Mayor issue raises questions

Officials continue to debate ramifications of charter change after Nov. 6 vote

The question of how Chardon’s mayor should be elected was settled in last week’s election, but city leaders aren’t done with it.

At the Nov. 8 City Council meeting, Mayor Jeff Smock referred the matter to council’s Legislative Committee.

“I think it’s too big of an issue to try and iron out all of the things we need to do with all of council in a regular council meeting, so I’d like the Legislative Committee to meet with (the law director) to come up with a list of things to do to correct the issues and fine-tune it before council sees it again,” Smock said.

About 65 percent of voters on Nov. 6 approved an initiative petition-driven charter amendment requiring the ceremonial mayor to be elected by residents, rather than appointed by council peers. Council last month voted 6-1 to oppose the ballot issue over concerns about fallout from the change.

The legislation opposing the issue was based on a legal opinion that the amendment could result in unintended consequences such as eight, rather than seven, elected positions in 2020 and 2021; conflicts with duties

“Again, Issue 14 was not about any person, it was about how the mayor position is elected.” — Hannah Sekas, who co-led the Charter Review Committee

performed by the city manager; and expenses related to measures needed to clear up inconsistencies within the charter, a potential special election and paying an eighth councilman.

The additional council member issue needs to be cleared up prior to the August filing deadline in 2019, Smock said.

“The other really important issue is the powers the Ohio Revised Code gives the mayor,” he said.

He indicated that council’s options are to present voters with language to “fix” the amendment or to seek a judge’s ruling.

“My personal preference is not to take this to court,” he said.

Councilwoman and former mayor Nancy McArthur, who led the Charter

The amendment was a variation of a recommended charter change to remove the title mayor which council rejected.

Review Committee, disputed the need for a special election.

“As I have reiterated many times before, the language does not indicate that there is an eighth council seat,” she said. “If it has been determined that this is a fact and not an opinion, it would be the only thing that would need to be addressed prior to council candidates filing their petitions in August 2019 to run for office. Any other needed charter language changes should be done at the general election in November of 2019 which would be a far lower cost to the taxpayers.”

The Legislative Committee members are Councilmen Dave Lelko and Dan Meleski. Smock noted that anyone can attend their meetings.

“It’s not like we’re trying to do this behind closed doors; it’s a public meeting,” he said.

The committee is expected to convene in early December.

The amendment was a variation of a recommended charter change to remove the title mayor which council rejected.

“Again, Issue 14 was not about any person, it was about how the mayor position is elected,” said petitioner Hannah Sekas, who co-led the Charter Review Committee. “Even though the mayor may run council meetings as an internal group leader, the mayor may attend conferences or meetings outside of Northeast Ohio and does represent the city of Chardon in those situations. It is wonderful that the residents of Chardon City were able to say how they want to choose their leaders because the leaders represent and work for all of the residents of the city.”