MOUNT VERNON — A discussion of the emergency clause was front and center at Mount Vernon City Council’s first meeting of 2026.
Justin Meier, who lives just outside the city limits in Clinton Township, said he observed that “just about every resolution is declared an emergency and brought to its third and final reading.”
“It’s odd to me because when everything is an emergency, well, nothing is,” he said.
Meier said he concluded that legislation is marked as an emergency either because council members are not forward-thinking enough to provide the information more than a week in advance of the need, which he did not feel was true, or because going through three readings gives citizens time to react.
“So things go to an emergency because it’s easier,” he said. “We don’t need all the noise.”
In its first legislative action of the new year, council members suspended the three readings and adopted a resolution authorizing the city to sell property no longer needed via internet auction.
“This is a great example of why we do this,” Councilman James Mahan said, referring to suspending the three readings and using the emergency clause. “I realize it’s the very first resolution I’m asking to suspend the rules, but you’re going to see this a lot, especially from finance, because this has to do with just standard operation of business.
“This allows us to function as an administration, as a government, starting immediately, which is the reason for an emergency.”
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers acknowledged the community’s comments regarding the council’s use of the emergency clause.
He said citizens need to think about two things: suspending the rules and declaring an emergency.
Suspending the three readings
Salyers said that council members use a first reading to present legislation.
“On a second reading, you may see a second opportunity for both council and the public to read that legislation and have a committee meeting on it. People can bring in questions, or council can bring questions,” he said.
“On a third reading, we will have had opportunities to have those conversations: hear from the public, have more meetings, have all these opportunities. Council can then even have a fourth reading, a fifth reading. There’s nothing that says it needs to stop at a third reading.”
Salyers said that some communities take legislation “well beyond” a third reading. However, he said Mount Vernon City Council is “pretty efficient.”
Council President Bruce Hawkins said the council follows Robert’s Rules of Order.
The exception is that Robert’s Rule of Order requires a two-thirds majority of the council to suspend the rules for three readings. The Ohio Revised Code requires a three-fourths majority.
That means six of the seven council members must approve suspending the rules, rather than five.
‘Nothing’s on fire’
Legislation without the emergency clause takes effect 30 days after the mayor signs it. Salyers said those 30 days serve as a comment period for the community.
The Ohio Revised Code dictates the emergency declaration language. Salyers said council and administration do not like that phraseology and prefer the language “take immediate effect.”
“Nothing’s on fire. … We know there’s no real emergency out there. On most things, we feel that council’s OK with [the emergency clause] because most of these votes … are practically unanimous votes,” he said.
“If we feel that there’s not going to be a lot of pushback, if we feel the council is harmonious with the decision the administration’s going to make, then in our minds, it’s suspend the waiting period, the comment period, and let’s make this piece of legislation take immediate effect so we can do the business of the public, do the business of the taxpayer.”
Salyers said that as long as the legislation is not an emergency, the administration will pull back on using the emergency clause if people are uncomfortable with it.
However, he said that for the city to be effective, efficient, responsible, and responsive, which he said is what people expect from local government, “that’s the way we do it.”
Hawkins said council members must pass legislation with the emergency clause by a two-thirds majority.
“If it doesn’t pass by two-thirds, it’s not an emergency. … It doesn’t go into effect immediately. It goes into effect after 30 days, but the city has the right to discuss that and have a referendum on that within that 30-day time period,” he said. “I think that’s the important part.”
Council takes legislative action
The legislative agenda was light due to Monday’s meeting being the first one of the year. Council members took the following actions:
•Suspended the rules, amended, and adopted legislation appointing Kathy Greenich and Barb Blazer to vacant positions on the NCA Board of Trustees and Recreation Board, respectively. Council passed it with the emergency clause because the NCA board meets on Jan. 20.
•Gave a first reading to legislation to bid and contract for the 2026 street chip seal project
•Gave a first reading to legislation authorizing the safety-service director to bid and contract for renovating two floors of the new municipal center at 236 S. Main St.
•Suspended the three readings and adopted rules of conduct for 2026-27
Council members also appointed committee chairs, elected Severns as president pro tem, and approved allowing residents to speak for four minutes at public hearings and council meetings.
(Below is a PDF of the committees for 2026-27.)
Meier also mentioned the lime sludge issue from 2022.
His property abuts the field west of the water treatment plant at 1700 Old Delaware Road, where the city hauled sludge removed from the west lagoon.
Law Director Rob Broeren said the city is in compliance with its Ohio Environmental Protection Agency permit and hopes to wrap up sludge removal this year.
Salyers said he will have a lime update at the next council meeting.
