Nelsonville’s city government is ignoring voters, failing constituents

Nelsonville is amazing. 

Those of us who live and work here can take this for granted. Driving down Canal Street it’s easy to forget to look at the beautiful hills surrounding the town. Turning through the Square it’s easy to stop noticing how beautiful the fountain is and how unique the historic buildings are. Walking out the bike path to Hocking college it’s easy to forget how peaceful the river is flowing right through the middle of town. 

Our city has so much to recommend right now. A first-class outdoor gear store, a full service adventure outfitter, a top notch music venue, fine dining, cool cafes, and fun bars, tourist attractions and hometown businesses –– all of them already make this a great place to live, work, and play. And our position just south of the outdoor tourism center of Southeast Ohio with easy access to hunting, fishing, OHV, biking, and hiking trails, and some of the best roads for motorcycles in the state means that we have even more that we can continue to build on well into the future. 

Nelsonville is on the cusp of becoming something even more special than we all already know it to be, and we are calling on all of the citizens of Nelsonville as well as our elected leadership to stand up and make the changes necessary to move us forward. Nelsonville City Council must rescind recent actions taken to overturn the will of the people with regard to Charter Government. 

To be clear, we are not taking a political position, as many of our Chamber members and business owners are of diverse political leanings. But last November, 70% of the electorate voted to restore the city to statutory government, and then in May, 54% affirmed that vote. When the citizens have made their decision clear, it should proceed post haste and not get bogged down in expensive litigation that attempts to ignore the will of the voters. 

We recognize that a change like this is unprecedented and will be challenging to implement. But we believe that the people of Nelsonville have the ability to see this change through. To that end, we are also calling on all citizens of Nelsonville to do what they can to help see this process through. There are many people in this community who have great ideas about how to make this an even better place, and now is the time to step up and lead. 

Reforming Nelsonville’s government allows us to set the tone for what we want Nelsonville to be for the next 20, 50, or 100 years. We need leadership that will take us to the next level, and this is our opportunity to create that by honoring the vote of the people.