Dave Schulz Press Conference on City Charter Changes

From the Dave Schulz for Toledo City Council Campaign:

Dave Schulz To Hold Press Conference On City Charter Changes

Schulz continues to propose ways to make government more responsive and make it easier for citizens to participate in government

City Council candidate Dave Schulz will hold a press conference in front of Government Center at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 and discuss the following city charter changes. He will call on the members of the Charter Revision Committee to go into session to begin addressing weaknesses in the city charter and updating it for the 21st century.

Schulz will call for the following three changes to be considered:

· Vacancy appointment reform

Change vacancy appointment method requiring Council to appoint to a vacancy someone from the same political party as the departing member or by the next highest vote-getter in the previous council election (Schulz will also discuss the Lourdes Santiago appointment)

· Referendum and Initiative reform

Change Initiative and Referendum provision signature requirements from 12% of votes cast for all mayoral candidates at the last mayoral election to 8%-10% of votes cast for all mayoral candidates at the last mayoral election.

The time period for gathering signatures for referendum on an ordinance would be extended from thirty (30) days to forty-five (45) days.

Other cities in Ohio and their requirements:

Columbus: 5% of last general election votes cast
Cincinnati: 10% of the last gubernatorial election
Cleveland: Initiative - 5000 electors, Referendum: 10% last general election
Toledo: 12% of last mayoral election

· Reducing the size of city council to 7 or 9 members from all districts.
Smaller districts will provide better representation and serve as campaign finance reform. City council elections will be more affordable to wage and it will encourage more civic-minded, neighborhood-oriented people to get involved in serving their community, not aspiring career politicians who will use council as a stepping stone for higher office. We currently have such a westward and southward bent to our council now and all but one of the candidates (Dave Schulz the exception) live in West or South Toledo.


Comparing Other Ohio City Councils

City 2000 Pop. Council Makeup
Akron 223,019 10 wards, 3 – at large
Cincinnati 364,040 9 at large
Cleveland 505,616 21 wards
Columbus 632,910 7 at large
Dayton 182,044 Mayor and four commissioners
Toledo 332,943 6 at large, 6 district
Youngstown 95,732 7 wards and president of council

Schulz will also unveil City Council committee reform:

Community and Neighborhood Development
Health and Community Relations
Youth Parks and Recreation - Would become Neighborhood Relations, Health and Recreation

Why? All three deal with making Toledo a healthy, fun place to live

Law and Criminal Justice
Public Safety - Would become Justice, Law and Safety

Why? Both deal with legal issues

Human Resources
Information Services - Would become Human and Information Resources

Why? All two deal with administrative functions of the government.

Economic Development

Intergovernmental Relations
Zoning and Planning - Would become Economic Development, Zoning and Planning

Why? All three have an impact on Economic Development

Finance & Budget - would stay alone due to complex and important nature of topics

Environment, Utilities and Public Service – would stay alone due to nature of its work

When elected, Schulz will push for rules changes to shrink the number of council committees and reorganize based on functionality. This will provide many benefits:

· Provide a more holistic approach to committee work so that the bigger picture is considered when debating subjects. Many issues one committee may have the jurisdiction over could affect another committee. Many committees have similar sounding jurisdiction
· Less committees will insure that only the most important issues rise to the level of the council agenda
· Allow for more efficient use of council members’ valuable time so that they can focus on their constituents’ needs. LESS COMMITTEE MEETINGS