MAUMEE, Ohio — Maumee residents have been expressing frustration with a recent sewer line ordinance passed in the city.
Now, they are making an attempt to take power into their own hands.
"The entire burden, at this point, is being put on the backs of residents, and so people aren't speaking up because they're afraid and they need a voice," said Maumee resident Alicia Wagner.
Wagner earlier in the week created the "Citizens Initiative," a movement intended to collect signatures to file a repeal petition with the city and Lucas County Board of Elections in hopes of having a vote to repeal the ordinance in November.
The ordinance requires properties for sale in Maumee city limits to have their sewer line connections inspected and for owners to pay for potential repairs.
According to Wagner, in order to meet the criteria for a petition, the initiative needed to collect 562 signatures. In less than 24 hours, they received nearly triple that number.
"Between 5 p.m. on Monday evening until 9 p.m., we garnered over, I think it was close to 1,400 signatures," she said.
The group had 24 hours due to a tight time constraint to meet the Aug. 7 deadline.
"We basically had a 24-hour time frame to initiate a petition drive, and so we put the call out to the community, and they rallied," Wagner said.
Lucas County BOE Director LaVera Scott said the process involves having the city, after 10 days, send a copy of the petition to the board, which then has 10 days to examine all signatures on the petition, determine the number of electors and then send back to the city.
Wagner says she submitted the signatures on Tuesday, leaving the 10-day window set to close on Aug. 2 for the city's finance director, Jennifer Harkey, to submit the petition to the board of elections.
Andrew Mayle, an attorney representing the initiative, provided the following statement to WTOL 11:
"Ohio law imposes a crystal-clear duty upon Maumee's finance director, Jennifer Harkey, to give the Lucas County Board of Elections the signatures after ten days of receipts. Alicia Wagner submitted the signatures on Tuesday. Everyone in Maumee who signed the petition should politely and professionally contact Ms. Harkey's office to let her know that they expect her to fulfill her legal obligation. We of course expect that Ms. Harkey will professionally fulfill her duty. But in case she does not, my law firm has already drafted a lawsuit against her. My sincere hope is that we don't need to file it. A public official choosing not to comply with the law is a crime. If a public official fails to fulfill a duty expressly imposed by law, it is a jailable offense under Revised Code Section 2921.44(E), which is a subsection within Ohio's dereliction of duty statute."
While the signatures were being collected Monday night, Maumee City Council was holding a meeting, discussing the ordinance and proposing a new one that would reallocate an undetermined amount of money from the sewer fund, intended for re-lining streets and put it toward qualifying families.
That ordinance is set for a vote by council at their next meeting on Aug. 19.
It's an effort that Maumee Mayor James MacDonald says he's making to help as much as the city can, but a repeal of the ordinances would do more harm than good.
"I would not say that's a very proactive approach to what we need, and we think we're on the right road in trying to fix the problem, instead of just delaying it," he said.
But people are remaining confident, even if the deadline is not met for this year.
"We want people to understand that if it doesn't make it on this 20-24 ballot, it will make it onto the 20-25 ballot," said Maumee resident Julie Koralewski.
MacDonald on Thursday provided the following statement to WTOL 11
“We respect the rights of our citizens to organize and are committed to engaging with residents so they may voice their concerns and provide input to address solutions to our city's sanitary sewer problems.”