Kenton City Council Discusses Municipal Charter Creation

Kenton City Council members hosted representatives from Bricker & Graydon Monday evening.

They discussed the process of creating a municipal charter in Ohio, including the specific steps involved in establishing a charter commission and drafting a charter for the City of Kenton.

Key points covered were the flexibility a charter provides, the timeline and election requirements, the composition and role of the charter commission, and considerations around transitioning to a new form of government and amending the charter in the future.

When asked why the city is considering such a move, 4th Ward Council member Chad Miller used as an example the safety service director position, which is currently being held by Cindy Murray.

Her said he believes Murray is doing an excellent job, but not everyone who has held that position in the past has, and going forward, he would like to take the ability away from future mayors to hire anyone they want for such an important position, “We’ve had people that maybe didn’t have the capabilities of Cindy’s ability or even just down the line, whether it’s, I mean we can elect an auditor who can’t add two plus two, but he could be the auditor. I mean, it’s an elected position. We should have people in these positions that can do the job and going forward that build the future to the city.”

Council is in the early discussion phase of the process, and you can view complete Bricker and Graydon presentation by clicking here.