For Canfield trustee, Moracco

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Paul Moracco

For Canfield trustee, Moracco

A shrewder politician would have put off any talk of a “merger” between Canfield Township and Canfield City until after the election, but incumbent trustee Paul Moracco takes a straightforward approach: there’s no harm in talk.

But, Moracco quickly adds, no amount of talk is going to change Canfield Township’s basic status. It is a township now and it will remain a township.

Moracco’s challenger in the Nov. 6 election, Anthony Bettile, takes the position that there’s no reason for the township to talk to the city. If the city has something to offer the township, let them make the pitch, is Bettile’s position. While that has a certain independent-and-proud-of-it appeal, it doesn’t make for good governing policy.

There are ample reasons for any township and adjoining city to talk about what they have in common and about ways in which they can cooperate to provide betters services and lower costs.

The fact that city residents voted in 1992 to divorce the city from the township may give the township higher ground on principle, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is 2007 and the two entities have to get along.

Talk it out

As long as all talks are conducted in public — and under Ohio’s Sunshine Law they must be — there is nothing wrong with talking. The township and city already fully share in the operation of the local school district and the joint fire district; exploring other areas in which cooperation is possible only make sense.

Canfield Township continues to grow in both residential and commercial structures and the trustees have been doing a good job of managing that growth. They’ve also done a good job of managing the township’s resources, with year-end balances between $3.5 and $4 million.

The township is also providing regular police patrols through a contract with the sheriff’s office and is moving toward development of a township park.

Moracco, who has been ground superintendent for the Canfield Fair since 1970, says that his roots run deep in the community and that he wants to continue working to provide Canfield Township residents with the services and amenities they want. He notes that the board is providing those services now and maintaining a budget balance that is essential to the township’s survival — all on the lowest township tax millage in Mahoning County.

Bettile counters that he believes some of the talks about a city-township merger have been behind closed doors and that the township has not enforced zoning regulations on a completely impartial basis.

The Vindicator believes Moracco has provided solid leadership on the board for the past 12 years, which has seen a great deal of growth in the township, and that he has earned re-election. He receives the paper’s endorsement.