Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I have been reading a number of articles in the local papers about the Writ of Mandamus that I filed against the City of Pickerington last month. I?’m sure many of you are aware that the Ohio Supreme Court denied my Writ. One article went into great detail about what the court found. I want to bring this whole issue down to a level of understanding without the speculation of the Law Director that has been published more than once.

The Writ simply requested the Ohio Supreme Court to ?“ORDER?” the Pickerington city council to place the initiative on emergency zoning issues, and the initiative that was filed on August 1, 2002 on the BALLOT. The Ohio Supreme Court denied my request. This charter amendment will not be placed on the ballot from this initiative.

The issue was not the TYPOS. Both the city and the Court had no problems with the missing commas, capitalizations and misspellings.

Mr. Mapes claims we tried to amend an old version of the Pickerington City Charter. Other than the new language that we added, this Charter Amendment in the, initiative form, only had two words different than the current Charter. Those two words were ?“TEN?” and ?“MANAGER?”. This initiative had 964 words in and Mr. Mapes finds two words that remind him of an older version and he goes around telling the reporters that we changed an old version as if it is a fact. You decide. Mr. Mapes 962 of the words reflect the current charter wording of section 2.06.

The other area that I changed to be compatible with the issue 19 on this November ballot was the hyphenated word THREE-FOURTH?’S?”. There is no Pickerington City Charter that ever required three-fourth?’s of the council members to vote in favor of an emergency ordinance or resolution. My point here is that Mr. Mapes based his comments strictly on the two words ?“ten?” and ?“manager?”.

These four words were changed after I have received the hard copy from the attorney. My mistake was that I didn?’t indicate in the pre-amble of the initiative why I changed these four words. These missing ?“WHEREAS?” clauses apparently confused the city council and the Law Director. They are trying to make the case that they are protecting the public from the likes of old guys like me. If they could wedge in a little personal gain on my part they would.

The City has tried to make the case now that I mislead or confused the signers of this petition. They seem to claim that if I had capitalized these four words, we couldn?’t have found enough people in Pickerington to sign the petition to place the amendment on the ballot. He then states at a council meeting that he didn?’t think the signers even read the initiative. So how in the world did I confuse them if they didn?’t read the entire initiative?

Continued

WHAT THE COURT SAID WAS OK.

Let me repeat what was on the actual initiative that the court ruled was OK.


?“WHEREAS; it is our desire that zoning ordinances and resolutions (1) always have the three full readings, (2) be passed or adopted by no less than ?¾?’s of the members of the City Council and (3) not be passed as emergency legislation?”.

I truly want to know if the above clause is confusing to anyone. If you are a city resident would you desire and request that the council follow the above rules? Would you sign another petition to require the council to adopt these rules in our charter? Would you say that to the council?

So the problem is that 452 City voters signed this initiative to place the amendment on the ballot. Once I filed the initiative I can?’t change the wording or make any changes to the petition parts. The Pickerington City Council can?’t make changes either while this proposed charter amendment was in the initiative form.


SO WHAT WAS THE CITY AND THE OHIO SUPREME SAYING WAS CORRECT WITH THE INITIATIVE?

They are telling us that the wording and the, whereas clauses, were all correct. No legal problems here. All they found wrong was the three words: ?“three-fourths?”, ?“ten?” and ?“manager?”. The three words were not wrong they just were not in CAPITALS. I also didn?’t explain why I wanted to change these words by using a ''WHEREAS'' clause. None of these words affects the city and its ability to run their business.

So the issue before us all now is, since it is out of the courts and it is no longer an initiative. Then what is keeping this City Council from writing this up as an ordinance and placing it on the ballot like they did issue 19? I will be asking them to do just that. If this city council believes there is not overwhelming support for this charter amendment than maybe they have truly adopted the PARKER doctrine:

?“WE WERE ELECTED TO DO WHAT WE WHAT?”.

please note the word ''we'' that means once than one.

Better to Act

Imperfect action is preferrable to no action when a threat exists. I think that citizens of Pickerington would agree that the few words found to be in ''error'' had NO impact on their feelings towards this issue.

My preference is that those who are stepping up and acting on these issues continue to do so, even if imperfectly. Council clearly hears the footsteps, and more people in the community are now aware of this issue.

I offer two suggestions. First, everyone's efforts might be more effeciently used if a common position on the priority of initiatives could be established. (probably too much cooperation to expect from any group) I just want to avoid allowing too many well intended actions to cause confusion among your strongest, and only allies...the citizens of this community.

Second point...everyone who signs on to this website already agrees with your general position on development, planning and taxes. You'll succeed when everyone in Pickerington feels as strongly as I now do. I find that nearly everyone who ''knows'' about these issues agrees with your position...I'd be working on taking the message ''public''. I imagine I am preaching to the choir.

By gary johnson

City Resident?

Gary,

I hope you are a city resident. You are ahead of the learning curve. I'm in the phone book if you want to talk. Your ideas might be very helpful.

Give me a call.