LIBERTY TOWNSHIP Officials consider putting home-rule issue on ballot
Home rule would give trustees more authority to regulate nuisances.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- Township officials are studying the possibility of putting home rule before the township's voters.
Trustee Jack Simon said he and township administrator Patrick Ungaro are studying home rule, which would give the township a form of limited self-government.
Because the township has fewer than 15,000 residents, Simon said trustees couldn't enact it by themselves and would have to place it before the voters. The proposal could go before the voters next spring.
Simon said home rule would give the township an opportunity it lacks to regulate noise and a wide range of activities "from exotic animals to exotic clubs."
In response to a man who expressed frustration about dogs that bark excessively in his neighborhood, Police Chief Anthony Slifka said home rule would give the township more authority to act on such matters.
Police are limited to enforcing state law and to calling the Trumbull County dog warden when needed, Slifka said.
The large urban townships of Howland, Boardman and Austintown have home rule.
Award presented
Earlier in the meeting, Slifka and Arnie Clebone, secretary of the Liberty Business Association, presented Nancy Merlo, general manager of the Holiday Inn MetroPlex, and John Whiteley, MetroPlex chief engineer, with the first Liberty Beautification and Safety Award.
"It has prospered because of its beautiful appearance, highlighted by exceptional landscaping. The building is well-maintained, kept clean; ingress and egress is easy; and parking is ample. The business certainly serves the community well," Clebone said of Metroplex.
In other action, trustees:
UReappointed Gary Pontuti, of Sampson Drive, to the Liberty Township Civil Service Commission for a six-year term.
UOrdered demolition of a house at 488 E. Montrose St., which was declared by the county health department to be a health risk and unfit for human habitation.
UAccepted repair and winter maintenance responsibility for Kline's Drive, and the completed portions of Dunn and Carlton drives in the Kline's Farm residential development at Belmont Avenue and Tibbetts-Wick Road.
UHeard Slifka and Fire Chief Mike Durkin announce that township police and firefighters would conduct a Sept. 11 memorial observance at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the township hall.