NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Nelsonville City Council voted 5-1 Monday night to repeal a ballot initiative passed in 2024 that was intended to eliminate the Nelsonville City Charter and return the city to a statutory form of government.
After an executive session, the council amended its agenda then adopted Ordinance 54-25 on an emergency basis, with council member Johnathan Flowers alone voting no. The council repealed Issue 23 “due to its lack of transitional plan and authority,” the ordinance states.
“860 people voted [yes on Issue 23], I don’t want to throw their votes away,” he said.
Flowers initially abstained before changing his vote to no. Flowers said, “I want what the citizens want.”
Earlier in the meeting, the council appointed Wesley Henderson to fill former council Vice President Nancy Sonick’s open seat. Sonick resigned July 28 to run for mayor.
Under the Nelsonville City Charter, emergency measures must have at least five votes to pass.
Cameron Peck originally drafted the ordinance, he said, and then forwarded it to Nelsonville City Law Director Jonathan Robe on Sunday, Aug. 10. Peck joined the council in March.
Council members Opha Lawson, Nic Joseph-Saul and Cory Taylor “proposed” the ordinance to the city attorney alongside Peck, Peck told the Independent on Tuesday. Peck said Robe drafted the final ordinance.
Taylor did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication. Lawson could not be reached for comment prior to publication.
Robe said in December 2024 that the city has the ability to repeal Issue 23, citing an October 2024 Fourth District Court of Appeals decision.
“The charter is a great instrument, and it’s a thing that belongs to Nelsonville, and it should just be implemented and continued as it should have been in the first place,” Peck told the Independent.
In November 2024, 70% of Nelsonville voters who cast ballots decided they wanted to abolish the city charter via Issue 23.
Nelsonville City Council previously attempted to shift course on Issue 23 with a May ballot initiative that asked voters to amend the charter rather than abolish it and establish a government based upon statutory provisions. Of those who voted, 54% rejected the May initiative.
Since its passage, the city has been working to implement Issue 23, including the creation of an ad-hoc committee and ward maps, and finding a solution to its “December problem” — the one-month gap between charter council terms and new statutory council terms.
“We appreciate everybody’s work. It’s not like anybody’s work goes unappreciated,” Peck said. “While I completely understand that it might feel like a lot of wasted work, it certainly won’t be.”
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Director Tony Brooks said that the Athens County Board of Elections had not yet been formally notified of the council repealing Issue 23.
Brooks said the BOE will “move forward with everything that’s been approved so far,” meaning that — if nothing changes — in the upcoming election, candidates will still run for one-month council terms in 2025, based upon the city charter. Additionally, candidates will also run for the mayor, auditor and law director offices, based upon Issue 23’s statutory government, with terms beginning 2026.
“Until we’re notified of something different from entities, we cannot proceed with any other program,” Brooks said.
The board of elections has approved six candidate petitions for the 2026 council.
The deadline to file as a write-in candidate for either term is Monday, Aug. 25.
Joseph-Saul told the Independent on Tuesday evening she was “confident that the decision to repeal issue 23 was legally sound.”
Former council member Greg Smith, who has a lengthy history of legal battles with the city and helped get Issue 23 the ballot, plans to challenge the council’s decision with legal action.
Smith told the Independent he believes that “what [the council] did last night was illegal” and will “be responding with declaratory judgment.”
“In my opinion, Nelsonville Council couldn’t care less about the wishes of the people,” Smith said.
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month, at Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. Meetings are livestreamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
Note: This article was updated on Tuesday, Aug. 12 at 5:30 p.m. to add comment from council member Nic Joseph-Saul and former council member Greg Smith. This article was also updated on Thursday, Aug. 14 at 11:25 a.m. to include a copy of the ordinance, obtained by public records request.
Disclosure: Robe completed and filed incorporation papers for Southeast Ohio Independent News, the nonprofit that publishes the Athens County Independent. He also has provided the Independent with legal advice.
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