Oxford City Council approves fall ballot items
Locals will be able to vote on 7 items that could change the city’s charter in November
Oxford voters will decide on seven proposed changes to the city charter this November, including measures affecting housing development, utility bills, city manager residency requirements and several administrative updates, which were part of an ordinance adopted by Oxford City Council on July 21.
Before adoption, the items were discussed by the Oxford Charter Commission in April and then sent to the Oxford City Council for review in July, as reported by the Oxford Free Press.
Section 2.11, regarding a housing restriction in the Mile Square, will be a separate issue on the ballot during the Ohio General Election on Nov. 3.
The six other proposed changes to the charter will be voted on in one motion during the November election. This will include Section 2.12, regarding utility bills, Section 4.01, regarding city manager residency, Sections 3.05, 4.02 and 9.07, which all regard charter cleanup, and Section 10.01, regarding the city’s bond restriction.
Housing
The first suggested change to the city’s charter is in Section 2.11, which focuses on housing inside the Mile Square area.
City councilors discussed this change during the ordinance’s first reading on July 7, opting to remove the changes to Section 2.11 from the other items, allowing voters in November to vote on the housing issue separate from the other six “batched” items.
If passed by voters, all wording in the fourth paragraph after the first sentence would be removed.
Paragraph four would then read: “Regulate the use of private real estate in the municipality by establishing zones, limiting the uses in each zone and limiting the height of buildings and the intensity of land use.”
According to Jessica Greene, assistant city manager for the City of Oxford, this would stop a demolition or tear down of more structures with over three dwelling units in the Mile Square.
Greene said the current city zoning codes “restrict any sort of development … regrowth” in the Mile Square area. She also said the city’s zoning codes and planning processes have matured since 1976 and the current text is outdated and unnecessary.
Currently, the city’s zoning code limits the number of dwelling units per building to three. If passed by voters, this restriction would be removed.
Sam Perry, community development director for the City of Oxford, said removing this restriction would allow the city’s zoning codes to be the main tool to enact change instead of the charter.
“We have a lot more sophistication in planning and zoning than we had in the 1970s,” Perry said.
If passed by voters in November, Perry said this change would allow the flexibility of four or more dwelling units per building to be created.
Perry added that some apartments in Oxford need redevelopment. Currently, the restriction prohibits the redevelopment of certain buildings created prior to 1976, which are exempt from the charter restrictions.
Removing this restriction would allow these older buildings, if the owner would like, to be rebuilt or modernized.
Greene said this item, if passed, would allow “a diversity of housing type(s) for non-students to be able to have a place to live,” and allow for housing adaptability to changing times and needs.
Perry echoed Greene’s hope for adaptability, adding the removal of this restriction could help prepare for future housing in Oxford.
“It would give us more flexibility,” Perry said. “We don’t know in five years what the economy and housing situation is like.”
The city has been working on revising the code for the past 24 months and hopes to finish the revisions at the end of the year, Greene said.
Perry said the Oxford Planning Commission’s working group will spend the next three months largely focusing on the city’s code before the November election.
“If we can show the voters that there are some tools that can be put in place that will help maintain the kind of small town charm of the community,” Perry said, “then that may increase the confidence of the voters that removing the restrictions is OK.”
Utilities
The first item in the “batch” of six discussed by the city council would remove Section 2.12 from the city’s charter. This section reads:
“Tenants and property owners shall be liable only for their own utility use unless they have made an agreement between themselves to the contrary. New tenants and new property owners shall not be liable for the utility services provided to other prior tenants or owners or provided to other existing tenants unless they have made an agreement between themselves to the contrary.”
Removing this section would help solve the city’s problem with outstanding utility bills. Greene said the city is losing around $17,000 a year in unpaid utility bills.
Currently, if any renter leaves and has an outstanding utility bill, the city is only permitted to collect from the tenant on file at a given property. In some situations, some properties may have multiple tenants but only one on file, causing difficulties for the city when collecting on unpaid utilities.
Greene said if this section is changed, the responsibility would fall on the property owner to pay the remaining utilities.
City manager residency
Section 4.01 of the city’s charter would be changed to align with a section of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC). This section states a city is not allowed to require residency outside a contract.
“This cleanup is that residency may be required through a contract with city council, but cannot be allowed in the charter,” Greene said.
Greene also said in an April article by the Free Press that this “allows some flexibility with the recruitment of city managers,” and it also “gives the current (city) council a bit of flexibility in who they may want to hire.”
Cleanup
Multiple items in the “batch” of six include minor language cleanup to modernize the city’s charter.
Section 3.05 currently states initiative or referendum petitions are required to be filed with the city auditor. Currently, the City of Oxford does not have a position by this name. If passed by voters, this change would remove the city auditor position and replace its required responsibilities with the city clerk.
Section 4.02 currently references the Civil Service Commission, a commission that changed its name in 2017 to the Personnel Appeals Board. If passed by voters, this change would replace the former commission name with the Personnel Appeals Board.
Section 9.07 states that “Members of Council may be removed from office before the expiration of their term by the qualified voters of the city. The procedure for such recall shall be that provided in the Ohio Revised Code.”
Greene said the ORC doesn’t state much on what individual cities should do, instead tasking individual cities with developing their own system on how to recall a city councilor. Greene said this change, if passed by voters, would allow for a formal recall process the city could utilize if it ever needs to remove a city councilor.
Section 10.01, if passed by voters, would remove the charter’s current requirement of having a bond for the city’s financial employees and allow the city to adopt a new insurance policy.
Historically, ORC required a city to have a bond for its financial director and assistant financial director, Greene said. If illegal activity by a staff member in the financial department were found, the bond would find the financial director and assistant financial director liable for that theft, which could result in those individuals being sued by the county auditor.
The ORC is allowing cities to adopt an employee dishonesty and faithful performance insurance policy as a substitute for the current bond.
This insurance would not only alleviate personal risk for the city’s financial director and assistant financial director, but also allow for deeper and broader coverage of more city staff, Greene said.
Greene said she believes this new insurance policy is a better fit for the needs of the City of Oxford.
While adding this insurance policy is not up for a vote, the city charter must be updated to remove the requirement of the bond in order for the city to purchase the employee dishonesty and faithful performance insurance policy.
Displaying ordinances
During the city council meeting on July 7, councilors also voted to remove an item affecting Section 3.04 of the charter, which focuses on the publication of ordinances.
The change would have updated the current text and required the city to publish a digital and physical option to display ordinances, according to previous reporting by the Free Press.
The city will continue to publish ordinances in three public places: the City of Oxford website, the city’s municipal building, located at 15 S. College Ave., and at the Oxford Lane Library, located at 441 S. Locust St.
These items will be sent to the Ohio Board of Elections, where language will be refined and finalized.
The city will then begin its educational campaign, which is designed to help voters learn more about the items on the ballot and what residents can vote for in November.
