Officials discuss reviving CIC

The village solicitor suggested amending the ordinance to change panel composition.
LORDSTOWN -- After a five-year dormancy, village officials want to revive the Community Improvement Corporation.
Village council, by ordinance, formed the CIC in the 1980s as the economic development entity for the village, and it last met in 1996.
Atty. Paul Dutton, village solicitor, requested a Monday meeting of the panel to determine if the group wanted to continue.
Dutton and Mayor Arno A. Hill have received forms from the Ohio Department of Development asking the corporation to fill out an annual report. The CIC hasn't submitted a report to the state for the last few years.
"We've been inactive," said Walter Craigo, CIC president and a former mayor. "Personally, I think we need to start acting."
Reasons for inactivity: Members said that although the CIC was allocated money in the village budget, members had to go to council for approval to spend any of it. About $10,000 remains in the village budget for the CIC. That and the fact that all CIC members were volunteers who maintained full-time jobs contributed to the organization's becoming inactive, members said.
Craigo pointed out that if the group wants to revive, it needs to fill its vacant slots. But a change in the ordinance may be required first.
Ordinance outdated: Under the ordinance, four of the trustees must be elected or appointed village officials. Two trustees must be representatives of financial institutions. The ordinance specifies one member from Bank One Northeast Ohio, with which the village formerly did business, and one member from Second National Bank of Warren.
Another trustee is to represent the Lordstown Chamber of Commerce, but CIC members don't think the chamber remains active. Three trustees are to be at-large members or village citizens appointed by the other trustees.
Dutton said the CIC ordinance should be amended to update the panel's composition if its wants to become active again.
Hill and Craigo support restarting the corporation.
Question of need: "Is there a need for a CIC?" Hill asked. "In the past, I can't say there has been, but in talking to the state I can say the need might be coming down the road."
He didn't elaborate.
Members plan to meet in the next few weeks to determine how they want to revise the panel and to fill the slots.
State law allows municipalities to establish CICs. The panel may issue bonds, execute development agreements with developers and use public funds to encourage development in the village, Dutton said.