SECTION 1. Contracts and Fiscal Matters. The general laws of Ohio relating to budgets, appropriations, deposits, expenditures, debts, bonds, contracts, and other fiscal matters of municipalities shall be applicable to this City except as modified by or necessarily inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter.
SECTION 2. Franchises. The Council may by ordinance grant permission to any person, firm or corporation to construct and operate a public utility on, across, under or above any public street or ground within this City. It may prescribe in the ordinance the kind and quality of service or product to be furnished, the rate or rates to be charged therefor, and any other terms conducive to the public interest. Such grant may be amended or renewed in the manner and subject to the provisions established by this Charter for original grants. Such grant, amendment or renewal shall be for such period of time not exceeding twenty-five years as the Council may determine, and shall not be exclusive.
No consent of the owner of property abutting on any public street or ground shall be necessary to the effectiveness of any such grant, amendment, or renewal, unless the construction or operation of the public utility authorized thereby is of such character as to constitute an additional burden upon such public street or ground. All such grants, amendments or renewals shall be made subject to the continuing right of the Council to provide reasonable regulations for the operation of such utilities with reference to such streets and public grounds, including the right to require such reconstruction, relocation or discontinuance of appliances, plant or equipment used in such streets or public grounds as shall, in the opinion of the Council, be necessary in the public interest.
No ordinance making, amending, or renewing such grant shall be passed by the Council until it shall have been read at two regular meetings of the Council.
SECTION 3. Salaries and Bonds. The Council shall fix the salary or compensation of all officers and employees of the City, and may require any officer or employee to give bond for the faithful performance of their duties in such amount as it may determine and with such surety as it may approve, and may from time to time require additional bond or surety of any officer or employee, and may provide that the premium for any such bond be paid by the City.
(11-8-1957)
Prior to the first day of November in 1959 and in each second year thereafter, the Council shall fix the compensation of the officers to be elected for the terms beginning on the next succeeding first day of January and the compensation of such officers shall not thereafter be changed for such term or any part thereof; except that for each absence of the Councilmember from a regular meeting of the Council, unless authorized by the affirmative vote of at least four other members thereof, there shall be deducted a sum equal to two per cent (2%) of the annual salary of such Councilmember. Persons filling vacancies for the unexpired terms of elective officers shall receive the compensation theretofore fixed for such elective officers. The compensation of other officers and employees may be fixed and changed at any time in the discretion of the Council. All fees pertaining to any office shall be paid into the city treasury. The Council may authorize any officer or employee of the City to make such travel as the Council deems to be in the public interest, and may provide that the expense of such travel be paid by the City.
(11-7-2023.)
SECTION 5. Amendments. The Council may, by vote of at least five of its members, submit to the electors of the City of University Heights amendments to this Charter, and, upon petition signed by ten percent (10%) of the registered electors of this City setting forth any proposed amendment, such proposed amendment shall be so submitted by the Council. The submission of any proposed amendment to the electors shall be governed by the requirements of the Constitution of Ohio, and, to such extent as said Constitution shall fail to provide therefor, the Council shall determine the manner for such submission. If any such amendment is approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon, it shall become a part of this Charter; except that if two or more inconsistent amendments on the same subject are submitted at the same election, only the one of such amendments receiving the largest affirmative vote, nor less than a majority, shall become a part of this Charter.
SECTION 6. When Charter Takes Effect. For the purpose of nominating and electing officers of this City and fixing the compensation of those elected in 1941, this Charter shall be in effect from and after the time of its approval by the electors of this City; and for all other purposes it shall be in effect on and after the first day of January, 1942.
SECTION 8. Effect of Charter Upon Existing Laws and Rights. The taking effect of this Charter shall not affect any pre-existing rights of this municipality, nor any right or liability or pending suit of prosecution either on behalf of or against the municipality, nor any contract entered into by the municipality nor for its benefit, nor any franchise granted by the municipality, nor pending proceedings for the authorization of public improvements or the levy of assessments therefor.
SECTION 9. Limitation on Rate of Taxation. The power of the Council without a vote of the people to levy taxes on property assessed and levied according to value, for the purpose of paying the current operating expenses, including the purpose of paying the police and firemen pensions, the establishment and continuation of a paramedic service, the protection of the health, safety and general welfare of the City, any or all of which is required to be, or may lawfully be included in the general levy for the general fund of the City, shall not exceed eight and one-half (8.5) mills per dollar of assessed valuation, outside the limitation imposed by the Constitution and statutes of the State of Ohio.
(11-7-1989)
SECTION 10. Effective Date of Section 9. This amendment enacting Section 9 shall become a part of the Charter of the City of University Heights, Ohio, effective as of the date of certification of the abstract of said election and adoption to the Secretary of State by the Board of Elections, according to law, for the purpose of fixing the tax rates including a levy upon the duplicate for the current year of 1966 and thereafter.
(5-3-1966)
SECTION 11. Gender-neutrality and Charter Corrections. From the effective date of this amended section, the Charter shall be revised and corrected to be gender-neutral. In addition, Council shall have the authority to enact by ordinance, adopted by unanimous vote, typographical, grammatical, numerical or organizational sequencing, or other non-substantive revisions and corrections to this Charter, which shall be limited to spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence construction, standardization of terminology, phrases, or references, and renumbering, reordering, or resequencing any sentences, paragraphs, or sections and shall not affect the substance, meaning, or purpose of any provision of this Charter.
(11-6-1979; 11-7-2023.)
On July 31, 1978 the Mayor and Council approved Resolution No. 78-20, which established a Commission to review the Charter of the City of University Heights. Seven members of the Commission1 were elected at the regular election held on November 7, 1978. Seven other members2 were appointed by members of the City Council. The fifteenth member3 was appointed by the Mayor.
1. Dale R. Friedland, Judith Guttman, Marvin Jaffe, Annette Paley, Alan Rutsky, Alan Starkoff and Adele Zucker.
2. Alec Berezin, Dennis Brennan, Louis Logsdon, Joseph Saslaw, Lee Tucker, Leonore Vannice and Paul A. Woelfl, S.J.
3. Mark O' Neill, Chairman.
SECTION 12. Anti-Discrimination. The City shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or partnership status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, pregnancy, citizenship status, caste, tribal affiliation or any other classification protected by applicable federal, state, or local law unless reasonably necessary to normal operations and having a substantial relationship to job function and responsibilities.
(11-7-2023)