LOCAL GOVERNMENT -STRUCTURE

COUNTY GOVERNMENT REFORM AT STANDSTILL IN OHIO

by Craig Ramsay In an election held in

November of 1991, the voters of Delaware County, Ohio, a rapidly growing county on the northern fringe of the Columbus metro area, defeated a ballot proposal to reform the county commission. The measure was defeated by a margin of nearly two-to- one.

the 28th unsuccessful attempt at county reorgani- zation in Ohio. The lone success has been in Summit County (Akron), where voters approved a county home rule charter in 1979 (see NATIONAL CMc REVIEW, January 1980, p. 45 and September 1984, p. 382).

is labeled the Appointive County Executive Form under Ohio law, would have increased the number of commissioners from three to seven, elected them all from single-member districts in place of the current at-large system, reduced commissioner salaries, and replaced the current county administra- tor with a county executive.

The defeat marked

The proposal, which

This last change is largely a change in title, since the new county executive would still be appointed by the commissioners and carry out the same duties as the administrator. In addition, a modest degree discretionary authority to undertake administrative reform would be available to the new commission. Population Growth Prompts Demands for Greater Accountability

The campaign was spawned by two inter- related factors. First was the rapid increase in the population of Delaware County during the 1980s. Second was a growing feeling among residents that the current three-member commission was not capable of representing and governing an increasingly complex county. Delaware was the fastest growing county in Ohio throughout the 1980s. It grew by 24 percent during that decade. Most of this growth oc- curred in the area bordering on Franklin County, which itself experienced a high growth rate during the ‘80s. The vast majority of these new residents live in suburban subdivisions of Columbus, the state capitol and seat of Franklin County.

three current commissioners The capacity of the

to provide high-quality representation and gover- nance was brought into question most vividly by their handling of a number of policy issues in 1990 and 1991. Annexation and infrastructure issues with neighboring Franklin County, and a dispute over demolition of property near the courthouse in the City of Delaware, were among the more prominent examples. Process of the Reform Campaign

A group of con- cerned citizens met in the spring of 1991 to discuss strategies for effecting change in county govern- ment. These meetings grew into the ”Seven Districts” campaign. Three well attended public meetings were held in June and July to solicit reaction to the initial proposal, which called for seven single- member districts and a reduction in commissioners’ salaries of 60 percent. A number of the county’s elected officials attended and voiced concern over the lower salaries and the reduction from three to one in the number of commis- sioners for whom each elector could vote. Cam- paign organizers later decided to propose only a 40 percent reduction in commissioner salaries.

In July, a petition

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE

drive was mounted to gamer the needed signa- tures (762, or three percent of the county-wide voter turnout at the most recent gubernatorial election in 1990). This drive quickly secured more than 1,OOO signatures. A map with seven districts was pre- pared using the 1990 Census data and following Ohio's constitutional guidelines for legislative districting. In late August, the petitions and the map were approved for the ballot by the Delaware County Board of Elections and the commissioners. Three of the seven districts consisted primarily of the suburban population overflow from Franklin County; two were centered on the City of Delaware; and the other two were predominantly rural hinterland.

focused on three basic issues. 1) the extra cost

The fall campaign

incurred in paying seven commissioners at 60 percent of the state-mandated salary as opposed to paying three commissioners a full salary; 2) the merits of district versus at-large representa- tion; and 3) the discretion- ary power granted to the commissioners under the proposal to create new administrative departments. Organized opposition surfaced in the form of Taxpayers for Effective Government. The Republi- can and Democratic county organizations remained neutral on the proposal. This was significant, since the Republican party dominates Delaware County politics and govern- ment. The campaign was conducted primarily through joint appearances around the county by spokespersons for both sides. There was a modest newspaper advertising component of the campaign in October.

Taxpayers for Effective Government charged that the proposal would lead to "massive" costs, the district plan would fragment and divide the county, and the discre- tionary authority of the commission to bring about administrative reorganiza- tion would lead to a mush- rooming bureaucracy.

ceived a majority of the vote in nine of the county's 91 precincts. It tended to fare best in the southern part of the county near Franklin County and in the City of Delaware, 12 miles north in the center of the county and the home for hundreds of commuters to Columbus. It was most soundly defeated in the precincts correspond- ing to the two proposed rural districts.

Craig Ramsay is an associate profasor of Politics and Government at Ohio Weskyan University, Dela- ware, Ohio.

The proposal re-

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