Explanation
On March 11, 2016, petitioners Robert R. Krasen, Connie M. Hammond, William M. Lyons, Gregory Thomas Pace, Karyn A. Deibel, and Michelle R. Phillips filed with the City Clerk a pre-circulation copy of a petition for a proposed ordinance to submit to Columbus City Council, titled “To Establish a Community Bill of Rights for Water, Soil, and Air Protection and to Prohibit Gas and Oil Extraction and Related Activities and Projects.” Following this, on March 10, 2017, petitioners filed with the City Clerk a petition for said ordinance. Petitioners filed 395 part-petitions containing 11,221 signatures.
On March 23, 2017, the City Attorney’s office advised this Council that the initiative petition was legally sufficient as to form, in accordance with Section 42-9 of the Columbus City Charter, provided that the Franklin County Board of Elections determined that it contained the requisite number of signatures as required by Section 43 of the Charter.
However, on March 23, 2017, the Board of Elections certified its examination of the part-petitions, as required by Section 42-9 of the Charter. The Board of Elections found that the total number of valid signatures did not meet or exceed the standard as detailed in Section 43 of the Charter (“equal to not less than five per cent of the total vote cast at the last preceding regular municipal election for mayor”).
Based on the foregoing, this Council finds that the petitioners’ failure to procure a sufficient number of valid signatures, based on the requirements of Section 43 of the City Charter, is fatal to the petition. As such, this Council finds that the petition for an initiated ordinance is not legally sufficient and shall not be considered for passage.
Title
To find not legally sufficient a petition for a proposed ordinance titled “To Establish a Community Bill of Rights for Water, Soil, and Air Protection and to Prohibit Gas and Oil Extraction and Related Activities and Projects;” and to declar...
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