PERRY TOWNSHIP — Trustees Jim Armeni and Tony Ieropoli have officially announced that they will be seeking re-election in November.

During the board of trustees meeting Monday, Armeni announced that he would be filing to run for reelection as trustee “within a week or two,” and that he was looking forward to serving the township for a third term and helping to steer it through new challenges.

“I think the township’s going to have some challenges in the next four years and I hope I can be a part of that and work through that, and I’d like to serve with and continue what we have here with our trustees and [Fiscal Officer John Volio] and other officials,” said Armeni. “I think we’ve shown some good leadership and good judgement and moved through some serious issues, and I think we’re representing the residents well and have addressed their concerns and are working to come up with solutions.”

Ieropoli said that he had turned in his petition and filed for re-election last week, and that he also felt that the trustees have accomplished several major projects including the expansion of the roadway and drainage upgrades to Painter Road last year, acquiring a new plow truck for the township, the recently completed joint Pine Lake Road paving project with Green Township, and ongoing efforts to address nuisance properties and abandoned houses throughout the township

“I look forward to running and appreciate the people’s votes. I feel I have done a lot of good things while representing the township and its residents and would like to continue to serve the township and its residents for four more years,” said Ieropoli.

During open discussion, Trustee Chair Steve Bailey offered an update on the township’s ongoing efforts to develop a mutually beneficial economic development agreement with the city of Salem. He said a sample agreement had been completed to serve as a foundation for future negotiations, and that he was hopeful to meet with Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey to discuss it further soon.

“Mayor Dickey and I had some meetings over the last year to discuss some of these possible agreements and felt that we were at a point where we needed someone that specializes in them to draw that up,” said Bailey. “The attorney took a lot of the information from our meetings and created an agreement that we can use to discuss with the city with goal of working something out that would be beneficial for the township, the city, and the property owners and hopefully make it easier for some economic growth in the area.”

Ieropoli emphasized that permission was required to install traffic cables in the township, noting that someone unknown had briefly installed some.

“There were some traffic cables put up in the township. I asked the police chief about it and he said that county didn’t put them up, that’s who usually puts them up. They’re gone now, I don’t know who put them up, but they have to have permission to put those up. There was one on Old Coach Lane, and one in the alley that runs from [state Route] 14 to State Street,” said Ieropoli.

During his report, Zoning Inspector Dan Bowers said that he issued 12 permits, and six violations total in June, and that so far in July he had issued four permits and five violations and would be filling more permits that evening. He said that high grass continues to be the most common violation. Bailey asked how many permits he had issued in total so far this year, and he said that while he was unsure of the exact total off-hand that it was more than 80.

During his report Fire Chief Brandon Smith said that the department had responded to several crashes in the township recently and that it had to have Stat Medevac land for those crashes three times within the last few weeks.

“We’ve been very busy recently,” said Smith.

Smith also said that Engine 72 had been picked up from O.S. Hill and had been running okay, but on its last two emergency calls that check engine light had flashed before switching off and that it was being checked to ensure that previous issues with pressure buildup were not recurring.

The board of trustees will meet next at 4 p.m. July 28.