THE NEWS-HERALD
Wednesday, August 29, 2001

Stadium issue headed to court

Eastlake City Council votes not to place petition on ballot

By Heather Fletcher
News-Herald Staff Writer

Eastlake is going to take its chances in court.

Tuesday night, city council voted not to send to the Nov. 6 ballot a petition that was signed by residents pushing for a charter change designed to stop a minor-league baseball stadium from being built.

The charter change also included language that meant voters would need to approve any major building project in the city.

The lone dissenter in Tuesday's vote was Councilman Stephen Komarjanski, who worked with he petition committee to get the issue on the ballot.

About 150 residents listened as Patrick J. Perotti, lawyer for the petition committee, said council had the legal obligation to give the issue to the Lake County Elections Board by Sept. 7 so it could be presented to voters Nov. 6.

Perotti said because council did not adhere to its legal obligation, the Ohio Supreme Court may have to determine if the charter change goes on the ballot.

He said the committee also may pursue a federal lawsuit against individual council members regarding violating civil rights by not allowing a public vote.

City Law Director Theodore R. Klammer said the state Supreme Court is the proper venue for the election question.

He presented his opinion to council before the panel declined to make the matter an election question.

Klammer said he thinks council was correct to keep the petition off of the ballot because it has major flaws.

Klammer said the mechanical flaws that may keep the issue off of the ballot include:

• The petition contained language warning those who signed the petition that violating election laws is punishable by a misdemeanor. A state law that became effective Tuesday says that violating election laws is a felony.
• The petition refers to an "Exhibit A" that is not attached.
• Election laws require petition committees to have three members with accurate addresses listed. Klammer said petition committee member Stanley D. Leff did not include the word "North" in his address, 94 N. Lakehurst Drive.

Leff, a former member of the Eastlake Architectural Board of Review, was joined by committee members Morris B. Becker, a former mayor, and Bill Spangenberg, a former councilman. n Some residents who signed the petition anted to have their names removed because they believed te election question was misrepresented to them. Names cannot be removed from petitions once the signatures head to a public entity, such as Eastlake, Klammer said. Some residents said committee members told them the issue was about the stadium and not all major building projects. Committee members and petition circulators deny misrepresenting the petitions. Klammer said other flaws exist in the petition, but he does not think those flaws would prohibit the issue from heading to the ballot. For instance, the law director said, the charter change is unconstitutional because it changes laws retroactively. Perotti said the laws Klammer referenced do not apply to charter change requests. Three hours before the council vote, Perotti had faxed a request to speak before the vote. Council President William Philipp denied the request because Perotti's comments regarded pending litigation. Meanwhile, hired baseball consultant Thomas V. Chema said financing is falling into place by owner Kip Horsburgh's deadline of mid-September. Chema added the city is "talking terms" regarding naming rights to the $15 million ballpark scheduled to open in spring 2003 at the southeast corner of Vine Street and SOM Center Road. Chema declined to say how much money Eastlake will charge for naming rights. "We feel very comfortable that we have a deal," he said.