IN-DEPTH COVERAGE
This newspaper provides in-depth coverage of Huber Heights city government — including the first charter review since its adoption in 1983.
If you go…
What: Huber Heights Charter Review Commission meeting
When: 6 p.m., June 8
Where: Huber Heights City Hall, 6131 Taylorsville Road
A commission of nine citizens is blowing the dust off Huber Heights’ three-decade-old charter and reading the document’s original wording line-by-line, each unchanged since ratification in 1983.
The commission’s mission is to find areas of improvement in the charter and bring it “into 2016,” said Councilman Mark Campbell, who serves on the current commission and served on the original 1983 charter commission.
The review commission is an unprecedented undertaking in Huber Heights — and one that could shape the city’s future for decades. Since beginning in April, ideas debated by commissioners include such proposals as term limits and pay changes for council members, to more fundamental shifts such as changing the city-manager form of government.
The charter is the city’s functional equivalent of a constitution and, like the bedrock documents of the state of Ohio and the United States, it’s relatively difficult to change.
“This is the first time the city has had a charter review commission,” said Clerk of Council Anthony Rodgers, who provides the commission administrative assistance. “The charter does not spell out a process for the charter review commission, so we’re charting a new course in doing this.”
The commission will present recommendations to council, which will decide whether to put the changes to the voters — likely over a series of general elections in coming years, with some proposals perhaps coming to the ballot as soon as this fall. The city electorate’s vote is binding and would change the charter, Rodgers said.
Already, commission members have made decisions on major issues such as:
- Scrapping the current council-manager form of government and adopting a strong-mayor system. Commissioners unanimously voted to keep the council-manager form;
- Extending from three to eight days the time allotted for the mayor to fill a council vacancy if council members fail to do so, and deleting the term "or as soon as thereafter possible." The issue is relevant, commissioners said, in part due to the current mayor not filling a vacancy within three days earlier this year. Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt this recommendation;
- Enforcing term limits on city council members. Commissioners rejected this proposal on a 5-2 vote;
- Tying compensation raises for council members to cost of living increases. Currently, council members receive $300 monthly gross pay — the same as in the 1980s. The commission decided Wednesday not to recommend any changes to council.
Most other changes so far in the process are minor due, commissioners said, to the well-designed document.
“They really did a good job in setting up this charter,” said Councilwoman Nancy Byrge, who serves on the commission. “It’s amazing that it has endured this long and we’ve made such minor changes so far.”
Councilman Richard Shaw, a commission member, said he hopes to figure out a way to allow citizen input in legislation, while also allowing the city to conduct efficient business.
“You don’t want a simple purchase for a city department to be held up for three readings because the charter states it,” Shaw said. Shaw said he also intends to advocate again for term limits when the commission’s recommendations go to the full city council.
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