NELSONVILLE, Ohio — The group acting as a statutory Nelsonville City Council is petitioning the Nelsonville City Charter in order to hold a recall election for the seven sitting members of the opposing council, who meet in city hall.
The Athens County Board of Elections confirmed that it received and verified signatures for the recall petition and that the number of signatures meets the threshold required by the Nelsonville City Charter.
Statutory Council Present Dan Sherman announced at the statutory council’s Sept. 22 meeting that the petition had been submitted to the Athens County Board of Elections, with around 170 signatures.
The statutory council operates under the premise that its members were rightfully elected in accordance with Issue 23, the 2024 ballot initiative that abolished the city charter. It contends that Ordinance 54-25, which the Nelsonville City Council passed in August 2025 to repeal Issue 23, was not lawful.
By the time the charter-based council passed Ordinance 54-25, the Athens County Board of Elections had already approved Issue 23-based offices for the ballot. The legal question of which body rightfully governs looms over the city across numerous lawsuits.
Nelsonville’s charter provides that a recall vote can be triggered by a petition with a number of signatures that exceeds 15% of the total citywide turnout in the last gubernatorial election.
The Athens County Board of Elections records confirmed that this number was 908, setting the threshold at around 136 signatures.
The board verified 142 signatures for the recall of Amy Hollenbaugh, 145 for Charlotte Beach, 141 for Cameron Peck, 138 for Gregg Clement, 143 for McCray Powell, 148 for Nic Joseph-Saul, and 152 for Nancy Sonick.
The clerk of council is responsible for determining the sufficiency of the petition, and they must do so within 10 days of receiving the petition. Acting as council clerk for the charter council, Danielle Huber verified Oct. 2 that the petition had been submitted with the correct number of signatures. (Huber has since resigned, and council member Nic Joseph Saul is intermittently serving as clerk).
After a recall petition is determined sufficient, the city officials have a 10-day window to resign. If they fail to do so, a recall election is triggered. The recall election must be held in the next 75 days after certification. If an election does not naturally occur during this window, a special election can be scheduled.
Athens County Board of Elections Director Tony Brooks said the November ballot has already been set — the recall won’t appear as an issue in the upcoming general election.
Brooks said he couldn’t confirm whether Nelsonville would proceed with a special election.
Nelsonville resident and statutory mayor-elect Johnathan Flowers shared a Facebook post July 21 advertising the petition effort and information about signing events.
“A petition has been filed at the city to recall 7 people on council. There will be a signing of a petition to remove them for their seats. The citizens of Nelsonville will get what they voted for,” Flowers wrote.
Meanwhile, Nelsonville’s statutory council met briefly Oct. 5 to consider two ordinances, both of which passed unanimously and were adopted on first reading under suspension of the rules.
Ordinance 41-26 repeals the charter council’s ordinance 82-26, which appropriated $2,131.43 from the city’s general fund to pay for professional services associated with delinquent water and sewer bills.
Ordinance 42-26 seeks to reverse another appropriation by the charter council by repealing ordinance 83-26, which appropriated $1,917.97 from the general fund for professional services for the sewer office.
At its Oct. 14 meeting, the charter-based Nelsonville City Council answered with a resolution that acknowledged that “the Clerk and the Athens County Board of Elections has found the Petitions to be sufficient per the Nelsonville City Charter” and set the special election date for Tuesday, Dec. 15.
The statutory council’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, at The Lodge at Hocking College, 15770 SR 691. It meets the first and third Mondays of the month.
The charter-based council meets every other Monday of each month, at Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Its next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26.
