WHEELING - City voters may someday decide if police Chief Robert Matheny must continue placing two officers in each patrol cruiser. That election, however, will not take place anytime soon.
Following months of debate, legwork and lawsuits, Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht on Thursday declared the petitions submitted by city residents George Jones and William Hefner invalid because the documents did not feature the appropriate affidavits, as Section 81 of the City Charter appears to require. Recht, though, did not seem to believe Jones and Hefner were at fault because he said Wheeling should not have accepted the petitions in the first place.
"My question is, 'How did this certification ever come out of the city clerk's office?'" Recht said. "I mean, it is just blatantly wrong."
Article Photos
Photo by Casey Junkins
Wheeling City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth speaks during a Thursday hearing before Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht.
"All (George Jones and Hefner) did was try to get signatures. They should have been told they needed affidavits," the judge added.
In July, City Clerk Janice Jones - who attended the Thursday proceedings - certified 2,469 signatures collected by George Jones and Hefner to council. Janice Jones originally rejected the petitions because the collectors did not meet the minimum number of signatures.
In August, Mayor Andy McKenzie, Vice Mayor Eugene Fahey, Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge, and Councilmen James Tiu, Don Atkinson, Robert "Herk" Henry and Vernon Seals voted unanimously to accept the signatures in preparation for a city-wide election on the 1972 ordinance mandating two police officers to ride in each cruiser.
Article PDFs
"How was something like this laid before the council of the city of Wheeling with a representation that it complied with the charter of the city of Wheeling when it obviously did not?" Recht said.
Regarding petitions submitted to Wheeling, the charter reads "... there shall be attached thereto the affidavit of the circulator thereof stating that each signature was made in the circulator's presence. ..." Black's Law Dictionary defines "affidavit" as "a voluntary declaration of facts written down and sworn to by the declarant before and officer authorized to administer oaths, such as a notary republic."
City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth told Recht that Janice Jones is the officer authorized to accept or reject such petitions, noting "the affirmations are placed at the bottom of each page," in referring to George Jones and Hefner signing the documents.
Recht, though, asked Humway-Warmuth, "Where is the affidavit?"
Paul Harris, attorney for George Jones and Hefner, then told Recht, "There are no affidavits. It is absolutely clear that there are none." "When the city told my clients they did not have enough signatures, they made no mention of affidavits."
After the hearing Thursday, Humway-Warmuth said Janice Jones "acted in good faith" in accepting the petitions.
"The city relied upon the circulators' signatures at the bottom of each page. ... The city clerk believed in the truth and veracity of their (George Jones' and Hefner's) statements," she said.
Humway-Warmuth also said she recently asked Harris if George Jones and Hefner would sign a "certification affidavit" to prove that the signatures were genuine, but they declined to sign such a document.
"Something was provided to the city that they (George Jones and Hefner) won't even stand up in open court today and give us an oath of affirmation," Humway-Warmuth said.
Recht, though, said such action would have no bearing on his decision because the affidavit should have been filed with the petitions.
After council voted to accept the petitions, Humway-Warmuth immediately filed suit against George Jones to hold the election in May, rather than within 90 days as the City Charter seems to mandate. Members of Wheeling's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 38 then claimed some of the signatures were forged, or not properly witnessed, prompting Recht to allow the FOP to intervene in the original lawsuit.
FOP attorney Joseph John said Thursday he and his clients were pleased the matter was dismissed.
Though they saw their efforts to achieve an election on the two-officer per cruiser mandate, George Jones and Hefner did not seem too discouraged by the outcome.
"We have not yet decided what steps we are going to take now," George Jones said. "It is possible that we could go back out to collect signatures again."
"We have to do something about this. ... We are not giving up," Hefner added.