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WELLSVILLE -- During the Oct. 6 meeting of the Wellsville Village Council, Council President Keith Thorn suggested members consider switching to a charter form of government with a village administrator/manager.
Thorn said that with a charter government, the village would still have a council and a mayor, but it would be the administrator making most of the decisions. He said typically the reason behind the change is because council lacks the expertise in a lot of areas, requiring the hire of a professional.
"This is not against anybody that is sitting here," Thorn said. "But, look at a lot of smaller villages, for one East Palestine, they have an administrator and they are doing well; we're not and I think it's time that maybe we consider this."
Thorn said the village has looked into the switch in the past and he believes the biggest issue preventing it was that "nobody wanted to give up their chunk of the pie."
"But I think push has come to shove, and we need to look at some of this stuff and look at trying to make this town a little bit better and i think that is one definite way to do it," he said.
When Council Member Cindy Mick asked what the process was for going to a charter government, Thorn said he would have to defer to Village Solicitor Chris Weeda for that information, to which Weeda said he would look into it.
Council Member Aaron Smith asked if there were any other advantages to the village becoming a charter. Thorn replied that it would help with the ordinance process because the village could have different laws than what it has now.
Thorn also made the suggestion that about 28 to 30 years ago when Wellsville first became a village, Columbiana was also a village, and they had a set up where every year the council members at the beginning of each year had to approve each administrative head and he believes Wellsville should consider doing that. He said he believes it would be something that would make the administrative heads sharper and get better product out of them.
Mick and Council Member Alana Amato both agreed it could be a good idea. Council Member Mike Lombardozzi said while it sounds good on the surface, he wants to learn more about it.
Thorn said that in some ways it would give more authority to the governing body, but it would also put a lot of authority in the hands of someone else.
"Most of us are elected because of the popular vote. We're nice people, that's why we get elected. It isn't that some of us are super geniuses; if it were we wouldn't be in the position we are now," Thorn said. "But it does give you the opportunity to bring somebody in that deals with the specific problems like the line coming through for 20th Street because they may have solutions or outside contacts that we don't have. "
Smith questioned whether voting on the administration heads every year would be a part of the charter. Thorn answered that would be a separate issue and he would have to defer to Weeda on that because he needs to see if that's still legal and he needs to contact Columbiana to see how they did it.
Weeda told the council members that the council cannot do a yearly approval for an administrator. The administrator would be appointed by the mayor and approved by council and can be removed by council, but it is not an elected position and cannot be an annual approval.
Mayor Bob Boley said a charter has to be approved by the village.
Smith did a quick internet search and found that it has to be voted on by council, then a petition has to be filed, then it needs to be put on the ballot and then the charter has to be established within a certain time. He noted it can be a 10- to 12-month process and that it's not a quick fix, but could be beneficial. He also noted that according to the Ohio Constitution, the village would have to have a 15-member charter commission to even draft the framework for the charter.
Further discussion centered around does the village have the money to hire an administrator.
Weeda said he will look into what is needed for a charter government, and council will hold further discussion on the issue.
The Wellsville Village Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in council chambers at Wellsville Village Hall. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Oct. 20.