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Salem residents invited to charter forum Oct. 25

SALEM — City council members and citizens received an invite Tuesday to attend a public forum regarding the charter commission issue at 6 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Salem High School auditorium.

Jock Buta, a candidate for the commission who also serves on the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, briefly addressed city council regarding the charter commission initiative, thanking the members for their unanimous support and for placing the question on the ballot.

The purpose of the public forum will be to educate those present on what’s on the ballot and the fact that the question regards the formation of a commission to explore a charter form of government, not to decide on a charter or a city manager. He said the people running for the commission are adament about keeping an open mind.

He explained that if they don’t have a vote for the commission, the citizens won’t get a choice about any possible changes that could help the city run better.

He also put in a request that council support the commission by providing a consultant if the charter commission ballot issue passes, to help the commission members navigate the process of studying the options and coming up with charter plan. He likened the move to what city council did by hiring Towne Center Associates to help with downtown revitalization efforts. Former Councilman Dave Nestic, who co-chairs the charter commission effort with Buta, already had pitched the idea to city council at the last meeting.

In other business, council took no action regarding a reminder from city Treasurer Dr. John Conrad about joining a class action lawsuit led by the Ohio Municipal League to challenge the state’s ability to dip into the city’s income tax income through House Bill 49 as a fee for processing income tax returns for businesses instead of having the businesses file with the city.

Conrad said city Income Tax Administrator Fred Pamer calculated the possible loss of income at $4,000, with the cost of joining the lawsuit also $4,000. If the city wants to join the l awsuit, the deadline is Oct. 30, a date which Councilman Brian Whitehill questioned since he recalled them being told at the last meeting that the deadline was Oct. 15. Pamer said the group wanted a commitment by Oct. 15, but the actual deadline was Oct. 30.

Conrad commented that he found it ironic that the state wants to simplify taxation, noting that the city has just the income tax and the state has multiple tax streams.

“If they want to simplify taxation, then let them clean up their act,” he said.

Whitehill also pointed out that the estimated $4,000 loss is based on all the businesses using the state and he questioned whether that figure might be less, casting doubt on the suggestion that the majority of businesses will make the switch to the state.

Mayor John Berlin also joined the conversation, saying it was his understanding that the city would still have to keep the records in the office, so it won’t reduce their workload. Pamer said it will make the work more difficult because the state won’t necessarily provide them with the full return, just the basic information.

City Law Director Brooke Zellers said the lawsuit is more of a constitutional issue dealing with the erosion of a city’s home rule powers. Pamer said it’s about the city losing control of the management of some of its income.

In his report to council, city Service/Safety Director Ken Kenst said 21,000 paper leaf bags were passed out during the recent distribution at Home Depot. He thanked Home Depot and CCH Environmental, which is the solid waste district, along with Perry Township officials, city service workers and Salem High School students who helped out.

The free paper leaf bags are still available at city hall for city residents and Perry Township residents from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Leaf bag pickup will begin next week in the city and continue into December.

He also announced that home demolitions that have been pending for quite some time are closer to getting done, noting the contractor has been paid for work in East Liverpool and Wellsville. Salem originally had four homes on the list to be torn down with the grant funding, but that number may rise to five or six homes.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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