Editing Powell, Ohio (section)

===Liberty Township Separation Movement of 1995===
On February 21, 1995, Powell Village Council members voted 5-1 in favor of an ordinance requesting Delaware County Commissioners withdraw the Village of Powell from Liberty Township.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lomano |first1=Wendy |title=Businesses not bothered: Village-township separation talk doesn't worry residents yet |work=Newspaper |publisher=Olentangy Valley News |date=1 March 1995}}</ref> The decision was made without soliciting a community vote, which prompted residents to mount a referendum drive in hope of placing the separation issue on the November ballot.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kline |first1=Hillary |title=Separation issue may be on November ballot |work=Newspaper |publisher=This Week in Powell, Olentangy |date=6 March 1995}}</ref> The separation of Powell from Liberty Township would have left the Village without fire department services, and would have impacted master planning efforts of the community.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kline |first1=Hillary |title=Powell to seek separation from township |work=Newspaper |publisher=This Week in Powell, Olentangy |date=27 February 1995}}</ref> Proponents of the separation insisted that Liberty Township was too dependent on [[property tax|inside millage]]; the approximately $95,000 yearly that Powell residents were paying into Liberty Township's general fund.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kline |first1=Hillary |title=Powell to seek separation from township |work=Newspaper |agency=This Week in Powell, Olentangy |date=27 February 1995}}</ref>

Powell Village residents needed 74 signatures to place the issue on the November ballot.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kline |first1=Hillary |title=Residents may want signatures removed |work=Newspaper |publisher=This Week in Powell, Olentangy |date=20 March 1995}}</ref> A group of residents from The Chase and The Retreat subdivisions collected 179 signatures and submitted them to village clerk Doris Moore, on March 8, 1995. However, the Village Council refused the petition, citing a technicality with Ohio Revised Code section 731.32.<ref name="This Week in Powell, Olentangy">{{cite news |last1=Kline |first1=Hillary |title=Technicality may prevent referendum |work=Newspaper |publisher=This Week in Powell, Olentangy |date=27 March 1995}}</ref> Dan Boyle, organizer of the referendum movement and then president of The Chase Homeowner's Association, insisted that the petition had been properly executed according to local charter section 6.10, entitled "Initiative and Referendum Petition Procedures."<ref name="This Week in Powell, Olentangy"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Comstock |first1=Paul |last2=Crane |first2=Misti |title=Vote sought on Powell separation |work=Newspaper |publisher=The Delaware Gazette |date=7 March 1995}}</ref>

Following the Council's decision to refuse the petition, Powell resident and attorney Lawrence Walker urged Delaware County Prosecutor W. Duncan Whitney and Powell Mayor Jane VanFossen to take action. Mayor VanFossen ultimately decided that the Clerk of Council failed to perform her obligation of processing the petition, an action that therefore voided the separation legislation of the Council; Ordinance No. 93-54.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lomano |first1=Wendy |title=Separation decision now void, opposition says |work=Newspaper |publisher=Olentangy Valley News |date=5 April 1995}}</ref> Due to significant public interest generated in the wake of the petition, Powell's Village Council agreed to place the issue on the ballot of the August 8 special election. Of the 384 residents in Powell that voted on the separation, 98 (26%) voted for the separation, and 286 (74%) voted against the separation.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lomano |first1=Wendy |title=Voters say 'no' to proposed separation |work=Newspaper |publisher=Olentangy Valley News |date=9 August 1995}}</ref> Powell was subsequently not removed from the Township, and an amicable relationship between the City of Powell and Liberty Township has continued ever since.<ref>{{cite web |title=Community |url=http://www.libertytwp.org/31/Community |website=Liberty Township Delaware County Ohio |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref>