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Charter review task force to meet Monday

Cincinnati's Charter Review Task Force is holding a meeting Monday afternoon at city hall.  The group is discussing ways to modernize and improve the document that guides city government functions. 

The task force is made up of 24 people with a variety of experiences.  Co-chairman Mike Morgan was a guest last month on W-V-X-U's Cincinnati Edition.

"The real goal and purpose of this task force is not that these 24 people have been ordained to re-write the Charter," Morgan said.  "This group of people is going to help facilitate a public conversation."

Voters adopted the current city charter in 1926.  Residents must approve any amendments to the document.  To date, the Charter has been amended more than 70 times in 21 different elections.

The task force has made some recommendations for cleaning up obsolete and unnecessarily ambiguous charter provisions.  City voters could be asked to approve those changes in November. 

More complex issues like city council and mayoral elections, and the balance of power between city government branches will take more time to study.  The task force has created six different subcommittees to discuss various proposals. 

"All of these people are going to be given the job of collecting data and holding public forums to discuss these topics to really kind of bring in the information that's needed to have a large scale public conversation about Charter reform," Morgan said.

Monday's meeting runs from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at City Hall in Room 115.

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.