Council at Large Candidates Discuss Jobs, Fairways Golf Course at Forum

All five candidates running for North Canton City Council at Large attended a candidates forum at the Fairways golf club Wednesday night.

They answered questions about Issue 2 (see from each candidate), increasing the number of jobs in North Canton and the possibility of entering into a joint economic development agreement with nearby townships. They also discussed the , which is owned by the city, and whether they would like to see it developed in the future.

Voters will vote for three of the five candidates.

The Stark County League of Women Voters hosted the event, while Attorney Richard Kuhn moderated.

About 25 people attended.

Bio Blast: Grew up in North Canton; works in pharmaceuticals; appointed to Council at Large seat six months ago. .

City Identity/Increasing Jobs: Cerreta said the city should put a marketing plan together to present to prospective companies. “Much like going to do to bring people in because we’ve such a wonderful thing here to embrace people with. First of all, when people move here they want schools. We’ve got some of the best schools in the nation when you look at it. We’ve got a wonderful community — the street service, the police, the fire. … We’re very special here. So we need to put a marketing plan together with the things that we do have.”

View on Joint Economic Development Agreement: “If you’re looking at joint things to save money, that’s one thing. But the standards would have to be up to what we expect in our community. We expect top police in our area. If we’re going to do some joint things with them, our standards would have to be high. We would have to look at every one of those. As far as other developmental and economic development things, I’m always looking for that. If it works for the city and the people in our city, maybe bring in a new tax base to help some of our services, I’m always looking for that.”

Develop the ?: “I’d be open to look at anything, but it would have to be just right. It would have to be something that pays taxes to our schools to really boost them up. It couldn’t be tax exempt for them. It would have to be something that gives us some generation of funds. Because this is a wonderful place here and we have control over it right now. ... This has come up a lot. Not a day goes by that someone says ‘We should sell a piece of Central Park so that we could use it for business of some kind.’ But once it’s gone, it’s gone. We don’t have to worry about someone else putting something in right now. We’ve got a lot of vacant areas up in town; we should put our emphasis on that right now instead of following right here.”



Bio Blast: Attorney, senior trust officer at Premier Bank & Trust; 10-year resident of North Canton; moved here to raise a family. .

City Identity/Increasing Jobs: Griffith says collaboration between the city and the is important, especially when working with . He said he can bring insight into how businesses determine whether they’ll locate in or outside the city. “I definitely favor a very proactive approach. I think that North Canton has a lot of very wonderful assets, some that already have been described. But I think we can take that even a step further than we have before. We live here within 500 miles of 3/4 of the United State’s population. We’ve got a great water supply. We’ve got a number of other pieces that really work well. There are industries out there that would really be in favor of moving to places where we are here.”

View on Joint Economic Development Agreement: “The whole point as I’ve talked about before in my running is to be collaborative. Of course, any joint economic development agreement we come up with is a collaboration with the city and an outstanding township that is out there. As we’ve said before, North Canton doesn’t have an infinite amount of land. What we do have is an outstanding place for people to live. So there are positions where people can build outside the city, many of them may locate (reside) within the city.”

Develop the Fairways Golf Course?: “One of the things that most excites me about the master plan process is we’re given the opportunity through a lot of careful thought and decision making to look at various options that exist out there. … I think it goes back to what we were talking about before and that’s that government tends to take a very reactive approach. We tend to wait till someone comes to us and says “Hey, I have an idea. I have a thought.” And again, the master plan is a good step in this direction. We need to be thinking very carefully about what we want and what the community wants. I think that decision-making process involves drilling down to what we believe are the core elements, what we want to make sure takes place. We know we don’t want a large industrial site here. That wouldn’t be part of our character. But there might be some other things from a development standpoint that make sense.”



Bio Blast: Registered nurse at Aultman Hospital; continuing her education with more classes; Current North Canton Council at Large. .

City Identity/Increasing Jobs: “Something I’ve been working on for many years is to finish . I think if we’re going to look to the future, we need something to help us get there and guide us. And we’ve been working on this master plan for awhile. It started with Imagine North Canton in ’04, I believe. We accomplished a lot then. We got a lot of the community involved to give us their ideas and thoughts about where we wanted to go. It stalled for a couple years and now we’re back on track with the Chamber. We’re making a lot of progress toward what the community would like to see in the future, which goes hand in hand with economic development. We also have just been given a five-year street plan looking at what streets need rebuilt, what can wait, what shape they’re in. So that will be part of the economic plan as well.”

View on a Joint Economic Development Agreement: “I look at it from the city of North Canton’s standpoint. And we are the city, therefore if we entered into a JED with somebody on raw land, let’s say by … I think it would be a huge opportunity. We would be able to come into an agreement. Let’s say they pay half of our income tax, so they’re not going to pay the full 1.5 percent. They pay a quarter to us and a quarter to Jackson, which, at this point is probably going to be Canton. We offer them water at an inside rate so they’d actually save money on their water because we’d consider them an inside user. So it’s a win-win situation. We’d always negotiate services whether North Canton would provide the services, or Jackson or Canton — whoever’s involved in the JED. It’s a win-win if you negotiate down the middle. It’s not a lose for the city of North Canton by any means.”

Develop the Fairways Golf Course?: I live just four houses off this golf course. It is near and dear to my heart. But I do believe in the future it’s not going to be sustainable as a golf course. Golf as we know it is decreasing so much in this day and age. And we have several golf courses in this area. I would love to see it stay as a golf course but I believe future development at least on the inner part of the Fairways here … is probably going to happen if someone is willing to do it. We will definitely reserve the right to keep the outer acreage so we can have a walking path, or at least keep it green, (and) reserve our water rights in the future. I don’t know what the future is, if that’s five or 10 years, but I definitely see this not being a golf course for the rest of my time.”



Bio Blast: Retired; served as North Canton Council Member at Large, 2001-2003; familiar face at North Canton Council meetings. .

City Identity/Increasing Jobs: “My plan basically is very simple and straight forward: Make government function for the people and make the city more attractive. We need to strengthen our codes as far as landlord rentals. As I understand it, 40 percent of the housing in North Canton is rental. I’ve been waiting for zoning modifications and codes that will force landlords to maintain and upgrade the housing structure. There’s no money out there at any level of government, it seems, so we’re going to have to think of things that cost little or nothing. … We’re going to have to improve the infrastructure of the streets and our neighborhoods, and we can’t forget about , which is impacting a big part of the city.”

View on a Joint Economic Development Agreement: “I do not favor JEDs. The reason is basically down to the individual property owner or the homeowner or the business owner. If you create a JED, are they part of the city or not? Take for instance Jackson Township, we were talking about a JED a number of years ago with Jackson Township. Why would anybody in any township, really, agree to increased taxation? They already get fire, they already get sewer, water, police protection. There’s no benefit to them to agree to further taxation. … If a community cannot provide the services collecting 100 percent of the tax, how are you going to provide services when you’re only collecting a portion of the tax and you’re giving that tax and sharing it with other entities?”

Develop the Fairways Golf Course?: “I concur with Mrs. Kiesling. I think Council has slowly come to that conclusion.” Osborne brought in a 12-page report in a magazine that influenced his decision to not support the city’s purchase of the Fairways. The magazine talks about the downward trend in golfing. “I am a believer in order to correct the flooding issues, I believe we’re going to have to partially develop Arrowhead Golf Course. The only way I would favor any development is if there was a new entrance created into this property from Everhard Road, and I’ve been pitching it for six months. There are two homes on Rogwin Circle, and the city could purchase those two homes. You could have a direct entrance into this property, that way it would not disturb Salway, Heatherwood, Wilkshire, Jonathan. In conjunction with whatever limited development (I’m not talking about developing the entire property) the city could bridge whatever storm sewer problems it has from the east side of the course to the west or the south and collect all its storm drainage and get it on down to Everhard Road and out of this area.”



Bio Blast: Electromagnet and electromagnetic stirring technician; plans to start a community outreach program as a member of the North Canton City Council. .

City Identity/Increasing Jobs: “I’d like to start by stepping up our economic development plan, have it go a little more global, have a full-time economic development (director), that’s his one and only job is going out there and talking to companies. I know money’s tight and it would be hard to fund a position like that, but I think it’s really important to get someone out there full time pitching North Canton. I think we should also involve the a little more in it. These people are already out here doing business in North Canton already, and who better to pitch the city from a business standpoint than the people who are already here working? If we can get them involved and working together with the city, I think nothing but good things can come from it. I also like what the city did with the Suarez group, and employment. We need to keep looking at issues like that and ideas that will keep bringing businesses here.”

View on a Joint Economic Development Agreement: “Yes and no. Some of these joint agreements aren’t always fair. One side gets more than the other. And we need to take a good close look and make sure every area we jointly work with, everybody’s being helped and not one side or the other.”

Develop the Fairways Golf Course?: “I must agree that I really don’t see this sustaining as a golf course. I was excited when I heard rumors of . We need business here in North Canton. We’re in desperate need of money. This would be a great area for a campus of a big industry like that. Obviously we want to keep the green space as Marcia said, too, but there’s got to be some middle ground we can make work with it. I really think it’s a great piece of land we can make equitable for us in the future.”