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    Mayor Announces Committee to Evaluate City Council

    Come September, a mayor-appointed seven member committee will evaluate current city council structure and determine how it should be modernized.

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    Mayor Andrew Ginther and City Councilmember Shannon Hardin announced the Charter Review Committee’s creation on Wednesday afternoon. Ginther and Hardin, both opponents of Issue 1 — a ballot measure intended to add ward representation to Columbus City Council — said the committee will be most influenced by community input.

    “Issue 1 is wrong for Columbus,” Ginther said in a press release. “We want to evaluate the structure of the council in a thorough, thoughtful and public way. We will do it right.”

    Members of Represent Columbus, the grassroots group pushing for the “Yes” vote on the issue, said the announcement is an attempt to suppress the vote.

    “The meeting was nothing but suspicious: Held on a Wednesday at 3:30pm (when everyone was still at work), lasted 15 minutes, and was attended by city employees almost exclusively,” said Represent Columbus Co-Chairs Whitney Smith and Jonathan Beard in a press release.

    Hardin said the announcement was not meant to be a meeting, but a press conference to inform the public of the committee’s creation. He said community engagement will be possible in the committee meetings to come, and committee members will be “folks from the neighborhood, the community.” City employees and elected officials won’t be considered for appointment.

    “The Committee will look at the most successful cities across the country and research how their Councils are structured, as well as how vacancies are filled,” said the press release.

    It’s not clear how the committee will define what makes a city successful. At this time Columbus remains one of the most economically segregated cities in the country.

    “Our city’s prosperity should benefit everyone, not just the most privileged,” said Yes We Can Columbus member Will Petrik in a press release. “Yes We Can Columbus also wants the commission to empower communities to have a voice regarding what type of development comes into our neighborhoods. From Clintonville to the Near East Side, the days of big developers calling the shots at the expense of our neighborhoods needs to end.”

    “We understand there are challenges in our neighborhoods,” Hardin said. “We want to look at peer cities who are also growing, cities that are still bringing in jobs.”

    Still, the committee will mostly focus on input from city residents, which is a component missing from Represent Columbus’ ballot measure, Hardin said.

    “The biggest thing is that if we are going to change and modernize how council structure is set up, then we need to do it in a way that gives city residents the ability to really weigh in to be a part of what that plan looks like,” Hardin said. “Not just voting for a plan that was put together by a few people, but actually a plan that has input from the larger community.”

    Represent Columbus members are not convinced a Charter Review Committee is enough.

    “This is nothing but a bandaid on a broken system,” Smith said in the press release. “This August 2nd, we have the key to the real solution.”

    Beginning in September, the committee will have at least seven public sessions until February, when the committee will return with its recommendations. Both council and public approval is required for any Charter amendments resulting from the committee’s recommendations.

    Share your thoughts on Issue 1: Columbus Underground is anonymously collecting opinions on the issue for future coverage. CLICK HERE to take our quick three-minute survey and share your thoughts with us.

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    Lauren Sega
    Lauren Segahttps://columbusunderground.com
    Lauren Sega is the former Associate Editor for Columbus Underground and a current freelance writer for CU. She covers political issues on the local and state levels, as well as local food and restaurant news. She grew up near Cleveland, graduated from Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, and loves running, traveling and hiking.
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