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No member of the Council, the City Manager, or any other officer or employee of the City, shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, job, work, or service with or for the City; nor in the profits or emoluments thereof, nor in the expenditure of any money on the part of the City, other than his fixed compensation; and any contract with the City in which any such officer or employee is, or becomes, interested may be declared void by the Council.
No member of the Council, the City Manager, or other officer or employee of the City shall knowingly accept any gift, frank, free ticket, pass, reduced price, or reduced rate of service from any person, firm, or corporation operating a public utility or engaged in business of a public nature within the City, or from any person known to him to have or to be endeavoring to secure a contract with the City; but the provisions of this section shall not apply to the transportation of policemen or firemen in uniform or wearing their official badges, when the same is provided for by ordinance.
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
Any proposed ordinance may be submitted to the Council by petition signed by electors of the City equal in number to 10% of the total number of registered electors therein. All petition papers, circulated with respect to any proposed ordinance, shall be uniform in character, and shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and the names and addresses of at least 5 electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose hereinafter named.
Each signer of a petition shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place on the petition paper after his name his place of residence by street and number, and the date of signing. The signatures to any such petition need not all be appended to one paper but to each such paper there shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof stating the number of signers to such part of the petition and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and was made in the presence of the affiant and on the date indicated. No person shall sign more than one petition paper for the same purpose.
Before any ordinance so proposed shall be submitted to the Council, its form shall be approved by the City Solicitor, who shall endorse his approval thereon; and it shall be the duty of the City Solicitor to draft any such proposed ordinance in proper legal language and to render such other services to persons desiring to propose such ordinance as shall be necessary to make the same proper for consideration by the Council.
All papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the Clerk of the Council as one instrument within 120 days from the date of the first signature thereon. Within 10 days from the filing of such petition the Clerk shall endorse thereon a certificate showing the number of signatures of qualified electors contained therein and the number required.
If the Clerk's certificate shows that the petition is insufficient he shall at once notify each member of the committee of the petitioners, hereinbefore provided for, and the petition may be supplemented at any time within 15 days from the date of such notification by filing with the Clerk an additional petition paper or papers in the same manner as provided for the original petition.
Upon the filing of such supplemental petition the Clerk shall, within 10 days thereafter, attach thereto his certificate as hereinbefore required. If the petition as so supplemented is still insufficient or if no supplement shall have been filed, the Clerk shall file the petition in his office and shall notify each member of the committee of that fact. The final finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
When the certificate of the Clerk shows the petition to be sufficient, he shall submit the proposed ordinance to the Council at its next regular meeting and the Council shall take final action thereon within 30 days from the date of such submission. If the Council rejects the proposed ordinance, or passes it in a form different from that set forth in the petition, the committee of the petitioners may require that it be submitted to a vote of the electors in its original form, or that it be submitted to a vote of the electors with any proposed change, addition, or amendment, which was presented to Council in writing by said committee during the consideration thereof by the Council.
When an ordinance proposed by petition is to be submitted to a vote of the electors the committee of the petitioners shall certify that fact and the proposed ordinance to the Clerk of the Council within 40 days after the submission of such proposed ordinance to the Council.
Upon receipt of the certificate and certified copy of the proposed ordinance, the Clerk shall certify that fact to the Council at its next regular meeting. If no election is to be held within 6 months and more than 30 days after the receipt of the Clerk's certificate by the Council, the Council may provide for submitting the proposed ordinance to the electors at a special election. If a supplemental petition, signed by electors equal in number to 25% of the total number of registered electors in the Municipality other than and in addition to those who signed the original petition, be filed with the Clerk asking that the proposed ordinance be submitted to the voters at a time indicated in such petition, the Council shall provide for a special election at such time. The sufficiency of any such petition shall be determined, and it may be supplemented, in a manner hereinbefore provided for original petitions for proposing ordinances to the Council. If no other provision be made as to the time of submitting a proposed ordinance to a vote of the electors, it shall be submitted at the next election.
The ballots used when voting upon any such proposed ordinance shall state the title of the ordinance to be voted on and below it the 2 propositions, "For the Ordinance" and "Against the Ordinance". Immediately at the left of each proposition there shall be a square in which by making a cross (X) the voter may vote for or against the proposed ordinance. If a majority of the qualified electors voting on any such proposed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon become an ordinance of the City.
No ordinance adopted by an electoral vote shall be repealed or amended except by an electoral vote, but an ordinance to repeal or amend any such ordinance, may by resolution of the Council, be submitted to an electoral vote on the day of any regular or special election or at a special municipal election called for that purpose, provided notice of the intention so to do be published by Council not more than 60 nor less than 30 days prior to such election in the manner required for the publication of ordinances. If an amendment is so proposed, such notice shall contain the proposed amendment in full. Such submission shall be in the same manner, and the vote shall have the same effect, as in cases of ordinances submitted to an election by popular petition.
Proposed ordinances for repealing any existing ordinance or ordinances in whole or in part, or amending the same, may be submitted to the Council as provided in the preceding sections for initiating ordinances.
CITY MANAGER
The City Manager shall be the executive and administrative head of the municipal government. He shall be elected by the legal voters of the City at the regular municipal election for a term of 4 years and serve until his successor is elected and has qualified. He shall be an elector in the City and shall have been a qualified elector of the City prior to his election. He shall not hold other office or employment except that of a notary public. He shall not be interested in any contract work or service of the City, except in his official capacity.
He, the City Manager, shall be nominated and elected in the same manner as is now provided in Section 42 of the Charter of Ashtabula for the elective officers of the City, and shall be nominated in the same manner as is provided for the nomination of candidates for councilmen-at-large. If the City Manager be temporarily absent from the City, or becomes temporarily disabled from any cause, his duties shall be performed during such absence or disability by the President of Council, and in the temporary absence aforesaid of both the City Manager and the President of Council, the other members of the Council shall appoint one of their number to perform the duties of City Manager. When the City Manager dies during his term of office, or resigns, or is permanently disabled or unable to complete his tenure of office by any other cause, the Council shall designate some proper person with the qualifications aforesaid of a candidate for City Manager, to execute the functions of the said office until a City Manager shall have been elected at the next regular municipal election, and has qualified to begin his duties the next January 1st.
The City Manager shall be recognized as the official head of the City by the courts and for the purpose of serving civil process, by the governor for the purpose of military law, and for all ceremonial purposes. He may take command of the police and govern the City by proclamation during times of public danger or emergency, and the Council shall be the judge of what constitutes such public danger or emergency. The powers and duties of the City Manager shall be such as are conferred upon the City Manager under the present City Manager, together with such others as are conferred by the Council in pursuance of the provisions of the Charter and not in conflict with the powers conferred by these amendments.
The City Manager, elected by the electors as aforesaid, shall have veto power over any and all legislation passed by Council. When said City Manager shall have exercised his right of veto within 10 days after final passage of any ordinance by the Council, the ordinance shall not become effective. The City Manager's veto, however, may be overcome by not less than two-thirds vote of all of the 7 membership of Council, and the ordinance then made and voted for by not less than two-thirds vote of Council as aforesaid shall become effective as an ordinance of the City, and the City Manager shall have no veto after an ordinance shall have been adopted by not less than two-thirds of the 7 membership of Council.
The City Manager shall have the qualifications of an elector of the City of Ashtabula and shall have resided therein, at the time he files his nomination petition, not less than 5 years next preceding his election. His term of office shall not be interfered with by Council, and he shall hold office for the full term for which he is elected, except in case of removal under the causes as a mayor of any municipality may be removed under the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio. The City Manager so elected by the people shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of a City Manager the same as when he is appointed by the Council under the present City Charter, together with such additional powers as are granted by these amendments. The City Manager, before entering upon his duties, shall give bond to the City of Ashtabula in the sum of $5,000, the said bond to provide for the faithful performance of his duties as City Manager and to be approved by the City Council.
The office of City Manager is hereby declared to be an elective office.
(Amended 11-2-48; 5-3-94)
The powers and duties of the City Manager shall be:
(a) To see that the laws and ordinances be enforced;
(b) Except as herein provided, to appoint and remove all heads of departments, and all subordinate officers and employees of the City; all appointments to be upon merit and fitness alone;
(c) To exercise control over all departments and divisions created herein or that hereafter may be created by the Council;
(d) To see that all terms and conditions imposed in favor of the City or its inhabitants in any public utility franchise be faithfully kept and performed; and upon knowledge of any violation thereof to call the same to the attention of the City Solicitor, who is hereby required to take such steps as are necessary to enforce the same;
(e) To attend all meetings of the Council, with the right to take part in the discussion but having no vote;
(f) To recommend to the Council for adoption such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient;
(g) To act as Budget Commissioner and to keep the Council fully advised as to the financial condition and needs of the City; and
(h) To perform such other duties as may be prescribed by this Charter or be required of him by ordinance or resolution of the Council.
Excepting the departments of City Solicitor, City Auditor, City Treasurer, and Board of Health, the City Manager shall be the acting head of each and every department or division of the City until otherwise provided by the Council; but with the consent and approval of the Council, he may appoint a deputy or chief clerk to represent him in any department or division of which he is acting head. No member of the Council shall interfere with the conduct of any department or division, or order any service or report therefrom except at the express order of Council.
(Amended 5-7-46)
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