Explanation
BACKGROUND
On October 22, 2019, petitioners Christina L. Gonzaga, Tyrone Spence, Udell Hollins, Dolores A. Williams, Irene Gil Llamas, and Jabarisidiki Gregg filed with the City Clerk a pre-circulation copy of a petition for a proposed ordinance to submit to Columbus City Council, titled “To authorize and direct the City Auditor to establish an Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Fund and a Clean Energy Education and Training Fund and to take the necessary actions to transfer $10,000,000 from the general fund of the City of Columbus to each of these funds for a total of $20,000,000 for the appropriate purposes; and to authorize and direct the City Auditor to take the necessary actions to transfer $10,000,000 from the general fund of the City of Columbus for the purpose of funding a minority business development program; to establish a Columbus Clean Energy Partnership Fund; and to authorize and direct the City Auditor to take the necessary actions to transfer of $57,000,000 from the general fund of the City of Columbus for the purpose of funding an electricity subsidy program for residents of the City of Columbus; to establish a transparency and accountability reporting requirement for the City Auditor for all uses of funds in section 1,2,3, and 4; to declare this Ordinance to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.” Following this, on October 16, 2020, petitioners filed with the City Clerk a petition for said ordinance. Petitioners filed 444 part-petitions containing 10,128 signatures.
On November 6, 2020, the City Attorney’s office advised this Council that the initiative petition was not legally sufficient as to form, as it fails to comply with Section 42-2 of the City Charter, which governs the use of petition forms. Specifically, the proposed title failed to comply with paragraph (e) of Section 42-2 in that it did not contain a reference to the establishment of a Minority Business Ent...
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