Ward question won't be on ballot
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Government
Forum Name: City Council
Forum Description: Discuss individual members and council as a legislative body.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1815
Printed Date: Nov 22 2024 at 6:10pm
Topic: Ward question won't be on ballot
Posted By: All American
Subject: Ward question won't be on ballot
Date Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 4:13pm
Ward question won't be on ballotThere were too few signatures to place charter amendment regarding City Council size, ward election system.
MIDDLETOWN — Middletown voters won’t have to worry about making a decision about the ward system or reducing the size of City Council this fall because the petition did not have enough valid signatures. The petition that was submitted by the city of Middletown that was presented by a group of citizens seeking to reduce the size of council and elect its members at-large rather than wards did not get certified by the Butler County Board of Elections when it met Tuesday, Aug. 25. According to elections director Betty McGary, the petition was 119 valid signatures short of the 1,137 signatures that were required. The petition for a candidate for the 4th Ward council seat, Robert Thoroughman, was also not certified by the elections board. According to McGary, he also had insufficient signatures with only 20 signatures valid of the 50 that were required. Thoroughman will not be able to run as a write-in candidate this fall as he did not withdraw from the race before the elections board met to certify candidate petitions. |
Replies:
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 4:39pm
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We needed to keep the Ward System so all the voters of |
Posted By: wasteful
Date Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 5:05pm
Better get 2000 signatures next time to be on the safe side.
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Posted By: Kelly
Date Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 5:59pm
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Congratulations Ann Mort & Jeff Michel on another successful campaign! |
Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 6:35pm
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Actually it doesn't make much sense to maintain a ward system. With the system only one council member is held responsible for his/her ward then all the other members escape wrath,without the system ALL council members can be held responsible and ALL the people will have a voice if they happen to elect a silent member.
I live in ward one and there has been absolutely nothing done whatsoever and I've only one member to hold responsible. If there was no ward then I could hold all of them responsible.
Am I crazy or is there any logic to that ? ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Posted By: Merrell Wood
Date Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 6:43pm
| I think it's great news. It's hard to beleave that Mr. Michel, Ms. Mort and Mr. Scorti did not simply purchase from the Butler County Board of Elections the list of registered voters for the City of Middletown. They could have gone home every night, checked the signatures against the valid list and headed out the following day to get the additional number of VALID signatures needed. This style of arrogrance is an example of what an all at-large type of representation would have brought us all. Congradulations to all the 4-ward supporters and make sure you get out there and vote for your candidate. |
Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 6:49am
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Hermes- It won't happen now as the required number of signatures were not achieved, however, knowing how the folks in Ward 2 are passionate and interact with their ward rep more than the other wards do, it would have been an interesting scenario to see mostly Ward 1 or 3 residents dominate Council and then see how much attention they would have paid to Ward 2 and 4. Bet the Ward 2 and 4 folks would not have been happy campers with the lack of attention given to them by the Ward 1/3 people.
Glad to see the number reduction of Council shot down also. Fewer numbers would have made control easier for the MMF and their sponsored candidates. Now, looks like they'll have to work a little harder to gain that control with the larger number to cover. You live in Ward 1 and you mention that absolutely nothing has been done. Ditto for Ward 3 where I live. To his credit, Marconi will answer your E-Mails and return your phone calls. He is good at that. I just question some of his decisions(or lack of decisions at times) and direction he sees for the town. He seems caught up with the rest of Council in that he tends to over analyze everything and is afraid to make a decision, resulting in nothing getting done. If what we see from Armbruster at the Council meetings is any indication of how he handles the 1st Ward, you have your answer as to why you see nothing happening. He is a non contributor as to major problems/solutions for this town and is actually wasting a seat by his inactivity. Vote out all incumbants in November. Repeat next election until totally purged. Evaluate the new regime and vote them out if no improvement is made from the current council/school board. Purge the deadwood from city hall starting with the city manager on down.  Change the leadership of the city or watch it die. It's our choice at the polls.
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Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 6:54am
| Hermes you have a Ward 1 Council member, 2 at large members and a Mayor so that gives you 4. I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch folks the next election day is May 2010, could see this issue then and on a ballot with far fewer issues to vote on. |
Posted By: gemneye70
Date Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 8:10am
| VietVet...I am in Ward 3 also...over by Highview school. I have looked at the questions & answers from the candidates, and have been able to figure out who I would vote for in the other wards, but not ours...I think Marconi was the only one who answered...I have not lived here long, so any info you can give me on the others would be benificial in my decision. |
Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 8:34am
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Gem Marconi has not answered the questions as of yet, but Josh Laubach who is running against Marconi has and you can see his answers here:
http://www.middletownusa.com/view_news.asp?a=4553 - http://www.middletownusa.com/view_news.asp?a=4553
Marconi said it would be several weeks before he could answer them and that was several weeks ago. I don't understand the delay from a sitting Council person who has far more access to information to answer the question than new candidates, yet hasn't answered them yet. Same with Armbruster in Ward 1.
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Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 10:14am
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Pacman
Mr. John Soppanish, canidate for Ward 2, hasn't answered the questions for MUSA either.
I think we will be hearing from all these canidates about the first of September. |
Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 11:15am
| Thanks Vivian missed that one. |