Council kills ballot push for districts

The Columbus City Council has unanimously voted against a ballot proposal that would have asked voters whether they want to expand the council, divide seats into districts, revamp campaign-finance rules and make other changes, saying it doesn’t satisfy “single subject” rules for ballot initiatives.

Everyday People for Positive Change submitted signatures to the city this month in support of its initiative. The group wants to overhaul the way the council handles elections.

The proposal would have expanded the seven-member, at-large council to 13 seats, with 10 of them filled by elections by districts, and three remaining at-large seats.

The proposal also would have limited campaign contributions, outlined staff guidelines for the council, and created new rules for appointing members to vacant seats.

The group gathered enough valid signatures, but Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein sent the council a memo on Monday saying the proposal violated the city charter’s prohibition of initiatives that address “multiple or unrelated subject matters or questions of law.”

“There is no practical or rational reason to combine these disparate topics into a single petition,” Klein told the council on Monday.

Jonathan Beard, the group’s treasurer, said all the topics addressed in the initiative are related to the organization of the council.

“It’s a comprehensive initiative,” he said. “There’s no reason for council to deny it.”

The group circulated petitions for signatures even after then-City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. wrote a memo similar to Klein’s in April 2017. Pfeiffer drew the same conclusion then — that the proposal did not satisfy single-subject rules — but Klein said he conducted an independent review of the proposal after the signatures were submitted.

Everyday People for Positive Change had hoped to put the proposal on the May primary ballot.

The proposal had several changes from one that voters defeated in a special election in August 2016. The Franklin County Democratic Party had organized against that effort. All of the elected officials in City Hall are Democrats.

A charter-review committee concluded that two more seats are needed on the council, and it suggested dividing seats into districts but continuing to elect all council members citywide. The council had been set to vote last summer on whether to put the committee’s plan on the ballot, but the plan was put on hold before the deadline.