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TOLEDO -- Toledo Mayor Mike Bell says he accepts the will of Ohio voters who overwhelmingly rejected Issue 2 on Election Day.  "As mayor I respect the democratic process," Mr. Bell said.  Mayor Bell said he had no regrets about his outspoken support of the controversial ballot initiative.  "If it happened again tomorrow I would do it the same way, because the bottom line is we need to have sustainability in our city," Mr. Bell said.

City councilman Mike Collins, who fended off a challenge from Jeremy Demegall in the contest for District 2 believes the Issue 2 vote on Tuesday sends a clear message to both Mayor Bell and Ohio Governor John Kasich.  "I hope they learned a lesson that you can't go out and dictate to the people utlimate power over them," Mr. Collins said.

Mayor Bell told reporters in the lobby of One Government Center that the city has a budget deficit of between $5 million and $7 million dollars and that with the repeal of Senate Bill 5 layoffs of city workers is not being ruled out. "There is the potential that we might have to lay some people off," Mr. Bell said.