TOLEDO, Ohio — Four sitting Toledo City Council members were arrested Tuesday and are facing federal charges after their alleged involvement in a bribes-for-votes scheme spanning seven years.
Democratic council members Larry Sykes (At-Large), Yvonne Harper (District 4), Gary Johnson (At-Large) and Tyrone Riley (District 1) are accused of bribery and extortion, which carry 10 and 20-year sentences respectively.
Some would assume the accusations would leave those seats immediately vacant on city council, but that isn't necessarily the case.
According to Clerk of Council Gerald Dendinger, there are currently no vacancies, even with those arrests.
However, there still seems to be a bit of confusion swirling around if members can actually be removed.
Dendinger said that these members would have to resign and that no one can force them to do so.
But, an excerpt from the city charter may contradict these statements. Chapter IV, Section 35 in the city charter reads:
"Council shall determine its own rules and order of business, and shall keep a journal of its proceedings. It may punish or expel any member for disorderly conduct or violation of its rules. No expulsion shall take place without the concurrence of two-thirds of all members elected, nor until the delinquent member shall have been notified of the charge against him or her, and shall have been given an opportunity to be heard."
Dendinger said he believes this chapter only refers to a meeting or a vote, claiming that once voted in, state law requires the person to either resign or be voted out by a citizens' recall vote.
Additionally, the four members make up a full third of the council, meaning, that if a vote were to take place, and assuming these individuals all voted to keep themselves in, every other council member would have to vote for their removal for it to go through.
But, say they do resign or are able to be removed. What happens next?
REPLACING CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
If a vacancy does pop up, city council will appoint a replacement until the next special election - in this case, that's November. And At-Large members, like Sykes and Johnson, are up for re-election at that point anyway.
But, they would have to resign relatively soon for the At-Large replacements to appear on the November ballot, as they need 90 days in office. If Sykes and Johnson resign sometime before August 3, there would be an election in November for their seats.
As far as district seats go, those vacancies can be filled temporarily, at the next primary/general election between 45-180 days, or at the next special election. If a council member resigns before mid-September, that seat would be voted on in November.
A number of city officials, including Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz and Toledo City Council President Matt Cherry have already called for the resignation of all four council members involved.
OPERATING WITHOUT 4 MEMBERS
Since city charter requires a minimum of seven votes, legislation would not stop completely. The process will slow down, however, as council needs to have nine votes to suspend a required second reading of legislation. This means that issues that normally could be expedited in one meeting would require at least two meetings to pass.
Tuesday's council meeting was postponed for one week, meaning everything for that day's agenda is now pushed back until July 7 at 1 p.m. Items that were left on the table include:
- No-knock warrant restrictions (proposed by Sykes)
- Mandating body cameras for all Toledo police officers (proposed by Sykes)
- Subpoena powers for the Civilian Police Review Board (proposed by Riley)
- Allocating $100,000 to the review board for a new executive director position
Councilman Rob Ludeman, the body's only Republican, is taking over the finance committee chairmanship position, previously held by Sykes.
We will continue to keep you updated.
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