Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime advocate of everyday people, stated that” I received a Columbus City Council Media Release email regarding a public meeting of the Charter Review Commission at 6:46pm yesterday evening. This release stated that the public meeting would take place today, February 15th at 10:00am. This was the first public notification of this meeting and it was going to take place in 15 hours. As the District 6 representative of the Clintonville Area Commission, I asked the city liaison at our meeting this past Wednesday if she knew when the next meeting of the Charter Review Commission would be held. She told me she did not but she would follow up with me.”
Motil says, “At 2:34pm yesterday afternoon the liaison sent me an email stating that “The dates for future meetings have not been announced yet” and she directed me to the Charter Review Commission website link that was included on the email. There was no information on the website’s timeline for future meetings. Just over four hours later, at 6:46pm, I received the Columbus City Council Media Release stating the public meeting would be held at 10:00am today. At about 8:00pm last night I sent an email to all City Council members aides and the Mayor’s Chief of Staff telling them that it was totally unacceptable to give such short notice of a public meeting, 15 hours before it is set to begin along with the meeting taking place at 10:00am when the majority of people are working.”
Motil states, “At 8:24am this morning, a revised Media Release was sent out claiming that the corrected time of today’s Charter Review Commission meeting would be held at 4:00pm. So instead of a 15-hour public notice, City Council is giving us a 21-hour notification at 4:00pm when most people are most likely still at work. Just exactly who is running things and in charge of City Council and the Mayor’s office? I think we all know the answer to that.”
Motil concludes, “ Our City Charter is this city’s constitution. It outlines the fundamental rights, powers and responsibilities of the citizens and their elected municipal officials. The city attorney’s office and City Council do everything in their power to prevent citizen driven initiatives to get on the ballot. And now with the opportunity for citizens to be involved with the decision making of our City Charter and to help benefit everyday people as opposed to developers, corporate Columbus and our city’s established institutions, City Council puts on another feel-good show where citizens are shut out .”
