Law director says court dismissed challenge to ordinance 5425 for lack of standing; election contest remains pending

Nelsonville’s law director told the council that in litigation challenging ordinance 5425 the trial court granted the city’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and entered judgment dismissing the complaint for lack of standing.

“This decision was not on the merits but on standing,” the law director said, explaining the court went into lengthy analysis of Ohio’s three-part standing test and provided alternative holdings that independently supported dismissal. The director said the court’s extended explanation helps create a fuller record for appellate review.

The law director noted the court also discussed whether Article 2, Section 1F of the Ohio Constitution applies to municipal charter ballot procedures and indicated the city’s position on that question was correct. The director cautioned that only the Ohio Supreme Court could overturn such a proposition if an appeal reached that level.

The law director added that another case — an election-contest action filed recently — is now pending, and the court indicated it would set that case for a hearing within 30 days; the director said the schedule could compress toward the end of the month to resolve the matter before Jan. 1 if the judge so orders.

Council members and public attendees asked whether certificates issued by the board of elections could supersede a court order; the law director replied that a court order controls and that an election contest, if entertained, must be set for a prompt hearing.

The law director invited questions and said he would answer to the best of his knowledge; no final merits determination on ordinance 5425 was announced at the meeting.