Commissioners agree to put MRDD renewal levy on ballot

LISBON -- The Columbiana County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities agency will ask voters this fall to renew a 1-mill maintenance and operations levy and make it permanent.
Commissioners agreed Wednesday to put the measure on the November general election ballot.
The levy has been on the books since 1979 and is a five-year renewal levy.
The only change being proposed for the measure on the fall ballot would be to convert the levy to continuing, explained William Devon, MRDD treasurer.
The levy raises about $637,000 annually.
Commissioners agreed to vacate an overgrown Middleton Township road that passes through a state nature preserve in the eastern part of the township.
State officials asked the county to abandon largely unused Mackall Road because all-terrain vehicle riders are using it to gain access to the preserve, where they sometimes take their vehicles off the roadway and into the woods.
The practice damages the forest environment, state officials have said.
A public hearing held recently on the proposal to abandon the road drew no one to protest, commissioners noted.