COLUMBIANA COUNTY Petitions call for ballot issues to stop fire department merger

The deadline to place the issues on the ballot will come later this month.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Voters might have the chance to decide whether Salem and Perry Township form a joint fire district.
Officials from the city and township are discussing that move, which city officials say could save about $700,000 in the first year. Council members have said they are only discussing the issue.
But petitions have been circulated to put on the Nov. 2 ballot issues that would block the move.
The first would bar the city from eliminating the fire department without approval by voters.
The second would block the city from creating or joining a fire district without a public vote.
Justin Palmer of Salem, who is studying politics and law at Loyola University in Chicago, said he is chairing the effort to pass the issues.
A group of five past and present city firefighters circulated petitions and got about 900 signatures for each issue in 2 1/2 days, he said.
"A lot of this is about openness," Palmer said. "We're trying to keep the city as open as possible."
Salem, he noted, has had a paid fire department for over 100 years.
Petitions on file
Under state law, the petitions have been filed with city Auditor James Armeni for public inspection.
Palmer said that under state law, the city must send the petitions to the elections board within 10 days. Palmer believes that means 3 p.m. next Friday.
Armeni said he thought the 10-day period meant 10 working days, or July 21, if the documents are to be available for public inspection.
Armeni said that city law director C. Brooke Zellers was aware of the petitions, but they had not had formal discussions on the correct deadline.
Zellers and officials at the Columbiana County Board of Elections were unavailable Friday to comment on which deadline is correct.
Palmer said that after the elections board certifies there are enough signatures to place the issues before voters, the issues will go to the law director. Zellers would write the language that would appear before voters. Palmer said the Ohio Secretary of State's Office would review the language and could approve it or modify it.
wilkinson@vindy.com