Big questions remain over who has power over what in Hamilton County government, in spite of legal opinions obtained by Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp with the idea of ending the debate.
Under three former longtime county mayors, there wasn’t an appetite among commissioners to invoke powers granted to them by the legislature in a 1941 “private act” charter — which some believe has been completely repealed — to take control of things now traditionally overseen by the county mayor.
That may be changing, however.
Some commissioners say Wamp is not as transparent as those who came before him, which has caused them to look into what their obligations are under the 83-year-old law governing county government, which remains on the books as a murky legal unknown, yet to be tested in court.
Following the act would place the commissioners more squarely in charge of most county functions, run by a county manager who reports to them, while the mayor oversees the finance department and the railroad authority.