Westlake Projected To Approve All Charter Amendments

WESTLAKE, OH — All of Westlake's proposed charter amendments passed in the general election, according to unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

The amendments — which altered the charter in various ways and will be broken down below — had a contentious and winding path to ballots. The proposals were adopted from the Charter Review Commission by City Council, six were vetoed by Mayor Dennis Clough, and then City Council overrode the mayor's vetoes. That placed all of the proposed amendments before Westlake voters.

On Wednesday morning, with the dust largely settled on the amendments issues, Clough said he was happy to make the changes approved by voters.

"If the people of Westlake felt positive about it, we live with changes. And we make it work. I'm pleased we have such a supportive constituency," Clough told Patch. He said he knew all of the amendments would pass once they hit ballots.

While he was comfortable implementing the approved changes, Clough admitted he would rather some of the amendments had not passed.

"I happen to believe the charter is like our Constitution and you shouldn't change it very often, unless there is a problem. There is not a problem with how government works in Westlake. So if there's not a problem, why are you changing the charter?" he said.

Here's what each proposed charter amendment would do and how it fared in the final unofficial vote tally.

• Westlake Charter Amendment 56, amending the charter to have gender-neutral language
• Yes: 10,879
• No: 6,423
• Westlake Charter Amendment 57, clarifying the mayor's ability to appoint staff, except the director of law
  • Yes: 10,561
  • No: 5,993
• Westlake Charter Amendment 58, a run-off for mayor will be held if no candidate gets more than 40 percent of the vote
  • Yes: 11,135
  • No: 5,102
• Westlake Charter Amendment 59, regular council meetings will be set by council president
  • Yes: 11,414
  • No: 4,973
• Westlake Charter Amendment 60, allowing electronic notices for meetings
  • Yes: 15,328
  • No: 1,654
• Westlake Charter Amendment 61, adding the Department of Engineering, Department of Buildings, Structures and Inspections, and Department of Purchasing as departments established in the Charter
• Yes: 13,300
• No: 2,736
• Westlake Charter Amendment 62, merging the Board of Building Appeals into the Board of Zoning Appeals
• Yes: 11,425
• No: 4,074
• Westlake Charter Amendment 63, the director of law must have practiced law in Ohio for 6 continuous years
• Yes: 12,504
• No: 3,404
• Westlake Charter Amendment 64, renew the existing 0.9 mill tax levy for the purpose of providing funds to pay for the salaries and other expenses of the Police and Fire Departments
• Yes: 13,474
• No: 3,340
• Westlake Charter Amendment 65, reduce the number of petitions needed to run for elected office to 250 petitions
• Yes: 8,791
• No: 7,483
• Westlake Charter Amendment 66, increasing the size of the Charter Review Commission to 11 members rather than nine
  • Yes: 10,688
  • No: 5,192