Members promise open mind on plan

Columbus City Council members say they will keep an open mind when they consider whether to ask voters to divide the city into legislative districts.

Implementing districts that are home to just one council member each would be difficult: The seven members mostly are clustered in the East Side and Far East Side and in the area just north of Downtown.

Last week, a charter-review committee recommended dividing the city into nine districts and adding two seats to the

seven-member council. Under the proposal, council hopefuls would run head-to-head for the seat in the district where they live, but all voters citywide would cast ballots in all the races.

The council must consider the proposal and decide whether to put any potential charter changes on the ballot.

Where the current council members live now might not matter, though, as changes could take years to implement, and the makeup of the council could change before they take effect.

Current council members said they won’t let their seat interfere with determining whether charter changes should go to the ballot.

“This proposal is not at all about who’s on council now, and it shouldn’t be. I am personally looking at this as what’s the best system for the city,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Brown said. “It has nothing to do with the seven of us on council now, other than that we serve currently.”

Council President Zach Klein said he has questions about how lines would be drawn, which can be a “tenuous process and one that is sometimes wrought with questions and legal challenges.”

“I think it’s an elegant solution to balance the idea of having district representation with the notion of how well the at- large system has served the city of Columbus,” he said.

Councilman Michael Stinziano, a former state legislator, said that representing the entire city is part of what attracted him to the office. He said the “quality and caliber” of council members matters more than the number of seats and where members live.

“Lines have consequences,” he said. “I always worry about, when we put pen to paper, what that process looks like and whether it’s best for the city.”

Outsiders have panned the charterreview committee’s proposal. The Franklin County GOP slammed the city for not asking the committee to address city- level campaign-finance reform, and a group within the Democratic Party that is trying to win seats on the council said the plan would not produce neighborhood representation.

Members of the charter-review committee wanted to add seats to the council to better align Columbus with other cities of similar size, but they also wanted to give neighborhoods “more local representation,” said Stefanie Coe, the committee’s chairwoman.

“I think this is a great hybrid structure that gives you both options,” she said. “As a voter, I want to be able to cast a vote for every member of council who’s representing me.”

Some residents have expressed concerns about not connecting to a single member in their neighborhood under the current system, Councilwoman Jaiza Page said, but she said she values an at- large system.

The committee also wants the council to give special consideration to filling vacant seats with appointees who do not plan to run in the next election. In the past, people have been appointed to an open seat and then run as an incumbent to keep the seat.

Page was appointed to the council, but she said that Stinziano and Brown, who were elected in 2015, proved that incumbency isn’t necessary to win an election.

“I didn’t look at it like it was a handout or I had it easy so I could run as an incumbent,” Page said. “No one knew who I was.”

The council will have a public hearing about the proposal; it has not been scheduled.

Councilman Shannon Hardin, who appointed the committee with Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, said he is waiting for more public comments before taking a stance.

Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson said, “Whenever you’re asking people to give us their time and to work on a project, we have to be very thoughtful in terms of looking at those recommendations.”

Councilman Mitchell J. Brown could not be reached for comment.