Thoughts On The State Of Things

Parma City Charter Decoded: There will be a primary election in March of this year, not so far away from now. All across the state of Ohio voters will be asked to choose different candidates, especially the candidate that will head up the GOP and run against Obama for President. Voters here in Parma will have a unique choice to make. Thanks to the hard work of some good citizens, the issue of whether or not to seat a charter commission will appear on the ballot in Parma once again. The voters will also have a chance to choose those who will be tasked with producing the charter which will have to be approved by the same voters in a future election. One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of “democracy in action.” 

A charter for a city is nothing more than a founding document that outlines and defines the size, scope and function of the city government. Here in Ohio, if a city is unchartered or “statutory,” that means it is defined by the Ohio Revised Code or Ohio state law. The state law does not take into consideration any unique features of a city; it is a “one size fits all” approach. The vast majority of the cities in Ohio have adopted a charter of their own to better deal with their unique challenges. An “unchartered city government” in Ohio has only the powers expressly given to it by the Ohio General Assembly. The Ohio Constitution allows for municipalities to establish their own charters and “rule themselves.”  A city can operate on the Ohio Revised Code, as the case has been in Parma; but is having your city government defined by the state code the best way to proceed? If the choices made by the overwhelming majority of the municipalities of Ohio are any example, the answer is no.

Voting to allow a charter commission to produce a charter is not the same as voting to approve and implement a charter.  The seating of the commission and the production of the charter are only the first step. Voters will be asked to review and approve the finished charter by vote again before it can be put in place. So, where is the danger in seating a charter commission made up of those who wish to better the city? Is it possible to improve the function and efficiency of Parma City Hall? Is it bad to have concerned citizens involved in the way their city is run? This sounds very much like the fabric of what this country is made of; citizens getting involved, taking responsibility, defining the best future for themselves, their families and their city. Who knows Parma better than those who live here?  

Recently the citizens of Cuyahoga County chose to replace the government of the county with a new chartered government. Prior to this Cuyahoga County had been an unchartered county using the Ohio Revised Code as a default form of government. There were naysayers who didn’t like the change and fought against it. “The County is doing just fine and doesn’t need to change,” they said. Did the sky fall in? Did a huge galactic vortex open up and swallow the county? Were the naysayers the ones who perhaps had the most to lose personally? The changing of the county government lead to arguably the most important governmental corruption trial in the history of the nation, going on now in Akron.

Voters of Parma, you have a choice on the ballot in March of this year. You are encouraged to do your own research and discover the truth for yourselves. Will a charter for Parma offer a better opportunity for Parma? I think so, but you be the judge. Thanks to a few hard-working citizens who volunteered many hours to collect signatures, you have that choice. All I ask is that you make it count.

And these are my thoughts on the state of things, respectfully submitted.