The Charter Review Commission (CRC) on May 5, 2014 decided unanimously with one exception (Mayoral Primary) to present City Council with nine (9) Charter amendments for their consideration. The exact language of the proposed nine (9) pieces of legislation will be prepared by the Law Director and presented by various CRC members to City Council at the May 27, 2014 meeting on Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm.
Loren Sengstock, Citizen Auditor recommends, due to the lack of transparency and information released to the public by the Charter Review Commission, Mayor, and City Council representatives, that Twinsburg residents attend the upcoming Council meeting. Remember that our City Charter is the people’s voice on how we the voters control our government and the destiny of our community, as Thomas Jefferson said, “Information is the currency of Democracy”.
The only source for all the CRC meeting videos is being provided by the ‘Active Citizens of Twinsburg’ (ACT) at www.activecitizensoftwinsburg.com , your community watchdogs for more than sixty (60) years! Don’t bother looking at the City website, apparently the Mayor and Council only talk about using the website and never really view or use the website because they are inside looking out. What an embarrassment and outright joke www.mytwinsburg.com is for city elected leaders that are provided unlimited funding by its taxpayers who deserve a first class operation. Folk’s, looks like we are riding in coach class at the City website! Remember that Twinsburg has 165 full time employees and a $54,000,000 budget for 2014 and mytwinsburg.com is the best we can do? If you agree, you should contact Mayor Procop or your Ward Council representative to express your displeasure. Perhaps if we could have our Ward meetings back, we the people, could get some face to face time with our elected representatives!
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The summary of the proposed nine amendments for the citizens to get an early start on our homework assignment for the November elections and get the answers to: 1.) How will these proposed changes to our Charter impact how our government serves ‘we the people’? And 2.) The impact on our quality of life as citizens of Twinsburg:
1. ARTICLE III – THE COUNCIL, Section 3.01 – Council – Number and Terms, (11-3-1981; 11-5-1985);
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2. ARTICLE IV – THE MAYOR, Section 4.04 – Vacancy in the Office of Mayor, (5-8-1984);
3. ARTICLE IV – THE MAYOR, Section 4.05-A – Powers of the Mayors new amendment dealing with Safety Directory issue;
4. ARTICLE IV – THE MAYOR, Section 4.05-B - Powers of the Mayor, new amendment dealing with Mayor having a vote on Boards and Commission member selection;
5. ARTICLE VIIA - CHANGES TO ZONING CLASSIFICATIONS OR DISTRICTS, Section 7A-01 – Procedures, (11-5-1985; 11-6-2012), clarification is the issue according to Law Director and CRC Chairman, this section of our Charter provides our ‘Right to Vote’ on various zoning issue(s). Section 7A-01 has been the subject of multiple court cases involving the people’s ‘Right to Vote’ on zoning issues and the people won! Keep a keen eye on this one folk’s. Those multiple court cases were filed to protect the peoples ‘right to vote’, thank you, Sally Gaydosh, Section 7A01, and Active Citizens of Twinsburg for your diligence and dedication to the protection of our ‘right to vote’ on zoning issues and the protection of our Charter. The court cases have been made available for your viewing, thanks to the ACT folks, at the link www.activecitizensoftwinsburg.com ;
6. ARTICLE VII - ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS, COMMISSIONS AND BOARDS, Section 7.05 – Civil Service Commission, (11-3-1981);
7. ARTICLE VII - ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS, COMMISSIONS AND BOARDS, Section 7.12 – Department of Parks & Recreation;
8. ARTICLE VIII - NOMINATIONS, ELECTIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS, Section 8.01 – Nominations, Elections, and Qualifications – the section dealing with a Mayoral primary in May, (11-6-2006; 11-6-2012), the CRC seeks approval for the repeal of the Mayoral primary that was approved by voters in 2006 & 2012 (see the video on 5/5/2014 at www.activiecitizensoftwinsburg.com ), this passed by a five to three vote, so this will be another interesting issue to follow folk’s;
9. ARTICLE XII – GENERAL PROVISIONS, Section 12.04 – Electronic Notification(s), new added section – anyone not using or active in electronic media best read this proposed change closely if you value transparency in your government notifications.
The current City Charter can be viewed at this website link: http://www.conwaygreene.com/Twinsburg/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&2.0
The members of the Charter Review Commission, appointed by City Council were dealt a poor hand indeed by the Mayor, Law Director, and City Council in that they were never provided the tools necessary to confidently perform the arduous task of reviewing the City Charter. Watch the videos and you will see what I mean! The task of governing with a home rule ‘City Charter’ cannot be grasped quickly and learned in 12-15 hours of meetings with only one CRC member having prior experience. It appears to me, that the Mayor and City Council got what they directed and wanted in the nine proposed amendments; more power for the Mayor, more power for the government, less transparency for the people, and less oversight by the people, in my opinion. We will now wait to see how and what the people direct with their votes in the November elections!
Because I know some of the Mayor’s supporters, will say, this guy never has anything good to say: I will state here and now, that I love everything about Twinsburg, except the things I don’t love. That is what citizen auditors and watchdogs do! As Benjamin Franklin said, “When everyone is thinking the same, then no one is thinking”. Diverse opinions are one of the pillars of our great nation!
Public participation was limited to 5 minutes at the beginning and end of the meetings while free range was granted Mayor Procop and attending Council members. After the first two meetings, it was clear to me where the ‘public’ ranked in the value of our input and I decided then to set out the remaining meetings and wait for the videos (plus our City does not have a wheelchair accessible restroom yet for the ‘man in the wheelchair’, that is me! This should have been resolved twenty years ago with the passage of ADA laws in 1992).
Just for the record, there were other possible amendments proposed like, term limits for Mayor and Council, five year financial planning, city manager form of government, election of the Charter Review Commission members, and job performance guidelines for the law director position, but they were sidetracked by the CRC members. The public was all but absent during the meetings, mostly due to the lack of publication of the meetings and what possible amendments were being discussed. Want to have a good laugh, take a look at the meeting agenda’s—here is the link, see for yourself, is this descriptive at all? -http://www.mytwinsburg.com/assets_COT/council/2014/agendas/cr/cr050514a.htm . Meeting notices should have been at the direction of the CRC members and confirmed that the news media and public were notified by the City as too when, what, where, etc. Simply placing a meeting announcement on the City Hall sign, is that it? What if you don’t drive by City Hall every day of the week!
It is my opinion; the CRC could have done more in the financial reporting area to aid citizens in transparency and accountability. This idea as others ideas presented that were ‘outside the box’ where quickly squelched by Mayor Procop and her appointed Finance Director as job description related, well folks; I attempted to get us a five year financial plan. Anyone thinking they will see any five year financial planning or forecasts in the next five years, I wouldn’t beat the farm on it!
Our best hope for transparency and accountability for all the residents of Twinsburg rests with next year’s elections. Perhaps there will be competitive Mayoral and Council races with some new ideas and some thinking ‘outside the box’?
Once the legislation and final language is available, it can be seen at the ACT website. If you find this information helpful, let us know with any comments or suggestions at citizenauditorohio@yahoo.com.
Loren Sengstock, Citizen Auditor
May 15, 2014