Background
Ashville’s village council adopted Resolution No. 06-2026, approving a nonbinding term summary with EdgeConneX for a proposed data-center project and related natural-gas power-generating facility. The term summary included certain binding provisions, including EdgeConneX’s payment of specified village costs, suspension of a data-center moratorium for the project, and the village’s agreement to use best efforts to approve qualifying permits.
The resolution declared itself an emergency measure, stating that immediate effect was necessary for public peace, health, and safety and to avoid unnecessarily delaying the project. Village electors submitted a referendum petition with 669 verified signatures, sufficient under R.C. 731.29. Ashville Fiscal Officer April Grube nevertheless declined to certify it to the Pickaway County Board of Elections, reasoning that the resolution was both an emergency measure and an administrative action exempt from referendum.
The Court’s Holding
The Supreme Court of Ohio granted a peremptory writ of mandamus ordering Grube to certify the petition’s sufficiency and validity to the board of elections for the November 2026 general-election ballot. The emergency clause did not satisfy R.C. 731.30 because it merely invoked public peace, health, and safety and broadly asserted a need to avoid project delay without explaining why the statutory 30-day effective-date period would cause delay.
The court also held that, although a fiscal officer has limited authority to reject a referendum petition when a measure facially qualifies as an emergency measure, Grube lacked authority to decide whether the resolution was administrative rather than legislative. That is a judicial question outside a municipal official’s limited discretion. The court expressly did not decide whether the resolution was in fact an administrative action; the board of elections must make its own sufficiency and validity determination.
Key Takeaways
- An emergency clause must state specific reasons for immediate action; conclusory references to public peace, health, safety, or avoiding delay are insufficient.
- A village fiscal officer cannot deny certification of a referendum petition by deciding that the challenged measure is administrative.
- Certification was required despite the ordinary ballot-certification deadline because the official’s unjustified delay caused that deadline to pass.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that municipal officials have a narrow role in referendum processing. They may address limited, facial matters, but they cannot resolve the legislative-versus-administrative character of a municipal measure.
For municipalities and developers, the case underscores the need to draft emergency clauses with concrete, measure-specific facts. A valid emergency designation cannot rest on generalized urgency or a desire to keep a private project moving.