2015 Election Results — Charter passes
- Published: November 12, 2015
Yellow Springs voters resoundingly approved the proposed amendments to the Village Charter on Nov. 3, voting 81 percent to 19 percent in favor of the Charter changes.
The Charter amendments were prompted by last year’s voter referendum on the Center for Business and Education, Council member Brian Housh said in a recent interview. The Village Charter had outlined a different process for voter referendum (as well as the related mechanism of voter recall) than that specified by Ohio state law, said Housh, and the resulting “unnecessary complication” led to a review of the Village Charter as a whole.
Charter amendments fell into three categories: conformance changes to bring the Charter in line with Ohio state law; language/typographical clarifications; and substantive changes that will alter the application of the Charter. Voters were presented with all changes as a single issue on the ballot.
If the Charter amendments hadn’t passed, individual changes would have been put on the ballot in May, said Housh, given the need to bring the Village Charter into conformance with state law. But that scenario was avoided by Tuesday’s vote.
Substantive changes include beginning the terms of newly elected Council members on Jan. 1 after certification of the election; mandating that an elected official is not eligible for the job of Village manager until two years after leaving office; allowing publication of public notices in electronic format as an alternative to the printed newspaper of record; eliminating the residency requirement for Village manager, who must reside within Greene County or any county contiguous to it; removing the 10-day period between reading and enactment of the budget ordinance; and eliminating the requirement that one member of the Planning Commission be a resident of Miami Township outside of the village.
Votes by Y.S. precinct:
440 (north): yes, 342; no, 90
441 (west): yes, 256; no, 53
442 (center): yes, 264; no, 62
443 (south): yes, 324; no, 67
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