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With petition tossed, Orange group tries again
(by Sali McSherry - April 07, 2010)
With petition tossed, Orange group tries again
By SALI McSHERRY
A referendum petition to give Orange residents a vote on the village's purchase of land was deemed insufficient April 2, but new petitions were being circulated over the weekend.
Orange Village Clerk Mary Kampman, on the advice of Law Director Stephen Byron, did not certify the petition to Village Council.
She returned them to the petitioners, who have until April 12 to refile them with the clerk. The clerk then has 10 days to review and certify or return the petition to those who filed it.
By a vote of 4-3 last month, council approved spending $750,000 to purchase 6 acres where the former St. Margaret of Hungary Church is located south of Village Hall on Lander Road. One proposal is for the church to be retrofitted and a pole barn built on the property to house the village's service department.
Kristin Dubyak, one of the petitioners and a former Village Hall employee, said Tuesday, while some village officials have said they were elected to make decisions, she believes they were elected to listen to the people. Buying the church property will cost a lot of money, and residents should have a say, she said. It's "overkill" for what the service department really needs, she said. "Where is the vision, the long-term planning?"
Mrs. Dubyak is the wife of former Orange Mayor Joseph Dubyak, who campaigned unsuccessfully to regain that position in 2007.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, which validated 244 signatures of a total of 260 listed on the petition, will need to validate the signatures on the new petition, Mrs. Kampman said. Ten percent of the number of Orange residents, approximately 170, who voted in the last gubernatorial election are required on the referendum petition.
If the clerk certifies the petition to council by April 12, council would have 30 days either to reconsider the ordinance and repeal it or to submit the issue to the voters in the Nov. 2 general election.
Joining Mrs. Dubyak in filing the petitions were registered Orange voters Edward Salim, Pat Pannetti, Glen Fernandes and Frank Bona.
People signing the petition are not necessarily against purchasing the property, Mrs. Dubyak said, but they want their voices heard.
In Mr. Byron's written opinion, the referendum petition did not contain the full and correct copy of the title and text of the ordinance, according to Orange Village charter and Ohio law. He said the Ohio Supreme Court has held that as a direct violation of the statute and found that it could easily be misleading to those who signed the petition.
Mrs. Dubyak said the two-page ordinance was stapled to the petition.
Mr. Byron said the petitioners filed a petition, rather than the ordinance, with the clerk, which is a violation of Ohio Revised Code. While the committee had obtained a certified copy of the ordinance, it did not file that document as an ordinance, he said. "By definition, a petition is not an ordinance."
Council President Daniel Brown said he encourages all those who signed the petition and other residents to participate in upcoming meetings and be certain they have all the facts about the property purchase and proposed service center.
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