By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary announced his decision to veto a resolution last week but some City Council members are crying foul at the move.
Council President Donald Faulds called a press conference Monday afternoon to discuss the Mayor’s veto and the subsequent uproar it has brought about. The press release can be read in its entirety below.
O’Leary vetoed Resolution 2013-4 Sept. 6, which requested Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to investigate the Prairie State issue. The resolution had originally been passed by Council on Aug. 27 and signed by the Mayor on Aug. 29. He later used white-out to cover his signature and the date.
“He didn’t veto it first,” Faulds said, pulling out the resolution and displaying it across his desk. “He signed it into law and then whited it out.” He pointed out that you could still see the signature and the date underneath the white-out.
Faulds said, due to O’Leary’s actions, a procedural issue had risen. He questioned whether O’Leary was able to do this. Faulds argued that after O’Leary signed the resolution, it became a public document. By whiting-out his signature and the date, Faulds contended that O’Leary had destroyed a public document.
“His first consideration should have been the citizens of the city, those that are suffering and making these payments,” said Faulds.
Faulds and Councilman Andy Daniels have requested that Law Director Roberta Wade seek an opinion from Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in regards to the legality of the Mayor’s actions.
“The vote (to override the veto) won’t be taken until after we have reached a decision or a response from the Attorney General,” Faulds said. “Until that is resolved we will not make an override vote on that veto.”
O’Leary indicated last week that Council member Shirley Clark and Matt Strickler would support his veto. He believed that Thomas Fellner, who had been absent at the time of the vote, would also be likely to support the veto.
Five votes are needed to override O’Leary’s veto.
Faulds isn’t so sure of O’Leary’s support. Because of Fellner’s absence, Faulds didn’t see his vote in favor of the veto as a sure thing and with the outcry from the public, Faulds felt that council members may be more inclined to override it.
“Since the council member that was absent had not voted yet and, from what I understand the community are approaching those council members, I don’t know that his vote is still the same. So he may or may not vote in favor of that issue at that time whenever this is taken,” stated Faulds. “Until this issue now with the white-out of the Mayor’s signature, I don’t know that we won’t be addressing that until that time.”
The Prairie State project has been a point of contention in Galion since nearly the beginning.
Faulds argued that the City of Galion had not been given complete information at the start of the Prairie State project. With an open-ended contract, the city’s obligation for a payment never stops, stated Faulds.
‘We don’t know what the actual billing will ever be on this project,” said Faulds.
Galion’s contract with Prairie State won’t expire until 2057.
Faulds said, though the local residential rates are indifferent compared to other communities, the business industries in the community are paying higher rates than outside the area because they subsidize the residential rates.
“There’s a lot of things that need to be address in this. As far as the resolution is concerned, all we’re asking is for a third party to look at this and give us a third opinion. It’s like two kids arguing; we ask mom to make a decision who’s right,” explained Faulds. “And because our Attorney General is supported by the taxpayers of the members of this community and the members of the other 59 Ohio communities that are involved in this, then he’d be the person that we feel should look at this.”
Faulds said it wasn’t an attempt to get out of the Prairie State contract but to evaluate what was presented to the communities, how it was presented and the promises that were made.
“All we’re asking the Attorney General to do is look at, give us an opinion. Do we have something to worry about? Did we do things right; were we presented things properly? If that decision comes down whatever way it is, we’ll have to live with that. But there are other communities that are looking at this more seriously than we are,” said Faulds.
The resolution had originally passed on its first two readings and passed on its third reading even with some objections raised. In Faulds’ mind, O’Leary’s reasons for vetoing the resolution did not seem concrete.
“As far as saying that we were influencing these other communities or these other communities were going to be upset with Galion because we were going forward with this, personally, I feel we should be concerned about our community and if these other communities aren’t in favor of it, they are going to have to face whatever comes down the road. We’re at least trying to address it,” said Faulds.
“We’re trying and we’ve been trying,” Faulds said.
Faulds anticipates the veto vote may draw big crowds to Council Chambers, though any decision will be postponed until the next meeting or until the Attorney General makes a decision on the veto issue. Due to the high attendance the Galion City Council has been experiencing recently, Council may choose to move its meeting temporarily in order to accommodate a larger crowd. Faulds said a notification will be sent out should the need arise.
Galion City Council President Donald Faulds press release:
I’ve called this meeting to update the citizens on the status of the Mayor’s veto of Resolution 2013-4. That resolution requested the State Attorney General to investigate the Prairie State Long-Term, Take-Or-Pay Contract.
Council has the right to override his veto, however there is a procedural issue that we intend to pursue first.
The Resolution was passed at the Council meeting on August 27th, and was presented by the Council Clerk to the Mayor on the next day, August 28th, for his signature.
The Mayor had three (3) options as per Ohio Revised Code Section 731.27;
1) He could approve and sign it
2) He could not sign it and let it become law
3) He could not sign it and veto it, giving his reasons for the veto in writing.
None of those three things happened. What happened was, the Mayor signed and dated the record on August 29th. However, for some reason, he then used white-out and covered his signature and date.
The questions then is: Can he do this? When he signed the Resolution, he created a public document and by whiting-out his signature, he was destroying a public record.
He did not have an option to sign and then un-sign the Resolution.
Andy Daniels, 1st Ward Councilman and myself, have requested that our Law Director, Roberta Wade, seek an opinion from the Crawford County Prosecutor and the Ohio Attorney General regarding the legality of the Mayor’s actions.
Although the Mayor returned the Resolution on August 29th, the Council Clerk did not receive his veto statement until September 5th. That statement simply said, “After careful consideration, I have vetoed Resolution 2013-4. It is my decision that this Resolution is not in the best interest of the citizens of Galion.”
At the Mayor’s press conference on September 6th, he gave a few, in my opinion, very lame reasons for his veto.
The first thing he should have considered were the citizens who struggle from month to month to pay their electric bills and the 102 electric customers who had their service cut off last month.
Prairie State was a bad deal and we bought too much. We have a 50-year contract that obligates us to pay our share of all expenses incurred in the electric generating plant, coal mine and waste dump site.
People like it when their government actually works. They can even tolerate it when their government makes a mistake. But they cannot and should not tolerate it when their government refuses to try.
The majority of City Council members want to try and get the Ohio Attorney General to investigate. Right now, we are going to fully pursue this signature issue, and will keep the citizens posted.