Campbell hosts town-hall meeting

By EMMALEE C. TORISK

etorisk@vindy.com

CAMPBELL

Mayor William J. VanSuch couldn’t recall the last time, before Wednesday evening, that the city had hosted a town-hall meeting.

Per the city’s charter, however, the mayor is supposed to host one such meeting each month, with the exception of July and August when city council is in recess, to discuss with the public “the affairs of the city.”

“We haven’t held them, because turnout wasn’t that great,” VanSuch said. “But we’re going to start doing them again, and are giving it an honest shot this time.”

The city’s residents seemed to respond well to the idea, with more than 20 in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting. Members of city council, and of several of the city’s departments, were present, as well.

Beforehand, as residents filtered into council chambers, George Levendis, president of city council, explained that the town-hall meeting is an opportunity for the mayor, city officials and residents to meet in a much less formal setting to share their ideas and concerns.

Levendis added that the meetings don’t have an agenda, as city council meetings do, so “anything [residents] want to bring to the administration’s attention” is fair game. And even if just one person attends to do so, that’s enough.

“It’s a place to air grievances and concerns — or even if they want to give us compliments,” he said.

Rick Mistovich of Campbell said he had wanted to attend the meeting simply to “find out in what direction the community is heading,” and also to hear about what city officials are doing to attract new businesses to the city.

Mistovich posed the latter question during the meeting. VanSuch replied that a few prospects the city was eyeing had fallen through, though the Sherman International project — which would consist of the construction of a steel mill on 40 acres of brownfields in Campbell, originally the site of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. — was moving along.

Later, responding also to Mistovich’s question, Levendis added that city would not turn away any business interested in coming to Campbell and even has been looking into several possibilities.

Kathy Baird Cora of Campbell mentioned the issue of speed limits within the city — or, specifically, raising the speed limit of 25 mph on Struthers-Liberty Road, Coitsville Road and Twelfth Street. She brought to the meeting speed-limit information on numerous streets in Mahoning County, along with laws concerning speed-limit hikes.

“In this day and age, going 25 miles per hour through the city is a bit too slow,” she said, adding that it’s difficult to stay at that speed when going up or down hills, especially when the roads are covered with ice and snow.

At various points during the meeting, too, VanSuch updated residents on recent accomplishments of the city, including its receiving a $400,000 Community Housing Improvement Program grant, which will be used for home rehabilitation in target areas. He also highlighted the city’s success in receiving funding for street-resurfacing projects this year.

VanSuch said he is tentatively planning for town-hall meetings to be scheduled on the last Wednesday of each month.

“I hope to see you all next month,” VanSuch said, closing Wednesday’s meeting.