Ohio Supreme Court orders Ashville referendum petition certified

The Ohio Supreme Court has mandated Ashville Fiscal Officer April Grube to certify a referendum petition regarding an Ashville village council resolution tied to a proposed EdgeConneX data center project. The court's per curiam opinion, released on August 7, ruled that Grube had no legal authority to keep the referendum question off the ballot, granting a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel her action.

The dispute originated from an April 6 vote by Ashville's village council, which adopted Resolution No. 06-2026. This resolution approved a "term summary" for a future agreement with EdgeConneX, Inc., and its affiliate, EdgeConneX MCN Ashville Properties 1, LLC, for the construction of two data centers and a natural-gas power-generating facility. The agreement included EdgeConneX reimbursing the village for legal and engineering costs and suspending a previously enacted moratorium on data centers for the project.

Ashville residents Laura V. McNamara-Smith, Brian Thomas Meyers, and Allison G. Meade organized a committee to challenge the resolution through a village-wide referendum. After collecting sufficient signatures, Grube refused to certify the petition, claiming the resolution was an emergency and administrative action exempt from voter referendum. The residents then filed suit with the Ohio Supreme Court on July 14, seeking to compel certification. EdgeConneX intervened in the case alongside the fiscal officer.

The court found that the resolution's emergency declaration lacked justification and that determining if a resolution is an "administrative action" is a judicial question, not within a fiscal officer's discretion. The ruling means the Pickaway County Board of Elections will now make the final determination on the referendum's ballot eligibility, despite the August 5 certification deadline having passed due to Grube's "unjustified delay."