Commissioners vote to put seven-district county government plan on November ballot

It will be up to Lorain County voters to decide whether to increase the Board of Commissioners from three members to seven after the current three-member board voted unanimously on Monday to put the measure on the November ballot. Based on a proposal by the Citizens for Equal Representation for Lorain County, Republican Commissioners Michelle Hung, David Moore and Jeff Riddell voted to let the people decide the future of their representation in county government. The plan has its basis in state law, namely Ohio Revised Code sections 302.01 to 302.24. Under the plan first presented to the board by Brian Hoagland and Homer Taft on June 30, the county would be split up into seven districts of approximately 45,000 residents each. Each district would then elect one representative to the Board of Commissioners. All other elected offices in the county would remain unaffected. The proposal calls for seven part-time commissioners making $56,000 each — about 60 percent of what each current commissioner makes — to sit on the new board. That board would then choose an appointed county executive similar to the current position of county administrator. The three current commissioners are all elected at-large, and each represents the approximately 300,000 residents of Lorain County, Moore said. "We're voting today on the map and precincts" drawn up by the Citizens for Equal Representation "and whether or not the public can then decide what they want," he said prior to the vote. Moore, who said he was involved in previous attempts to expand the size of the board through a charter, said there are tax savings to be had by having more representation "because you have to go back to the people you represent and tell them why you did what you did." Proponents of the plan say it would improve the representation of underrepresented Lorain County residents in county government, allow for greater diversity of races and backgrounds in county government, lower the cost of running for public office, and ensure that more than two votes are needed for a resolution or an issue to pass muster with the board. Opponents criticized the unknown cost of the measure, questioned how many more county government jobs in total would need to be created, why commissioners have decided to take this step now, the way the seven-district map was drawn and created, and questioned whether it would reduce representation by allowing a minority of voters to control a majority of seats on the seven-member board. The party with the most to gain, critics said, is the Republican Party. Hung said the Citizens for Equal Representation "spent tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours of work to get here today, and their dedication has not gone unnoticed." She said she has always been a proponent of putting the issue on the ballot "and letting the voters decide" based on their own research and due diligence. Despite voting in favor of putting the issue on the ballot Nov. 7, Hung said Friday she still had some reservations about public input and financial matters. "I would like the public to have additional time to review," Hung said, with voters being included in discussions and presentations at public hearings so they can ask questions, gather facts and figure out the "ramifications related to their vote." "If it's a great plan, and the financials have been properly vetted, it will stand the test of time; thus far it hasn't been properly financially vetted. This checks off the box for no, the public does not have access to the costs of this ballot question," she said. "At this time, I don't believe the public is being afforded access to investigate and/or being provided the fixed costs at inception and the future projected costs on the ballot question." Riddell said campaigning for Lorain County commissioner "is twice as hard as doing this job." "I don't regret the campaign because it got us here, but it truly prohibits many good people from serving because of budget and the time it takes," he said. "If you look at the (seven-district) system, it's about representation. If we're serious about making Lorain County a better place, we need to find the money in a $73 million budget, not over-spend, spend prudently, to get it going in the right direction." Public comment Lawrence Hall, an Elyria Township resident, called the proposal "a terrible idea that will disenfranchise voters." "The creators of it are unelected and unappointed and completely unaccountable," he said. "Why do they get the power to shape our future? We did not ask for this. Why do they get to draw the districts without our input?" Some of the backers of the seven-district plan financially supported the election campaigns of Hung, Moore and Riddell, Hall said. "Letting people who gave you money create a whole new system of government creates at least the perception of a conflict of interest," Hall said, "and the districts they created just happen to favor one party 5 to 2." Five out of the proposed seven districts are majority Republican, according to the Citizens for Equal Representation's own numbers, despite Lorain County having only a small, single-digit percentage majority of registered Republican voters. Hall said the plan would not increase representation, but "strip power from the voters." "If you truly believe a district plan is the way to go, stop ramming this plan so quickly down our throats. Create a nonpartisan, independent commission of people who have not previously donated to your campaigns. Let these people draw districts in a public process where they are accountable to the people. Or just give up the idea altogether," he said. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Chuck Brooky, an official with Laborers Union Local No. 758 in Amherst, and Brian Baker of Brownhelm Township both questioned where the money would come from to pay for the four new board members and additional administrative staff for them. "Are we going to have to impose a new tax to pay for this, for all these new employees?" Brooky asked the commissioners. "I just want to make an informed choice when I go to vote on this." "We gotta educate people on what it's gonna cost," and not give the county an "open checkbook," Baker said. "For 200 years we ran this kind of process (three commissioners). Now we're going to spend" money to increase it, he said. Riddell said Baker's comments were an assumption based on things "not yet in evidence." "We're going to have an opportunity to reallocate some other resources should this thing pass. We have to fund county government, so we'll fund seven commissioners instead of three. It's not an increase in the cost of the county budget, it's just money from somewhere else, that comes here," he said. "Currently we have 30-some employee slots not even filled because of the labor market, so finding (those) resources we're not going to have to increase total employment. We're just going to reallocate some people to do what has to be done." Moore said it would be up to the new board to create new positions if it wishes to. State law allows it, but doesn't require it, he said. Other speakers at Friday's meeting lauded the commissioners for taking the step, including Mike Bokulich, an Amherst business owner, who thanked commissioners for "putting your self-interest aside" and putting the issue to the voters; Sharon Givler of Avon Lake, who said she was in favor of the ballot measure because there are "areas in Lorain County that need to be represented"; and Robert Heflin of Elyria, who said that "you are either part of the problem or part of the solution." "You (commissioners) are part of the solution," Heflin said. "You are to be applauded." Kathleen Beyer of Vermilion, a Republican former candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives and former chairwoman of the Lorain County Young Republicans, said she was excited to vote on the plan. "I don't think equal representation is a political issue," she said. The job of county commissioner is a part-time one, Beyer said, adding that she is fine with paying more money for government if government is more transparent. "I'm OK with that. Absolutely fine," she said. "I'm really excited to vote on it, and I think it should be the decision of the people." Moore said he also got three emails from county residents: One, whom he identified as Brian Miller of Lorain, was against the seven-district plan. Wellington Mayor Hans Schneider and Amherst Township Trustee Neil Lynch both wrote Moore in support of the plan, he said. Reading from Lynch's email, Moore quoted him saying the plan "presents many positive aspects" including diversity in race, ethnicity, rural, urban, conservative and progressive demographics. Both Lynch and Riddell have long backed alternative government for Lorain County. Lynch lent $2,000 to the Citizens for Equal Representation back in 2013, and Riddell gave the group $2,000 in 2017, according to campaign finance reports obtained from the Lorain County Board of Elections as part of a public records request by The Chronicle-Telegram. Previous attempts at creating a charter form of government in Lorain County failed three times for various reasons. Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord told the board the Ohio Supreme Court has handed down several decisions over the past eight years dooming future attempts at county charter forms of government. "In my professional opinion … it would be impossible to draft a charter petition that would survive a constitutional challenge" or make it past the Ohio Supreme Court, Petticord said. Outside legal counsel agreed with that assessment, Petticord and Hung both said Friday. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.