Many still in the dark on what City Council will do regarding Our City Our Say - ‘9 and 4’ or ‘9 and 2’?

Columbus City Council is voting on Monday, August 24 to place a competing charter amendment on November’s ballot against Our City Our Say’s charter amendment, but what exactly council will be voting for is still unknown to many. 

Will they vote to approve 9 council districts and 4 at-large seats, or will they vote for 9 council districts and 2 at-large seats – or something completely different?

At last Monday’s hearing, council never expressed the specifics of what its competing ballot measure will be, and this has some members from the grassroots Our City Our Say (OCOS) on edge. Mostly because the difference between 9-4 and 9-2 is consequential.

If 4 at-large seats are on November’s ballot and this ballot measure defeats the OCOS measure, it likely means the establishment, “The Columbus Way,” retains its grip on Central Ohio.

As many know, OCOS had plenty of momentum towards winning what they originally wanted: 9 council districts where only voters within each district vote for their councilmember who also must reside in the district. Currently, the council district system is determined by an at-large vote – a rarity for a city the size of Columbus. 

However, city officials, after realizing how serious a threat OCOS had become, began negotiating with some of the OCOS leadership – but not all – to reach a compromise. Former Mayor Michael Coleman and current City Council President Shannon Hardin were part of the city team that met, mostly in secret, with a handful of OCOS leadership. 

The Free Press spoke with several OCOS members familiar with what could happen Monday when City Council votes on their OCOS “compromise” amendment that will be a stand-alone ballot measure competing against OCOS’s ballot measure. 

“Why didn’t they [City Council] present what their proposal was for this public hearing?” asked one of our OCOS sources, all who wish to remain anonymous. “They did not tell the public, only certain people know what is going on. Some people know and some don’t know.”

One reason there’s so much secrecy, says another source, is because City Council knows those opposed to the 9-4 council make-up won’t be prepared to push back with, for example, testimony. 

“What they’re going to do is, they’re going to present their deal as emergency legislation so there will only be one hearing on this charter amendment that their going to propose,” an OCOS organizer said.

On Monday night then, there will be a single hearing quickly followed by “emergency legislation” or an emergency vote. 

“You should have a first and second reading for things like this,” said another source. “But because it is emergency legislation, they only have to have one reading.” 

What a 9-4 City Council means for the establishment – “The Columbus Way” – is that it “gives them 4 automatic seats, and then they only need 3 district seats to have a majority 7-6,” says another source.  

And even though the amendments are going head-to-head, these same sources agree City Council and its power-broker allies will find a way to win. 

“They will have support of the media, the money, the establishment,” says a source. “I think the major media will make this look like a legitimate compromise to go 9-4.” 

When the truth is, only some leadership of OCOS worked out this so-called “compromise” with former Mayor Coleman, President Hardin, Councilmember Dorans and others.

Initially, Our City Our Say’s best argument was: “In Columbus, we have a rigged system, designed to ensure that big money and a small group of people control the future of our city. The solution is simple: One council member. One district.” 

On Monday night and then in November, the “rigged system” could remain rigged for decades to come.