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The Council shall determine its own rules and order of business in so far as they are not set forth in this Charter. Council shall keep a journal of its proceedings which shall be a public record.
Action by Council, not required by law to be by ordinance or resolution, may be taken by motion approved by at least a majority vote of the members present at the meeting when the action is taken.
On the passage of every ordinance or resolution, the vote shall be taken by a “yes” or “no” vote of each member which shall be entered into the journal. No ordinance or resolution shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of the members of Council. Each ordinance or resolution shall be read by title only, unless a majority of the members of Council vote to require any reading to be in full. Each ordinance or resolution shall be read on three different days unless five (5) members of Council vote to suspend this rule. No ordinance shall deal with more than one subject, and such subject shall be clearly expressed in the title.
Council may provide for the revision, rearrangement and codification of the ordinances of the Municipality or any portion thereof, at such time as Council may determine. All ordinances, resolutions, statements, orders, proclamations, notices and reports required by law, or by this Charter, or by ordinance of Council, to be published, may either be posted in five (5) of the most public places in the Municipality as determined by Council for a period of not less than fifteen (15) days next following action thereon, or be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality, as the Council may determine. All ordinances or resolutions upon their final passage shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and shall be authenticated by the signature of the presiding officer and the Acting Clerk of Council, save and except that the failure of the presiding officer, Clerk or Acting Clerk to sign an ordinance or resolution for the purpose of authentication shall neither invalidate the ordinance nor impair its effectiveness. All ordinances and resolutions of a general or permanent nature, or involving the expenditure of money in which no emergency is declared, shall take effect thirty (30) days after their passage by Council, subject to the provisions of Section 11 of this Charter. Emergency ordinances in which the emergency is declared in one section thereof shall take effect as provided by Section 10 of this Charter.
(Amended 11-8-1977; 5-6-2003)
By a two-thirds vote of the members of the Council any ordinance or resolution may be referred to the electors of the City at a general, primary or special election. Any referral must be submitted, for placement on the ballot, not later than the deadline established by the election laws of the State of Ohio.
(Enacted 5-7-1985; Amended 11-4-2003; Amended 5-6-2014)
Council shall prepare an annual report. At minimum, the report shall communicate the Council’s strategic plan for the future of the Municipality, including the means to achieve the plan. The annual report shall also discuss: (1) accomplishments to date and resultant impacts, (2) multi-year and current year plans (and costs) for roads, recreational and utility facilities improvements and repairs, and (3) multi-year and current year plans (and costs) for organizational charges.
(Enacted 11-4-2003)
Emergency ordinances or resolutions necessary for the preservation of public peace, health and safety, shall go into immediate force and effect from and after their passage, subject to the provisions of Section 11 of this Charter. No ordinance or resolution granting, renewing, or extending a franchise or other special privilege, or regulating a rate to be charged for its services by any privately owned public utility, shall ever be passed as an emergency ordinance or resolution. Emergency ordinances or resolutions must, upon a “yes” or “no” vote, receive a two-thirds vote of all the members of Council.
(Amended 11-6-2018)
An ordinance or resolution passed as an emergency legislation, without a dissenting vote of Council, shall not be subject to disapproval of the Mayor, and it shall be his duty to forthwith authenticate it by his signature.
Every other ordinance or resolution of the Council shall be presented to the Mayor for his consideration before it goes into effect. The Mayor, if he approves it, shall sign it and file it with the Clerk forthwith. The Mayor may approve or disapprove the whole or any item of an ordinance appropriating money, but otherwise his approval or disapproval shall be addressed to the entire ordinance or resolution. Unless an ordinance or resolution is filed with the Clerk of Council with written notice of disapproval within ten (10) days after its passage by Council, it shall take effect as though the Mayor had approved it. When the Mayor has disapproved an ordinance or resolution or item of it, as herein provided, Council shall at its next regularly called meeting thereafter reconsider it, and if upon such reconsideration the ordinance, resolution or item is reapproved by the vote of five (5) or more of the members of Council, it shall take effect as provided therein, notwithstanding the disapproval of the Mayor; otherwise the disapproved measure or item thereof, as the case may be, shall not take effect or be in force.
Council shall have the power to establish all offices and positions not otherwise provided for by this Charter which are necessary from time to time for the efficient conduct of the affairs of the Municipality. Council shall by ordinance fix all salaries and rates of compensation; but the salary or rate of compensation of an elected or appointed official, officer or employee who has been elected or employed for a definitely fixed period of time, with the exception of the Mayor, shall not be increased or decreased during the term of office or appointment. All salaries and wage rates of employees of the Board of Municipal Utilities shall be approved by said Board before they are fixed by Council; and, unless and until changes in salaries and wages are so approved and modified by action of Council they shall remain as last fixed.
(Amended 11-7-2023)