Election 2023: Painesville city voters to consider five proposed charter amendments

Oct. 2—Voters in the city of Painesville will consider five proposed amendments to the city's charter during the Nov. 7 general election.

The changes were proposed by the city's Charter Review Committee, and they address areas including gendered language, rules for City Council meetings and administrative procedures.

"The charter of the city of Painesville is in good shape, so it was a matter of just going through and seeing if there were any areas that needed to be massaged," said committee Chair Jan Clair.

Each proposed amendment will be presented to voters as separate ballot items.

The first proposal would require that gendered language currently in the charter be changed "to a non-gendered phrase or term."

The second proposal changes the requirements for City Council to vote on legislation before third reading. It can currently waive this requirement and vote at an earlier meeting with the support of three-quarters of its members, and the amendment would lower this to a two-thirds majority.

"The net effect would be to drop the mandatory six council people that must vote affirmatively to still a supermajority of five," said Assistant City Manager Tony Zampedro.

"If there was a situation where you had two council members absent, you could still conduct business and get things passed," he added.

The third proposal would remove the requirement that the city provide notice in "a newspaper of general circulation" when ordinances and resolutions are adopted. Instead, it would be permitted to provide this notice through means allowed under state law.

"That was based on a state law change that is allowing for publication through electronic means in lieu of print media," Zampedro said, adding that it would provide "a significant dollar savings."

The fourth proposal would allow the city manager to consider external applicants and non-officer-ranked internal applicants for the roles of police and fire chiefs if the city receives fewer than two applications from its officer ranks.

Currently, the city manager can only consider external or non-officer-ranked internal applicants if no applications are submitted from its officer ranks.

"Under all circumstances now, we will have a competitive exam with the promotion," Zampedro said.

The fifth proposal clarifies that changes to the charter will take effect after certification by the Lake County Elections Board, he added.

The committee held six meetings from February to July. Its nine members were Clair, Vice Chair Kevin Bogdanski, Kelsey Fischer, Michael Jackson, Katie Jenkins, Daniel Nicholson, Joan Pouewells, Steve Vellenga and Maribel Young. All members were appointed by council at a Jan. 24 special meeting.

"I certainly want to thank the committee, all residents," Zampedro said. "They certainly did their due diligence."

There were 10,369 registered voters in Painesville city as of Sept. 28, according to the elections board.