Worthington's City Charter Is Up for Its Once-a-Decade Review — Here Are the 37 Proposed Changes

Every so often, Worthington reopens its own rulebook. The City Charter is the document that says how Worthington governs itself — how Council passes laws, how residents can overturn those laws, which boards review housing additions and variances, and how the city hires its manager. It was first adopted in 1956, and the Charter itself requires the city to revisit it at least once a decade. The last full review was in 2016. This spring, City Council appointed an 11-member Charter Review Commission (CRC) to take up that job.

Over six meetings from April to June, the CRC worked through the Charter article by article and landed on 37 proposed amendments. Those recommendations now go to City Council, which decides which ones — if any — go on the November 3, 2026 ballot for residents to approve or reject.

Most of the 37 are housekeeping: swapping "Municipality" for "City," removing a redundant line about voting machines (every election already uses them), letting the city email a copy of a code instead of keeping three on a shelf. But a handful would change how much say residents have over City Hall, and how the city reviews new development. The Commission singled out three of those for public feedback before it finalizes its report. Below are those three, followed by highlights of the remaining.

Merging three boards (ARB/MPC/BZA) into a "Municipal Development Commission"

The Commission's most significant recommendation would merge three of the city's volunteer development boards (the Municipal Planning Commission, the Architectural Review Board, and the Board of Zoning Appeals) into a single Municipal Development Commission. Of the three issues the Commission flagged for feedback, this is the one big enough that Council could put it on the ballot as its own separate question, rather than bundled with the rest; it wouldn't take effect until December 31, 2028.

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A shorter window to challenge a Council decision: 60 days to 30

When City Council passes an ordinance, residents can try to overturn it through a referendum: gather enough signatures and the law is paused until it goes to a public vote. How long residents get to collect those signatures has moved around. In 2015, Issue 38 changed the window from 20 days to 60. The Commission is now recommending cutting it back to 30 days.

The Commission's reasoning, in its report: Worthington is "an outlier" compared with its neighbors. Of 16 other Central Ohio cities it surveyed, twelve allow 30 days, one allows 20, and one allows 60 for zoning matters; state law defaults to 30 days when a city doesn't set its own number. Some members raised the concern that the longer 60-day window "deters people from investing in the community." Under the recommendation, zoning-related ordinances would take effect on the 30th day after publication, preserving the full window for a zoning referendum, while most other ordinances would take effect on the 20th day.

The Commission paired this with a related change: today, if a referendum petition is filed just after the deadline for the November ballot, the question can sit unresolved for over a year until the next general election. The recommendation would let Council send a referendum to a primary or special election instead, shortening that wait.

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Staying the same: how many signatures a referendum needs

Separate from how long you have to collect signatures is how many you need. Worthington's Charter doesn't set that number itself — it defers to Ohio law. And Ohio law changed: until last year, a referendum needed signatures equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last governor's election; in 2025 the state raised that to 35%.

There is a citizen petition now circulating in Worthington to change the Charter so the threshold goes back to 10%, calculated from the last municipal election rather than the last governor's election. Because municipal elections draw fewer voters, that would generally mean fewer signatures required than even the old state standard.

The CRC is recommending no change to the signature threshold. It notes the Charter currently follows state law, and that the petition's organizers "did not discuss their effort with the Commission." Rather than take a position, the Commission added this question to its public-feedback request to gauge where residents stand.

The other changes, in brief

The remaining 34 recommendations are mostly cleanup and modernization. The Commission worked through them article by article over its six meetings and adopted nearly all of them unanimously. Some of the more impactful recommendations:

Automatic removal from office. A new provision would automatically remove a Council member who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony or a crime involving dereliction of duties in office, or who is judicially declared incompetent. The Commission's report notes this followed "extensive discussion" about whether removal should be automatic or left to Council's discretion; it chose automatic, in specific cases.
A more structured recall process. Recall petitions would get a defined 90-day signature window, would have to state the reason for removal, and would be verified by the Franklin County Board of Elections.
Mayor's Court could be ended by Council. Today only the state legislature can require Worthington to drop its Mayor's Court. The change would also let Council abolish it, but only by a six-sevenths vote. The Commission stresses there is "no known need or desire to make the change today"; it's enabling language for the future.
Mayor and Vice-Mayor pay. The Charter currently bars changing the Mayor's or Vice-Mayor's salary mid-term. Since Council sets those salaries and the Mayor and Vice-Mayor don't vote on them, the Commission recommends removing that restriction.
A narrow exception to the conflict-of-interest rule. The Charter flatly prohibits the city from contracting with its own officers or employees. The change would allow rare, ordinance-approved exceptions, such as buying an easement from a staff member for an infrastructure project, with any conflicted Council member barred from the discussion and vote.
Future Charter commissions would be required to be made up of registered Worthington voters.

The rest is modernization and cleanup: appointing the City Manager without a full ordinance and giving the manager a non-voting seat at Council, reviewing the master plan every 10 years instead of five, letting Council set how public notices and ordinances are published, aligning budget-hearing notices with the rules for other public hearings, dropping an expired 2016 salary provision, and several finance clarifications (appropriations, multi-year contracts, and refunding bonds).

The full text of all 37 recommendations, each with the Commission's reasoning, is on the city's website, and the complete redlined Charter is available as well.

How and when to weigh in

The Commission finalizes its recommendations at its Tuesday, June 23 meeting (4:30 p.m. at City Hall), which is open to the public. But the decisions that actually put anything on the ballot are still ahead, and so are the chances to be heard:

July: City Council takes it up. The Commission's report goes to Council, which must pass an ordinance to put any amendment on the ballot. Council can accept, modify, or drop the recommendations, and it has to act before its August recess to make the November ballot. There will be additional opportunities for public input at Council before that vote.
November 3, 2026: the ballot. Only the amendments Council places on the ballot go to Worthington voters, who have the final say.

To weigh in during the Council phase, email City Council at council@worthington.org or contact a member individually, and watch the Council agendas for when the Charter amendments come up.

Learn more (official sources)

This is a Worthington Pulse special edition. City Council meetings, where these recommendations head next, are recorded and posted here.