Charter Amendments on November 5th Ballot
Every six years, the city conducts a formal review of its charter, overseen by a Charter Review Commission. This commission is composed of members appointed by the city council and the mayor, with the requirement that all members must be city electors and cannot be employed by the city.
The Commission spent several months meeting, discussing, and reviewing potential changes, concluding with a final report submitted to the city council in June. The council approved the six recommended charter amendments, which will now appear on the November ballot for voter consideration.
The proposed amendments reflect the Commission’s thorough analysis of the charter and aim to address the evolving needs of the city. Voters will have the opportunity to approve or reject these changes at the polls. The six suggested amendments include:
- Article III titled, The Council, (Section 7. General Ordinances) be amended to delete and eliminate in its entirety this Section 7(h) and its language reading The Council shall by ordinance make provision for: “The establishment of a mandatory retirement age for all Municipal employees”.
- Article III titled, The Council, (Section 11. Effective Date of Ordinances and Resolutions) be amended to delete and eliminate the language reading contracting for the supply to the City of the product or service of a utility shall not be an emergency.
- Article III titled, The Council, (Section 12. Removal) be added to provide that the Council may, by at least a two thirds vote of its members, expel or remove any Council member for gross misconduct, malfeasance, nonfeasance, misfeasance in or disqualification for office; for the conviction while in office of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude; for persistent failure to abide by Council rules; or for absence without justifiable excuse from three consecutive regular meetings.
- Article IV titled, The Mayor, (Section 8. Removal) be added to provide that the Council may, by an affirmative vote of five members, remove the mayor for gross misconduct, malfeasance or nonfeasance in or disqualification for office, or for the conviction while in office of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude, or if adjudicated legally incompetent, or for a violation of the mayor’s oath of office
- Article VII titled, Civil Service Commission, (Section 3. Classification of Service) be amended to provide that Classified Service shall include employees of the City operated utilities requiring a personal operator license, commercial driver’s license or any other operator’s license as required under Ohio law in the performance of their duties.
- Article XI titled, Miscellaneous, (Section 6. Gender Neutrality) be added to provide that masculine pronouns used in this Charter shall be construed to include the female pronouns.
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For general election information or to find your polling location, please visit the Lake County Board of Elections.