03/11/2021
Article from the Toledo Blade!! May come in handy if we have to take up the fight again to keep the jail downtown.
The new Sheriff is starting to charge jurisdictions for service and adding to his revenue. One has to think there is a reason. New jail levies are very difficult to pass.
Quote from Toledo Mayor -
“The citizens of Toledo approved the Charter by their vote almost 30 years ago. They expect us to follow it. We can’t ignore it when it doesn’t suit our needs. I won’t ignore it now,” he wrote.
FULL ARITICLE
Mayor vetoes council's vote to create new
department
3/10/2021
BY SARAH ELMS / THE BLADE
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz on Wednesday notified Toledo City Council he will veto an
ordinance passed March 2 to create a new Department of Parks, Recreation, Youth Services, and
Educational Engagement.
The mayor in a letter to council members said he agrees with the department’s ambitions, but
city council’s vote to create it violated the city charter. He promised to continue to work with
council members to create the framework for the new department so it can be implemented once
all logistics are in place.
“Without a doubt, I share the goals outlined in the ordinance. I also take seriously the oath I took
to uphold the Charter of the City of Toledo,” he wrote. “We both have the same desire to provide
better educational and recreational programming for Toledo’s youth. But the proper legal steps
must first be taken in order to make the changes City Council seeks.”
Councilman Cecelia Adams first proposed creating the new department in January. She pitched
it as a way for Toledo to make up for its lack of investment in parks, recreation, youth, and
education in the past, and she gave it a budget of $5.9 million.
She could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
The March 2 city council meeting grew tense when it became clear Ms. Adams intended to call
a vote on creating the new department after city Law Director Dale Emch provided a last-minute
legal opinion to council advising against it. The measure passed 9-3, but it remained unclear
whether the vote had legal standing.
The city charter states, “The Council may change, abolish, combine, and rearrange the
departments and divisions of the City government and combine and distribute the functions and
duties thereof upon the written request of the Mayor,” but this ordinance was passed without Mr.
Kapszukiewicz’s written request.
The mayor is within his 10-day window to veto an ordinance. Council can overrule a veto with a
three-quarter vote of all council, at which point the law would take effect without the mayor’s
signature.
In his letter, Mr. Kapszukiewicz indicates Ms. Adams knew about the charter requirement
because she cited it when she wrote to him in January asking that he send a letter of approval so
the change could take place.
“I long ago learned to trust Dr. Adams’ wisdom, and while I was unaware of this particular
provision of the Charter, I assumed she was correct, particularly because she was so adamant,
stating no fewer than 3 times in her note of the need for me to write a letter,” the mayor wrote on
Wednesday.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz on Feb. 23 did send a letter to Ms. Adams and her colleagues expressing his
support for the department, but he asked for a 10-month delay on any council vote on the matter
to allow a working group to put together a staffing and logistics plan. His letter did not mention
any issues of legality.
He wrote Wednesday that he is unsure how or why other council members could have been in
the dark about the charter requirement but that Mr. Emch was asked to provide his legal opinion
to the legislative body once the administration realized the communication breakdown.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz said he had “no choice” but to veto the ordinance.
“The citizens of Toledo approved the Charter by their vote almost 30 years ago. They expect us
to follow it. We can’t ignore it when it doesn’t suit our needs. I won’t ignore it now,” he wrote.
He included with his letter a proposed resolution for city council to consider passing that
expresses “the sense of the City to create this new department,” which he promised to sign if
city council approves it so both parties can continue working jointly on Ms. Adams’ proposal.
City council’s next voting meeting is March 16. Also on that day’s agenda is a list of 13
appointments Mr. Kapszukiewicz has made since he took office in January, 2018. They include
Police Chief George Kral and Fire Chief Brian Byrd, as well as directors, deputy directors, and
commissioners of various city departments.
City Charter states, “Subject to confirmation by the Council, the Mayor also shall have the
power to appoint the members of all boards and commissions, all directors of City departments,
all the commissioners of City divisions, and all chief administrative officers of any other City
agencies which shall also require the approval of their respective boards or commissions, if
any.”
Mayor has not sought the needed city council confirmation of those 13 positions until now,
despite council members and members of the public previously raising the issue.
A review of city council agendas shows the last time the legislative body confirmed a group of
director, deputy director, and commissioner appointments by the mayor was for 21 positions in
September, 2018.
