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Grass-roots group seeks amendment to charter regarding leasing, selling
By Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Jul 11, 2008
Akron voters are one step closer to having a say in deciding whether the city's sewers will be sold or leased.
Petitions bearing 5,293 signatures were presented Thursday morning to the clerk of Akron City Council by members of Citizens to Save Our Sewers and Water.
The group — a grass-roots coalition of union workers and concerned citizens — is seeking to amend the city's charter to require that any action to sell, lease or transfer a public utility be approved by a majority of the voters.
''People we approached overwhelmingly supported letting the public decide to sell or lease the sewer system,'' said Willie Smith, with Save Our Sewers. Smith said the response to the petition drive was overwhelmingly favorable.
''It was very easy to collect signatures. People want to have a direct voice. This issue is too important to leave it up to the mayor and council alone,'' Smith said. He said SOS hopes the amendment will be placed on the November ballot.
SOS was formed on the heels of Mayor Don Plusquellic's announcement in February that he wanted to sell the sewer sys
tem as a way to pay for scholarships for Akron's public high school graduates to the University of Akron or trade schools.
The mayor later said that instead of selling the sewer system, the city would arrange a long-term lease in which Akron would maintain ownership and a private company would operate the system.
Jack Sombati, SOS campaign coordinator and an official for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the union that represents Akron's sewer and water department workers, called the mayor's desire to raise scholarship money for Akron students honorable. However, he said selling off the city's sewers isn't the way to do it.
''Selling or leasing Akron's sewers to a private company will raise consumer rates — rates could double or triple,'' Sombati said, suggesting that such a deal would eliminate jobs and compromise service.
He said a private corporation would be accountable to its ''global shareholders and not local citizens.''
Sombati said he was confident that SOS had collected enough signatures to get the amendment on the ballot.
''The signatures we've collected are more than sufficient. What we need is 2,339 signatures, which is 10 percent of the electorate,'' Sombati said.
According to law, petitioners must collect signatures equal to 10 percent of the number of Akron voters in the mayoral-council elections last November.
The petitions will go to the Summit County Board of Elections, which has 10 days to validate the signatures.
Plusquellic issued a statement Thursday defending his proposal.
''Voters need to know that the initiative petition filed [Thursday] is part of a scheme to try and kill our effort to provide scholarships for children of hardworking parents who are struggling to make a better life for their children,'' he said.
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron voters are one step closer to having a say in deciding whether the city's sewers will be sold or leased.
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