The Patriot Corner

In December, Parma City Council was presented with petitions that contained in excess of 3,600 signatures asking that the following question be put on the ballot.

"SHALL A COMMISSION BE CHOSEN TO FRAME A CHARTER?"

A rather simple question, yet one that has certainly caused much outcry from our elected officials at City Hall. This issue was immediately vilified as being "too expensive" and that it would require a special election. Another objection that was raised is that Parma government works, so why fix it? Other objections have also been raised but they are so ridiculous in nature that I won't even dignify them by discussing them here. 

I don't understand how this can possibly be "too expensive." If City Council would stop arguing and simply pass the ordinance authorizing the language, this would be on the March Primary ballot. This does not require a special election, nor should it.

Stating that Parma government works is a matter of opinion, not fact. In my opinion, a more appropriate way of looking at this would be to question if there are things that can be improved. Just because the glass in your windows isn't broken, does that mean the windows are effective and shouldn't be changed?

So what is a charter? A charter is nothing more than a set of rules to operate under. Implementation of a charter does not raise taxes, change the organization of government or cause the sky to fall. What a charter does do is allow us to establish home rule rather than be subject to Ohio Revised Code. If you don't already know, ORC was designed for small municipalities to have a consistent structure of government. ORC sets specific rules regarding how a government must be established, departments that must exist and what is and is not allowable for a city to do. Changes to the ORC must be done at the state level and require the support and involvement of the Ohio legislature. Clearly, that is an unwieldy method of change and relegates cities that do not have a charter to a form of government that can not be easily modified to fit a changing world.

A properly written charter can also do many other things. For example, it can be stated in a charter that taxes or fees may not be changed or implemented without a vote of the people. Among other benefits, a charter could define an ethics policy, establish minimum criteria for professional positions and potentially combine currently mandated positions and departments that essentially duplicate functions, thus costing extra money and wasting our tax dollars. If we as citizens don't like something in the charter, we can change it without having to convince people across the state to make changes to benefit Parma.

Over the last few years, a perfect example of the benefits of a charter form of government has unfolded before our eyes. That example would be Cuyahoga County. Not only are we still here, we have begun to see some positive changes as a result of the new government structure. Just think, Parma can be next!!