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Salem mayor plans meeting for council to reconsider fund
Salem's Downtown After Party
Gallery
The city’s utilities commission now wants to buy some land north of the city.
SALEM — Mayor Jerry Wolford was unhappy when city council did not approve an ordinance to accept funds for After Party events in 2010.
Wolford said Wednesday that council will have another chance to approve the ordinance at a special council meeting he has called for 9 a.m. today.
If that passes, there may be another special meeting Friday morning. Three readings are needed to pass an ordinance.
The mayor said vendors want to pay “thousands of dollars” into the fund.
Dan Swindell, who runs Quaker City Raceway north of Salem, plans to run the “Quaker City Super Nats” to replace the Steel Valley Super Nationals that have brought thousands of dollars to the race track and to the city for dining and entertainment.
The mayor also said the fund would provide “total transparency” about how money is used during the After Party, which is not legally tied to the racing events at the raceway. Wolford said officials had trouble trying to find out how the previous After Party funds were spent.
In other business, the city’s utilities department will buy about 1.2 acres on Pine Lake Road north of the city. No price has been set. The commission wants to run waterlines and sanitary sewers north of the city.
The property also belongs to Swindell. The city has an option to buy the raceway for $1 million, which the city does not have. City officials are trying to find funds to buy Swindell’s property so the city can expand.
In other action, Councilman Earl A. Schory II called a meeting of council’s committee of the whole for 7 p.m. Tuesday with the city law director to discuss an ordinance that could cut the pay of council members.
The city had been paying both the city and workers’ part of the Public Employee Retirement System. Some council members previously approved having council members pay their portion of PERS. The cut was a response to the administration because Wolford wants voters to approve a new 0.5 percent income-tax increase for four years for capital improvements.
Schory, a lawyer, said that legally, it may be impossible to cut the salaries of elected officials while they are in office.
wilkinson@vindy.com