PRESS RELEASE:

Complaints made against Stow Citizens for Responsible Government (SCRG) were settled by the Ohio Elections Commission in Columbus on March 18, 2010.  The complaints were filed in a sworn affidavit by Stow-Munroe Falls Superintendent Russ Jones on behalf of the district’s levy committee (complete documentation of these complaints will be posted to this website shortly).

Of the 20 complaints filed, 16 were dismissed by the commission.  The four remaining dealt with the cost of snow days, reference to a levy as permanent and two procedural accounting errors.  These inaccuracies have been corrected and a minor public reprimand was addressed.  No fines were imposed and no further discipinary actions were taken against SCRG.

According to figures supplied by District Tresurer, Catherine Bulgrin (Stow Sentry, February 14, 2010), the district paid $20,496 in legal fees to pursue this issue in 2009.  That amount does not include fees for depositons, fees for compiling and executing a formal resolution in which the Board of Education became a participant in the actions, and any additional fees incurred in 2010 as a result of this filing.

Further details on the above release and the documentation that will be posted on the SCRG website may be obtained by contacting:

Don Bettio, Stow Citizens for Responsible Government, 330-688-8297

1/30/10

(Sigh…..) We sure get tired of reporting this type of stuff.  But it does give our city officials every opportunity to prove that our website is aptly named.

As if you hadn’t heard enough about the Wyoga Lake meeting in previous posts (found here), now we have even more to add to the mess.  We are still wondering why the city legal deartment is ignoring this whole affair.

Audio clip of Mary Bednar at Wyoga Lake Meeting

The solution to this whole problem is for Council to admit that it made a mistake and held a meeting that was outside of Council chambers and was not open to the public as the city charter requires.

In summary: 

1.  Hold all meetings in Council chambers and make sure the entire citizenry is notified, or don’t drag enough Council members together in one place to constiture a quorum.

2.  Make sure the meetings are transparent.

At tomorrow’s (1/14/10) council meeting city council will propose an emergency legislation that will allow the city’s Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) to own, or partly own, a business or businesses in Stow.  This organization will also be able to offer loans and insure them.

We have no heartburn with Council’s plan to move ahead with this legislation however we do demand that the Mayor and Council proceed legally.  A few items are bothersome:

 Does this mean we will be paying city employees to attend a “voluntary” meeting?  Does Mr. Earle, the city’s Budget Director, get paid for attending this “voluntary citizens board”?

In addition to all the above, how about charter provision 4.14 that states that council cannot pass an emergency measure that will delegate part of its power to a sub-organization.  This must be done with the usual three readings of the proposal.  Is this whole thing legal?

Here is the section of the city charter dealing with emergency resolutions:

Each emergency resolution and ordinance shall contain a statement of the necessity for such emergency action, and its enactment shall require the affirmative vote of at least six members of Council if all members are present, or the affirmative vote of at least five members if one or more members are absent.

No action of Council authorizing the surrender or joint exercise of any of its powers, or in granting any franchise, or in the enactment, amendment, or repeal of any zoning or building resolution or ordinance, or in the changing of any ward boundaries, or in authorizing any change in the boundaries of the Municipality, shall be enacted as an emergency measure.

How about some of you new members of council sitting back and taking a look at this issue.  We urge you to do the job the people of Stow elected you to do.  Is some of this proposal smelling like politics as usual?  Please make sure it’s done the way it’s supposed to be done!

In short, this means that people who pay rent will be paying more rent.  

Click here to read the entire mess in all its glory.