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EAST LIVERPOOL -- The East Liverpool City Council Planning and Expansion Committee, chaired by Councilman Tom Beagle met Nov. 15 to discuss a possible charter government for the City of East Liverpool.
Beagle invited Columbiana City Mayor Rick Noel and Columbiana City Council President Skip Liston to the meeting to share their experience with a charter form of government.
Beagle opened the meeting with a statement regarding the charter discussion.
"The charter idea for the City of East Liverpool is not a new idea of mine. It is not meant in any way to undermine an incoming administration, it's actually the opposite," Beagle said. "It's a way for all of us to show the citizens of our town that we want their input and active participation in our government. The charter is written and voted on by the citizens without political interference and I believe we need to follow in the footsteps of successful surrounding cities."
Beagle went on to say that the charter possibility is only an idea, not a proposal, and he plans on bringing more qualified speakers like Noel and Liston to speak to the council about these things and that a charter is not a one size fits all form of government, each charter is different.
According to Beagle, before the city can become a charter government it would take a selected group of citizens a year to write the charter and then it would have to go on the ballot and be voted on by the residents.
Noel spoke to the council members on how the government changes when the day-to-day operations of the city are turned over to a city manager leaving the mayor and council president with no day in, day out responsibilities and that the concept of a charter government is to return the power to the city.
Noel said his duties as mayor are only three -- to be the tie breaker if a council vote ends in a tie, to tell everybody hello and welcome to Columbiana and to be a good will officer. All the employees of the city report directly to the city manager who is responsible for operating the city.
Noel also noted that the city manager handles all the grant writing for the city.
Noel also said he was willing to provide East Liverpool council with a copy of Columbiana city's charter and noted that what works in Columbiana might not work for East Liverpool.
"There are no hard and fast rules when setting up a charter other than setting up the charter commission and the citizens have to vote who is going to be on the charter commission," Noel said. "They would create a charter which would have to go to public to vote on whether you want the charter or you don't. So, the charter becomes a public matter."
Liston said that good cities are torn apart by a council that can't work together.
Noel and Liston spoke for almost an hour on how Columbiana functions as a charter government.
"Regardless of the situation with the charter and where that goes in the future it's great that we can open up these channels of conversation between our administrations and gather ideas to help us down here (East Liverpool) follow in your footsteps, because whatever you guys are doing up there you are doing it right," Beagle said to Noel and Liston. "You brought a lot of things to my attention tonight that I hadn't really thought of."
Britannica.com defines a charter as "a document granting certain specific rights, powers, privileges or functions from the sovereign power of a state to an individual, corporation, city or other unit of local organization."
Home Rule is defined as the "power of local self-government, the exercise of certain police powers and the ownership and operation of public utilities," www.lsc.ohio.gov.
Also during the meeting, Beagle provided an update on Scout Solar and the project at the water department where the solar panels are currently being placed, brought up the idea of council having a Facebook page that would be council posts only with no commenting allowed and that he would like the Planning and Expansion Committee to start meeting monthly. Meetings will be held the second Wednesday of each month in council chambers at City Hall at 6:30 p.m.