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Disputed parcels returned to Poland schools
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Four disputed parcels, one of which was the subject of a lawsuit, were reassigned to the Poland Local School District after briefly being considered part of the Struthers City School District.
VINDICATOR EXCLUSIVE
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
Four disputed parcels, one of which was the subject of a lawsuit, were reassigned to the Poland Local School District after briefly being considered part of the Struthers City School District.
CLICK HERE FOR MAP OF DISPUTED PARCELS
Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham sent a letter to owners dated Oct. 31, 2016, saying the parcels, at the time part of the Poland school district, had been assigned to the incorrect district. The auditor’s office changed the record at the beginning of the year, moving the parcels to the Struthers school district.
“It was based upon a couple of records within the auditor’s office,” said George Briach, an assistant county prosecutor who works with the auditor’s office.
At the time, it was believed the auditor was correcting a clerical error.
Then, the auditor’s office found a tax map assigning the parcels to Poland schools.
“We now had documents that were not necessarily consistent with one another,” Briach said.
That makes the designation a matter of judgment, which is outside the auditor’s jurisdiction, he said.
The change had prompted a lawsuit earlier this month filed by the Arthur Dean Worsencroft Trust, which owns a 41-acre parcel it is preparing for residential development.
At the time, Alan Wenger, who respresents the Worsencroft trust, said the development was planned under the belief that it was in the Poland school district.
“The applicable school district is a big deal,” Wenger told The Vindicator.
After this week’s decision to reverse the change in school districts, Wenger voluntarily revoked the lawsuit.
A house sits on the other three parcels, which are north of the Worsencroft parcel.
The current tax map, which recently was updated, shows the parcels as part of the Struthers City School District. A 2016 tax map, however, shows them as part of the Poland Local School District.
Colleen Shirilla lives across from the affected parcels. She believed the properties were always part of Struthers schools, and she was angered by the dispute. Many of her neighbors are as well, she said.
“We feel insulted that they’re bashing the Struthers school district,” Shirilla said. “What makes them think that we’re some Podunk people who shouldn’t be allowed to have a project like this in our school district.”
When the lawsuit initially was filed, Wenger said there was no record of the property belonging to a district other than Poland schools.
“We believe this parcel has been in Poland schools as long as there have been school districts in Mahoning County,” Wenger said.
The matter could be submitted to the board of revision, Briach said, and the affected parties could argue the merits of which assignment is appropriate.