Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Election year

I hate to be pessimistic, but the Trustees are holding off for a reason. They are just hoping there are not enough valid signatures. If that is the case, they will sign. If there are enough signatures, then sure enough they will come back with changes they want made to nullify the current agreement. Mr. Fix bounced this agreement from committee to committee to get it passed. He's admitted that he'll do whatever it takes to see this through. Hopefully, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, or Mrs. Riggs will do the right thing and do what the people who put them in office want. Remember...it's an election year and it would be a shame if one of these people would lose their seat on Council because of this. This person will have a much better shot at retaining their seat if he/she stands up for the 932 voters of the City who asked for the referendum. Think about it....it's one heck of a strategic re-election plan! 932 votes in nothing to sneeze at. Someone may want to pass this on the that certain someone.

Times-Sun says

Referendum petition on economic pact might be moot

By DAVID S. OWEN

Supporters of a referendum petition that seeks to overturn City Council's decision to approve a master economic development agreement with Violet Township have submitted signed petitions requesting the issue be placed on the November general election ballot.

But their efforts might be moot if the Violet Township trustees make any changes to the document before they approve it.
After spending three weeks gathering more than 300 of the 620 required signatures, the petition was delivered Jan. 30 to City Finance Director Linda Fersch.
Among the more than 20 supporters gathering signatures were city councilmen Brian Wisniewski, Michael Sabatino and Ted Hackworth.
The three voted against the agreement during the council session in which it was approved.

The petition will remain at city hall for public viewing until Feb. 9. for 10 days. It will then be sent to the Fairfield County Board of Elections for validation of the signatures.
After the board of elections validates the signatures, the petition will be sent back to the city to be validated by legal counsel before being sent back to the board of elections with a request it be placed on the November ballot.

Possible changes

The township has yet to approve the agreement and township officials have indicated they might want to make changes in the pact.
Township Trustee Terry Dunlap said the agreement is not a done deal and said the trustees have yet to determine if they find it to be an acceptable agreement.
If the township amends the pact, the process must begin anew, including it being sent back to City Council for approval.

According to the city's Law Director Phil Hartman, if the city decides to approve the township's amended version, that action would nullify the current submitted referendum petition.

Which means a new referendum petition would have to be produced, signatures gathered and the paperwork submitted again.

If the city does not approve the township's version of the agreement, then the current referendum would be rejected because there would be no approved economic agreement.
''I don't know why this agreement went through council before they worked out all the kinks with the township,'' Hackworth said.

Times-Sun continued

''We've spent a lot of cold wet windy weekends out collecting signatures, and now to have a little trick like this probably is not a very good move politically on their part,'' Hackworth said.

''This whole thing was handled poorly and unprofessionally, and now they're facing a referendum, and our City Council is going to need to make the decision on whether they're going to allow the citizens to have their voices heard,'' Wisniewski said.
''I support the process, if it reaches the ballot, and would hope the people who signed the petition were given full and complete information on it, and not just one side of the story,'' Dunlap said.

''I'm looking forward to presenting the reasons why this is a good agreement for the city, and presenting it to the public,'' said Jeff Fix, a Pickerington City Councilman who helped craft the agreement.

''I am very confident, once the facts are out there, that the voters are going to very loudly and clearly say this is a good idea,'' Fix said. ''I'm surprised after hearing Fix, and (council member) Keith Smith say that people told them they wanted the city to have a cooperative agreement with the township,'' Sabatino said. ''While out gathering signatures, not a single person expressed that to me ... the vast majority I talked to thought that the people should have the final say-so on it,'' Sabatino said.