Annexation vote set for Salem council

June 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By D.A. WILKINSON

SALEM

City council could meet as early as tonight to approve the annexation of 99 acres of property into the city.

Mayor Jerry Wolford said the vote has been tentatively set for 8 p.m. at city hall.

The action came after Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge David Tobin ruled in favor of the Columbiana County commissioners in a lawsuit filed over the annexation.

Wolford gathered support last year from people in Perry Township in Columbiana County and Green Township in Mahoning County who wanted to annex their land to the city.

The commissioners in February voted to approve the annexation. All the property owners had signed the annexation petition.

A property in Columbiana County that is part of land annexed is owned by Robert D. McCluggage.

He later changed his mind, saying he did not want to annex because subsequent construction might bother his wife, Alice, who is ill.

Green Township trustees filed a lawsuit challenging the annexation, but Judge Tobin ruled, “the trustees have no standing,” meaning they have no legal right to file the lawsuit. The ruling paves the way for council to give final approval to the annexation.

Wolford said he will start looking for funds to help create new industrial park in some of the land annexed.