Clyde voters to decide 4 charter changes Nov. 3

Clyde voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to change council pay, allow remote meetings during emergencies, revise publication rules and replace the charter's civil service provisions.

The city outlines four separate proposals in its Oct. 18 charter-amendment guide, with a ballot question and explanation for each.

The compensation proposal would tie annual council pay to 12 times the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System's minimum monthly earnings threshold for a full month of service credit. It also specifies an additional $2,400 a year for the mayor and $100 for each meeting the vice mayor chairs in the mayor's absence. The city's compensation packet says increases for current council members would wait until they are reelected.

A second proposal would authorize electronic council meetings during an emergency declared by the president, Ohio governor or Clyde mayor, with a 30-day period after the emergency ends. The remote-meeting packet says notices must explain electronic access.

The third would remove mandatory newspaper publication of ordinances and resolutions, allowing website posting, physical posting at City Hall or electronic notification. Ordinances would still have to remain available online and at City Hall for at least one year. The city's publication packet also describes deleting the charter's separate newspaper-notice requirement for Planning Commission zoning hearings. It says the city's codified notice procedures would continue to apply.

The fourth would delete the charter sections establishing the Civil Service Commission and its duties. Its ballot question would place employee appeals under a council-approved handbook, authorize council to establish an appeals authority by resolution and protect collective bargaining rights.

File photo: OHWiki / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5. South Main Street in downtown Clyde, photographed July 18, 2008. Any cropped adaptation remains under CC BY-SA 2.5.