ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — A decision this week by the Ohio Supreme Court could end up determining which is the legitimate government in Nelsonville.
Several courts have had opportunities to resolve the issue of Nelsonville’s rival governments, but so far none have done so.
The city is in this highly unusual situation because two years ago Nelsonville voters approved a citizen-led initiative to abolish the city’s charter.
The charter established the form of government the city has been operating under since its adoption in 1994. Before that, Nelsonville had what’s known as a statutory form of government.
The principal difference is that under the charter, the City Council holds the power. Under the statutory government, power was split between the council and an elected mayor.
The citizen initiative that passed in November 2024, known as Issue 23, called for the city to return to a statutory government starting Jan. 1 of this year. This set a transition process in motion, with candidates running in last November’s election for positions in the new statutory government.
Three months before the election, however, the City Council voted to repeal Issue 23, claiming it has the authority to do so under the charter. But the statutory candidates remained on the ballot.
This resulted in Nelsonville beginning 2026 with two governments — the existing one under the charter and the new statutory one elected under Issue 23 — each claiming to be the city’s legitimate government.
On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued an opinion in a case unrelated to any of this, but that could nevertheless resolve the conflict.
The case involves Rita Nguyen, a former Nelsonville City Council member who argues that in early 2024 she was wrongfully removed from council.
Nguyen challenged her removal in court. The 4th District Court of Appeals ultimately dismissed her case as moot, saying that after the election of the new statutory council last November, the council seat Nguyen sought to reclaim no longer existed.
The court made this decision without deciding whether the statutory government or the charter government is the legitimate one, which would require deciding whether the repeal of Issue 23 was valid.
Nguyen appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which in its decision Thursday said her case cannot be dismissed as moot without first resolving the Issue 23 dispute.
Whatever the 4th District ends up deciding, the decision will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, there is another case before the Supreme Court that challenges the validity of the Issue 23 repeal and therefore which is Nelsonville’s legitimate government.
It remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will wait to see what decision the 4th District makes on Issue 23 in the Nguyen case before making its own decision on Issue 23 in the other case.
This story was originally published by WOUB and is republished here with permission.
