LIBERTY TOWNSHIP Lighting-payment issue sparks debate

One trustee says the township should foot at least part of the bill for the streetlights.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Some residents are taking a dim view of Liberty Township paying for some streetlighting, while they have to pay for their own.
"I'm not against lights, but people should pay for lighting the same as other residents," said Cyril Slifka of Mill Run Drive.
Another resident, who would not identify herself, thinks lighting should be used to improve safety, but she doesn't think safety is the primary objective.
Trustee Jack Simon said the township has the money to pay for streetlights that will be installed by Ohio Edison Co. and maintained by the township.
Trustee Patrick Durina, Slifka's neighbor, doesn't think the township has a policy of where lights should be placed.
Durina says the township shouldn't absorb the entire cost of the lighting.
Township's policy
Simon and Trustee Gary Litch said the township does have a policy of having lights installed on dead-end streets, at dangerous curves and intersections and on long stretches of roads.
In 1992, Slifka, an 11-year township resident, gathered petitions from about 95 percent of his neighbors to create a lighting district.
Ohio Edison installed streetlights and each neighbor pays $17.34 annually to maintain them.
Slifka said that those who will benefit from 30 lights Simon and Litch want to be installed in the northern section of the township should be paid by the residents along the streets where the lights are located.
They are: Rose and Vine avenues; Goist, Thomas and Secrist lanes; Shaulis Street; and Pleasant Valley, Keefer, Naylor-Lloyd and Oriel Rogers roads.
Simon said the areas of "public lighting" were selected by Tim Monroe, road superintendent, because they are dead-ends, have dangerous curves or have a history of nighttime crime.
He pointed out that Goist is a dead-end street with car and home break-ins at night, while Pleasant Valley has two dangerous curves. Naylor-Lloyd has a large amount of litter, high number of speeders and is very dark.
Simon said he lives on Keefer and the public lighting in his neighborhood is paid by the township.
He said there are about 720 lights in the township, 500 of them "public," paid for by the township.
Part of program
Litch said the township has had 100 lights paid by the township in the past three or four years as part of the community's "Light Up Liberty" program.
"That's what tax dollars are for," he said, noting the township has enough funds to sustain the lights. "This has nothing to do with lighting districts."
According to the minutes of the May 22 trustee meeting, a resolution approving the 30 lights was tabled. It's expected to be on the June 10 meeting agenda.
Durina said he originally voted to approve installation of the 30 lights. "I voted for it because I didn't fully understand it. I'm to blame," he said.
yovich@vindy.com