Lima Council of the Whole discusses amending the city charter in a meeting Monday night.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA —The Lima Council of the Whole discussed several items relating to the city charter in a meeting Monday night.
Law director Tony Geiger said that changing residency requirements for public officials, election timing for council presidents and standards for outside hirings of police and fire chiefs would need to be changed by amending the city charter, something voters would have to have a say in.
“I would prefer to change the charter than to use an ordinance,” he said. “It’s the safer way to go, and we have time to do it.”
Council president Jamie Dixon said the council is taking on the responsibility of reviewing the charter, and it was important to start the process and encourage public participation.
“We’re going to have citizen participation, so they can voice their concerns and opinions about portions of the charter,” he said. “And as a council, we can then take action to get it back to the voters because we understand they have to participate in the process.”
But to start, the council first had to discuss three notable issues.
“Residency has been questioned before, and we want to make sure we have a criteria that is within the charter so that individuals wanting to run for public office know what they will be,” Dixon said.
Dixon noted residency requirements were something he had to contend with when voters questioned his residency as a candidate.
“Second, we have the election of council president, where the question is why members of council from odd-numbered wards can run for that seat in a year when they do not have to risk giving up their council seat, but members from even-numbered wards must,” he said.
Members agreed that the procedure was unfair and should be changed but also said more discussion was needed to determine the solution.
“We’re trying to identify a wedge issue that it’s equal for all individuals who may want to run, no matter if they’re from an even or odd ward,” Dixon said.
The last item on the agenda came about as a byproduct from the coming retirements of Lima Fire Chief Andy Heffner and Lima Police Chief Angel Cortes.
“We had LFD here providing some good insight as we asked them for a recommendation of a new process (for hiring outside),” Dixon said.
Heffner said a talent pool in the city exists because the city develops the experience of homegrown firefighters and that because of it, other cities try to steal from it.
“I understand we need to have a bigger pool,” he said. “But when you get someone from the outside, do they really know us?”
“The big cities in this state hire from outside, but cities like Mansfield and Marion are like us and they don’t,” Peggy Ehora said. “We’re not the big cities, but we’re also not Findlay.”
Todd Gordon saw the issue from the other side.
“When you open it up to people coming in, you might be able to land a really good candidate, not that the ones we have aren’t,” he said.
Dixon ended the meeting with a request for information on the hiring process and said the council will meet over the next few months to continue the review process.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
