YOUR INFORMATION NEWSLETTER FROM ORTHFIELD CENTER TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE
PAUL G. BUESCHER
~ KEEPING NCT RESIDENTS INFORMED SINCE 2005 ~
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#504 FRIDAY OCTOBER 20, 2017
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NEGATIVITY IS SOMETIMES A NECESSARY EVIL
“Sitting around a campfire singing “Kumbaya” is not how politics work around here”
John and I have received some private feedback on the negativity of this campaign. The fact of the matter is that there are some very influential entities that have injected themselves into the race for two Trustee positions. One is from a group within and some are from outside of our Township. Mayor Migliorini and the Sagamore Hills Trustees are among those who are attempting to influence your votes by working with or at the very least, assisting our opposition.
There is a lot at stake with this election and ‘they’ know it. This is the same group of people who colluded to end our Fire District and force us to contract our Fire and EMS services with Macedonia. And now, this same collusion is taking place to try to pressure us to “consolidate” our Policing and Service Department services. Macedonia already has our Fire and EMS coverage and Migliorini even appeared to boast about it in this week’s NewsLeader by stating, “We’ve already got fire under our wraps.”
Yes, this campaign has, at times, become negative because we are trying to become proactive by exposing the efforts underway to literally rob our Township of its autonomy, integrity, character and yes, even our very future! Call it a takeover or whatever you want but this IS happening as evidenced by statements made at public meetings and documented in writing. The same is happening with our friends to the north in Northfield Village. In an October 2nd letter sent to Macedonia Mayor Migliorini, Mayor Jesse Nehez stated, ““the Village does not want to become part of or merge with the City Macedonia.” We are obviously not alone in this resistance.
Most have probably forgotten the fact that a similar effort took place back in 2005, when the Board of Trustees, including Marc Pepera and Rich Reville, considered dropping the Sheriff’s Department and swapping services with the Sagamore Hills Police Department. A public hearing had to be conducted in the bay area of our Fire Station, which had standing room only. The huge 150+ crowd was unanimously opposed to the idea and the effort was finally dropped. We digress only to show that the same two Trustees could be seated again if the voters forget our Township’s past history and the current conditions that we face! This is just one of the reasons that the late Brent Sommer and I first ran successfully for Trustee and now the same reason is among those that I am running again! John Romanik feels the same and it will take BOTH of us to stop this nonsense from going any further!
The only common-sense way to resolving this issue is the formation of a TRUE “NORDONIA HILLS PUBLIC SAFETY DISTRICT”. We’ve been advocating this for years because this would involve the equal ownership of all equipment and the equal administration of its operation. It could even include either the Macedonia Police Department or the Summit County Sheriff’s Department for police coverage. This cannot however, occur until both Macedonia and Northfield Village allow their voters to change their respective charters to allow the formation of and participation in a District. Their charters currently do not allow this. We are absolutely opposed to any talks or efforts towards regionalization or consolidation of services until those charters are changed and we sit down to talk about a REAL DISTRICT! We challenge anyone to show us what’s wrong with this approach. What could be fairer to all four communities and the taxpayers residing in those communities?
Neither of us wanted to campaign negatively but we are constantly having to assume a defensive posture against these outside influences and those misinformed residents on local social media circles. The misinformation being circulated is astounding. If people would research the facts for themselves, we would not have to keep repeating ourselves because to do this gets very aggravating and creates negativity in and of itself.
Let’s face a fact, we are in an information war and it will continue right up until Election Day. YOU have to decide who is credible and who has the record to prove it. Who has provided you with 12 years of newsletters to show how open government can be, including answering thousands of your questions in writing? Who else has the guts to do that?
Our opponents continue to criticize us for not “getting along” with our neighboring communities of Sagamore Hills and Macedonia. Sitting around a campfire singing “Kumbaya” is not how politics work around here. It’s one thing to get along, which is a good thing, but it doesn’t mean that we have to snap to attention every time they snap their fingers! BOTH of these communities are purposely and knowingly interfering with this election to promote their united agenda – Merging all services with Macedonia at the helm. That alone is the primary catalyst behind the negativity in this election campaign. We are simply responding to this agenda and to all those promoting it. If the negativity continues, then so be it because negativity is sometimes a necessary evil.
Paul G. Buescher
John Romanik
RESIDENT SHARES HIS CAMPAIGN QUESTIONS
POSED TO MR. MAZZOLA
Hello Mr. Mazzola,
My name is Josh Ferrara. I am a working class NCT resident. I am reaching out to you because I have some questions regarding your platform and would like for you to elaborate. I have no way to contact Mr. Pepera, so maybe you could forward this to him? Let me be clear that my vote will be for others, but I’m sure you agree that building good community relations is important. After all, we’re all in this together! Also, in the spirit of transparency, this document and your responses will be sent to Mr. Buescher’s Newsletter.
First, thank you for recently making your social media page and commentary public. It helped me to get somewhat of an understanding of your platform. I would like to make a few of observations. It’s not hard to notice your continued discrediting of Paul Buescher and John Romanik. Also, it’s not hard to notice that you do not make any effort to even challenge Rich Reveille, or Mark Pepera who is still running against you. Lastly, you state your platform is based on Leadership, Fiscal Responsibility, Building Community Relations, and Storm Water. I will not address the leadership issue because it is subjective and not measurable. As for the remaining 3 issues, you do not detail any plans, priorities, who you would like to consult, or possible time frames. I noticed only generalizations.
On to the questions. Please keep in mind that I do try to stay informed, but I state or ask something incorrectly, feel free to question me.
First: Fiscal responsibility. You state that NCT is deficit spending on Fire/EMS and Sheriff Services. Given the current situation that Macedonia stipulated that our yearly price WILL increase and we at some point will have to update our equipment which, as you know, is very expensive. How do you plan on paying for these additional costs? I see already that Sagamore is requesting a .75mil levy already. Also, can you give details on how you would have approached the Sheriff contract? Bear in mind that I am aware that no alternative proposals were submitted and there is an approximate 6-month transition time. P.S. GO SHERIFFS!
Second: Building Community Relations. I only know of you and Mark Pepera. I only see you state your concern for rebuilding relationships with other communities. How about building relationships in NCT? You criticized the recent letter to Macedonia from NCT declining the study but neglected to mention that the letter also allowed for future possibilities. Also, you did not mention Northfield Village’s letter either. How do you plan on building a working relationship with Northfield Village knowing that they will not partake in any study? Would it be fiscally responsible to partake in a costly study that will not accomplish anything? Also, why didn’t you challenge Rich Reveille or Mark Pepera for fighting tooth and nail to get the ball rolling on some type of meeting, if they really wanted it to happen? In my mind, leadership holds all parties accountable.
Third: Storm Water: I am aware that NCT cannot, according to O.R.C., do anything about the storm water. I think John Romanik beat a dead horse on his May 11th Newsletter. With that being said, how do you plan on correcting the storm water issue? Do you plan on pushing for the storm water utility fee that will be assessed to every resident in NCT? If this is the case, this is a tax, just like the attempt by NEORSD to charge a runoff tax. To make you and everyone aware, this cost will be in the SEVEN figure range, thus drastically increasing our monthly fee. To piggyback off this, how do you plan on explaining this and helping people facing mandatory septic tank replacement? Also keep in mind that there will be yearly permit fees and some are on fixed incomes. While we are at it, how about people with propane tanks?
I am sure the same storm water issues existed when Mark Pepera was in office as they do today. Does that tell you something? Do you think taking this issue provides false hope to those that believe something can be done while at the same time alienates people who face $10,000.00+ septic tank replacements? Should these people contact the Summit county engineers to try to get sewers and gas lines and propose additional fees?
I look forward to your responses!
Kind Regards,
Josh Ferrara
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q >>> – Paul, I was reading that two men in Macedonia were charged for plinking with a BB gun in their backyard. Does Northfield Center have a BB gun law/rule? Am I allowed to fire a very low FPS (400 fps) bb gun at targets in my yard? Just wondering
A >>> – BB and pellet guns are considered firearms and Macedonia, like almost every other city and village, prohibit the discharging of firearms. That is why the two men you mentioned got into trouble. All 900+ townships in Ohio on the other hand, do allow the discharging of firearms (target shooting, hunting, etc.). There are many safety rules that regulate this so just because the law says you can, it doesn’t mean that you can just walk into your backyard and begin shooting. You must have a safe backstop and you cannot shoot within several hundred feet of an occupied dwelling, etc. Reliable sources have told me that shooting a BB gun as you have described in our Township, would probably not be a problem unless complaints were made. At 400fps, you are probably talking about something like a basic Daisy BB gun that many of us received as a Christmas gift when we were kids. Have fun and observe all safety rules!
Q >>> – A gentleman just rang my door bell and said he was with Community House Reach Out collecting funds to feed families for Thanksgiving. He had some paperwork in a folder along with cash and 2 checks. I ask for some paperwork I could use to mail in a check later and he could provide one and suggested I go to their website. He was nice enough, but still seemed strange. Just wanted to throw it out there. Now sure how we check to see if people have a permit to solicit.
A >>> – Summit County recently passed a new solicitor ordinance that effectively rendered our ban null and void. All solicitors must now apply for a permit from Summit County. Currently, the Community House is the only solicitor allowed so far in our Township. Information on solicitors can be found at NorthfieldCenter.com and then click on the solicitor tab. ALL solicitors must have a permit on them from Summit County and must be shown to anyone asking to see it.
YOUR GENERAL COMMENTS
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If I wanted to be a part of Macedonia, I would have moved to Macedonia, Every citizen needs to fight Macedonia by voting against their attempts to overtake us. Macedonia is almost broke wishing to suck our resources dry. Drive by their maintenance garage and look at the poor shape their equipment is in. VOTE BUESCHER/ROMANIK for Trustee. To stop the blood sucking Macedonia politics and Put Trustee Reville on notice, How many times has Reville changed the zoning on his property to suit his needs ???
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I live in Sagamore Hills and I wish we had trustees like you and Mr. Romanik who are not fearful of taking a stand against mayor Migliorini’s expansionist visions! Many are saying that if we wanted to be a part of Macedonia then we would be living there.
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The newsleader has Migliorini quoted today saying ““We’ve already got fire under our wraps.” If that doesn’t sound like the first phase of a takeover, what does???
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I have a question that I can’t seem to get answered. If Migliorini says that he has had regionalization talks with Northfield Center and Buescher and Romanik say they have no knowledge of these meetings, just who is Migliorini talking to? When were these meetings held? Where are the meeting minutes? Is Reville working behind the scenes AGAIN to sell out Northfield Center? What is he getting in return? Remember this in two years when he’s up for reelection!
I moved here because I like Northfield Center and I like it just the way it is. We do not need or want a takeover by Macedonia. We need to vote for both Romanik and Buescher!
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Thank you,
Paul G. Buescher
Northfield Center Twp. Trustee – Chairman
330-467-9451
