Explanation
BACKGROUND
On April 4, 2025, petitioners Chana Wiley, Helen Anne Sweeney, Molly Shea, Stephen David, and Stuart McIntyre filed with the City Clerk a pre-circulation copy of a petition for a charter amendment, titled “The Community Crisis Response Amendment. An amendment to the Columbus City Charter to add sections 127-1 through 127-9 to the Charter establishing a division of community crisis response within the department of health, which shall respond to 911 calls and other calls for assistance for persons in crisis, including crises related to mental health and substance abuse, using the most appropriate and least invasive non-police intervention available; collect data on the services provided by the division; and conduct community outreach; establishing the community crisis response advisory board to make recommendations to the department of health regarding the implementation of this amendment and provision of its services; and requiring appropriations to fund the division and advisory board with an initial full year appropriation of $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2027.” Following this, on January 29, 2026, petitioners filed with the City Clerk a petition for said ordinance. Petitioners filed 1,211 part-petitions containing 27,458 signatures.
Pursuant to Section 42-9 of the charter, the city clerk submitted the part-petitions to the Franklin County Board of Elections to validate the signatures and to the city attorney to advise on the legal sufficiency of the petition, based upon any applicable local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations.
On February 4, 2026, the City Attorney’s office advised this Council that the subject petition complies with Section 42-2 of the City Charter, which sets forth the requirements as to form for each petition for a proposal initiated by a citizen.
In addition, on February 13, 2026, the Franklin County Board of Elections certified its examination of the part-petitions, as required by Section 42-9 of th...
Click here for full text