Ohio
City officials are unsure what to do after the Ross County Board of Elections refused to remove a ballot initiative that would ban Redflex photo enforcement in the city. “We have to make the decision if we want to take this to the (Ohio) Supreme Court,” said James Mann, assistant law director. “The question for us is, ‘Where do we go from here?’” Last month, the City of Chillicothe filed a protest to ask that an initiative ordinance to ban red light and speed photo enforcement in the city be removed from the Nov. 3 ballot.
The passenger rail issue isn’t even on the ballot yet, and it’s already causing some red-hot sparks. City leaders debated a line in the proposed ballot initiative at Tuesday’s rules committee meeting, where officials haggled over the phrase “may not spend any monies” for passenger rail projects. City Councilwoman Roxanne Qualls and Chris Finney, attorney for the anti-tax group COAST, sparred over whether the measure, if approved by voters, might require additional voter approval to spend federal or state funds to build passenger rail.
Tonight may be decision time in one struggle concerning the future of red-light and speed-enforcement cameras in Chillicothe — but it’s not likely to be the last battle, regardless of the outcome. The Ross County Board of Elections, in an 8 p.m. meeting today in the large conference room of the Ross County Service Center on Western Avenue, is expected to rule on whether voters will get the chance in November to decide if the cameras will be permitted to remain operational in Chillicothe.
The first round in the battle over how to word a ballot measure that would require public votes before the city of Cincinnati spends any money on streetcars or other forms of passenger rail transit went to supporters of the proposed charter amendment Tuesday. After a lengthy debate and despite repeated requests from opponents to alter what voters will see on Nov. 3, City Council’s Rules Committee left untouched draft ballot language prepared by city attorneys that essentially repeats the wording used on petitions circulated to get the measure on the ballot.
A initiative petition seeking to ban red-light cameras in Chillicothe is officially on the Nov. 3 ballot, at least until a hearing next week. The ballot initiative would create a city ordinance banning red-light and speed-enforcement cameras in the City of Chillicothe, but the city has filed a protest against the ordinance citing that the ordinance would violate the U.S. and state Constitutions.
Of the six charter amendments the Charter Review Commission recommended to Council in July, only three were forwarded to the Summit County Board of Elections to put before voters. But charter commission members say the rejected amendments could still end up on the November ballot by petition. According to the city’s charter, a charter amendment can be forwarded to the Board of Elections by either five affirmative votes from Council, or by an “initiative petition” signed by 10 percent of the electorate — about 6,500 signatures per amendment. The signatures are needed by Sept.
Activists in Chillicothe, Ohio vowed on Monday to fight efforts to sabotage a referendum on the use of traffic cameras. Residents signed a petition demanding the right to have a vote in November on whether to keep or outlaw red light cameras and speed cameras. Once on the ballot, no referendum of this type has ever failed to pass, and Chillicothe officials are doing what it takes to ensure that never happens. Assistant Law Director James L. Mann on Friday filed a formal petition with the Ross County Board of Elections seeking to block the petition. “The city of Chillicothe…
A group of demonstrators gathered at the Stark County Office Building and walked to the Board of Elections where they delivered petitions in an attempt to put a measure on the ballot to repeal the county sales tax increase. The signatures were collected by the Stark Citizens Right to Vote Committee. County commissioners raised the combined county-state sales and use rate to 6.5 percent in December.
Chillicothe City Council voted unanimously Monday to place a tax levy on the November ballot that would allow the city to purchase and renovate the Carlisle Building for city offices. “We’re at the point where these special interest groups have asked and asked for us to move forward as a city and ”˜do something about the Carlisle,’” said Finance Chair Cindy Henderson, R-At Large, at a special session Monday. “For us to move forward, it’s going to cost additional money.”
The Ohio ballot board, on Wednesday, approved wording for a ballot issue designed to regulate the care of livestock in the state. In essence, the livestock amendment would create a bi-partisan board that would be charged with establishing guidelines for the care of livestock. The state’s voters will consider the issue on this November’s ballot.
The Mahoning County commissioners have placed a 1-mill, five-year renewal of the public library levy on the Nov. 3 election ballot. This is the third levy they have placed on the fall ballot. The others are the half-percent sales tax they seek to renew continuously and the 1-mill, five-year county Children Services Board renewal. On Thursday, the commissioners placed the 1-mill library measure on the ballot as requested Tuesday by the board of trustees of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
Nearly twice as many efforts to recall public officials are underway this year than last, according to Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob. In his daily Common Sense commentary, Paul points out several of the recall efforts from around the country, many of which have been mentioned on this site.
Gov. Ted Strickland and leaders of both houses of the Legislature have agreed to put a renewal, and perhaps an expansion, of bond financing for the state’s Third Frontier technology advancement program on the May 4, 2010, ballot. Passage of a bond issue would ensure the continuation of state financial support beyond 2012 for the group of programs under the Third Frontier umbrella. Those programs fund efforts by Ohio-based businesses and research institutions to commercialize high-tech products and processes, to attract research talent and venture capital, and to create jobs.
The local NAACP plans to circulate petitions aimed at amending the charter next year to give voters the right to recall the city’s top elected official, arguing that Cincinnatians ought to be able to get rid of a mayor who is performing poorly long before he runs for re-election. For the Cincinnati NAACP, the recall issue will spawn a new round of ballot initiative activity even before voters decide on two other measures - proposed restrictions on a streetcar and future passenger-rail plans, and whether to sell the city waterworks - that it helped qualify for November’s ballot.
Opponents to two high-profile projects in Cincinnati have turned in signatures to get the issues placed before voters this fall. A coalition of groups, including the NAACP and COAST, worked to get the signatures so that voters can decide if the city should spend $200 million on a streetcar project and consider turning the water system into a regional water district.