Lakewood residents to decide Election Day charter amendments

Community NewsLakewood City Council. (John Benson/cleveland.com)John Benson/cleveland.comBy John Benson, special to cleveland.comLAKEWOOD, Ohio -- Election Day voters will be deciding five charter amendments. “Council voted to place these before the voters based on feedback about five topics from the charter review commission, which actually started meeting in 2024,” Lakewood City Council President Sarah Kepple previously told cleveland.com. The list of charter amendments includes:Issue 46: If approved, the new charter language would codify City Council’s current process of putting out a call for applicants with public interviews regarding Council vacancy appointments. Issue 47: If approved, amending ordinances in the future would allow for strike-through legislation instead of rewriting the entire ordinances.Issue 48: If approved, in each odd-numbered year the civil service commission shall set forth the commission’s recommendations for the salary and other compensation for the offices of mayor and members of council.Issue 49: If approved, Lakewood’s four wards will be evenly distributed based on census data. Issue 50: If approved, Charter amendments may be submitted to the registered voters through recommendation of a two-thirds majority vote of the members of the charter review commission and submission by Council, by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of Council or a petition signed by not less than 10% of the registered voters. The city council president noted she’s particularly proud of two charter amendments -- ward redistricting and Council vacancies. “In both cases, Council is choosing to hold ourselves to a higher standard by putting in place protections against gerrymandering and to make sure that the vacancy appointment process is transparent and open,” she said. “We’ve been running a transparent and open process, but this codifies it so that future Councils will follow that as well. I’m proud that Council is taking steps to make sure that we have the most democratic processes possible.” Read more news from the Sun Post Herald here.