Toledo City Charter reform and some history...

Tom Troy of the Toledo Blade wrote an article with some of the reaction from candidates for the Toledo City Council seat on several of the proposals made yesterday by one of the candidates, Dave Schulz. All of the candidates including David Davison and James Mohn were asked their opinion.

I'll be perfectly honest in saying I'm not sure about making all of the Council seats district seats, I am not however certain that the current make up of six and six gives us the best representation for the entire City.

I do support the idea of looking at combining some of the current Toledo City Council Committees, because I feel less meetings would create a situation where scheduling could happen to make the process more accessible to a larger number of Toledo residents. Right now considering the large number of people who either work or have children in school most of the times set for these meetings make it very difficult for people to attend. That to me is not accessible government...

Now...on to changing the Charter on the issue of changing the way vacancies are filled...


Let's flash back to April 16, 1997 - in the Toledo Blade by reporter, Jeffrey Cohan:

Toledo council voted along party lines last night to transfer member Betty Shultz from her District 5 seat to a vacant at-large spot.

But the switch, approved on an 8-2 vote of the Democratic-controlled council, could trigger changes in how vacant council seats are filled.Council's lone Republicans, Gene Zmuda and Rob Ludeman, voted against the switch and called for a review of the city charter provision that gives the council discretion to make appointments to vacant positions.

The two Republicans argued that in filling vacant council seats, the city should have to refer to the results of the most recent election. The highest vote-getter among the losers should get first crack at the vacancy. If that person doesn't want or can't take the job, the next highest vote-getter should get the opportunity, and so on, they say.

Under such a provision, Republican Ron Scanlon would have succeeded Judy Jones, who resigned from her at-large seat Friday to join the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Mr. Scanlon finished eighth in the race for six at-large seats in 1993, and the seventh-place finisher, Bette Ruth Kaye, has since died.

``I think if we were truly to represent the voters of Toledo, Ron would be on council right now,'' Mr. Ludeman said.

Mr. Zmuda accused the council's Democrats of ``circumventing the wishes of the electorate.''

He urged that the city's charter revision commission study making changes in the appointment process.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said he has no objections. ``That's certainly a valid recommendation,'' the mayor said.

Then, on April 22, 1997, parts of a Toledo Blade Pages of Opinion:

CITY council's appointment of Democrat Betty Shultz from her District 5 spot to the at-large seat vacated by Republican Judy Jones may be the straw that breaks electors' backs. It's the type of dirty pool that may backfire on the Democratic majority that got to fill two seats with one vacancy, Ms. Jones's and now Ms. Shultz's.

This is not to heap vilification solely on Ms. Shultz or the Democrats. Republicans are capable of the same kind of connivance.Republican Mayor Donna Owens had to break a 4-4 party-line impasse in 1987, and she didn't do it with a Democrat. No. She named Republican Jan Scotland to replace Democrat Linda Furney, who went to the state Senate.

Ours is officially a nonpartisan council, so technically it shouldn't matter whether a Democrat replaces a Republican or vice versa, but it does.

The public, which elected a member of one or another party, should get what it voted for.

What the charter commission should look into is not permitting appointments to local offices without an election. And if that means leaving a post vacant until the next primary, or the next general election, so be it. No one should be able to enact laws or spend the people's tax dollars without having been chosen by the people.

Appointing people to elective office is antithetical to democracy.

Of course this is now 2006 almost 2007 so ten years later it's obvious nothing was done when it came to trying to change how appointments to Toledo City Council are done. If you look at the most recent appointments that have been done, it's obvious that there could be a better way that more accurately reflects the will of the voters rather than the will of a political party.

I do agree with Joe McNamara that:

"None of this is going to increase the number of jobs or lower the crime rate in Toledo," Mr. McNamara said.

But I do suggest that restoring more of a say into the hands of voters and removing some of the power from the political parties would be a good thing for the City of Toledo and I hope that regardless of the outcome of this election in November that this is something that Council does consider...