Charter review process completed

Residents to vote on proposed amendments on Nov. ballot

by Dan Holland

The Broadview Heights Charter Review Committee completed the last of its four scheduled meetings on April 21. Members of city council are expected to take a third and final vote during a July 7 meeting to have the proposed amendments placed on the November ballot for voter approval.

The nine-person resident committee, which consists of one individual representing Wards 1-4, city council, board of zoning appeals, planning commission, parks and recreation and one mayoral appointee, is tasked with meeting at least once every four years to review the city charter to suggest any needed changes, additions or updates. All meetings were open to the public.

Committee members included Robert Boldt (council representative), Brian Culley (planning commission member), Iain Crouch (representing the board of zoning appeals), Lyn Haselton (a parks and recreation member), Richard Ganim (Ward 1 representative), Drew Glasser (Ward 2 representative), Cilia Holocker (Ward 3 representative), George Heinemann (Ward 4 representative) and Bridget Wu (the mayoral appointee). Crouch served as committee chairperson.

“I thought there was a lot of good collaboration,” said Crouch. “We had a diversity of backgrounds, with people bringing a lot of different things forward that we discussed as a group. Committee members didn’t always agree, but I think there was a lot of healthy debate on everything.”

“Of the five items we ended up passing, most were passed unanimously,” he added. “The term limits for councilmembers was a 6-2 vote, but everything else that passed was unanimous. We started that last day with eight items and pared it down and voted on the items that we had finalized from the list. A couple of things failed on the final vote to be included, but that was after much debate.”

“The Charter Review Committee asked me to bring forward anything that council was going to discuss, which I did when I told them they were going to discuss term limits,” said Boldt. “So, the charter committee weighed in on what they thought the term limits should be, and that’s why council is still discussing [term limits for additional officials] now.”

“Overall, there were a number of issues discussed, and not all of them made it to the ballot,” he added. “There was a lot of compromising to the point where we’re going to let the public decide, and that’s where it’s at.”

The five items consist of:

  • Article III, Sec. 1(b) – City Council; a councilperson can serve no more than three consecutive four-year terms or twelve consecutive years.
  • Article IV, Sec. 4(d) – The Mayor; the mayor is authorized to enter into contracts on behalf of the city without prior council approval when the value of the contract is $25,000 or less, provided sufficient funds have otherwise been appropriated by council, with an annual increase in the $25,000 threshold of 3% beginning Jan. 1, 2028.
  • Article IV, Sec. 4(e) – The Mayor; the mayor is authorized to make purchases on behalf of the city without prior council approval when the value of the purchase is $25,000 or less, provided sufficient funds have otherwise been appropriated by council, with an annual increase in the $25,000 threshold of 3% beginning Jan. 1, 2028.
  • Article XI, Sec. 4 – Elections; municipal tax levies may only be placed on the ballot for municipal elections held in November of any calendar year.
  • Article XIV, Sec. 8(d) – Charter Language; gender-specific terms in the charter shall be changed to gender-neutral terms upon charter reprintings.