Citizens cause Kettering to dodge legal bullet

During a workshop meeting on March 8, the Kettering City Council balked joining a coalition at a cost of $5,000 of taxpayer money. The coalition, called Council to Protect Ohio’s Communities, primary purpose is to lobby the Ohio General Assembly to not eliminate the Ohio estate tax, address the collective bargaining reform and to preserve communities’ revenue sources.

More than 40 Kettering residents attended the Council’s workshop expressing their condemnation for the proposed action of Kettering joining COPC. In the end, the Council did not join the coalition and the city manager opted to keep “monitoring” the situation.

COPC and the City of Shaker Heights are now subject to a possible injunction from the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. A citizen of Shaker Heights is planning to file suit against the city from entering into COPC agreement.

The City of Shaker Heights put up $150,000 to retain two firms — Government Strategies Group LLC of Cincinnati for $100,000 and Burges & Burges Strategists of Cleveland for $50,000 — through COPC. Kettering was considering providing a minimum of $5,000 towards the coalition.

The potential suit alleges COPC exceeds the powers granted to municipalities, lacks a requisite “public purpose” and involves clearly “extraterritorial operations” to which home rule powers do not extend. Additionally, the suit alleges the city violated competitive bidding requirements, that it has no “police powers” outside its borders and no authority to engage in lobbying activities.

Shaker Heights claims COPC is a legitimate public purpose and points to the Regional Councils of Government as a similar organization which does lobbying.

If Kettering would have joined COPC, the Council quite possibly would have opened the city to both an injunction as well as an expensive lawsuit.

The moral of the story is when citizens get engaged and involved, our government listens. Due to the recent participation, Kettering citizens pushed their city from making a potential tragic mistake driven by the city manager and Council.

All citizens should keep their government accountable and remain engaged. When citizens are involved, good government does result. Citizen involvement saved Kettering money..