Explanation
BACKGROUND
On October 19, 2021, petitioners Christina L. Gonzaga, Tyrone Spence, Udell Hollins, Dolores A. Williams, Irene Gil Llamas, Jabarisidiki Gregg, and Cyera S. Black filed with the City Clerk 280 part petitions containing 6,500 signatures 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 $30,000,000 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.”
On November 5, 2021, the Franklin County Board of Election certified its examination of the part-petitions, as required by Section 42-9 of the City Charter. The Board of Elections found that the total number of valid signatures failed to achieve the standard as defined in Section 45 of the Charter (“equal to not less than ten percent of the total vote cast at the last preceding municipal election”).
Based on the foregoing, this Council finds that the petition’s failure to comply with Section 45 of the City Charter is fatal to the petition. As such, this...
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