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Poland Township trustee faces 2nd cancer diagnosis
POLAND
Township Trustee Bob Lidle announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer.
Lidle addressed the public at the end of a board meeting Wednesday and explained that the board changed its meeting schedule this month to accommodate his treatment, since he will have surgery next week.
This is the second time Lidle has been diagnosed with cancer. He beat the disease 11 years ago and says he plans to beat it again. He also plans to remain active as a trustee, he said.
“I never missed a meeting then, and I don’t plan to miss any now,” he said.
Lidle thanked the community for its support.
One of Lidle’s successes as a trustee was another topic of discussion at Wednesday’s meeting.
After the township was successful in getting grant funds to install 1.3 miles of sidewalk along state Route 170, trustees plan to apply for the same grant to add a sidewalk on Dobbins Road. The effort has been spearheaded by Lidle.
Township and village officials plan to jointly apply for the Safe Routes to School grant, which is a program that helps communities increase foot traffic to schools for kindergarten through eighth-grade students.
Grant money is administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Project costs are fully covered by the grant, up to $400,000.
The township’s proposal is to install a sidewalk from Dobbins Elementary School to the Tuscany development. The township applied for the same construction project in the last round of funding, but did not get it.
Lidle says the cluster of developments in that area contains about 300 households, which is key since part of the assessment is based on where children live in the community.
Village officials plan to submit a proposal to install a sidewalk on Sheridan Road between Island Drive and Johnston Place, despite the fact that the nearby school, North Elementary, might not be used as an elementary school next school year.
The proposals will be submitted together, but scored separately, according to a representative from engineering firm MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown.