Columbus Council certifies Community Crisis Response petition for May ballot
February 24, 2026 | Columbus City Council, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio
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Columbus City Council on Feb. 23 found that the petition to place a Community Crisis Response charter amendment on the ballot met the legal requirements and directed the legislative research office to prepare an ordinance to send the measure to voters.
Council President Harden opened the item by noting the petition represents years of advocacy and said the city will let voters decide after the required legal steps. Petitioner Chana Wiley, co-chair of the Columbus Safety Collective Campaign, told council the petition effort collected "nearly 30,000" raw signatures and framed the proposal as a community-driven plan to route certain 911 responses to social workers and clinicians rather than sworn officers.
The city clerk read a Feb. 13 letter from the Board of Elections documenting that 27,458 signatures were submitted and 15,428 were validated, 56.2 percent of the total, above the 10 percent elector threshold of 12,533 cited in the letter. After the reading, council moved and approved a finding that the petitions meet minimum legal requirements under the Ohio Constitution, Ohio Revised Code and the Columbus charter, and passed a motion directing the legislative research office to draft an ordinance under the charter’s Section 45 that would call a special election to occur not less than 60 days and not more than 120 days after passage of that ordinance.
Councilmembers who spoke in favor described the petition as the culmination of long-running community organizing and said the change aims to provide specialized responses to mental-health crises, overdoses and homelessness while freeing sworn public-safety personnel to focus on emergencies. Wiley said the campaign will begin a large get-out-the-vote effort if council moves the measure to the ballot.
Next steps: the legislative research office will prepare the ordinance for council consideration; if the ordinance is adopted the city will schedule a special election consistent with charter timelines.
Council President Harden opened the item by noting the petition represents years of advocacy and said the city will let voters decide after the required legal steps. Petitioner Chana Wiley, co-chair of the Columbus Safety Collective Campaign, told council the petition effort collected "nearly 30,000" raw signatures and framed the proposal as a community-driven plan to route certain 911 responses to social workers and clinicians rather than sworn officers.
The city clerk read a Feb. 13 letter from the Board of Elections documenting that 27,458 signatures were submitted and 15,428 were validated, 56.2 percent of the total, above the 10 percent elector threshold of 12,533 cited in the letter. After the reading, council moved and approved a finding that the petitions meet minimum legal requirements under the Ohio Constitution, Ohio Revised Code and the Columbus charter, and passed a motion directing the legislative research office to draft an ordinance under the charter’s Section 45 that would call a special election to occur not less than 60 days and not more than 120 days after passage of that ordinance.
Councilmembers who spoke in favor described the petition as the culmination of long-running community organizing and said the change aims to provide specialized responses to mental-health crises, overdoses and homelessness while freeing sworn public-safety personnel to focus on emergencies. Wiley said the campaign will begin a large get-out-the-vote effort if council moves the measure to the ballot.
Next steps: the legislative research office will prepare the ordinance for council consideration; if the ordinance is adopted the city will schedule a special election consistent with charter timelines.
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