[ back ]
Six members enough, Moreland Council says
(by Sali McSherry - September 03, 2008)
Six members enough, Moreland Council says
By SALI McSHERRY
Moreland Hills voted 5-1 last week against a recommendation by the charter review commission that would increase the number of Village Council members by one.
Councilman Stephen Richman cast the single vote in favor of sending the charter amendment to the November ballot.
Council President Kelly Ovsek said it was a good suggestion by the charter review commission, which voted 5-3 in favor of increasing the number of council members from six to seven, but the concept is premature. She asked how a seventh person would fit into the existing makeup of council. "Do we need another body?" she asked.
Mrs. Ovsek said there isn't enough work for another council member, and she doesn't think anyone on council felt overworked.
Mayor Susan C. Renda said she was disappointed in the vote and thought it would be a good opportunity to for resident involvement. The issue should be put to the voters, she said.
This year, for example, she said, there weren't enough council members available to pass legislation to pay the bills in February. There wasn't any point in having a meeting, she said, because nothing could get done. Everything was put on first reading. Council didn't have the five members needed to suspend the three-reading rule and vote on legislation, she said.
All council members, except for Mr. Richman, have missed at least one meeting this year. Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Ovsek each have missed two of the eight regularly scheduled monthly meetings so far in 2008.
Mrs. Renda said most communities have seven council members. In Moreland Hills, the mayor breaks tie votes of council, she said.
The last charter review commission looked at the issue in 1998, but nothing moved forward with increasing the number of council members at that point, Mrs. Renda said. It will be another six years until the next charter review, she said, so it will be 16 years since the issue came up, she said.
Moreland Hills Law Director Margaret Cannon said the commission could decide to put the issue on the ballot if at least 10 percent of residents who voted in last November's general election would sign a petition.
Mrs. Ovsek said, while Chagrin Falls and Gates Mills each have seven council members, both of those villages have many more committees than Moreland Hills. Pepper Pike and Orange also have seven-member councils.
Council members talked about putting the issue on the ballot, but decided that it would be like putting the cart before the horse.
Charter review commission member Monica Sturgis said she thought it was the commission's job to put the cart before the horse.
Mr. Richman said that should be part of council's job as well.
Councilwoman Robin Cooper said she didn't see a "compelling reason" for an additional council member.
Councilman Ted Buczek agreed, saying he didn't see a pressing need.
Councilman Lawrence Newman said the commission didn't convince him that an additional member is needed. While there are good reasons, he said, they're not "overriding" reasons. He noted that the commission recommended the change by a close vote.
"Why fix something that isn't broken?" Councilman William Wortzman asked. Sometimes an odd number of council members can create an adversarial situation, he said.
Charter review commission chairman Samuel Steinhouse said there would be more flexibility for council by increasing the number of members to seven. Even with a quorum, which would be four of its six members at a meeting, the current council could not suspend the three-reading rule, he said.
Other amendments to the charter would be necessary if a seventh member were approved. Affirmative votes that would be required to pass an emergency measure and zoning measure would be changed from four to five.
The number of affirmative votes required to override a mayor's veto would be changed from four to five. Affirmative votes required of council to submit proposed charter amendments to the electors would be changed from four to five.
Council praised the commission for its hard work. Other members appointed to the commission were Mindy Axner, Gary Bergstrom, Melanie Corcoran, Ed Ellert, Ronda Goldfarb, David Marsh and Bradley Schlang.
[ back ]
