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SECTION 3. DIRECTOR OF FINANCE.
   (a)    Appointment.  The Director of Finance shall be appointed by the Mayor subject to the approval of a majority of the members elected to Council.
   (b)    Qualifications. The Director of Finance shall have sufficient knowledge and experience in accounting, taxation, and business administration, and provide evidence of either: (1) A license as a certified public accountant, with at least three years experience in municipal government accounting or (2) a bachelor’s degree with a major in finance, accounting, or business- related field and shall have no less than six years accounting experience with at least three such years working in municipal government accounting. Any person currently serving in this position, but who may no longer meet these qualifications, shall not thereby become ineligible to serve.
   (c)   Removal. The Director of Finance shall hold office at the pleasure of the Mayor.
   (d)   General Duties. The Director of Finance shall have charge of the Department of Finance and shall administer the fiscal affairs of the City, including: the supervision and maintenance of records and accounting procedures which shall conform to the General Laws of Ohio; the compilation of estimates for the budget of all departments of the City; the exercise of financial budgetary controls over appropriations made; the custody of funds, investments, and other property of the City; the collection of fees, assessments, and tax revenues for which the City is responsible; the investment and deposit of funds as may be provided by Council; the payment of the public debt of the City; and such other duties as may be required by this Charter and/or as Council may direct by Ordinance or Resolution or the Mayor may impose upon such Director consistent with law and the duties of this office.
   (e)   Purchasing. The Director of Finance shall be the purchasing coordinator, until such time as a purchasing position may be established by the Council, with the following responsibilities: On the basis of requisitions submitted and approved by the Mayor or Council, he or she shall contract for, purchase on specification, store and distribute all supplies required by the Municipality; shall be responsible for the inspection of all supplies and determine their quantity, quality and conformation to specifications; and shall transfer supplies and sell obsolete or surplus equipment and property in such manner as Council by ordinance may provide.
   (f)   Appropriations and Reports.  He shall be responsible for the preparation and sub mission of appropriation measures and shall assist the Mayor and Council in the preparation of estimates, budgets and other financial matters. He shall submit to Council through the Mayor at the second regular Council meeting of each succeeding month, a monthly statement showing:
   All receipts had during the preceding month.
   All disbursements made during the preceding month.
   A cumulative statement for each appropriation showing:
      Amount of appropriation;
      Amount expended against the appropriation at the end of the receding month;
      Balance remaining.
   The foregoing statement shall be in such further sufficient detail as may be required by Council to show the exact financial condition of the Municipality.
   (g)    Collections. He shall be the collector of all moneys of the Municipality, including license fees, fines, court costs and waivers. He shall receive and preserve such moneys in such manner and in such places and forms of investment or security as the Council shall direct.
   (h)    Certification. No contract, agreement, or other obligation, involving the expenditure of money shall be entered into by any officer of the Municipality, nor shall any ordinance, resolution, or order for the expenditure of money be passed by Council, unless the Director of Finance first certifies to Council or to the proper officer, as the case may be, that the money required for such contract, agreement, obligation or expenditure is in the treasury, to the credit of the fund for which it is to be drawn, or in the process of collection, and not appropriated for any other purpose, which certificates shall be filed and immediately recorded. The sums so certified shall not thereafter be considered unappropriated until the Municipality is discharged from the contract, agreement or obligation.
   (i)    Funds Subject to Certification. All moneys actually in the treasury to the credit of the fund from which they are to be drawn, and all moneys applicable to the payment of the obligation or appropriation involved, that are anticipated to come into the treasury before the maturity of such contract, agreement or obligation, from taxes or assessments or from sales or services, productions or from any City undertakings, fees, charges, accounts and bills receivable, or other credits in the process of collection; and all moneys applicable to the payment of such obligation or appropriation, which are to be paid into the treasury prior to the maturity thereof, arising from the sale or lease of lands or other property, and the moneys to be derived from lawfully authorized notes or bonds sold and in the process of delivery shall, for the purpose of such certificate, be deemed in the treasury and subject to such certification.
   (j)    Failure to Comply. All contracts, agreements or other obligations and all ordinances, resolutions and orders entered into or passed contrary to the provisions of subsections (h) and (i) of this section of this Charter shall be void, and no person whosoever shall have any claim or demand against the Municipality thereunder, nor shall the Council nor any officer of the Municipality waive or qualify the limits fixed by such ordinance, resolution or order or fasten upon the Municipality any liability whatever in excess of such limits, or release any party from an exact compliance with this Charter under such ordinance, resolution or order.
   (k)    Attendance at Council.  He shall attend all meetings of the Council unless excused by Council and he shall perform all other duties required by this Charter and by ordinance or resolution of Council.
   (l)    Vacancy. The persons who hold the offices of Clerk and Treasurer on the effective date of this amendment shall continue in office until the expiration of their current term and shall continue to exercise the powers, duties and functions of Clerk and Treasurer under the City Charter during such period. If the office of Clerk or Treasurer shall become vacant, for any reason, during such period, the office vacated shall be abolished upon the declaration of the vacancy by a vote of a majority of members of Council. In any event, the offices of Clerk and Treasurer shall be and are hereby abolished effective January 1, 1990.
(Amended 11-2-04)
SECTION 4. LAW DIRECTOR.
   (a)   Appointment. The Law Director shall be appointed by the Mayor subject to the approval of a majority of the members elected to Council. Assistants may be provided for as Council shall from time to time see fit.
 
   (b)   Qualifications. The Law Director shall be an attorney-at-law duly licensed in the State of Ohio and admitted to the practice of law before the Courts of the State of Ohio. The Law Director shall have: (1) At least ten (10) years of experience in the active practice of law, including litigation experience; and (2) A minimum of five (5) years full-time and/or substantial part-time experience in the practice of municipal and/or governmental civil law.
 
   (c)   Duties. The Law Director shall serve the Mayor, the various administrative departments, boards, and officers of the Municipality and the Council, as attorney and legal counsel, and shall represent the Municipality in all proceedings in court or before any administrative body. The Law Director shall act as prosecuting attorney before the Mayor’s Court or upon appeals from the decision of the Mayor. The Law Director shall perform all other duties now or hereafter imposed by law upon legal counsel of cities unless otherwise provided by ordinance by Council, and shall perform such other duties as the Council or the Mayor may require consistent with such office.
 
   (d)   Removal. The Law Director shall hold office at the pleasure of the Mayor.
(Amended 11-5-13)
SECTION 5. PLANNING COMMISSION.
   (a)    Membership. The Planning Commission shall consist of seven (7) members: the Mayor; one member of Council or a person appointed by Council to act in its stead as its designee; and five (5) members appointed by the Mayor subject to the approval of a majority of the members elected to Council. Appointed members shall hold no other municipal office or appointment. The Mayor shall have the right to remove any appointed member he or she has appointed for cause. The Council shall have the right to remove the member it has appointed for cause.
   (b)    Terms of Office. Present members of the Planning Commission shall continue to serve until their terms are completed. Members may succeed themselves. The term of members appointed by the Mayor shall be for four (4) years. The term of the member appointed by Council shall be two (2) years. (Amended 11-7-23.)
    (c)    Vacancy.  A vacancy occurring during the term of any member shall be filled for the unexpired term in the manner authorized for an original appointment.
   (d)    Compensation. The members of the Planning Commission shall serve without compensation unless otherwise provided by ordinance.
   (e)    Duties. The Planning Commission shall meet at least once a month. It shall be the function and duty of the Planning Commission to act as the Platting Commissioner of the Municipality and as such it shall have control of planning and shall provide regulations covering the platting of all lands within the Municipality or within three miles thereof in cooperation with other municipalities, so as to secure the harmonious development and to provide for the coordination of streets with other streets and with the official municipal plan and to provide for open spaces for traffic, utilities, access of fire fighting apparatus, recreation, light and air, and for the avoidance of congestion of population. It shall make such regulations as it deems necessary as to the manner in which streets and other public ways shall be graded and improved; the manner in which and the extent to which water, sewer and other utility mains, piping or other facilities shall be installed, or establish any other conditions precedent to the approval of a proposed plat. The Commission shall make plans and maps of the whole or any portion of the Municipality and of any land outside the Municipality which, in the opinion of the Commission, bears a relation to the planning of the Municipality and to make changes in, additions to, and extensions of such plans or maps when it deems the same advisable. It shall have such powers as may be conferred on it by ordinance of the Council concerning the plan, design, location, removal, relocation and alteration of any public building or structure or those located on public streets or property, the location, relocation, widening, extension and vacation of streets, parkways, playgrounds and other public places, the zoning and rezoning of the Municipality for any lawful purpose and such other powers as now or may hereafter be conferred upon it by ordinance of Council or the general laws of Ohio. All plans and recommendations made by the Planning Commission shall be submitted to Council for approval before the same shall be considered as official unless otherwise provided by ordinance of Council.
   (f)    Funds. A sufficient sum shall be appropriated by the Council each year to carry out the planning provisions of this Charter.
   (g)    Mandatory Referral to Planning Commission. No public building, street, boulevard, parkway, park, playground, bridge, tunnel, publicly or privately owned utility or part thereof shall be constructed or authorized to be constructed in the Municipality, nor shall any street, avenue, parkway, boulevard or alley be opened for any purpose whatsoever, nor shall any street, avenue, parkway, boulevard or alley be widened, narrowed, relocated, vacated, or its use changed, or any ordinance referring to zoning or other regulations controlling the use or development of land, be adopted unless and until it shall have been submitted to the Planning Commission for report and recommendation. Any matter so referred to the Planning Commission shall be acted upon by it within sixty (60) days from the date of referral unless a different period of time be provided by Council. If the Planning Commission shall fail to act within the time allotted, it shall be deemed to have approved such matter. Any provision or any resolution, ordinance or order disapproved by formal action of the Planning Commission shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote of all members of the Council for adoption or authorization. If any plan, design or other proposal concerning the character, extent, location, or use of any public improvement or public property or change thereof within the territorial limits of the Municipality does not, under the law or Charter provision covering same, fall within the province of the Council or other official or agency of the Municipality, then the submission to the Planning Commission shall be by the State, County, district, school, township or other official body, board or commission having jurisdiction over such public improvement or property in accordance with the provisions of the general law of the State of Ohio. The Planning Commission's disapproval may be overruled at any time after seven (7) days' written notice by the excepting body to the Planning Commission stating the reason for such exception. Such overruling disapproval must be adopted by at least two-thirds (2/3) of the membership of such excepting body.
   (h)   Mandatory Referral to Electors. Whenever the number of dwelling units in multiple-family dwelling units exceeds fifteen percent (15%) of the total of all dwelling units in the Municipality, any rezoning or zoning for apartment multiple-family dwelling use (excluding two-family, townhouse, and cluster dwelling use) approved by the Planning Commission and Council shall be submitted by Council to the electorate at the next general election, or at a special election within one hundred twenty (120) days if the applicant for zoning or rezoning agrees to assume all costs of the election and post bond with the City Fiscal Officer. The applicant shall further agree to authorize the City Fiscal Officer to advertise, and assume the obligations to pay, for a notice of the posted bond and the requested land use change in at least three (3) newspapers of general circulation, or all newspapers of general circulation, whichever shall be the lesser number of said newspapers. The said notices shall be placed in the newspapers three (3) times before election, each notice to be two (2) weeks apart, with the last of such notices to be published within one (1) week prior to the date of the election. If there be no applicant to rezoning or zoning the foregoing required advertisement shall be done at the request of Council. Approval by a majority of the electors voting thereon is mandatory for the zoning or rezoning to pass.
(Amended 11-2-04.)
SECTION 6. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS.
   (a)    Board Membership. There shall be a Board of Zoning Appeals which shall consist of five (5) members appointed by the Mayor with the approval of a majority of members elected to Council. Members of the Board of Zoning Appeals shall hold no other Municipal office or appointment. Present members of the Board of Zoning Appeals at the time this Charter amendment is adopted shall continue to serve until their terms are completed. Members may succeed themselves. The term of members shall be four (4) years. The Mayor shall have the right to remove any member of the Board of Zoning Appeals for cause.
    (b)    Powers. It shall be the duty of the Board of Zoning Appeals to hear and decide appeals made for exceptions to and variations in the Zoning Ordinance of the Municipality in conformity with the purpose and intent thereof and to hear and decide all appeals made for exceptions to and variations in the application of Zoning Ordinances, or orders and regulations of administrative officials or agencies in regard thereto. The Board of Zoning Appeals shall permit an exception or variance from the Zoning Ordinance only when there are practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships in the way of carrying out the strict interpretation of said Zoning Ordinance and so long as the granting of such exception or variance will be in harmony with general purpose and intent of said Ordinance and that the public health, safety and general welfare will continue to be secured and substantial justice done.
   (c)    Council Review. Any order of the Board granting a variance or exception shall not be final and take effect until the next regularly scheduled Councll meeting or the fourteenth (14th) day after the date of the order of the Board, whichever date is earlier. The aforesaid provision shall not apply to any order of the Board granting a variance or exception for any residential use and/or property. During such time period, the applicant, the Building Commissioner or an elected official of the City may request a review by the Council of the City of the findings and determination of the Board. A request for review may be granted by the Council if it finds and determines that one or more matters at issue in such a request significantly alter or involve the implementation of any part of a master or comprehensive plan for the City, a purpose of the Planning or Zoning Code of the City, or the intent of the Council in their adoption. If a request for review is approved by the Council, then, the Council shall hear the application or appeal de novo, and may reverse, amend or modify the findings and determination of the Board. When a request for review is approved by Council, any variance or exception granted by the Board shall be void and no effect, unless Council shall fail to hear and decide the matter de novo within thirty (30) days after the date of approval by it of the request for review, or within such enlargement of time as may be determined by the Council for good cause shown.
(Amended 11-2-04; 11-7-23)
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