I went to what was to be the last official meeting of the Dayton Charter Review Committee [1]. Former Mayor Richard Clay Dixon was nice enough to recognize me and allow me to participate- at least for a little bit, until the FOP rep decided to be a jerk.
Interestingly- the committee is only working on what it was told to work on by the commission. My questioning of changes needed in the petitions for Commission, with their high propensity for filing failure, were sort of ignored: “that wasn’t on the list.”
Although changes are coming that would make it possible for citizens to finally petition the government to change the charter or to force a vote on commission passed legislation. Currently, it takes 10% of REGISTERED voters to put an initiative on the ballot- which works out to somewhere around 10,000 signatures (Mayor Whaley only had 9,000 votes in the last election as a point of comparison). In the future- 2,500 votes will guarantee an opportunity to get an issue on the ballot.
On those petitions- they will no longer have the “Ward and Precinct” boxes which are on the current petitions- but are tacitly ignored by the Board of Elections- which is odd, because everything else on the form is ironclad required. I’m still not sure if they are going to require notarized signatures of signature gatherers- an absolutely meaningless step that only does one thing- guarantees that last-minute signatures are almost impossible to collect. Having a Notary witness a signature of a petition gatherer has zero relevance over the validity of any of the collected signatures- so what’s the point?
No mention of the elimination of the “Nominating committee” as well. This archaic idea makes zero sense- and was proved to mean nothing when William Pace turned in over 650 legitimate signatures on petitions- but wasn’t allowed on the ballot because he hadn’t signed a clause that he would accept the chance to run. If the nominating committee was “empowered” by the 500+ valid signatures- then they should have been able to pick any qualified candidate they like- regardless of if William had “accepted” the nomination. And besides, no nomination is valid until the “handwriting experts” at the Board of Elections certify a petition- so how can you accept something you aren’t qualified to run for yet?
Apparently- much of the committee’s time was spent arguing over protecting the hiring practices that are in place, with the FOP, IAFF and AFSCME reps all voting to delay the final work of the committee to the commission until they have another meeting- which is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 4, at 3:30.
Generally, the meeting was run by former city Planning Director, Paul Woodie, the go to guy for anyone who wants anything done in Dayton. He left the city to work for Premier Health Network for quite a while- kicking off the changes in the Fairgrounds neighborhood – which is now becoming more UD housing despite promises by the city and MVH for it not to be. Paul pushed off the discussion of the last issue that the Commission chartered them with investigating- the ability to create townships within the city- a bizarre request, which he claimed would require too much investigation into State law. I can just see it now- as South Park would petition to become a Township- eliminating the city income tax- and expanding our boundaries to include UD- since we already have MVH within our planning district. Another tax free haven… to pretend to be a part of our community like Washington, Miami, Harrison, Butler, etc., townships- where drama and mismanagement are the norm.
I’m posting PDF’s of the documents I picked up. I’m not sure what the city commission will do with these recommendations- or if they even have to abide by them. Our Charter is an antique that’s desperately in need of updating- but, there weren’t very many engaged people in the meeting I sat through- with one exception- one young lady who did want to know why the petitions weren’t part of the discussion (I circulated a proposed redesign of the current petition) and she also caught a double negative that they were proposing as a change.
If the recommendations all make it to the ballot this fall, it may be possible for us to fix the petition process in the March primary once and for all. They are also setting a ten-year requirement for review- something that is currently missing.
Of course, no changes are being made to the current language for a recall- which requires 25% of the registered voters’ signatures- or 25,000 signatures. Nope, Mayor Nan and Crew likes their cushy safe jobs; too much to risk having to answer to the public.
Typically, the charter has only been revised when the commission has needed to change something like how bonds are handled or taxes raised to keep the city out of trouble. To proactively fix fundamental flaws is a rare occasion. We will see what makes it from this committee onto the ballot soon enough.
They’ll get more people to vote, and more diversity on the commission and school board, if they allow each voter to vote for only one candidate rather than for a candidate for each open seat. Currently, if there are 3 open seats, all the Democrats vote for the endorsed Democrats–no one else ever has much of a chance–minorities quickly figure out their votes are meaningless. Let the Dems coordinate their votes to guarantee one or two seats and let one or two go to other affiliations–and let’s see what happens to make the city better.
Asking clarification: is FOP Friends of the Prick?
@Truddick- it would also make sense to not have a separate race for Mayor- with the top popular vote getter automatically taking the seat for at least 2 years. This would currently make Williams Mayor-
and would hopefully shift responsibility and leadership to the City Manager where it belongs.
And Bismark- FOP- Fraternal Order of Police.
In argument in favor of smaller discrete municipal governments, an anti-regionalism of sorts: To pick on South Park, I wonder how much better that neighborhood would do if a township could be created out of city territory, and report to a reconstituted Mad River Township board of trustees (since South Park lies with its’ original boundaries)? Or in the alternative reincorporate as a discrete entity, independent from Dayton?
The majority of its residents are employed and you would see the local tax dollars stay local… that is to say, they don’t wind up over at City Hall, they don’t wind up in Nan’s hands, and an individual person or volunteer has far more chance of actually having influence with his or her local leaders.
The larger the governing entity, the more likely the needs and concerns of the individual will be ignored. It happens in Dayton all the time. I haven’t seen Nan do a single constructive thing in a year and a half to actually improve the city or the lives of people who live here. I’ve heard a lot of noise but not a lot of action.
A bit of an addition to my post from yesterday: there is absolutely zero legal precedent for an incorporated area of Ohio seceding, either to revert to a township or to incorporate as a discrete legal entity. There is a law on the books that allows judicial dissolution of small villages (population under 150) if there’s a pattern of corruption. That was directed at the village of New Rome, just outside Columbus, which was famous for its speed trap. That law as upheld as not violating home rule under the Ohio Constitution.
Thing is, I’ve never heard of a smaller incorporated area seceding from a larger one? It may be a legal avenue worth pursuing.