WH voters should say no to these charter amendments

Another viewpoint is a column The News-Herald makes available so all sides of an issue may be aired. Connie Kline lives in Willoughby Hills.

At a special meeting during the August recess, Willoughby Hills Council waived the three reading rule to pass nine Charter amendments - ballot issues 7 through 15 - which were rushed to the Board of Elections hours before the filing deadline for the November 6 election. These amendments give Council broad administrative/executive powers, in addition to their designated legislative role.

The existing Charter language was written over many months by a Charter Review Commission and approved by Willoughby Hills voters.

I will address only three of these power-grabbing amendments, but electors should vote no on all nine. Ballot Issue 10 Existing Charter Section 9.31 - “Removal by the Mayor. The Mayor shall remove promptly any such officer (which includes Council members in Section 9.1) or employee for violation of any of the requirements stated in Section 9.2, for gross misconduct, malfeasance or non-feasance in office, or upon conviction while in office of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude.”

Mayor Weger recently exercised the provisions in Section 9.31 of the Charter which Council clearly did not like. (Editor’s note: A judge granted a restraining order in favor of six Willoughby Hills city council members against Mayor Robert Weger in the matter. A hearing is scheduled Nov. 15.)

Proposed Charter Amendment - would not only eliminate the Mayor’s ability to remove a Council member, it states, “Council shall be the judge of the election, appointment, and qualifications of its own members, the Mayor and all employees and officers. It may punish suspend or remove members of Council, the Mayor or any employee or officer...”

In other words, the Mayor could no longer remove a member of Council as the current Charter allows, but Council would have the power to remove the Mayor.

Ballot Issue 13 This incomplete amendment would greatly increase the required signatures for voter-driven initiative, referendum and recall petitions. Issues 13 and Issue 14 (below) are quite suspicious in light of the recent petition efforts to recall members of Council.

The following existing Charter sections are conspicuously absent from the information mailed to electors:

Existing Charter Section 8.22 - “Initiative and Referendum Petitions. The electors shall have the power to propose any legislative measure by initiative petition or to demand repeal of any ordinance by referendum petition with the exception of one appropriating money. Such petition shall comply with the provisions of Section 8.32, and the required percentage shall be at least ten percent (10%).”

Existing Charter Section 8.23 - “Recall Petitions. Any person holding elective office in the City who is guilty of malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance in office, may be removed from office by recall . ... Such petition shall comply with the provisions of Section 8.32 and the required percentage of electors signing such petition shall be at least twentyfive percent (25%).”

Existing Charter Section 8.32 - “The sufficiency of the number of signatures on any petition shall be determined as being the required percentage of the number of electors voting in the last general Municipal election.”

Not only would Issue 13 increase the required number of signatures for Initiative and Referendum petitions from “at least 10%” to “at least 25%”, more egregiously, Issue 13 would change the number of petition signatures from the percentage who actually took the time to exercise their civic duty and vote in the last general Municipal election to those who merely registered to, but did not, in fact, vote.

The math clearly shows that the proposed amendment is deliberately burdensome for petitioners who want to exercise one of the most basic tenets of government guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

According to the Lake County Board of Elections, there were 6,690 registered Willoughby Hills voters in the last 11/7/17 general election, but only 2,697 actually voted. The proposed Charter language would require 1,673 petition signatures instead of 674 signatures per the existing Charter.

Like Willoughby Hills, the number of petition signatures in the charters of eight nearby mayor/ council cities is based on a percentage of the electors who actually voted in a preceding election, not merely those who registered but never actually voted. Ballot Issue 14 “Prohibition on Special Elections” - Like Issue 13, Council wants to severely limit and make much more difficult citizen participation in government by, for and of the people. The existing Charter language for voter-driven initiative, referendum and recall petition elections also was not provided to voters.

Existing Charter - “Following the certification to the Council of such (initiative, referendum, or recall) petition, the Council shall forthwith call an election as prescribed in Section 8.31.”

“Section 8.31 - Whenever it becomes the duty of Council to call an election on initiated or referred ordinances or on a question of recall, such election shall take place within sixty (60) to ninety (90) days of the filing of the initial petition at a primary or general election if one occurs during that period or, if not, at a special election, except that no special election may be called within thirty (30) days of a primary or general election.”

Again, no nearby city charter prohibits/restricts special elections.

Each has provisions, like Willoughby Hills’ current charter, to hold a special election within X number of days of referendum, initiative, or recall petitions being filed/certified or at an upcoming primary or general election.