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Akron sewer system would be leased to fund scholarships for 'working-class' children
By Carl Chancellor and Katie Byard
Beacon Journal
Published on Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008
Mayor Don Plusquellic is proposing to let Akron voters decide whether to approve his controversial sewer lease proposal.
The mayor said Tuesday afternoon that he wants residents to vote on his proposal to lease the city sewer system to raise cash for college scholarships for ''working-class kids.''
The mayor's decision to take the plan to voters is similar to the position that Citizens to Save Our Sewers and Water (SOS) has advocated for months.
The grass-roots coalition and the mayor have been at odds over the issue since Plusquellic announced in February that he wanted to lease the sewer system to a private company and use the money for University of Akron or trade-school scholarships for Akron children.
Last week SOS submitted petitions to the clerk of Akron City Council 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 voters.
The city told the group that its 149 petitions bearing 5,293 signatures were not submitted in the proper form.
The city argues that each petition needs a signed and notarized affidavit attesting that the circulator of the petition followed the law in collecting signatures.
Plusquellic said he decided to ''call their [SOS's] bluff'' and ask City Council to put the issue on the November ballot before the group resubmitted its petitions.
Decision to debate
The mayor said he looks forward to the opportunity to debate the lease proposal and let the voters decide its fate.
''If they are decent, honorable people they should be willing to debate. Let's argue the case of this lease,'' Plusquellic said.
Akron lawyer Warner Mendenhall, who is an SOS member, applauded the mayor's decision to ask council to put the issue before voters.
''We are looking forward to this debate. This is how politics is supposed to work — a full and free debate,'' Mendenhall said.
The group still plans to push to get its charter amendment on the November ballot.
''Our initiative drive is about all public utilities,'' he said. ''It's the principle. It's that if and when any utility, no matter what it is, is sold or leased to a private entity, that has to be approved by a majority of voters . . . We just want the people to have a voice.''
If both issues appear on the same ballot, the mayor said, approval of both issues would not affect his measure that would lease the sewers.
''It (the SOS amendment) would not be retroactive,'' said Plusquellic.
Plusquellic said his ballot request, which is expected to go before council Aug. 1, will include a cap on sewer rates.
Details to come
The mayor plans to spell out how the system would be operated and maintained under a lease. He said his proposal would specify that revenues — expected to be at least $200 million — would only be used to fund the scholarship program for Akron children.
When the mayor first suggested the idea, he said the revenue generated from the lease would be earmarked for Akron public high school graduates. However, at Tuesday's news conference, the mayor said that the exact details of who would be eligible for the scholarships have not been worked out.
Plusquellic said Tuesday that he did not return the SOS petitions. They were returned by the city's law department that flagged problems with the petitions.
Plusquellic called SOS a group of ''naysayers'' with ''no principles or morals'' that wants to make the city look bad.
Mendenhall said that his group is not out to defeat any proposal. Rather, he said, SOS wants to make sure voters get to decide.
''People signed the petitions who are in favor of the mayor's plan,'' Mendenhall said. ''They're also in favor of the electorate making the final decision.''
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com. Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
Mayor Don Plusquellic is proposing to let Akron voters decide whether to approve his controversial sewer lease proposal.
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