MAYFIELD, Ohio By unanimously endorsing six proposed charter amendments for the Nov. 4 vote on Monday, the Village Council formally made it official.
The village’s 2025 Charter Review Commission suggested the above modifications.
Since inhabitants mostly deal with language changes to the 50-year-old charter, the modifications would not have an effect on their daily lives.
There were no public speakers at the public hearing that began Monday’s council meeting.
Voters will be asked to determine whether or not these revisions will be incorporated into the charter in November. The following wording should not be used on the ballot:
— Instead of meeting in person as required by the current charter, should Village Council be allowed to convene virtually?
Village Law Director Diane Calta informed council that Gov. Mike DeWine permitted virtual meetings during the COVID outbreak.
However, the village’s authority to convene virtual meetings also ended when the pandemic ended.
Under certain conditions, the council may hold virtual meetings if this charter amendment is accepted. She stated that laws covering those unique situations would have to be passed by the council.
— Should the village amend the hearing and public notice provisions for certain ordinances to be published in a widely read newspaper and on the community’s chosen digital platforms?
Although notice must be published in a widely read newspaper, the amendment would permit notice to be posted on other platforms the village may have, including its website, Facebook page, and digital electronic sign near the gazebo at Wilson Mills and Som Center roads.
The question of whether Charter Article V should be changed to include administrative posts as classified service employees (such as chiefs of police and fire) and unclassified service employees (such as department heads and elected officials) will be put to the voters.
Which organizations would be subject to civil service procedures and tests would depend on this.
Calta stated, “We’re updating the language and making it clear; we’re not moving any (employee) positions in or out of classified service.”
— Whether the charter should be changed to eliminate the Board of Zoning Appeals’ (BZA) authority to issue use variances in non-residential districts will be up to the voters.
For uses that are prohibited inside a zoning district, the BZA can now award use variances.
According to Calta, the charter was changed in 2015 to give the BZA the authority to grant use deviations in non-residential districts, but it was later discovered that this had created confusion and that there was no practical need for it.
According to her, other measures have been taken to better meet the needs of the hamlet, like the establishment of overlay districts.
In order to establish a start date for the staggered terms of board and commission members, several provisions of the charter make reference to January 1, 1975, the day the village’s charter went into force (it was enacted on May 7, 1974).
The exact date would be removed as part of the charter modification, and the effective date of this charter would take its place.
Finally, a proposal to modify the charter would eliminate the need for a petitioner’s committee to nominate and handle other petitions.
According to this clause of the charter, a nominating committee composed of at least five registered voters must be present for every initiative, recall, referendum, or nominating campaign.
According to a village fact sheet, there is ambiguity because Article VI (of the charter), which deals with nominating petitions, makes no mention of this burdensome and antiquated procedure.
If approved, this amendment will eliminate the charter’s necessity for a nominating committee.
No more assisted living facilities
In September, the Village Council will likely examine and decide to ban nursing homes in the future.
Although there are currently two nursing facilities in the hamlet, Calta stated that they require a variance to operate.
Any future assisted living, memory care, and/or nursing home facilities in Mayfield will not be allowed under any circumstances if the council takes action.
Following a workshop on the topic on July 17, the Mayfield Planning Commission suggested enacting the moratorium on August 4.
During the class, Fire Chief Gino Carcioppolo discussed the rise in EMS calls for assistance that nursing homes generate.
According to him, there were anywhere from 186 to a low of 148 calls between 2018 and the COVID year of 2020. The call number increased from 208 in 2021 to 244 in 2022, 249 in 2023, and 264 in 2024.
According to him, we handled between 750 and 800 calls annually when I first started working here as a firefighter in 2001.
We’ve experienced a nearly 40–50% rise in call volume during the more than 20 years I’ve worked here, and we’re still doing it with the same personnel levels I began with.
Carcioppolo will present to the council at its monthly caucus meeting on September 8. On September 22, the council is expected to decide on whether to forbid nursing homes in the future.
The two nursing facilities in the hamlet are Altercare, which has 52 beds, located at 290 N. Commons Blvd., and Governors hamlet, which is located nearby and has 87 rooms.
Sale of village real estate
At $450,000, the village has been trying to sell the land it owns at 691 SOM Center Road.
Adjacent to Whitehaven Cemetery at 615 SOM Center Road, the undeveloped 3.5-acre property consists of a ravine and around 2 acres of buildable land.
In an effort to find a buyer, the council decided on Monday to extend its real estate listing agreement with Realtors Sara Calo and Howard Hanna by six months.
The price has been lowered to $399,900 to aid in that endeavor.
Although not at the increased price, Calta informed the council that there has been interest in the property.
The Sun Messenger has further information.
