Wednesday, September 30, 2009

JUST WHEN THOUGHT THINGS WERE GOING WELL IN HARTVILLE?


With Police Chief Dragovich on his way out and "the public prayer before meeting controversy" dying down;  it began to look like Hartville was revisiting the halcyon days of Ed DiGiacomo being mayor of Hartville.  In those days Hartville was the qunitessential "all-American," bucolic community.  Stability, stability and more stability.

With the advent of the Tucker administration (who defeated Bev Green a few years ago), it was beginning to look like there were "showers of blessings" raining down on Hartville, once again.

This is probably too much of a leap, but could it be because Pastor Tom Hough is a member of village council.

At least that was what yours truly was beginning to think.

So the SCPR was amazed to get a phone call from a Hartville resident putting all the "apparent" contentment and benison  in question.

Well, what did this person have to say about the state of affairs in Hartville.

First, was a shocker-roo, if true.  According to the source (who turned out to be wrong about a possible move), Scott Process Systems, Incorporated had been sold and the new owner wanted to move out of Hartville.  And, Mayor Tucker and Village Council were just letting it happen.

The SCPR asked Ron Genovese who is Scott Process Systems, Inc's vice president of sales/marketing whether or not there was any truth to the sale/move rumor. As you can see from the e-mail (duplicated below), Genovese does not respond to the sale question, but he does say Scott Process is going nowhere and is staying in Hartville "PERIOD!"



Second, that Hartville is no longer providing school crossing funding for teacher aides who help Hartville's children to safely cross the Hartville village street that fronts Hartville Elementary  Hartville funding has been in place since the early 70s. 

Apparently, this is so.  A source in a position to know (other than the original reporter) tells the SCPR that such is the case.

Most likely, the discontinuance is just a matter of economics.  Undoubtedly, if citizens of Hartville want their government to continue to fund this function, Council would be open to reversing course.  But they will have to visit a Council meeting and let their desires be known.

Third, that the Schumacher Lumber brothers are unhappy with the security that Hartville is providing for their vacant three story building located in the heart of Hartville.

The SCPR had a discussion with "soon to become" Hartville police chief Larry Dordea about this matter.

Dordea says that he definitely thinks that the Schumacher brothers are dissatisfied with the work being done by the Hartville Police Department (HPD).  However, Dordea defends the surveillance being done by the department.  He says that the Hartville police are at the Schumacher facility daily in an endeavor to capture intruders.  He thinks the  juveniles are the culprits.

Dordea relates how the HPD spends hours upon hours in policing the security of the Schumacher property,  citing how it takes an hour to do a walk through of the three story structure.


Fourth, the source says that Hartville sold four police cruisers (that should have been put up for public auction) to a friend of Dordea's located in Alliance for $1,500.

Dordea confirms that the cruisers have been sold to an Alliance scrap metal firm but denies any personal connection.  Dordea says he sought bids from a couple of scrap metal dealers who advertise in the Hartville News, but that they were offering from $100 to $200 per car.  Moreover, Dordea says that the cars were not road worthy enough to offer to the general public.

And there were other observations by the SCPR's source that were critical of how Mayor Tucker, the Council and the police department are handling matters in Hartville.

Are Hartville's residents about to see a revisitation of turmoil?

The SCPR senses that such could be the case even in face of the political reality that there are three candidates for four seats in this November's election cycle.

Perhaps not.

The next two years is likely to tell the tale.

Will it be a period of bliss or discord in Hartville?

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