What happens to a village when it becomes a city?
As villages add residents, Ohio law requires them to become cities – whether they want to or not.
According to the recently released 2020 U.S. Census, at least three villages in central Ohio – Johnstown, Obetz and Sunbury – have eclipsed the 5,000-resident threshold, something that often means more than a change of business cards or building signs. The new status may force them to alter their spending to provide new services and, in some cases, to rebrand their identities.
Johnstown in Licking County grew by almost 10%, from 4,632 residents 10 years ago to 5,182 today.
Officials there expected that to happen and even planned for it, especially
knowing that they now were responsible for maintaining busy Routes 62 and 37, state highways bisecting their boundaries.
“We bought a $300,000 plow and dump truck, understanding that we would be a city,” said Jim Lenner, village manager.
The city designation won’t be official until the census data is verified by the Ohio Secretary of State. But becoming “City of Johnstown” already is a measure of pride.
“When you say village, it connotes a sort of tiny, little town that doesn’t know what it’s doing,” Lenner said. “Kind of like the little brother to a city.”
The village began its transition about three years ago, creating a charter, or basic framework defining powers and procedures for how it is run. Villages and cities without charters are limited to powers granted by state law.
Lenner’s title will change from village manager to city manager. He will oversee city workers who are permitted to engage in collective bargaining and have civil service protections that they currently don’t have. Cities may also create their own health departments.
All of these changes cost money, but cities also may have priority when seeking grant funding, Lenner said.
Where Johnstown eased into city status by just a few hundred residents, Sunbury grew by 50%, its population swelling from 4,389 to 6,614 over the past 10 years.
“I think it is a bridging ceremony of sorts,” said Mayor Joe St. John. “It not only shows that we’re growing but that we’ve done so responsibly.”
In addition to maintenance of busy Routes 36/37 and Route 3, employees of the Sunbury Police Department and service workers could unionize and begin collective bargaining. Like Johnstown, city leaders said they believe they compensate their employees fairly and don’t worry about union conflicts.
And while St. John said Sunbury as a city also can create its own health department – something that only larger cities like Columbus have done – it has no plans to do so and will continue to be served by the Delaware Public Health District.
Sunbury leaders said they want both visitors and residents to be impressed by the growth, not burdened by it. In recent years, the city has annexed property as far west as Interstate 71, where commercial development has been promised for years. Tanger Outlets Columbus is a major draw but also can produce heavy traffic along the freeway ramps and overhead bridge.
“We want this to not only be a destination, but also a great place to live for our residents,” St. John said.
Much of Delaware County’s growth has been fueled by its southern townships that border Franklin County, said St. John, who calls Sunbury and nearby areas “the final frontier of growth in the county.”
Becoming a city happens differently in other states, with few requiring the changeover by census count.
“Ohio is one of the few states that determine a village or city by population,” said Garry Hunter, general counsel for the Ohio Municipal League.
For practical reasons, any municipality with more than 2,500 residents begins to look and act more like a city, Hunter said.
Village officials often conduct meetings in homes, have no income taxes, and have small budgets and police departments with one or two officers, he said.
While some villages are capable of growing to city status, not all have sought to do so. The village of Granville has no immediate desire to cross into cityhood, said Herb Koehler, village manager.
“The thought is that Granville has a long tradition of being known as a quaint New England town,” he said. “The preference would be to remain a village.”
For census purposes, the village surpassed 5,000 residents in 2010. That’s because the census counts Denison University and other students.
However, the Ohio Revised Code exempts college students from the count to determine city status, effectively putting the permanent population there at about 3,300, Koehler said.
Granville has been careful not to overextend itself by avoiding large housing projects and growth, he said.
“We’re not actively seeking to annex because that’s more services you have to provide.”
Still, he knows that over time, population growth will occur naturally.
“I don’t think we can run from this forever,” Koehler said.
Ten years ago, Canal Winchester,
Groveport and New Albany graduated to becoming cities.
“We appreciated being a village and having the quaintness, but we’ve tried to have the same kind of services and same small-town attitude as a city,” said Scott Mcafee, New Albany spokesman.
The 25-member police department as a village had been members of the Fraternal Order of Police but couldn’t negotiate contracts collectively. As a city, though, they have, which has resulted in higher pay increases than nonunion staff, Mcafee said.
And salting, plowing and repairing the more-than 6-mile stretch of Routes 161 and 62 that criss-cross the municipal boundaries also has been costly. The creation of the New Albany International Business Park, which provides 15,000 jobs, has helped offset some of those costs.
These days, Obetz in southeast Franklin County isn’t worried and actually is embracing its new status, said Rod Davisson, a lifelong resident and village manager for two decades.
“I think it gives legitimacy to the operation ... All of a sudden there’s a light on us,” he said.
Obetz has 350 businesses, a number of them Fortune 500 companies, Davisson said. Known for its zucchini festival, the area has quietly become a warehousing, distribution and manufacturing center. And those jobs have helped lure new residents, boosting the population from 4,532 a decade ago to 5,489, a 12% increase.
Still, Davisson cautioned that the boost in prestige must be tempered by responsible government.
“Cities innately have more legitimacy,” he said. “It changes the way you feel about the place. Hopefully we can gain that gravitas without losing that community feel.” dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso