Council confirmed two boards and commission appointments, the first was Mr. Jeff Datkuliak to the Parks and Recreation Board for Ward 4. This appointment completes the Parks and Recreation board which seems to have proven difficult over the last several years. Mr. Datkuliak previously served on the Stow Arts Commission so this will give him a leg up on the procedure for boards and commissions. Next Council appointed Mr. Andy Boateng to the Urban Forestry Commission. Mr. Boateng currently works at Davey Tree and has a background in urban planning and geography. Our Urban Forestry Board is one of most active boards and just below I will discuss a recommendation to them that Council supported at this meeting as well. I congratulate both of these gentlemen on their appointment!
Council passed legislation that supported the recommendation of the Urban Forestry Board to expand a discount on our residential tree program that currently applies to active duty military and veterans; now the discount program will also apply to current or retired first responders. Our residential tree program has been successful in help residents replace trees that are removed for various reason either on their tree lawn, front yard or side yard. The regular fee is $125, military members, veterans or first responders are eligible for a $50 discount. Information on the tree program can be found here: Stow Residential Tree Program. If you are interested in a tree, the application deadline is October 29th for the spring 2023 planting.
Council discussed for the past several months an update to our Council rules that would put our rules in a separate stand alone document instead of making the Council rules part of our codified ordinances. This is change aligns us with how many other cities handle this situation, as modifications to our codified ordinances can create a delay in the current version being available along with it being costly to the city to make multiple amendments. This gives this future councils more flexibility to review the rules and adopt them as they are or amendment if procedure or process changes. This will also be helpful as Council is in the process of implementing new technology that will change the submission and review process. Once this information has a final review by our Council office it will be posted on the Council website for review.
Council spent a lengthy amount of time discussing several potential charter amendments that could appear on the November 8, 2022 ballot. The biggest issue was around the discussion of Term limits, a summary of the two items is below:
- Citizen petition initiative to change 21.08 of our Charter (Term Limits)—This proposal changes the term limit language for Mayor, Finance, and Law Director to give those offices the opportunity to serve additional time beyond the standard 8 year term limit, up to a total of 10 years in office. This petition initiative was very clearly drafted and promoted to “solve the problem for Mayor Pribonic.” I stated in the meeting, good policy is rarely created when you are re-writing the rules to benefit a specific individual. This proposal only applies to some of our elected positions instead of addressing the overall policy issue of partial terms for any elected officials. If you were unwilling to change the rules for an elected official you do not like, but you are willing to change them for another elected official you do like, then you are playing politics and not creating good policy for the citizens of Stow. This also means if this Charter amendment passes, there could likely be another amendment in the future to revise the charter AGAIN to address the partial term issue for Council. The process for a petition initiative is that it must receive at least valid signatures equal to or more than 10% of the votes cast in the last municipal election. Once petitions are turned in the Clerk of Council takes the petitions to the Board of Elections and they review the signatures and provide back a valid signature count. If the number of signatures meets the required minimum, Council will then pass legislation to send the language to the Board of Elections. In this type of item, if the form of the petitions and the signatures are valid, Council must pass on the language proposed as is, it cannot be amended. This item did have enough signatures and did receive a first reading by Council at this meeting, it will be up for a 3rd and final reading at Council’s August 11, 2022 meeting.
- Council proposal to change 21.08 of our Charter (Term Limits)—I proposed an alternative charter amendment to the citizen petition initiative because I felt the language included in the first amendment was so focused on solving a problem for the Mayor, it did not create an overall policy on how partial terms should work within our term limit language. The overall issue is that our Charter is silent as to partial terms and currently leaves it up to individual interpretations which I have heard many of. The language I proposed stated that any elected official who serves a partial term equal to or less than half of an original term, such partial term would not count towards term limits, if a partial term is over half of a standard term, it would count. It also included language that states if because of term limits an individual would not be eligible to serve an entire term, then that person would not be eligible to run for a full term. I was also clear during the meeting that I struggled with proposing this amendment because I have been very vocal that I do not believe rules should be changed for individual parties currently in office. Mayor Pribonic and myself both are serving partial terms, therefore this charter amendment could potentially impact both of us. I personally have never advocated for the rules to be changed to benefit myself, the rules were clear when I took office. I knew if I served a partial term that I would be limited to run for 3 terms if I had the citizen support to do so. If this would go before the voters and passes, I would still honor the language in effect when I took my first oath of office and would only seek one additional term. This item moved on to the Council agenda for a first reading. Charter amendments proposed by Council members require 3 readings and an affirmative vote of at least 5 Council members to be placed on the ballot. It will also be up for a 3rd and final reading at Council’s August 11, 2022 meeting.
Term limits has been the most frequent charter amendment to appear on our local ballots over the years, and even with the language being modified multiple times, there is still a question as to how the some of the language would apply. For this reason and the intricacies of case law related to charter amendment and term limit issues, Mr. McIntire and myself sponsored legislation to get an outside legal opinion on the application of our current charter language, and both of the proposed amendments. As there was some questions as to whether the proposed citizen initiative language could potentially re-set term limits for all elected officials, it was determined outside legal counsel would be best to address the questions around the charter amendments to avoid any potential conflict. Council passed legislation 6-1, Mr. Feldman voted no, for Roetzel & Andress to review this language and provide us an opinion at our August 11th meeting. This will be the public meeting and Council is going to waive any attorney client privilege so we can ensure the residents have the correct information about the proposed amendments.
Mr. McIntire also proposed a charter amendment which would create a new section of the Charter to address budgeting procedures in the City. It breaks the budgeting into two pieces, the annual operating budget and the capital budget. It proposes that the annual appropriates should be just that, only addressed for 1 year at a time, however, it does require the creation of a 5 year capital plan. The recent study performed in the City relating to both connectivity and the parks master plan provides the feedback Council and the Administration needs as to the priorities our citizen wants to see. It is now up to us to come up with a plan to execute these wishes and the creation of a 5 year capital plan would allow for this to start and also have continuity under new administration and council leadership when the time comes. This item also received a first reading and requires 3 readings and an affirmative vote of at least 5 Council members to be placed on the ballot. It will also be up for a 3rd and final reading at Council’s August 11, 2022 meeting.
Council will meet next on Thursday July 28, 2022 with committee meetings starting at 5:30 and the Council meeting to follow.