Mayor says she still lives in Poland

POLAND — Her house is for sale, her home telephone disconnected, but Mayor Ruth Wilkes says she still considers the village her home.

“The village of Poland is my home and has been — except for when I was away at college — for 55 years,” Wilkes said.

She acknowledged that she spends time with her fiancé of two years, Atty. Michael S. Harshman at his home in Liberty.

But she also stays “from time to time” at her house in the village, she said.

“I own a home on Poland Manor which is for sale and once it sells, I don’t know where we’ll end up,” Wilkes said.

Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s office, said that residency for a mayor is determined by where a person is registered to vote and where their “habitation is fixed.”

He’s unaware of anything in the law that designates the amount of time an elected official must spend in that residence.

Mayor since 1990, Wilkes said she won’t seek another term when the current one expires at year’s end.