SALEM — One year later, same result — no charter commission formation.

Salem voters made themselves abundantly clear Tuesday, defeating the charter commission question by a much wider margin of 714 votes this time around, according to complete but unofficial results from the Columbiana County Board of Elections. The vote totals were 1,521 against and 807 in favor, or 65 percent against and 35 percent for the issue.

“The voters have spoken and have been clearly heard. We are proud of the commission candidates that stepped forward and hope they stay engaged with their local government. Our resolve remains that seating a Charter Commission would have given Salem a chance for a change and a new direction. At the very least the issue got the two central committees to work together and we hope they can continue that relationship constructively for the good of the city,” Dave Nestic and Jock Buta wrote in a joint statement.

A former city councilman, Nestic spearheaded the effort for a charter commission both last year and this year, joined by Buta as they served as co-chairmen of the charter subcommittee through the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs Committee.

Last year, the Salem Area Democrats came out against the charter issue right before the election while the Salem Republicans supported it. This time, both parties strongly opposed the measure, taking out a full-page joint ad against it and writing columns and Letters to the Editor in an attempt to convince voters to defeat the issue.

They questioned the need to explore options with a charter commission since the current government is operating so well and also said a charter would take away citizen control and the mayoral veto.

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce supported the charter commission, with the Legislative Affairs Committee holding a public forum to disseminate information about the issue. They said this would give citizens a chance to decide for themselves how they wanted their government to operate. They could require qualifications for certain positions, require the mayor to work full-time and require planning be implemented, especially in the area of capital improvements.

Besides the charter commission question, voters had to decide who to place on the 15-member commission if it was formed.

For the charter commission positions, Mark Flake was the candidate who failed to make the 15-person roster out of 16 candidates, getting 501 votes. Vote totals for the elected commission members, who won’t get to serve since the charter question failed, included: Greg Arcuri, 544; John (Jock) Buta, 800; Meta Cramer, 641; Kyle Cranmer, 678; Thomas Eddinger, 620; Karl Getzinger, 680 ; Virginia Maria (Ginger) Grilli, 567; Richard Lutsch, 670; DeEllen McFarland, 511; Audrey Null, 853; George Spack Jr., 859; Eloise Traina, 723; Dennis Weaver, 599; Frank Zamarelli, 963; and Ronald Zellers, 617.

Last fall, the charter commission question failed by a narrow margin of 27 votes, with 2,303 yes votes and 2,330 no votes. Citing the closeness of the vote, city council voted unanimously to put the issue back on the fall ballot to ask citizens again if they were interested in forming a commission to then write a charter and decide how Salem’s government should operate. Once the charter was written, voters would have cast ballots again, this time for the charter itself.

The city currently operates under the statute written by the state of Ohio, electing a mayor, council, auditor, treasurer and law director. The mayor serves as administrator, naming a city service/safety director to help oversee the police, fire, housing and zoning, and service departments, while a Utilities Commission and Utilities Superintendent oversee water and sewer operations.

Under a charter, a municipality operates by its own terms and can have a strong council format which calls on council to hire a city manager to oversee city operations. Depending on how the charter is written, there could still be a mayor which acts as president of council and handles ceremonial duties. Or there could be a commission format where several commissioners oversee different aspects of city operations. Or the current format could be followed with a mayor, council, and a few tweaks here and there.

mgreier@salemnews.net