By Paul Buescher
Your Board of Trustees approved, at last night’s Trustees meeting, a new 3-year policing contract with the Summit County Sheriff’s Department. For the last month, I worked with Sheriff Steve Barry and Major Brad Whitfield to provide us with an early contract proposal to allow us time to work out any unforeseen problems like we experienced three years ago.
If you will recall, we were hit with a totally unexpected 34% increase that forced us to put an additional 3-mil policing levy on the November 4, 2014, ballot, which YOU the voters approved by 58%.
When we formulated that levy, we planned ahead by insuring that it produced the necessary funds not only for that contract but also for this newly proposed one for the next three years. And guess what? It worked out very well. We even have a projected carryover from this year of $299,651.40 to help offset the cost of the new contract.
Our new three-year contract is for $2,616,832.81, which represents a 9.7% increase over our last contract. This was fully expected due to union negotiated wage increases and the cost of new radio and related dispatch equipment. We planned for this three years ago and as a result, I am happy to report that there is NO NEED FOR ANY POLICING LEVY IN THE NEAR FUTURE! In fact, if all goes according to plan, we will have a $217,818.59 carryover at the end of this new contract in 2020! All these figures were verified by our Fiscal Officer, Andy LaGuardia.
A SIDE NOTE: At Tuesday’s meeting, there were four individuals who believed that we were rushing the Sheriff’s contract through without public input. One was very out spoken and chided us for not looking for other options and that we should hold off on making a decision so soon. This is the same person who chided us during last year’s fire levy by trying to pressure us into entering a fire contract with the City of Macedonia, without a vote of YOU the people. This despite the fact that we stood to lose our long time Northfield Center Fire Department. He can’t have it both ways just to satisfy his and his cohorts’ personal agendas! This guy blamed us for not doing our job last year by not pushing through a fire contract and now he is blaming us for not doing our job by ‘rushing through’ the Sheriff’s contract! And then there were two people, including Trustee candidate Russ Mazzola, who were both called out of order several times due to their disruptive behavior by insisting on trying to speak about the contract, well after the public comments portion of the meeting. This was despite the fact that they both spoke over the five-minute limit during the public comment period! During a break in the meeting, two residents who were in attendance came up to John and myself and expressed their strong displeasure with the ‘childish antics’ displayed by both Mazzola and the other ‘gentleman’. I also heard the same from three others after the meeting who expressed similar views.
After my negotiations with the Sheriff’s Department, we received the preliminary figures that I shared with both of my fellow Trustees. I then requested financial information from our Fiscal Officer, Andy LaGuardia, who kindly responded on August 21st. We were good to go so hearing no objections from my fellow Trustees, I requested a formal proposed contract and our Townhall received it on August 29th. After our Administrator distributed the proposal to all of us, John Romanik and I agreed through the Administrator, to put the proposal on Tuesday’s meeting agenda. There was no objection from Rich Reville until late Tuesday afternoon!
We neither requested nor received proposals from any other police agency. And judging from past contract negotiations, we knew that if another agency were to offer a proposal, they would need at least a six-month “ramp up time” to buy cruisers and to hire and train personnel. This would put us well into next year and our current contract expires at the end of this year. There were no other options. John and I did our due diligence (OUR JOB) and approved this contract to continue the excellent service of the Sheriff’s Department for YOUR safety and YOUR well-being and WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONAL TAXES!
We did NOT rush this through. I negotiated this contract with the Sheriff’s Office and even told the audience at the August 7th meeting that we were expecting increases of 3% (2018), 3% (2019) and 3% (2020). It turned out to be a 9.7% increase. There was no need for any public hearing because everything was straight forward with no unexpected surprises like we had during the last two contracts. And there was no need for any levy this time. Unfortunately, Trustee Reville did not agree and voted against the contract because he felt we should have had a public hearing. John Romanik and I disagreed and voted in favor. Mr. Reville did, however, sign the actual contract after the meeting.
MY INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
By: JOHN ROMANIK
My wife Barb and I had always thought that the “Wicks” neighborhood in Northfield Center was very appealing. Large oak trees, few streetlights, with a quiet, rural atmosphere. My brother-in-law had grown up here and we spent a lot of time at their house on Brandywine Road. When building lots became available in the area in 1994, Barb and I built our house on a quiet cul-de-sac and moved in the following January.
Several years passed and we were enjoying living in Northfield Center, raising our son and improving our home and our yard. One day, my wife was talking to a neighbor over the fence and she commented that she was planning to sell her house and acreage to a developer. She continued to say that there will be condominium buildings throughout the area directly behind our house; behind all of the houses bordering the property.
Barb and I were pretty shocked by this news. The beautiful dense forest behind our property would soon be replaced by over 80 condominium units arranged in four-unit buildings.
We were on very good terms with this neighbor, and liked her very much, but we did not agree that she thought this was the best use of her property. We wondered if there was anything we could do to preserve our privacy and our neighborhood. We found out from the township that in order to proceed with the proposed condominiums, there would need to be a zoning change for the property from R-1, single family residential to R-2, two family residential. This zoning change would allow for a Planned Residential Development or PRD which can include multi-family condominium buildings.
In the beginning, we contacted our immediate neighbors and gave them the news. As the days progressed, we composed a petition in opposition to the project and went door to door gathering signatures to present to the township Zoning Commission. We held group meetings at our home with many neighbors to discuss our options. I even contacted Summit County to see if the sanitary sewer system on that street could handle an influx of so many residents. I found that it was likely that the entire length of the street would need to be dug up to install a larger sanitary sewer line.
There were environmental concerns as well. The property in question contained wetlands which may have had to be mitigated, which means wetlands would have to be purchased elsewhere and preserved. There was even a possibility that endangered bats and salamanders were present on the property. That is when I met another concerned and very well-informed neighbor named Paul Buescher.
On the day of the public hearing for the zoning change, my wife and I were shocked to see that we had rallied over 150 people to come to the meeting. It had gotten to the point where the crowd had exceeded the capacity of the meeting hall and people were being turned away. In the packed meeting, the developer presented his proposal and one by one, many residents voiced their objection to the project.
The Zoning Commission had requested additional information from the developer and scheduled a subsequent public hearing to be held at St. Barnabas cafeteria to better accommodate the large crowd. During the proceedings, many residents again voiced their objection to the project. At some point during the meeting, the developer, sounding very defeated, announced that he was not about to proceed with the project in the face of so much opposition.
So, that was my introduction to matters concerning Northfield Center Township. Many residents thanked us for spearheading this endeavor and preserving the neighborhood. I found that my wife and I, just regular property owners, could make a huge difference in the community. And, we are still on very good terms with our neighbor.
John Romanik
romanik_nct@roadrunner.com
YOUR GENERAL COMMENTS
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Paul, I was a Northfield Center resident from 1999 to 2012, but then moved for job reasons to where I live now in one of the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. From 2005, I enjoyed your information newsletter as I found them both balanced and informative – I wish my current community had someone like you with a passion to inform and educate its residents. I now serve on an association board where like you, I get my share of “hate mail” from those who feel their board (“trustees”) is responsible for why their taxes are high, why they can’t grow cactus plants in their front yard, why they can’t feed the wildlife that enters their yard, and a host of other things they find wrong in their life. They don’t understand that people like you and me have to abide by governing documents and other laws and regulations that focus on a larger audience than just them.
In spite of those obstacles, I’ve always appreciated how you addressed resident concerns through a balance of law, codes, personality, empathy, and just good ol’ common sense. I know there are residents who will always challenge your patience, but I feel like the majority of people truly understand and appreciate the things you and I try to do for our neighbors and community. Since moving in 2012, I’ve thought a number of times about asking to be removed from your mailing list since I’m no longer a resident of your community. However, I have so much respect for the job that you do and how you go about it that I just prefer to continue receiving your emails. Each one sets the bar higher and higher about how one citizen can make a difference. Please continue to keep me on your mailing list and know that you have a big fan from afar who continues to appreciate your continued efforts to go above and beyond the call of duty!
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Thank you for the reminder for Disaster Preparedness! It is true, we don’t think it will happen to us, but it may.
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Thank you,
Paul G. Buescher
Northfield Center Twp. Trustee – Chairman
330-467-9451
TrusteeBuescher@aol.com
www.northfieldcenter.com
