08/10/2010 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of a Public Hearing On Proposed Charter Review Revisions 8-10-10 Page 15 How important is the right to referendum? It is your political voice. Your right to challenge actions which are taken by your elected officials. Does it ever come up? Yes it does. May I point your attention to our friends and neighbors in South Euclid? That City had an income tax on the books. It also had on the books a credit of .75% for income taxes which were paid to other cities. Well one fine day in May, the South Euclid City Council voted to rollback that credit, resulting in a.75% income tax hike for its residents. There were many voters that were upset by the rollback and they gathered enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to challenge the City Council's action. As a result of that referendum, the South Euclid City Council voted to voluntarily repeal the rollback of that credit. The voters in South Euclid value their right to referendum and won't be giving up any of those rights any time soon. She has a couple of copies of an article from the Sun Press if anyone wants to learn more about that. In this day and age our ability to participate in the political process is more important than ever. We should not vote to eliminate this fundamental right. We can build gleaming edifices of brick and steel to house our institutions of government, but if we eliminate our right to vote, we destroy the very foundation of our democracy. The right to vote is an essential check and balance on legislative authority. When is the last time you turned on the news or picked up a • newspaper and did not see a story about political corruption? I am certainly not saying today that any of our Village officials, our Charter committee members or anyone else are corrupt. What I am saying is that allowing our elected officials to have unfettered discretion is a bad idea and can easily lead to bad results. I would like to make mention that even on the zoning rights, I do not think we want to be in a situation where all we are left with is a referendum right there. The vote should come to us first. If City Council votes to change zoning and a contractor goes out and starts breaking ground and we have to scramble for 30 days to gather a bunch of signatures and get it on the ballot, it could months later. We may have already lost the battle before we even got there. While it may be easier and faster for contractors and politicians to avoid the vote of the people, it is worth the time and trouble it takes to protect our rights. This is part of what we pay our elected officials to do and we believe we should continue to insist that they tow this line. You may heaz several reasons and arguments to the contrary. That's okay because our society is premised on each individual's right to a voice in our government. That is in fact exactly what I am here to try to preserve. What I really ask you to do is to evaluate the arguments and assurances you receive very carefully. If you are given assurances and promises, take a close look at the proposed legislation you are going to be asked to vote on. Does that legislation permit Council to take action? Does it prevent them from taking action? Does it give you the right to vote on issues that affect you and your property or does it take them away? I assure you that while you and I are at work walking the dogs or paying our bills, our elected officials will be making decisions based upon what they are permitted to do under the language of our Charter and we will all be bound by it. It is on that language and that unwritten assurances which we must rely. At any given point when a zoning change comes up, you can choose to approve or not approve that zoning change. You can choose to challenge or not challenge any legislation by a referendum. But I urge you not to vote to eliminate your choice altogether.