In the nine months since Gahanna voters rejected a second attempt to raise the city's income tax, residents have joined Facebook groups with names such as "Take Back Gahanna." They've written screeds denouncing cuts in annual fireworks and plans to close city pools. One grass-roots group even petitioned to rewrite the city charter and replace the full-time mayor with a city manager.

Trying to raise the city�s income tax was no small endeavor. Nobody had attempted it in more than 30 years, but Gahanna put it on the ballot twice in six months last year, hoping that voters might change their minds the second time around.

They didn�t.

What has happened in the nine months since has both agitated and focused the city. Residents have joined Facebook groups with names such as �Take Back Gahanna.� They�ve written screeds denouncing the fallout of those failed ballot issues, including cuts in annual fireworks and plans to close city pools. One grass-roots group even petitioned to rewrite the city charter and replace the full-time mayor with a city manager.

�I love the city, but you know in the last couple of years, we�ve seen some things we�re not so happy with,� said resident Joe Gergley, a former Gahanna City Council candidate who has criticized city decisions on social media.

�In general, I think the city has not been doing the best job for their citizens,� said Jeannie Hoffman, a Gahanna resident for nearly 21 years. �I�d like to see them listen to the people for once.�

Meanwhile, city leaders say they�ve been struggling to curb misinformation, streamline spending and show residents, without question, where local money is going. For the first time, Gahanna published a comprehensive annual financial report, a 164-page document that it put online so that anyone can pick apart its $26 million budget.

�We�re just going to continue on methodically in terms of going over the ways money is spent,� said Councilwoman Karen Angelou.

�The hole at the moment for me,� council President Brian Larick said, �is establishing some sense of direction.�

Critics of the city are growing more active. Council members are considering the future and realizing they need a plan. Becky Stinchcomb, the city�s mayor for the past decade, has announced that she won�t seek re-election when her term is up at the end of 2015, leaving the top job open.

�We�re talking about resources, we�re talking about the direction of the city, we�re talking about leadership and leadership form,� Stinchcomb said. �Yeah, I think it is a critical juncture."

Last year, facing budget gaps and roads in need of repair, the city placed an income-tax increase on the May ballot. Voters were asked to raise the 1.5 percent rate to 2.5 percent. Fifty-two percent voted no.

Dismayed by the low turnout � only 12 percent of the city�s eligible, registered voters � the council put the increase back on the ballot in November. That time, 54 percent shot it down.

�I took a huge risk,� Stinchcomb said about asking for the tax increase, �and I said it�s the right thing to do. I believe it. And I�m paying the price.�

There are no polls measuring the popularity of the mayor in Gahanna, but complaints to Stinchcomb�s office are on the rise. The city cut funding for July Fourth fireworks, and although a local business took over the show -- throwing a party so residents could watch the fireworks from nearby communities -- the mayor's office was flooded with complaints. This year, a plan to close the city pools next year sparked even greater outrage.

�You�re thinking that it�s not for real, they�re not serious,� said Debbie Burchfield, a Gahanna resident who recently joined a growing effort to save the city�s two pools. �Then it�s coming down to, yes, it is serious.�

In the midst of all this, a petition began circulating to put a city manager in charge instead of a mayor. Jennifer Chrysler, a member of the group working to get the charter changes on the November ballot, said the proposal wasn�t a referendum against the current administration but rather a chance to explore something new after Stinchcomb indicated that she won�t seek re-election.

The petition got only about half the signatures it needed, but the idea isn�t dead. Michelle Gusmus, who grew up in Gahanna and returned after college, said she hopes to persuade the city to set up a charter-review commission. Gusmus said something needs to change; she and her husband have discussed leaving her hometown if it doesn�t.

�If you travel down the main roads in Gahanna, they look old, they look dilapidated,� she said. � It�s so disheartening because I know we can be better.�

Some council members acknowledge that it�s time to take a sharper look at Gahanna and where it�s headed. In fact, they say, it�s a priority, beyond all discussion of fireworks or swimming pools or city charters.

�I think the biggest challenge that the city faces now is that we lack a vision of where we want to go as a city,� said Councilman Ryan Jolley. �I would liken it to attempting to put together a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what the picture is supposed to be.�

lkurtzman@dispatch.com

@LoriKurtzman