Growth in inmate population makes Grafton big enough to be a city, but it won’t be reclassified

GRAFTON — Every night, some 6,622 people go to sleep in this village, but Grafton isn’t becoming a city even though it crossed the threshold of 5,000 residents, according to state officials.

A law excludes prisoners and college students from population counts to determine if villages should be reclassified as cities, according to Matt McClellan, press secretary for Secretary of State Jon Husted.

If Grafton became a city, it would be required to add collective bargaining, civil service regulations for employees and myriad other things, according to Mayor Shari Sczepanski.

“We wanted it this way,” said Sczepanski, who went to Columbus years ago with Councilman John Lesher to successfully plead for the change in the law. “It’s a whole different ballgame and the costs associated with becoming a city are quite high.”

State prison spokesman Carlo LoParo said there are some 3,988 inmates in Grafton’s three prisons, more than the 2,634 residents who lived in the village in 2010.

Based on raw data from the Census Bureau, three Ohio communities — Ada, Granville and Grafton — reached populations of more than 5,000, according to Husted’s office, but all three are exempt from changing classifications.

Another Lorain County community, Wellington, grew from 4,511 people in 2000 to 4,802 in 2011. Village officials had prepared a charter anyway in hopes of keeping most of its rather bare-bones form of government, said Village Administrator Steve Pyles.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the charter, but Wellington will not become a city because it did not reach 5,000 people, Pyles said.

“Given what’s happening with the collective bargaining law in the state, life is a little simpler,” Pyles said.

Ohio will have 247 cities — up three from a decade ago — and 691 villages. Six villages have been reclassified as cities and nine cities have dropped to become villages.

Compared to the 2000 census figures, Ohio’s population has grown by 2 percent to 11.5 million.

Under Ohio law, the Secretary of State’s office reviews the 10-year Census report and verifies the population totals before issuing proclamations indicating their status as a city or village.

These municipalities and villages officially change status within 30 days of the date the proclamation was issued, though the law affords them the ability to go through an enumeration process if they feel the count does not accurately reflect their population.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.



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