(A) Members of the legislative authority at large shall have resided in the city for at least one year immediately preceding their election. Each member of the legislative authority shall be an elector of the city, shall not hold any other public office, except that of notary public or member of the state militia, and shall not be interested in any contract with the city, and no such member may hold employment with the city. A member who ceases to possess any of such qualifications, or removes from his ward, if elected from a ward, or from the city, if elected from the city at large, shall forthwith forfeit his office.
(B) The purpose of establishing a one-year residency requirement in this section is to recognize that the state has a substantial and compelling interest in encouraging qualified candidacies for election to the office of member of the legislative authority of a city by ensuring that a candidate for such office has every opportunity to become knowledgeable with and concerned about the problems and needs of the area he seeks to represent. In enacting this requirement, the general assembly finds that the one-year period is reasonably related to this purpose, while leaving unimpaired a person’s right to travel, to vote, and to be a candidate for public office.
(R.C. § 731.02) (‘74 Code, § 30.03)