City has 30 to 90 days to set election date for public to vote on referendum
Volunteers have gathered enough signatures to bring the a strong-mayor referendum before the city’s voters.
With just over 12,500 verified signatures, the question has shifted from whether Columbia will vote on the strong-mayor question to when. Only 11,063 signatures — 15 percent of Columbia’s population — are required to put to a referendum in a special election.
If approved, the referendum would give Columbia’s mayor more power, giving the office the power to hire and fire city employees and run the city day-to-day. Currently, the city manager handles those duties, and the mayor serves as chairman of City Council.
Several large blue boxes filled with sheets of signatures were brought into City Hall by Let Columbia Vote volunteers Tuesday. The petition’s co-chairmen, James Felder, Jim Hodges and Henry McMaster, signed a letter addressed to Columbia City Clerk of Council Erika Moore asking for the vote to be set for Nov. 5 instead of being held in a special election.
“We encourage the City to save taxpayers the unnecessary cost of a special election by holding this referendum on November 5, 2013 to coincide with the already-scheduled municipal elections,” the letter read. Copies of the letter were sent to Mayor Steve Benjamin, members of City Council, City Manager Teresa Wilson, City Attorney Kenneth E. Gaines and Richland County Election Commission Director Howard Jackson.
Hodges, a former Democratic governor, said at a news conference Tuesday that whether or not Columbia has a strong mayor is “a decision that should be made by the voters.” None of the Let Columbia Vote volunteers were elected officials, he said, but citizens of Columbia who are concerned about their government.
A special election to vote on the strong-mayor referendum would cost the city of Columbia approximately $150,000, said McMaster, a former Republican attorney general. That cost played a large part in the signature-gathering process.
The city is now required to set an election date between 30 and 90 days from the day the petition is verified by the county election commission, according to Matthew Richardson, a Columbia attorney.
“Of course, setting on Nov. 5 makes the most sense,” Richardson said at the news conference. “Most importantly, it wo uld save taxpayers $150,000.”
The Richland County Election Commission, which came under criticism after last year’s presidential election saw hours-long waits, is responsible for verifying the signatures within 15 days. The commission must check approximately 700 signatures: the first 500 on the petition and one in 10 after that.
“This is a real opportunity for the Richland County Election Commission to show their efficiency and competency to get this petition certified as soon as possible, by the end of the week, in fact,” Richardson said. “And we hope that they will.”
Once the signatures are verified, the commission will choose the date of the vote.
“I want everybody to hold on to their hats. You haven’t seen anything yet,” McMaster said. “South Carolina is going to take off; Columbia is going to be right in the middle of it.”