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Township trustees honor deed with levy money
AUSTINTOWN
An article in Sunday’s Vindicator looking into the township’s use of senior-levy money raised the ire of defiant officials who accused the newspaper of “yellow journalism.”
“I am not ashamed to say I think they [The Vindicator] really blew it this time. The connotation put in there almost made it look like we were taking money for improper and illegal venture. ... That article was negative. Maybe we should have a little backdrop coming from The Vindicator apologizing for the connotation,” said Ken Carano, trustee chairman. “Whoever the editor was that OK’d that article, I’d like him to go back to journalism school.”
The article addressed a claim that senior-levy money is being used for other purposes.
Forty-three percent of levy money goes to pay rent on a Westchester Drive building that houses the Austintown Senior Center. The rent money is then transferred to a fund to fulfill the wishes of a donor’s request for spending on recreation for township residents.
The five-year levy generates $300,000 a year. The township owns the building.
Officials also took aim at the article’s main source, Bill Adams, former volunteer director of senior services.
Trustee Jim Davis said although the senior center pays $130,000, in rent, Adams was paid $11,800 out of the $15,000 budget they had before the levy passed in 2011.
“That’s 78 percent of the original money to help provide for these seniors sitting in this room went to your pocket,” Davis said to Adams. “What did you provide?”
Several seniors spoke in support of the levy and the senior center, raising attendance in the township meeting higher than normal.
Resident Gary Grant of Pinecrest Avenue said the newspaper article would push seniors to work harder for the levy’s passage.
Resident Leo Connelly, former post commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 2 in Austintown, said Lisa Oles, Connelly’s niece and former trustee, emailed him distraught about the center she helped start.
Connelly said the reporter could be responsible for the levy’s failure. “There are 800 veterans in my chapter that will go back into the street,” Connelly said, adding he is asking township residents to support the levy renewal.
Davis said if the rent money the center pays would’ve been spent elsewhere, a landlord would’ve been making a profit. Instead, the money is recycled to the Westchester fund, which benefits youth, park and senior-center activities.
Jim Henshaw, senior center director, said regardless of the article, his goal remains the same: for the center to continue helping seniors.
“We provide a lot of services for a lot of seniors in Austintown and around the surrounding community, and it would be sorely missed if that senior center were to go away,” Henshaw said.
In other news, trustees approved the continuation of neighborhood zoning changes.
Various streets on the southwest end of Wickliffe Circle are being changed back to R-1, single-dwelling units, from R-2, two-dwelling units.
“This is being done to protect integrity of the single-family home district,” said Darren Crivelli, zoning inspector.