City council voted unanimously to hold the amendments last week.
“The citizens on the charter commission spent two years working on this,” Mayor Sarah Mays said. “To give voters 30 days before the election to read and understand it doesn’t make sense. I respect the charter tremendously, and don’t want to politicize it.”
The charter amendments will likely return to Xenia ballots in the spring. Changes include streamlining the process of enacting a resolution, increasing public participation, and clarifying responsibilities of public officials.
The changes would be the first update to the city’s governing document since its last revision in 1998.
“The bulk of changes are really reflective of the fact that it hasn’t been updated in 20 years,” she said. “In terms of our basic form of governance, nothing changes.”
About the Author
