North Perry voters to decide on charter panel

Electors will also choose 15 members from field of 26 candidates for same commission

North Perry Village voters soon will have the opportunity to establish a commission that would study and draft a charter form of government for the community.

A question, along with a list of candidates, which appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot in North Perry both deal with the creation of a charter commission.

Issue 1 i n the village asks, “Shall a commission be chosen to frame a charter?” In addition, voters will be asked to choose 15 members for the charter panel from a group of 26 candidates whose names appear on the ballot.

Even if a resident votes “no” on establishing the charter commission, he or she should still select 15 members to serve on the board, Mayor Ed Klco said.

“Because if the charter commission is formed, you will want residents on the commission that you know and trust to make the best decisions on your behalf,” Klco wrote in the village’s October newsletter.

North Perry, since its establishment in 1925, has operated as a nonchartered village. That means the rules for village government are dictated by state laws. However, the Ohio Constitution allows villages to enact their own governmental rules by adopting a charter.

If formation of the charter commission is approved on Nov. 3, it’s anticipated that this newly elected group would work for about nine months to develop a proposed charter.

“The commission would adopt the draft of the charter and submit it to council,” village Solicitor Steve Byron said. “Village Council would then be required to pass legislation to put the issue on the November 2021 ballot, and to require other actions.”

One such additional action is that copies of the draft charter must be mailed to every registered voter in the village at least 30 days before the election, Byron said.

During an Aug. 6 meeting, Village Council and assistant Village Solicitor Laura Pizmoht discussed the merits of switching to a charter form of government.

Pizmoht said that becoming a chartered village could help North Perry simplify and streamline its governmental operations.

“Because the (Ohio Revised Code) is very cumbersome, it was written a long time ago, and it doesn’t really match the way local government operates today,” Pizmoht said. “It’s difficult to administer.”

Village Council President Mike Cutler also noted that many parts of the Ohio Revised Code are behind the times and can be a hindrance to getting things done.

“They’re outdated on how you need to operate as a village efficiently,” Cutler said. “Because there’s a lot of inefficiencies created with the normal rules that are in place right now.”

During that same meeting, a few examples mentioned of how a charter could bring changes to North Perry were term limits for council members and the mayor; new procedures for changing zoning; and the hiring of a village administrator, which could relegate the mayor to more of a figurehead role.

However, what is contained i n the proposed charter will be decided by the charter commission, she said.

Klco, in the village newsletter, wrote that North Perry’s current form of government “is not perfect, but for the most part it has been on the plus side of the residents.

“There is no form of government that will please everyone... but the current administration and council do care about the residents and the assurance they are taken care of while living in North Perry Village,” he wrote.

The 26 residents who are vying for to fill the 15 seats on the charter commission are:

• Edward M. Alberts Jr.

• Dennis Anderson

• Justine Renee Britchford

• Mary Carol CooperFoley

• Douglas W. Dedek

• Alecia M. Dragon

• Derek S. Foley

• Robert R. Ford

• Russell C. Ford

• John C. Fulmer

• Larry Glass

• George J. Hollister

• Dennis L. Hurley

• Stephen R. Kanda

• Melanie A. Koppel

• Jeremy Lagania

• Johnny A. Marteney Jr.

• Kathleen Patrice PoppFord

• Lauren D. Reichard

• Robert E. Rideout Jr.

• Frank Rizzo

• Suzanne M. Rizzo

• Bryan A. Sprankle II

• Bryce L. Tischer

• Dawn Marie Wharram

• Jennifer Williams

As of Oct. 15, there were 682 registered voters in North Perry Village, according to Lake County Elections Board records.