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Akron law director's decision that paperwork is incorrect is called 'petty'
By Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
Akron officials have returned the petitions of a grass-roots group seeking a ballot issue over a proposal to lease the city's sewers.
Citizens to Save Our Sewers and Water (SOS) submitted 149 petitions bearing 5,293 signatures to the clerk of Akron City Council last week. The group 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.
Those petitions were back in the possession of the group on Saturday, along with a letter from Akron Law Director Max Rothal stating that the petitions hadn't been submitted in the proper form.
Rothal's letter said that each petition needed a signed and notarized affidavit attesting that the circulator of the petition followed the law in collecting signatures.
''It is a procedural requirement,'' Rothal said.
''That's so petty,'' said Willie Smith, with Save Our Sewers. He said that each petition included the notarized signature of the petition circulator, along with language swearing that
election laws were followed in collecting the signatures.
''It was part of the petition. What the city wants is a separate affidavit stapled to the petition. That's petty,'' Smith said.
He called the move by Rothal a ''delay tactic'' to thwart the will of the people.
''This is what the people want. It's the wish of the people to put this issue to a vote,'' Smith said. He said the city clearly is trying to block the amendment from the November ballot.
The group formed after Mayor Don Plusquellic announced in February that he wanted to sell or lease the sewer system to a private company and use the money for University of Akron or trade-school scholarships for Akron's public high school graduates.
Plusquellic has called the group's petition drive ''a scheme to try to kill our effort to provide scholarships.''
SOS counters that the mayor's sewer proposal will mean higher rates for customers and will eliminate city jobs.
Rothal said that once the proper affidavits are attached to the SOS petitions, they can be resubmitted to the clerk.
''Once we get them, we will send them on to the board of elections to check the validity of the signatures,'' Rothal said.
Smith said the group plans to bypass city hall and will take the petitions to the Ohio Supreme Court offices in Columbus.
''We are going to take the petitions to Columbus [today].'' Smith said.
''The mayor and the city need to quit it. It's the wish of the people to put this to the ballot.''
The group needs 2,339 valid signatures — 10 percent of the number of Akron voters in the mayoral-council elections last November — to get the measure on the ballot.
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron officials have returned the petitions of a grass-roots group seeking a ballot issue over a proposal to lease the city's sewers.
Get the full article here.
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