AUSTINTOWN Township trustees to weigh home rule resolution

The code requires property be kept clean and safe.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Trustees here are set to consider a new home rule resolution a week before home rule makes its fourth appearance on the township ballot.
Ohio law allows the trustees to act under home rule even though it hasn't been approved by voters. Trustees unanimously approved home rule in March.
If home rule is not approved by voters, however, the trustees will not be able to enforce home rule resolutions.
Maintenance code
A first reading of a home rule resolution creating a township property maintenance code is slated for tonight during the trustees' meeting at 7 p.m. in township hall. Home rule, a form of limited self-government, will appear on the township ballot in the Nov. 5 general election.
The ballot proposal was defeated by township voters in 1992, 1995 and 1997. The margin of defeat in 1997 was fewer than 10 votes.
Trustees and some township residents have said home rule will help improve the quality of life in the township. It gives trustees the authority to pass health, safety and sanitation resolutions.
Other township residents, however, have said they believe trustees don't need home rule to improve the township. Some residents also have said they don't think trustees should have approved home rule, because it has been voted down three times.
About 1,700 township residents signed petitions this year to place home rule on the ballot. Trustee Richard Edwards said trustees are working on the property code resolution, "with the premise that home rule is going to pass."
Two readings are needed to pass a home rule resolution. The second reading of the property maintenance code resolution will be on Nov. 11 if home rule is approved by voters.
Complaints received
Edwards said trustees often receive complaints that some property in the township is in poor condition. Township Administrator Michael Dockry said most of those complaints are about peeling paint, broken windows, or hanging gutters.
Under the property maintenance code, township residents could be fined if their home or land does not meet several standards. Those standards state that property must be kept clean and safe, weeds must be less than 10 inches tall, house numbers must be at least 3 inches high and readable from the street, and yards must be kept clean of garbage.
The resolution calls for the township zoning inspector to notify residents who violate the code. Those residents would then have a maximum of 30 days to ensure that their property complies with the code.
After 30 days, the resident can be fined as much as $1,000.
Boardman Township trustees passed a similar resolution establishing a property-maintenance code.
Edwards noted that the Austintown zoning code, which also contains sections on property maintenance, gives residents as much as six weeks to improve dilapidated property. He said the new property-maintenance code will allow township officials to respond more quickly to complaints about blight.
hill@vindy.com