, for example, could be submitted as one change, but if we were changing the basic organization of the government he felt we needed to be careful that we didn’t put something out there as a single issue. Mr. Smith stated you need to be careful because you don’t want part of it to be enacted and part not, and that could create inconsistencies. Mr. Fix stated as he understood it, with a target date of the fall of 2008, it would have to be submitted to the Board of Elections in August of 2008. He stated if we wanted several months for a commission to review it and then have council vote on it, we would want to have the commission’s review begin by February, which is six months from now. Mr. Fix stated the Rules Committee review should begin as soon as possible, and Mr. Hartmann stated he would recommend the charter be reviewed by looking at the individual articles. Mr. Fix stated he thought it might be a good idea for Rules Committee to begin the review two articles per month at their meeting and Mr. Hartmann stated he could provide a memo ahead of time showing the alternatives for each section. Mr. Fix stated for the Rules Committee meeting in September he would like to have a presentation regarding the first few articles to be reviewed and he would like to have the information included in the Council packets on August 17th so the committee members would have plenty of time to review the information. Mr. Hartmann stated he did not see that as a problem as the first three articles were fairly straightforward.
Mr. Hackworth further stated he has heard several comments over the past few years regarding the City’s charter, and he questioned if there were significant flaws in our charter that should be changed. Mr. Hartmann stated he did not know that there was anything that you could say was wrong with the current charter, but there are some things that are confusing that have happened over time. Mr. Fix stated he felt the roles of the Council, the City Manager, and the Mayor need to be clarified and what the responsibilities and authority of each is. Mr. Fix further stated he felt there are areas that make things more difficult than they need to be, and he would appreciate if Mr. Hartmann would keep that sort of thing in mind when preparing his memo as that is something he would like to see. Mr. Hartmann stated the last time he was involved in a charter review was with New Albany and their overriding goal was to take advantage of home rule power as much as possible. He stated his goal would be to provide information that would clean up the charter and provide some flexibility. Mr. Hackworth inquired if we had a copy of the charter as it was back in 1988 or 1989, prior to the Manager being supervised by the Mayor, and if so he would like to see a copy of that. Mr. Hackworth stated he did feel there were some areas that needed to be cleaned up. Mr. Fix stated the bottom line was he wanted the most effective and efficient form of government that we can provide for our citizens. Mr. Fix stated as an example, he would like to discuss the majority of members voting versus majority of council. Mr. Fix stated he knew this would be a matter for discussion, and Mr. Hartmann stated he agreed this would be a topic for discussion during the review process. Mr. Hartmann stated he would have a memorandum prepared to send to the Committee in their August 17th council packet.
4. CHAIRMAN: Mr. Fix ascertained we had just received a resignation from Jacqueline Hymes of the Personnel Appeals Board as she is moving out of the area, and Mrs. Yartin would be advertising for that vacancy.
5. OTHER BUSINESS: No other business was brought forward.
6. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Hackworth moved to adjourn; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Mr. Hackworth and Mr. Fix voted "Aye." Motion carried, 2-0. The Rules Committee adjourned at 8:25 P.M, August 1, 2007.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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