A second citizen-led initiative likely will join a proposal to keep the Lucas County jail in downtown Toledo on a February special election ballot.
Toledo City Council on Nov. 27 will discuss whether to ask the Lucas County Board of Elections to place a question about a proposed Lake Erie Bill of Rights in front of Toledo voters on Feb. 26. The Lake Erie Bill of Rights aims to protect the lake’s health and proposes amending the city’s charter to include language that would give the Lake Erie watershed rights to “exist and flourish.”
“We’re definitely excited to see this moving forward,” said Markie Miller, an organizer with Toledoans for Safe Water. “We’ve really been getting little to no response (from council) in our push.”
Both the Keep the Jail Downtown initiative and the Lake Erie Bill of Rights proposal were kept off this year’s midterm election ballot after the county’s board of elections raised questions about the legality of both proposals. Lawsuits followed, and Toledo City Council was thrown back in the mix when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the legislative body did not pass a needed ordinance to place the jail location issue on the ballot.
Council in October approved the needed ordinance and this month set the February election date for the jail proposal to be decided. Members of Toledoans for Safe Water and Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie for weeks have been demonstrating before and during city council meetings, asking the body to do the same for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
“It’s been a lot of, ‘be patient, be patient,’ which is a little frustrating watching the jail initiative get pushed through and ours wasn’t moving,” Ms. Miller said. “There’s been a lot of frustration on our end, so we’re definitely excited to see this actually on the agenda.”
Mr. Cherry said city councilmen wanted to take their time on the Lake Erie Bill of Rights ordinance to make sure everything is done properly so the question can go before Toledo voters. He added that council action on the matter doesn’t mean the body is taking a position on the actual ballot question.
“We just wanted our law department to take a really good look at it to make sure we had all our i’s dotted and t’s crossed,” he said. “We had until the end of December if we wanted to get it on to the special election in February.”
The advocates’ most recent demonstration drew a rebuke from one city councilmen on Tuesday, as the group stood silently in council chambers with tape over their mouths.
“Could you guys sit down? I mean, this is ridiculous,” Councilman Tom Waniewski told the protesters as the meeting began. “We’re trying to respect the decorum of this body, you have the Notre Dame girls singing a great national anthem, and, quite frankly, you look like a bunch of buffoons there, with the tape on your mouth. Show us a little respect.”
Council President Matt Cherry told the group that council rules state that you cannot obstruct the vision of council chambers.
“You guys can peacefully protest in your seats, sitting down, or I will have the sergeant at arms remove you,” Mr. Cherry said. “We love to have you here, so if you could please have a seat so we can finish our council meeting, that would be great.”
The demonstrators left council chambers quietly after the confrontation.
While council will discuss the proposal on Nov. 27, they aren’t scheduled to vote on whether to send the measure to the elections board until Dec. 4. They’ll also decide whether to allocate up to $275,000 to pay for the citywide special election.
First Published November 23, 2018, 5:48 p.m.
