COLUMBUS, Ohio – One of the people hoping to be elected mayor of Columbus this year says one of his first priorities will be to try to change the way city leaders are elected.
“I whole-heartedly agree we need a ward system,” Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott said during an interview for Sunny 95’s “Perspective.”
The change would requires revision of Ohio law, but Scott says electing members of Columbus City Council by wards, rather than at-large, would make the city more responsive to the needs of individual neighborhoods he thinks are being left behind in the economic recovery.
“The ward system will be able to have a direct voice from the different communities that can tell us exactly what those needs are,” he said.
The ward system, in which members are elected by voters from areas of the city which they represent like members of the General Assembly or Congress, was abandoned about a century ago because many believed it fostered corruption and inefficiency.
EXTRA: Hear the full interview
Scott criticized the use of tax incentives to attract and retain businesses because it robs the city of badly needed revenue.
Scott is also the only member of the field who has openly endorsed the idea of putting the mayor’s office in charge of the embattled Columbus City Schools.
Scott’s was the first in a series of interviews with the mayoral candidates leading up to the May 5 primary.
Scott is one of six candidates on the ballot for the non-partisan primary, in which the top two vote-getters advance to November’s general election regardless of party affiliation.
Other candidates include City Council president Andrew Ginther and James Ragland, both Democrats, Republican Terry Boyd, and write-in candidates Jeff Brown and Selina Miller.