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President Karla McIntosh called the meeting to order just after 10am. Copies of last month’s minutes (2 Feb. 02) were passed around to all present and approved without comment or corrections. Treasurer Gloria Tews reported $131.70 in the treasury. She will open an account at 5/3 Bank as soon as we get our non-profit organization status & ID from the state.

Karla reported that Councilperson Kathy Malinak asked her and Nicole McKinley whether CBB had filed our tax return yet, because ‘a friend of hers had asked her about it…and to make sure we filed everything right and didn’t have any problems.‘ Karla had already consulted an accountant, and since we will only shortly be getting our nonprofit organization status, was advised there will be no need to file prior to April 2003, for tax year 2002.

Karla further noted that there is still no clear indication whether city manager Trimble will be leaving, though Council still has no plans to review his performance. Council’s planning session is scheduled for March 13^th with a new facilitator, a woman from Cleveland State. She initially wanted Council to go there, but as of the last committee of the whole meeting they plan to ask her to come here.

Under Old Business, item A) Online Legislation Karla reports that while the City promptly put the first five proposed legislation items on the website, those same five are still there. Tony Capstick started the postings, but then council secy. Barb Roth was to take over—but Tony didn’t inform her of this. Now that she is aware, it appears she will not be able to do this kind of posting till her computer is replaced and the new copiers arrive. Some of our members are concerned that, even once she has necessary equipment, her job description is already rather packed. Hopefully we will be able to review proposed legislation online again, soon.

2. Posting of City Council Committee Agendas: This was to have begun immediately, on the front window at city hall so the information could be seen whether city hall is open or not. Skip’s secretary was tasked with buying mounting strips for this purpose. He didn’t like the ones she got and has her looking around for better quality ones. This excuse was received by CBB members with some skepticism, and a couple suggestions to use tape.

Under New Business, item A, Karla reported on the initial Charter Changes Committee meeting and the process required to change the form of government. It was decided to put this issue to a vote of the CBB membership, with public notice of the vote. Members will be notified by email if they have provided an email address, and otherwise by postcard, of the vote to occur at the April meeting. Several ideas were voiced, including: eliminate executive sessions; see what can be changed in the course of the change from manager to mayor to limit the powers of the mayor, as the city manager currently has too much power; change the ‘grandfathering’ provisions of the current charter; change the way the Law Director is hired. The current charter gives citizens no say or referendum on any salaries, and many believe this should be changed. Several members voiced concern about the complexity of the charter change process…Bob McCafferty shared there is a legislative review board in Columbus that reviews proposed changes for government entities. If they do not do this for citizen groups, perhaps they can refer us to services that will.

It was noted at this point that since no non-officer members have come forward to chair any of the other possible committees, the officers believe that the charter change issue should take priority for now. Other issues will have to wait unless more members come forward to head committees. None of the officers are in a place to also chair a committee at this time. Jennifer volunteered to take charge of the BYS committee and was gratefully accepted.

Item B) Ballot Issue Committee: Karla explained that if we do get charter change issue onto the ballot, a team will be needed for fundraising. There are restrictions on fundraising by citizens’ groups, but not as many as on a candidate. Ray Pesek noted that this committee would need to register as a PAC (political action Committee) and in its formation would have to specifically include a ‘kill date’. The funds are for a specific time-limited purpose and thus there would be no reason for the committee to continue after the election. Karla has more information for all interested.

Item C) Campaign Finance Seminar, Wednesday, April 3^rd: This will be presented by the Secretary of State’s office in Akron. It would be good for anyone even considering running for Council to attend, as a good basic outline of Campaign Finance Law. There is no charge but you must register in advance. Karla will be attending and is willing to carpool.

Discussion then moved to the Suspension of Readings Issue CBB brought before Council at its last meeting (28 Feb 02). Karla explained in general for members who were not present or had not been able to watch on cable. In the Tiffany’s lawsuit, Federal Judge Ann Aldrich ruled that Brunswick could not prevent the owner from continuing the same type of business in his new building. At the time it was generally thought that this was because a city can’t pass new a zoning ordinance on an existing business. Judge Aldrich stated in her ruling that she could have ruled against the city on this basis…BUT she did not have to, as Council had passed their ordinance in a way not legal or binding under their own city charter. The Judge’s ruling spelled out in some detail that any ordinance that is not declared an emergency according to our charter, MUST be read three times prior to passage, as there is no provision in Brunswick’s charter to suspend readings EXCEPT in an emergency.

Council, however, routinely suspends the rules for non-emergency as well as emergency issues. This is because of a legal interpretation by city law director Tim Reid (and his predecessor) that the city can use the Ohio Revised Code for Charter Cities to cover anything not specified in our own Charter, and vice versa. CBB research indicates that charter cities can, when constructing or changing their charter, choose between using the ORC Charter rules OR writing their own individual charter rules for each situation. But which set of rules they use for that particular situation must be specified in the charter, and those rules used consistently for that situation. Judge Aldrich's ruling appears to support this view. While the city is legally bound by Judge Aldrich's ruling only in the Tiffany's case, non-emergency ordinances passed without three readings could now likely be successfully challenged in court.

The next dimension of this situation is the effort made by Skip Trimble, Law director Reid, and Council to put a charter amendment before the 2000 Charter Review Commission to add the wording that would enable Council to legally suspend the rules for non-emergencies. That this effort was made suggests the administration was well aware that the way council passed legislation was- or could be- a problem. The amendment was placed on the ballot in Nov. 2000, and was defeated. But even in the face of a vote by the citizens that we preferred Council to use the longer three-reading process except in emergencies, there was no change in this practice. Council’s initial responses to CBB concerns seem to indicate an entirely different idea of what that amendment was about, something about requiring 6 instead of 5 votes to suspend the rules. This perception is not at all apparent in the actual ballot language. CBB members are not sure that all council members clearly understand our concerns over this issue, yet. Hopefully they will consider that, if nothing else, continuing to act against the voted will of the citizens of Brunswick is a problem.

The standard of proof once this gets to Federal Court (hopefully again before Judge Aldrich) is whether a reasonable official in the same situation with the same information would have done the same thing.

One member suggested we inquire with our attorney about the possibility and advisability of filing against Reid with the Disciplinary Counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court. The Charter indicates the Law Director is responsible to defend and protect the city, not just the city manager and seven on council.

Karla noted that the Plain Dealer had the story and some background information, but did not publish it. She believes this may be due to lack of space to explain the issue sufficiently. Nicole had contacted channels 5 & 8; at first her channel 5 contact was excited but later indicated they wouldn’t have time to air anything about it. This is probably due to the timing with all the LTV Steel news this week.

NEXT MONTH: CBB VOTE ON PUTTING CHARTER CHANGE TO MAYOR FORM ON BALLOT.

‘BRUNSWICK DAYS’ YARD SALE MAY 18-19: CLEAN YOUR GARAGE AND BASEMENT FOR CBB! PROCEEDS TO FUND PROJECT EXPENSES. VOLUNTEERS TO WORK SHIFTS NEEDED. BAKESALE ITEMS ALSO WELCOME. SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT CBB WHILE FINDING THAT PERFECT ITEM…

Respectfully submitted,

Donna Rehman, Secretary

Citizens for a Better Brunswick™