Athens City Council is not going to go down without a fight to preserve the plastic bag ban.
During Tuesday’s meeting, council voted unanimously to appeal a recent ruling from Athens County Court of Common Pleas Judge George McCarthy that banned retailers from providing single-use plastic bags to customers. When McCarthy issued his decision in Ohio v. City of Athens, he ruled that the ordinance conflicts with state law.
“The Court found that the State and the City each passed laws that sought to do what each thought best concerning the use of plastic bags,” McCarthy posted to the Court’s social media on Aug. 29. “The State passed a law that permitted the use of plastic bags, including by retailers, for customers to use to hold purchased items. The City passed a law prohibiting retailers from providing plastic bags to customers.”
Council asked Athens City Law Director Lisa Eliason’s office to begin the filing process to appeal McCarthy’s ruling.
Before deciding to appeal, Eliason said City Hall has three options as to how to proceed following McCarthy’s ruling.
The first option will use the city’s right to appeal to the fourth district court of appeals, where the case will be decided by a three-judge panel, she said.
If that appeal does not return a favorable decision to the city, the case can be presented to the Ohio Supreme Court, but they do not have to accept the case, she went on.
The second option would be to leave the ordinance on the books, but simply not enforce it, as cities such as Bexley and Cincinnati have done, she said.
Lastly, the council has the option to repeal the ordinance entirely, in accordance with McCarthy’s ruling.
In December, the council voted to enact an ordinance which banned retailers from providing single-use plastic bags to customers at check-out, instead encouraging the use of paper or reusable bags. The ordinance went into effect on January 1, 2024 and has been active throughout the city since.
“I’m really puzzled by the fact that we’re not the only community in Ohio that passed a plastic bag ban but we’re the only one that’s been sued. How do they justify that?” Solveig Spjeldnes, (1st Ward), said.
Eliason explained her team had not only put forward an argument addressing Spjeldnes’s concern, but the city had not yet issued any citations or fines to enforce the ban, which further put Athens in line with what other cities in the state have passed.
Eliason’s explanations prompted further discussion from the council, with Alan Swank (4th Ward), sharing his opinion on why the ordinance was overturned.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how political this was,” Swank said. “Within minutes of the decision being rendered, our local state representative was all over Facebook, committing the judge and further poking a finger in the eye of Athens City Council and the Athens administration. Can you argue that in a court of law? No, that’s not going to get you anywhere, but it’s quite obvious this was another example of the out of touch state legislature that we’re all forced to live and deal with.”
According to previous Messenger coverage, State Representative Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, shared his emphatic hope the ban would be lifted and retailers will return to using plastic bags following McCarthy’s decision. A link to that story with Edwards’ comments is included with the online version of this story.
Tuesday evening, Edwards posted a statement about appealing the bag ban to social media that included a live video feed of the council meeting.
“I guess me sharing the news was poking a finger in the eye of Athens City Council,” Edwards wrote. “Besides owning all the real estate in their brain, why do I find it so funny that this bunch is calling anyone out of touch? While I agree there are some nutty things that happen in Columbus, compared to what happens at Athens City Council and the Mayor’s Office, the State Legislature are amateurs at best.”
Edwards continued, “Was I out of touch when I recently got the city $2.5M for the new Fire and EMS training facility? How about when I helped secure the funding for the city owned Armory? Mount Zion Baptist Church? Southeast Ohio Historical Society? Passion Works? Securing the money to get a 4-lane, connecting Athens to Ravenswood? I’m sure their ‘Thank You’ letters just got lost in the mail.”
Edwards was not done sharing his thoughts about city council and its impact on Athens.
“I’ve seen so many Athens resident’s lives be positively impacted since they passed that resolution supporting Hamas. And we wonder why this is the worst place to do business in the State of Ohio.”
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