BG forms charter coalition

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Bowling Green Mayor Richard Edwards speaking Wednesday morning. (Photo: J.D.
Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)

Bowling Green Mayor Richard
Edwards this morning introduced a non-partisan coalition of community leaders and citizens to urge residents
to vote ‘no’ on the Bowling Green Community Bill of Rights charter amendment.Edwards and former BG mayor
John Quinn will chair the BG Coalition for Preserving the City Charter.Edwards said the purpose of the
coalition is:• To protect the integrity and purpose of the BG City Charter as created by a bipartisan
commission and adopted by the voters in 1972 and as amended in 1991 and 2001 following in-depth study by
review committees and affirmed by city council and the voters.• To defeat the proposed amendment to the city
charter given its vague and potentially damaging language that may dramatically increase the cost of
electricity and solid waste disposal for the city as a whole, its school system, its industries and
businesses, its university (BGSU) and, most directly, individual citizens.Edwards noted that BG City Council
unanimously approved an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing on Sept. 16.Additional members of the
coalition are:Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce: Bruce Stevens, president; Ann Stott, past president;
Earlene Kilpatrick, executive director; and members Michelle Evans, Jared Friar, Ryan Holley, Sandy Milligan
and Ben Otley. The chamber went on record at its Sept. 6 meeting as opposed to the charter amendment.Bowling
Green Community Development Foundation: Paul Rankin, president; Sue Clark, executive director; Stan
Korducki, Mike Marsh and Mike Rywalski, directors.Bowling Green Board of Public Utilities: Bill Culbertson,
chairperson; and Megan Newlove, vice chairperson. The five-member BPU adopted a resolution opposing the
charter amendment at its Sept. 23 meeting.Downtown Bowling Green: Floyd Craft and Dick Newlove.Citizens:
Roger Anderson, former member of city council; Galen Ash, former BG police chief; Mike Aspacher, member of
city council; Al Caperna, Century Marketing Corp., community volunteer; Judy Ennis and Jim Gordon, community
volunteers; Gary Hess, former member of city council; Mark Hollenbaugh, former member of city council; Ann
McVey, superintendent of BG City Schools; Pat Ng, former member of city council; Jeff Nichols, teacher in BG
City Schools; Colleen Smith, retired BG Municipal Administrator; and Stu Stearns, co-chairperson of the 2001
Bowling Green Charter Review Commission.Quinn, Marsh, Newlove, Hess, Ng, Smith and Stearns are all former
members of at least one BG Charter Review Commission.

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