Government - http://maxpages.com/minnickward4/CITY

This is not the entire Charter. However, the Articles shown here apply to questions raised recently.

PREAMBLE of the CHARTER OF THE CITY OF N. RIDGEVILLE: We, the people of N. Ridgeville in the County of Lorain and State of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for the freedoms we enjoy, in order to secure for ourselves the benefits of municipal home rule and exercise all the powers of local self-government, do adopt this Charter for our Municipality.

ARTICLE III, THE COUNCIL
Section 3.12 Procedure: All legislative action shall be by ordinance or resolution except when otherwise required by the Constitution or the laws of the State of Ohio. No ordinance or resolution shall contain more than one subject matter, which subject shall be clearlyexpressed in its title.

ARTICLE V, THE DIRECTOR OF LAW
Section 5.1, Appointment: The Director of Law shall be appointed by the mayor subject to the approval of a majorityof all of the members of council. He or she shall be an attorney at law duly admitted and in good standing before the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio. He or she shall hold office at the pleasure of the mayor.

ARTICLE VIII, PLANNING COMMISSION
Section 8.6 Duties: It shall be the function and duty of the Planning Commission to act as the platting commissioner of the Municipality and as such it shall have control of planning and shall provide regulations covering the platting of all lands within the Municipality or within 3 miles thereof, so as to secure the harmonious development and to provide for the coordination of streets with other streets and with the official Municipal plan and to provide for open spaces for traffic, utilities, access of fire-fighting apparatus, recreation, light and air, and for the avoidance of congestion of population.

ARTICLE IX ZONING AND BUILDING ORDINANCES AND BOARD OF APPEALS
Section 9.1 Enactment of Ordinances: The Council may provide by ordinance for the passage and amendment of any building and zoning ordinance, the maps and regulations thereof, and the publication of notice and public hering thereof, provided only that the minimum notice of the time and place of any public hearing shall be posted at least 10 days in advance thereof on the bulletin boards described in Section 3.15 of this Charter and in such other places as designated by Council, and shall be published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality. In the event it is proposed to amend, enlarge, or change any area, zone or district classification, defined in any enacted ordinance, then, in addition to the notice hereinbefore provided, notice of the time and place of such public hearing shall be given by first class mail, postage prepared, to the record title holders of the property lying within, or within 500 ft. of the perimeter of such area, zone or district proposed to be changed. Record title holders shall mean the title holder of such property as disclosed by the records of the Auditor of Lorain Cy., 30 days immediately prior to the date of such public hearing.

ARTICLE XIII - INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM, RECALL

SECTION 13.1 - INITIATIVE: The electors shall have the power to propose any ordinance or resolution, except an ordinance appropriating money, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative. An initiative ordinance or resolution shall be submitted to Council by a petition signed by at least 10% of the electors voting at the last preceding November election. Submission to Council shall consist of presenting said petition at a regular or special meeting of Council, or by personally handing such petition to the Mayor or President of Council, or by leaving said petition with the person in charge of the Mayor's office, or by mailing the same to the Mayor's office by certified or registered mail, or by personally handling said petition to the Clerk of Council. When so submitted, the Clerk of Council shall within 14 days determine the sufficiency, and, if sufficient, the Council shall take final action, whether enacting, amending, or rejecting the proposed ordinance, within forty days after sufficiency has been established. If council fails to pass such proposed ordinance or resolution, or passes it in some different form than set forth in the petition therefor, the petitioners through the committee named on such petition may, at the next regular meeting of Council, request in writing that it be submitted to a vote of the electors. Thereupon, Council shall provide for submitting the petitioned ordinance or resolution to the electors at the next regular election occurring more than 75 days after the filing of said petition. But if such petition is signed by at least 20% of such electors, the date of the election may be fixed therein, which may be a special election to be held at any time more than 75 days after the filing of said petition. (Amended 5-3-88)

SECTION 13.2 - REFERENDUM: Within 30 days after the enactment by Council, of any ordinance or resolution which may be subject to a referendum under the laws of the State of Ohio, a petition signed by no less than 10% of the total electors voting at the last preceding November election, may be filed with Council, by presenting said petition at a regular or special meeting of Council, or by personally handing such petition to the Mayor or President of Council, or by leaving said petition with the person in charge of the Mayor's office, or by mailing the same to the Mayor's office by certified or registered mail, or by personally handing said petition to the Clerk of Council, requesting the ordinance or resolution be repealed or submitted to the vote of the electors. When said petition is filed, the Clerk of Council, shall within 14 days ascertain the sufficiency of the petition, and if found sufficient, the Council shall, within 30 days after sufficiency has been established, reconsider such ordinance or resolution. If Council fails to repeal said ordinance or resolution within such 30 day period, the Council shall submit it to a vote of the electors at the next regular election occurring more than 75 days after the filing of such petition. If such petition is signed by at least 20% of the electors, the date of the election may be fixed therein, which may be a special election to be held at any time more than 75 days after the filing of such petition. (Amended 5-3-88)

SECTION 13.3 RECALL: Electors shall have the power to remove from office by recall election, any elected officer of the Municipality. After an elected officer has served six months of his or her term, a petition demanding his or her recall and removal, may be filed with the Clerk of Council. Such petition shall be signed by at least 25% of the total electors voting at the last preceding November election. If the Clerk shall find the petition sufficient he or she shall promptly so certify to the Council and shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the officer whose removal is sought and make a record of such delivery. If such officer shall not resign within five days after the day on which such delivery shall have been made, the Council shall fix a day for holding a recall election not less than 30 days, nor more than 45 days, from the date of delivery. If a majority of the votes cast shall be voted affirmatively such officer shall remain in office. If a majority of the votes cast shall be voted negatively, such officer shall be considered as removed, his or her office shall be deemed vacant and such vacancy shall be filled as provided in this Charter. The officer removed by such recall election shall not be eligible for appointment to the vacancy created thereby.

Number of ballots cast city wide in the November, 1999, election was 5,258. (Twenty-five percent would be minimum of 1,315 signatures.) The ward numbers vary and may be obtained upon request.

SECTION 13.4 GENERAL PROVISIONS:

An initiative, referendum or recall petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each part shall contain in the case of the initiative or referendum, a full and correct copy of the title and text of the proposed or referred ordinance or resolution, and in the case of the recall, the name and office of the person whose removal is sought and a statement in not more than 200 words on the grounds for the removal. The manner of signing, the method of circulating, the form and requirements as to the affidavit, and the other requirements of the general law regulating initiative and referendum petitions, shall apply in the case of initiative, referendum and recall in this Municipality, except as otherwise provided in this Charter.

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Page Updated Fri Oct 1, 2004 10:51pm EDT