Salem officials work toward collecting fees from racing events

SALEM — Salem Council this morning gave a second reading to legislation that would allow the city to collect fees from vendors for next year’s racing events in Salem.

But Mayor Jerry Wolford said he will have to wait until next week to get a third and final reading because council members are tied up until then.

Councilman Clyde Brown opposed the move, telling Wolford, “I think we’re getting outselves in a very precarious position.”

But Wolford said he had talked to the city law director who said the city is on solid ground.

Wolford wants money from After Party events in the city to pay for overtime for police.

Dan Swindell, who runs the Quaker City Raceway north of Salem, plans to run a new event next summer without promoter Corey Ward of Austintown, who had run the Steel Valley Super Nationals at the raceway for four years.