ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Three proposed amendments to the St. Clairsville City Charter are on the ballot for voters to consider in Tuesday’s general election.

The first proposed amendment is to Article IV, Section 4, providing further detail and suggested requirements for the director of public service.

St. Clairsville Charter Review Committee Chairperson Randy Bernard said the first amendment details the position and duties of the service director.

“We thought it was important because people know there is a service director but do they know what that person does and, more importantly, do they know what is expected of that person? And quite frankly, does council and the service director know what’s expected in that position?” Bernard said. “So what we did was set forth a number of details of what the public service director is expected to do.”

The language on the ballot states: “The Director of Public Service/Safety should be skilled in handling all city departments under his/her scope of operations. The Director of Public will also help prepare and submit an annual budget to Council; submit routine reports to Council concerning the operations of long-range projects, plans, and programs for the city as approved by Council. The Director of Public Service/Safety will respond to issues including but not limited to street upgrades, utility planning, water use, and improvements, and should be involved in the negotiations of contracts and permits for the City. The Director of Public Services/Safety should maintain and increase his/her knowledge by attending all Council meetings and by attending all conferences, training, and other programs which are available and relate to the subject matter under his/her scope of duties.”

The second proposal adds language to Article IV, Section 5 outlining the specific duties of the planning and zoning administrator.

The language on the ballot states: “The Planning and Zoning Administrator shall administer, interpret, and enforce the Zoning Code including preparing ordinance amendments, conducting field inspections, and supervising code enforcement and code compliance activities. The Planning and Zoning Administrator shall be responsible for meeting with developers to discuss new projects and providing information about code requirements, design criteria, zoning regulations, and landscaping requirements. He/She will attend pre-construction meetings, review and sign off on all applicable building permits; and provide code expertise, interpretation, and regulatory guidance at staff review meetings of planning and zoning applications. He/She will interact with a variety of individuals, departments, and groups, both internally and within the community to provide information and assist in resolving administrative issues. The Planning and Zoning Administrator will represent the department at various board and committee meetings, provide interpretation of applicable codes, and provide liaison with other departments on related activities. He/She will conduct final site and landscape inspections to ensure compliance between the planned environment and the built environment. The Planning and Zoning Administrator will research code from other municipalities and draft new proposed code provisions and amendments as needed.”

Bernard said the second amendment was added due to the fact that when the charter was first drafted, the planning and zoning administrator position didn’t exist.

“We thought that it was important because we do have a planning and zoning administrator, so we should at least add language in there describing what that person does and what that position is about,” Bernard said. “Tom Murphy is our planning and zoning administrator, and he does an amazing job. So we kind of modeled the language around what he already does.”

Finally, the third amendment is the committee’s proposal to change Article XII, Section 9 for purposes of revising the time frame of when charter reviews shall occur from every five years to every four years. This was done so that any proposed ballot measures would occur during a general election. By doing this, the costs associated with the ballot measure would be substantially less and save the city approximately $10,000 to $12,000 every time a charter amendment is placed on the ballot.

“The reason we did this is because there was a suggestion that if we change that, then all of the future proposed amendments will coincide with the general election and will end up saving the city anywhere around 10 to 12,000 dollars any year that there is a ballot proposal,” Bernard said. “It’s really just a cost-savings proposal. Like I said, it’ll save the city around 10 to 12,000 dollars, so it just made sense to do it.”