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Canal Winchester review panel hears law director on forms of government; agrees to edit archaic "village" language
Summary
The Charter Review Commission heard a presentation from Law Director Thad Boggs on strong mayor, council-manager and administrator-manager structures and flagged proposed edits to the preamble and Article I; commissioners discussed maintaining a strong-mayor plan and asked staff to draft amendment language.
Chair Chuck Milliken called the Canal Winchester Charter Review Commission to order on Feb. 5 and asked the group to consider updates to the charter's opening materials and form-of-government language.
Law Director Thad Boggs told the commission, "I am Thad Boggs. I'm the law director for the city," and explained that the city currently operates under a "strong mayor-council plan" in which executive authority is vested in the mayor. He contrasted that with a council-manager form in which the council hires a city manager. "The city administrator is appointed by the mayor and serves at the pleasure of the mayor in our form of government here," Boggs said, while noting council-manager systems typically lack a mayoral veto.
Milliken read the preamble aloud and raised a drafting point about anachronistic wording that still refers to the municipality as a "village." Boggs recommended recasting the opening sentence to refer simply to the municipal corporation as the City of Canal Winchester; commissioners agreed to add that edit to the list of proposed changes.
Vice Chair Scott Conner summarized the prevailing caution among some members: "If it's not broken, don't try to fix it," arguing for retaining the strong-mayor approach. Commissioners also discussed mayoral compensation and the creation of the city administrator position implemented in 2023; Boggs and staff clarified that salary and budget authorities remain subject to council appropriations even where administrative duties are delegated.
The commission did not vote on charter amendments at this meeting but asked counsel and staff to draft specific language changes and return them for further consideration.
