CAMPBELL Suit seeks validation of water plant petition

The three people who filed the suit all have a connection to city government.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking that a referendum petition opposing the sale of the Campbell water treatment plant to Aqua Ohio be forwarded to the Mahoning County Board of Elections for validation and processing.
Another related suit will be filed Thursday or Friday in Common Pleas Court, according to Atty. Mark Hanni, who represents the referendum committee. He said the second action will argue that city officials failed "to follow the law and the city's charter" in the deal with Aqua Ohio.
The referendum committee consists of Flora Hodge, who worked 50 years for Campbell; Denise Sarigianopoulos, the wife of Campbell Police Chief Gus Sarigianopoulos; and Juanita Rich, who lost the mayoral race to incumbent Mayor Jack Dill in the November 2005 general election.
In the suit filed Tuesday, the referendum committee asked the court for a writ of mandamus requiring Campbell Finance Director John J. Leskovyansky Jr. to forward the referendum petition to the board of elections for validation of signatures. If validated, the petition would force a vote at the 2006 general election on the ordinance authorizing the deal that calls for Aqua Ohio to manage the plant for 10 years and then take over ownership.
Would delay deal
If successful, the referendum effort would, at the least, delay the deal until November 2006. If voters support the referendum, it would kill the sale of the plant, which Mayor Jack Dill says is necessary to help the city get out of debt and state-imposed fiscal emergency.
Leskovyansky said the referendum petition is invalid because the legislation authorizing the sale of the plant to Aqua Ohio was not attached to the petition. He said the contract was incorporated as part of the ordinance. Leskovyansky's decision is backed by a legal opinion from Campbell Law Director Brian Macala, who said the Ohio Supreme Court has upheld an almost identical case to the one in Campbell.
"We're going to litigate the need for a copy of the contract being attached to the referendum petition," and whether the city followed state law and its own charter in formulating the deal with Aqua, Hanni said.
Best deal
Hanni said the committee wants the city to get the best deal it can get, if the plant is sold, and wants the best service at the best price for the city's residents.
However, Dill said the referendum committee members are "not well informed" about the entire issue, including the deal with Aqua Ohio, "and don't want to be."
alcorn@vindy.com