Weathersfield trustees seek home-rule passage

By Mary Smith

Several meetings are set on the proposed home-rule issue.

MINERAL RIDGE — Weathersfield Township trustees will use the last three Wednesdays this month to have informational meetings on the limited home-rule proposal that will be on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Meetings will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 at the McKinley Heights Fire Station, 2229 Gardenland Ave., Niles; 7 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Mineral Ridge Fire Station; and 7 p.m. Oct. 29 at West Park Fire Station, 1382 W. Park Ave., Niles.

As long as the township does not exceed a population of 15,000, it can place the issue on the ballot. The township has around 9,000 residents.

Trustee Chairman Fred Bobovnyk said there are two main reasons the trustees would like to have a limited home-rule form of government.

The chairman said trustees want to adopt an international property maintenance code, in which houses which are not properly maintained can be dealt with.

“We have been trying to deal with these through zoning,” Bobovnyk said, but added it takes three months to go through the procedures necessary to get to an outcome on a zoning violation.

The property maintenance code would allow the township to penalize property owners for not taking care of their properties. He said the township can levy a fine on violators, which can be an escalating fine for noncompliance.

Limited home rule also would allow trustees to put into place a parking bureau.

Currently there is no provision under township police codes which allow police to ticket motorists parked in no parking areas, either at a plaza or in a fire lane.

The township will be permitted to put up no parking signs and levy fines.

A magistrate is required for both the property maintenance and no-parking provisions, which would give offenders a place to go to plead their case. The magistrate would be one of the township’s two attorneys, who share duties of the position, Attys. Daniel Daniluk or Douglas Ross.

In addition, another area that would benefit the township if it went to limited home rule, Bobovnyk said, is that the township would be eligible to apply for Ohio Pubic Works projects (the old State Issue 2 money) for major capital improvements.

Bobovnyk said if the township wants to seek funding, it has to go through Trumbull County, which has been able to get in excess of $4 million for the township in Community Development Block Grant money.

Limited home rule in Ohio enables a township to enact legislation in a broad range of areas that it cannot do as a statutory township. The structure of township government will not change.

Under limited home rule, the trustees may not enact taxes other than those authorized by general law and may not create any criminal offense or impose criminal penalties.