Letter: Preventing charter issue from appearing on ballot is wrong
November 3, 2008
To the Editor:
This is to explain why the option to abolish the charter form of government in Nelsonville was prohibited from being on the ballot. Garry Hunter, the Nelsonville city solicitor, made one phone call to the Athens County prosecutor and objected. There was no official filing.
We are told the Petitioner’s Committee did not file the petitions according to the Nelsonville Charter. The absolute truth is the petitions were filed according to ONE of the ways in the charter. “The charter has two perfectly good interpretations, but each interpretation would be entirely inconsistent with the other” as put by the Athens County prosecutor. He claimed municipal elections and amendments are voted on in off years. In case no one noticed, this is not an election nor is it an amendment; it is to change the form of government entirely.
My question is why were we able to vote on abolishing the statutory government and adopt the charter form of government in 1994. Amended in 2000 and again in 2002, not one of these years is a “so-called municipal election year.”
The way I see it we were “railroaded” and our rights violated. I guess Mr. Hunter and the handful of people who run the town were scared of losing their powerful positions. They know the people of Nelsonville are ready for a change. This form of government has not been satisfactory. Mr. Hunter and the “rulers of the city” know this. Why else would they object to being on the ballot? If it were a job well done, they wouldn’t have bothered objecting to anything. They’re getting a second chance now.
I hope, no matter how hard they try, the citizens of Nelsonville will remember how the charter has (or should I say has not) operated in the last 14 years, so when we get a second chance we can make a change.
The Petitioners Committee
Concerned Citizens for a Change of Government
Vicki McDonald
Paul Davis
Kelsie Lanning
Melvin Maccombs
Betty Davis
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