North Canton Residents and Anyone Having Interest in the Business of North Canton City Government:
Pasted below is a link to a video of the North Canton Council of the Whole meeting held on Monday, May 16, 2016.
Description
of Video:
May
16, 2016, – North Canton Committee of the Whole Meeting:
The video covers a North Canton Council
of the Whole meeting lasting approximately one hour and thirty-two minutes. The
meeting is called to order approximately four minutes after the video begins.
Immediately upon the meeting being
called to order and members of Council answering roll call, Council President Jeff
Peters calls for a vote to excuse member Marcia Kiesling who was absent and failed
to answer roll call.
This
is Councilmember Kiesling’s fourth meeting absence this year. Mrs. Kiesling has
also failed to attend meetings of Council on February 8, 2016, on March 7, 2016,
and on May 2, 2016.
Council President Peters was about to adjourn the meeting
of Council when an hour and eleven minutes into the meeting, Councilmember
Kiesling arrives. The meeting continues for another twenty-four minutes.
The agenda for the City Council meeting
consisted of discussions on the following:
·
Continued discussion for the expansion of the City’s Community
Reinvestment Area (CRA), tabled as Ordinance No. 32-2016.
·
Discussion of a resolution designating the Dogwood tree as
the official City tree.
·
Discussion on the construction of a dog park and a community
garden, both near the East Maple Street Little League ball fields.
·
Discussion of an ordinance approving a perpetual public fire
hydrant and waterline easement near the proposed Walther Café on Applegrove
Street.
·
Discussion of an ordinance vacating portions of Orchard
Street NE and Witwer Street NE was tabled.
·
Discussion on the purchase of solar-powered speed-limit signs.
5:00 minutes into the video,
Councilmember Stephanie Werren addresses the proposal to designate the Dogwood
tree as the City’s official tree.
7:30 minutes into the video, Councilmember
Dog Foltz begins the discussion to build both a dog park and a community garden
adjacent to the East Maple Street Little League ball fields. The discussion
was expanded to possibly build a shelter much like the shelter at Dogwood Park.
25:10 minutes into
the video, Council President Peters announces that discussion of the vacation
of Orchard Street NE and Witwer Street NE will be held up for a later meeting. Later
in the meeting, at 45:45 minutes into the video, President Peters officially
removes discussion of the proposed vacation of the two streets by calling for a
vote to table the vacation.
25:30 minutes into
the video, Councilmember Domonic Fonte begins the discussion to purchase
solar-powered speed-limit signs and gives a PowerPoint presentation. City
Administrator Grimes advises Council that the costs for each sign would be
$3,600 to $4,300 plus the cost of a pole to mount the sign and solar panel.
45:50 minutes into
the video, Council returns to discussion of the expansion of the CRA. Although
this was the first item on Council’s agenda for the night, discussion was
delayed due to the absence of the Chairman of Economic Development, Marcia
Kiesling.
Council at this
point in the meeting is left with no choice than to move ahead with discussion
on the CRA without its Chairperson present.
Council President Peters
leads off with one of the many issues that have been raised in the discussions
that have taken place regarding the proposed expansion of the CRA and that is
the dollar amount of the abated taxes that apparently is to be given to North
Canton Developer and multi-millionaire, Bill Lemmon, in the construction of the
assisted living facility being built on the site of the former Bob-o-Link Club
house, known locally as The Barn.
A frequent attendee
at North Canton City Council meetings has let it be known that they have information
that someone in the City promised Bill Lemmon a tax abatement for this
gargantuan development.
Attendance at this
meeting was sparse as can be seen on the one occasion where I pan the
audience. Interestingly, there was one individual in the audience tonight
who is not a regular attendee at North Canton City Council meetings.
That person was Miss
Beth Borda. An Internet search revealed that Miss Borda along with John
Arnold makeup the DeHoff Development Team. If "Public
Comments" had been allowed at this Committee of the
Whole meeting, I expect Miss Borda, like her fellow team member,
Mr. Arnold, would have spoken in support of the expansion of the CRA
program.
Miss Borda's fellow
team member, John Arnold, spoke in support of the legislation to expand the
City's CRA boundaries at two previous meetings of City Council on April
11, 2016 and again on May 9, 2016.
Clearly, Miss Borda
and Mr. Arnold are lobbying for passage of the CRA legislation on behalf of
their employer, Bob DeHoff, from which all three will gain financial benefit.
At 46:00 minutes
into the video, President Peters reveals to members of Council the amount of
taxes that would be abated if the assisted-living facility under construction
(to be called the Sanctuary Grande) on the former site of the Bob-o-Link Golf
Course Club House is included in the proposed expanded CRA.
Mr. Peters stated
that a 50% abatement for 12-years would result in forgone taxes amounting to
$127,500 per year and that over the 12-year term of the abatement would amount
to approximately $1,530,000.
WHY North Canton
City Council is even contemplating such a proposal is beyond comprehension!!!
Further compounding Council’s
total failure to represent City residents and taxpayers in this sorry scenario is
the fact that the City may have to give one-half of the income taxes paid by
employees at the facility to the North Canton City School District.
This loss of needed
revenue by the North Canton City School District and the North Canton library
is simply one of an unknown number of tax abatements that will overrun the
City.
The construction of
this $60,000,000 facility is just the largest of the abatements that will come
with the expansion of the CRA program.
With the CRA program
on steroids with the proposed expansion of the program, the City’s School
District and the City library stand to lose millions of revenue that rightfully
belongs to them and that they desperately need.
47:30 minutes into
the video, President Peters states that if Councilmember Kiesling does not
arrive soon to lead the discussion that he will push discussion of the proposal
into next Monday’s meeting.
55:10 minutes into
the video, Councilmember Doug Foltz again raises concerns as to what is being
proposed regarding the proposed abatements.
1:13:05 minutes into
the video, and nearly thirty minutes after discussion began on the proposed
expansion of the CRA program for which she Chairs, Councilmember Kiesling
arrives to the meeting that has been in progress for nearly one and a quarter
hours.
Interesting to note
was that at 1:24:25 minutes into the video, Councilmember Kiesling asks
Economic Development Director Eric Bowles what terms were given to Bill Lemmon
on the 40-unit apartment complex (called North Ridge Place).
Mr. Bowles
apparently was unable to answer or could not recall. Councilmember Foltz pulls
out a spreadsheet that I had compiled (and given to Council in prepared remarks
on April 11, 2016, showing all the current CRA abatements) and answers Mrs.
Kiesling’s question as to the terms of that abatement.
Amusing to me, Mrs.
Kiesling bellows out, “…Chuck produced that…” to which Mr. Foltz replied, “…I
am going to use it, because it looks fairly accurate.”
1:26:10 minutes into
the video, Mr. Foltz passes the spreadsheet I compiled to Council President
Peters for him to study.
Why can’t the City put together a spreadsheet that is understandable and accurate for members of City Council? Inserted below is a listing of the property taxes currently being abated. Note that six of the eight abatements are going to corporations and two of the abatements are to North Canton multi-millionaires.
This is revenue intended for the support of the North Canton City Schools and the City Library.
North Canton's CRA program is nothing more than tax giveaway, pure and simple.
I should say here
that I myself had to go to the Stark County Auditor’s office to get accurate
information as the information I received from North Canton’s Economic
Development Director, Eric Bowles, was not accurate.
1:28:55 minutes into
the video, Councilmember Cerreta makes the statement that it will take three readings
to pass the ordinance expanding the City’s CRA.
Astonishingly, Mrs.
Kiesling fires back saying “…It isn’t actually, it’s not a zoning issue, and we
will probably pass it on an emergency on the 3rd reading…It does not
require three readings... next week it is going on the agenda.”
Why is Mrs. Kiesling
in such a rush to give away millions of dollars of property taxes that support
our schools and our libraries?
1:35:50 minutes into
the video, the Council of the Whole meeting is adjourned. The video continues
to run until 1:41:47.
Thank you,
Chuck Osborne
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