Issue 14: Over-Engineered Changes will Result in Ambiguity

I have taken the liberty of reviewing the content of the Greenhills Charter, jointly with the regulations for open meetings as addressed in the Ohio Sunshine Law review published by the Ohio Secretary of State

While I see a modest benefit in revising some portion of the current Charter language in sections 2.03.B, (specific to the discretionary flexibility of meetings of committees of council) and 2.03.C (specific to the activities of the Community Investment Corporations), I believe the language in the proposed Charter Amendment as indicated in Issue 14 goes too far, resulting in some unneeded and likely problematic ambiguity given the distinction between the language in the Ohio Revised and the current Greenhills Charter language, which is more specific as to the scenarios where Executive Sessions are applicable.

The language of the Greenhills Charter clearly defines the relevant scenarios for our community for an executive session. While it is time for a modest update to this language, taken as a whole, the current language aligns sufficiently well to the current decision-making processes and priorities within our community. In order to address these needed revisions, I will support the Mayor and his call for a new Charter Commission, and will suggest that that body take up the proposed refinements to the language to address my concerns at that time. In the mean time, I will not support Issue 14.

In addition, if elected, I intend to continue to act in a manner that meets and exceeds the expectations of the electorate to assure that we follow both the letter and spirit of the law, much in the same way that the Greenhills Recreation Commission has behaved since my assuming leadership of that volunteer organization. We post our annual meeting schedule, meeting agendas and meeting minutes, and any other publicly available documents discussed in the meeting on our website. We offer opportunities for input into the process both online and in a public setting. We announce the time and place of our meetings well in advance of the time they are held both through traditional means as well as social media. We've posted budgetary detail of our decisions, and have provided sufficient detail in our minutes to provide context and rationale for the decisions we make. And finally, we provide answers to questions, if those questions are asked in a civil manner, on our website. This broad-based approach, in my judgment sets the example for open and honest government Greenhills residents expect.