SALEM COUNCIL Officials: Initiatives can't be enforced

A resident said he has never seen the community as divided as it has been.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- City council believes two initiative petitions on today's ballot on the fate of the fire department are unconstitutional and can't be enforced.
Nancy Cope, chairwoman of council as a whole, read a statement Monday saying its lawyers, Amanda Gordon and James Kurek, believe that only council can act to create a fire district.
"Sadly, it appears this matter will ultimately be decided by the courts," Cope said.
Council and Perry Township trustees have negotiated a contract to eliminate their departments and create a joint fire district.
Past and present city firefighters have placed the initiatives before city voters. If approved, they would prevent the city from eliminating the fire department or joining a district without the public voting on those plans.
Council did not enact the district pact before the election. It has scheduled a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Cope said it would either vote to enact the pact or to place a 7.2-mill fire levy before voters.
Carry-over
Council is looking at a carry-over of about a $100,000 at the end of 2004, as compared with a $1 million year-end balance in the past.
Other city departments except the fire department have found ways to cut costs, Cope said.
The meeting started with Dr. Michael Traina, a city resident for 33 years, suggesting an ad hoc committee of city and township residents be formed to discuss the proposed district and cost-cutting measures.
Traina said he has never seen the community as divided as it has been in recent months over the issue.
Council and the firefighters are in contract talks, and Cope said that firefighters offered a proposal that would require council to seek a levy.
But Stephanie Ritchie, the wife of city firefighter Lance Ritchie, said council was playing fast and loose with the facts.
A flier sent by a pro-council group, Fire Facts are Critical to Salem, contends that forming the district would save the city $600,000 a year. Ritchie filed and won an unfair election complaint before the Ohio Election Commission last week over FFACTS signs that used the same figure. She argued the exact costs aren't known.
Making the decision
FFACTS leader Charles Presley, Salem's Republican chairman, told council members at the meeting that the decision to form the district is theirs.
The flier states training and staff levels for the new district. But Ritchie pointed out to council that they earlier announced that those issues would be left to the board of the new district.
The names of the councilmen and Perry Township trustees were on the fliers. All council members except Cope said they did not know their names would be on it.
Ritchie also pointed out that Councilmen Greg Oesch swore in testimony before the elections commission that a statement was signed by all council members 10 minutes before a special council meeting last Wednesday for negotiations with the fire department.
The statement says all the council members believe that the two issues do not directly relate to the foundation of a fire department.
Ritchie indicated the signing violated Ohio's open-meeting rules. Law Director Brooke Zellers said he did not know about the statement being signed.
Council members invited the press Monday to its post-meeting dinners. Two experts on the law recently told The Vindicator that the meetings are probably illegal.
wilkinson@vindy.com