Austintown residents to be heard on JEDD issue

By Ed Runyan

An Austintown detective got a special thank-you.

AUSTINTOWN — Township residents will see a presentation and learn the details of Youngstown’s Joint Economic Development District proposal at a meeting at 6 p.m. today in the Austintown Middle School cafetorium on South Raccoon Road.

Then it will be time to hear from the public.

Trustees on Monday night stressed that today’s town hall meeting needs to include input from township residents on what they think about the JEDD proposal.

“I’m looking forward to what the public has to say and what the township should do about the proposal,” said Trustee Bo Pritchard.

The township mailed a newsletter to residents recently that outlined the position of trustees and Fiscal Officer Michael J. Kurish on the proposal.

Township officials also have spent a great deal of time preparing a presentation for the public, Trustee Lisa Oles said. Trustees gathered letters from residents and business owners to present at the meeting, she added.

Trustee David Ditzler said township officials have made it known already that they oppose the proposal as written. But he still wants to hear what the public thinks, he said, because it is important that everyone be “on the same page.”

Youngstown has proposed that all employees working for businesses in Austintown and the northern part of Boardman begin paying a 2 percent income tax to Youngstown and an additional .25 percent income tax to their township in exchange for lower water rates and assistance from the city on economic development.

Those who work in Youngstown also would see their income tax rate drop from 2.75 percent to 2.25 percent.

Pritchard said that he doesn’t blame the city for proposing a JEDD but that this proposal is not in the best interests of Austintown.

“This is not an issue that’s going to go away, and in some ways it shouldn’t go away,” Pritchard said, adding that the township’s position should not be viewed as an “attack” on the city.

In other business, police Chief Bob Gavalier read an e-mail from a juror who was part of the James A. Hall murder trial last week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The juror complimented Police Detective Sgt. Jeff Solic for his work on the Hall case. Hall was convicted last week of killing Jeffrey A. Queen in Austintown on Oct. 14, 2006.

Pritchard, a lawyer, noted that it is a rarity for a juror to take the time to praise a police officer after a trial. But the Austintown Police Department does an excellent job of training its officers, Pritchard said.

The case took a long time to investigate because of the lack of physical evidence available, Gavalier said.

But Solic was able to piece together enough evidence for conviction.

Judge R. Scott Krichbaum sentenced Hall to life in prison without parole.

In other business, trustees thanked the Austintown Wal-Mart for donating $2,500 each to the police, fire and parks departments at the time of the store’s reopening after a large expansion last month.

Though Wal-Mart has been controversial in some areas, it has added 200 employees at its Austintown store, made numerous donations to township departments and allowed nonprofit groups to collect donations at the store’s front door, Ditzler said. “Wal-Mart has been good to us,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com