Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Pickerington charter issue a surprise



By Kirk D . Richards THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




Pickerington activists circulated a petition to seek a city charter amendment in secret and revealed it as a surprise. If voters approve it in November, the amendment would ensure the city?’s right to separate from Violet Township and form its own township.

It will appear on the ballot with a referendum to overturn an economic agreement the City Council narrowly approved with the township.

The same people circulated both petitions, said Councilman Mike Sabatino, who opposed the agreement. They held back the charter amendment when they submitted the referendum on Jan. 30, he said, because they wanted to see if the mayor and the council majority would find a way to kill the referendum.

''I don?’t feel bad keeping it a secret,'' Sabatino said. ''It was to protect the citizens?’ rights.''

Circulators of the referendum waited for the Fairfield County Board of Elections to determine that there were enough valid signatures, Sabatino said. The Schottenstein, Zox & Dunn law firm that works for Pickerington also determined that the petition is valid.

The city administration, as well as some council members who back the economic agreement, were caught off guard.

''You?’ll have to ask them why they did that,'' said Councilman Jeff Fix, who voted in favor of the economic development agreement on Jan. 2.

''I understand it came across (to some officials) as a big surprise,'' said Anthony Barletta, who circulated both petitions.

Terms in the economic agreement prohibit the city from creating its own township, a process that would allow the city to stop paying taxes to Violet Township.

Pickerington residents pay 7.6 mills in property taxes to Violet Township. That amounts to about $233 per year to the owner of a $100,000 home.

''They?’re probably using some of that money to sue us, and we have to pay more to defend ourselves,'' Barletta said, referring to past lawsuits that Violet Township has filed against Pickerington.

However, Pickerington as its own township would have to either create a fire department or contract with a different jurisdiction to provide those services.

Fix considered the charteramendment petition to be unnecessary given that the economic agreement is being challenged by a referendum.

''I think it?’s redundant,'' Fix said.

Sabatino disagreed. Even if voters were to overturn the economic agreement in November, the council could simply pass another ordinance, he said. But a charter amendment would prevent that.

Municipal clerk Lynda Yartin said the petition has almost 900 signatures and that she plans to turn it in to the county elections board some time today.
krichards@dispatch.com

A secret?

Is something really a secret when 900+ citizens have signed it?

Maybe it was to those who kept touting to their supporters ''Don't worry, they're not getting the signatures''!

TRUST

?“Fix considered the charter amendment petition to be unnecessary given that the economic agreement is being challenged by a referendum.

''I think it?’s redundant,'' Fix said.?”

Jeff on your resume to become a Pickerington City Councilman you stated to the voters, ?“how YOU carried a initiative petition to limit residential development to two houses per acre.?” Back in 2002 you had no problem with walking the street for a half hour to get your seven signatures so you could list that initiative on your resume for office some day. Didn?’t Mayor Randy Hughes and the former administration complain bitterly about this ?“small group?” not representing the majority of the voters? Now a few years later you are saying similar things about another small group circulating an initiative to control the actions of the council. You and the current council majority are no different than those who were in charge in 2002. You were elected to office and some how you forget your oath and what got you there. Your lack of vision and lack of original thought has placed the city and its tax payers in jeopardy of losing great amounts of tax revenues to the township and surrounding governments. You refuse to look at lowering or at the very least accounting for the tax dollars we send to the area governments for services. You are still hung up on the problems of 2001 and when you were a candidate for township trustee and the PATA newsletter editor. Has it ever occurred to you that things and issues have changed and maybe the issues facing the taxpayers in 2001 are not the same issues facing us now. The solutions you offered in your PATA newsletters were based on limited data supplied to you and Bob Harding from the township Trustees. Isn?’t it time to at least look at the information available to you from the city and the workers that have been here a long time? I think if you and the Mayor had the ability to open your minds and to look objectively at ALL the information around you may very well reach different conclusions than you did in 2001.

When you worked out your agreement with the township, it is apparent that you only conferred with three other members of council. Once you had these other three votes you went for the gusto and forced the issue through council and through your hand picked committee that you knew the outcome with no changes. In other words, you dazzled these three with B.S., NOT BRILLANCE and they were willing to go along with you and make some incredible statements that you had written for them. Remember when you refused to listen to the citizens as they came to the different meetings of council? Remember when you faked being late coming out of Texas and let the others that supported you take the heat of the citizens. Once the community comments were over, Keith left the building and you magically appeared? Jeff there were no flight delays in Texas that day and most of us believe you lied about your reason for being late.

You think this initiative is redundant and in most cases if the citizens trusted you, The Mayor and the council majority to do the right thing and to at least listen to the citizens of the city it would probably be redundant. However you know as well as anyone because you carried an initiative petition in 2002 that there is a lack of trust here in 2007.

Most people knew

Around 900 people in the city knew that there was an initiative circulating. The secret was kept from the City Manager, The Mayor, and this Council Majority. It further illustrates how OUT OF TOUCH this administration is of the citizens of Pickerington.