MANSFIELD — Rising inflation led to a suggested change involving purchasing power in the City of Mansfield charter.
City voters will make that decision Nov. 5 on the lone change suggested by the Mansfield Charter Review Commission earlier this year — and approved for the ballot in May by City Council.
If approved, the change would allow the city administration to award contracts of up to $50,000 — doubling the $25,000 limit now imposed — without approval from the Board of Control or city lawmakers.
Contracts between $50,000 and $75,000 would still require approval from the Board of Control, which is comprised of the mayor, finance director and safety-service director.
Contracts greater than $75,000 would still need to be competitively bid and approved by City Council.
“It gives departments more latitude in spending without another layer of approval,” Finance Director Kelly Blankenship said Friday.
The change was sought by Mayor Jodie Perry and Blankenship.
“In 2023, the City Council raised the threshold for projects going to bid to $75,000, raised from $50,000,” Perry said in May.
“This mirrored a change that the State of Ohio had made to Ohio Revised Code. Also, the threshold for projects needing Council approval was raised to $75,000. We are proposing we raise the other level of approval by the same amount.
“This was all prompted in 2023 by the high inflation being experienced, which has driven up costs,” Perry said.
The section of the city charter regulating the Board of Control is found in Article XI, titled “Other Municipal Instrumentalities.”
The current section, enacted Nov. 6, 2012, reads:
“Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of Section 713.23, and Sections 125.04 and 5513.01 of the Ohio Revised Code, no contract in the department of public service or the department of public safety, in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars, shall be awarded except on the approval of the board of control of the city, which board shall direct the director of the appropriate department to enter into the contract. The members of the board shall prepare estimates of the revenue and expenditures of their respective departments to be submitted to the city legislative authority by the mayor, as provided by law.”
The proposed charter change also strikes the final sentence of the charter section.
“The language strike is to reflect this step is repetitive of the current budget process,” Perry said in May.
“The Director of Finance prepares the revenue estimates. The department heads submit their proposed budget to the mayor and administration for review. The budget is then given to City Council for passage and/or amendment.
“The Board of Control does not play a role in this process and has not in recent memory.”
A charter review commission is convened every four years in Mansfield. Members serve one-year terms.
According to Section 14.02 of the city charter, after studying and reviewing the charter, the commission reports its recommendations (if any) for revisions of the charter to Mansfield City Council within nine months.
Members elected in November 2023 to the Charter Review Commission were Charles Hahn and Shari Robertson, both at-large; and Michael Miranda (1st Ward), Emily Adams (2nd Ward), Jill VanHarlingen (3rd Ward), Karla Hale (4th Ward), Brandon Dixon (5th Ward) and Gabe Zader (6th Ward).
Robertson was recently selected by Mansfield Republican Party Central Committee members to fill the unexpired term of At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader.
