IS NORTH CANTON THE "KENMORE" OF STARK COUNTY?

It seems as if ever since Daryl Revoldt left North Canton city government (president of city council) that North Canton has been falling apart.

The Report thinks that matters are deteriorating so much in North Canton that one has to start entertaining the notion that the city may not long endure.

Perhaps suffering the same fate as the once "city of Kenmore" (in the southwest corner of Akron) did in 1928 when it was forced to lose its identity as a municipality in its own right.

North Canton citizen activist Chuck Osborne tells the SCPR that the Akron Beacon Journal in recent days did a piece on Kenmore's absorption into Akron which he shared with North Canton's council members on Monday evening last.

It appears to The Report that North Canton is pretty much landlocked and has very little room to grow and perhaps Stark Countians will be looking at a graphic like this one in coming years.  North Canton's failure to approve an economic development collaborative agreement with Canton, Jackson Township and Plain Township earlier this year could prove to have been a major blunder in terms of North Canton retaining viability.

In this sense, it is a bit ironic if not hypocritical that Osborne is sounding the alarm bells inasmuch as he was a prime figure in joining with an adamant mayor David Held to defeat North Canton's doing a MEDA (Mutual Economic Development Agreement) with its immediate geographical neighbors.

To their credit, Councilpersons Jon Snyder and Marcia Keisling pushed the hardest to provide North Canton with an avenue to the future.

Also, to his credit, Snyder proposed earlier this year a back door revenue raising measure (a parks levy) that would keep North Canton out of a fiscal crisis over the near term.

A consequence of the MEDA failure (when coupled with a revenue crunch) could be a timeline like this one down the road, no?

Not that Revoldt is any savior figure.

In fact,  one thing that Revoldt was not able to achieve in his time in North Canton agreement is a working partnership with surrounding communities.

But he had a knack for leadership that seems sorely missing these days in (excuse me if I mention trees) in Stark County's major northern most city - The Dogwood City.

On or about March 10, 2011 Revoldt was summoned to Columbus by newly elected Republican governor John Kasich to serve in the then Ohio Department of Economic Development.

Fellow North Canton 4th Warder Jon Snyder (a Republican) took over for Revoldt.

Next to Revoldt, Snyder has the most experience and depth of knowledge of anybody in North Canton, except maybe, his major nemesis (and Revoldt's); one, Chuck Osborne.

And Snyder seemed to be holding things together pretty well.

But after Revoldt's departure and series of unfortunate events have conspired against Snyder (some of his own making) to undermine his ability to lead council.

The SCPR heard yesterday that Revoldt has retired from his work in Columbus and is back in town.

So The Report contacted him and asked whether or not he would be interested in returning to North Canton government?

His answer?

Non-committal.

But he would not rule a return to North Canton government out.

One scenario has Jon Snyder resigning as Ward 4 councilman (and he tells the SCPR that he is considering same because he cannot afford to be without healthcare given his age) and Revoldt who lives in Ward 4 taking his place.

And, the SCPR thinks, another possibility connected to a Snyder resignation might attain out of the surprise Monday night announcement by Gail Kalpac that she is retiring.

One of what the Stark County Political Report thinks was the worst turn of events for the stability, citizen responsiveness and "for the citizens" productiveness was the election of Republican Tim Fox as Ward 3 councilman (November, 2011) and not long thereafter his selection by council as North Canton's law director (SCPR LINK, September 12, 2012).

The Report believes that a good number of problems that dog North Canton to this very day are traceable to Fox and his imperial ways which council has utterly failed to rein in.

Kalpac's retirement (to be effective on June 1, 2014), the SCPR thinks, was largely due - at this time - to the acerbic relationship between Fox and Kalpac.

The SCPR  has spoken to Kalpac and she says that she wants to devote time to caring for her aging parents to spend more time with her grandchildren.

Kalpac is a classy lady and would never point the finger at Fox and her relationship with him as others have done with the Stark County Political Report going back many months ago.

There have been a number of run-in between Fox, citizens and the media (including the SCPR) which The Report thinks is attributable to his "my way or the highway" bearing.

There have been multiple rumors that council was about the sack Fox, but for some reason he seems to have a hold on five councilpersons and Mayol David Held and thereby has been able to stave off those who seek his removal.ere

Back in February there was a big furor about Fox which the SCPR asked the council president Jon Snyer about.

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Of course  Snyder is no longer council president..

But Monday's Kalpac resignation puts North Canton in quite a pickle if not in the box which is already populated with the MEDA failure and no revenue raising plan on the horizon.

Not only will Kalpac's departure make it next to impossible for council to function in an administrative support context, but Snyder tells the SCPR that there is nobody available to train a new employee.

So what to do?

Interestingly enough the answer may have come out of the mouth of one Chuck Osborne.

In a conversation with him today, The Report could scarcely believe the ears as he was suggesting that a clerk of council crisis may be averted by a Jon Snyder resignation to pave the way for his wife Kathy (now employed part-time with Canal Fulton government, and, formerly, a seasoned Stark County Board of Elections employee) to take on being clerk of council.

In yesterday's SCPR conversation with Snyder, The Report brought up the Osborne suggestion of what may be afoot.

Snyder said that in the past (before they married), his wife (then Kathy Lewis) considered going to work for North Canton.

However, with their marriage; her working in any capacity for the city of North Canton was a non-starter?

Snyder that he is going to bring up with his wife the question of whether or not she would be interested in replacing Kalpac should he resign from council.

And, if she were interested and North Canton Council was receptive, a Kathy Snyder employment would solve one huge problem for Jon Snyder.

Kathy Snyder as a North Canton employee would qualify to get "family plan" health care insurance coverage which of course would include who?

You've got it!

One Jon Snyder.

What a gas such a turn of events would be, no?

Jon Snyder was forced off North Canton's health care coverage by the politics of the situation notwithstanding a Tim Fox opinion that he could legally maintain his coverage because of defects in the Osborne generated referendum ordinance (passed overwhelming in November, 2012 by North Cantonians). 

The Osborne ordinance has been challenged in the Stark County Court of Common Pleas by Mayor Held with the blessing of council.

While the SCPR does see North Canton being boxed-in by a number of measures, do not look for an Akron/Kenmore outcome anytime soon.

But Osborne in right.

Council and the mayor need to fashion a plan now to avert what might happen in 2028 if nothing is done.

The SCPR thinks that if North Canton (formerly "New" Berlin) is to avoid being absorbed into Canton and thereby become a part of perhaps a name changed entity "New" Canton; North Canton is going to need a ramp up in quality of leadership.

A Snyder being replaced by a Revoldt and replacements for Councilpersons Werren and Griffith might be enough of a leadership boost for North Canton to avoid becoming Stark County's Kenmore.

And, North Canton could use a change in the mayor's chair occupant too.

Otherwise that box North Canton is in may compress and squeeze the city out of existence!

GUEST COMMENTARY - FORMER NORTH CANTON COUNCILMAN CHUCK OSBORNE - ON NORTH CANTON TAX ABATEMENTS

Periodically, the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) publishes commentary by Stark Countians on pertinent public issues.

Today's guest, Chuck Osborne, has formerly served on North Canton City Council and he is a regular at council meetings and frequently makes comments during the public speaks portion of the meeting.

His topic today is: Whether or not North Canton City Council is acting in the public interest in providing unsolicited tax abatements to the Fred W. Albrecht Company?

Fred W. Abrecht Company operates Acme Fresh Markets in North Canton among other Stark and Summit County communities.

Folks like Osborne have some difficulty getting their points taken credibly because public officials who are the object of their criticisms in a subtle sort of way insinuate to the general public that such persons are offbeat and therefore not deserving of the public ear.

Public officials who engage in these tactics are themselves a disservice to the public that has elected them or, in the case of public official appointees; an ensconced bureaucrat that disdains the public that they are supposed to be serving.

As far as The Report can determine, North Canton City Council president Daryl Revoldt is not one of Osborne's detractors. Here is a link to a Repository article North Canton council debates tax abatements (Edd Pritchard - April 13, 2009) that provides the current context of the tax abatement issue discussion.

Osborne's commentary follows:

NORTH CANTON CONTINUES TO GRATUITOUSLY PROVIDE TAX ABATEMENTS TO ABLE CORPORATIONS

My comments tonight deal with an issue I have addressed before to this council and that is the issue of tax abatements and how they are given out simply for the asking in North Canton.

Nearly two years ago, council was considering tax incentives for the construction of a Sherwin Williams Paint Store on Applegrove Street. In remarks to council regarding the tax abatement for Sherwin Williams on May 14, 2007, I said “Tax abatements for businesses in North Canton took on a whole new meaning at last Monday night’s Council of the Whole meeting when Economic Development Committee Chairman Jim Repace brought to the table a request for a CRA Tax Incentive for a Sherwin Williams Paint Store on Applegrove Street, NE.” Continuing, I asked “...if the taxpayers of North Canton are now expected to subsidize a public corporation, traded on the New York Stock Exchange with sales last year of $7.8 billion with an exemption from property taxes.”

The discussion of tax incentives for the Sherwin Williams Paint Store subsequently ended and the Sherwin Williams Paint Store was later constructed without the need for tax incentives. Imagine that!

On tonight’s agenda, titled as Ordinance No. 33-09, is yet another request for tax incentives for a corporation. This corporation also has sizeable annual sales and financial clout.

And typical of tax abatement requests before North Canton City Council, the legislation is being considered as emergency legislation.

The emergency legislation is for an abatement of taxes under the city’s Community Reinvestment Area Tax program for remodeling and improvements that are planned at the Acme Fresh Market Store located on North Main Street. The store is operated by the Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company.

The Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company is a privately owned corporation that has sales in excess of $400 million dollars a year. I am gratified that the Acme Fresh Market store here in North Canton is going to be remodeled and expanded and I look forward to the expanded services that the new Acme will provide to me and the community, but are tax incentives actually needed in this situation?

As I stated in my opening statement, tax abatements are given out simply for the asking in North Canton and they have not been a factor in any of the decisions by businesses who have received them to invest in the city. They have been an afterthought and simply a handout.

In the case of the Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company, the tax incentives being offered are more than a handout. Last Tuesday, I met with a representative of the Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company at the company’s headquarters in Akron. In that meeting, the company’s secretary/treasurer told me that Albrecht Grocery Company does not generally ask for tax incentives and in regards to the planned improvements of their Acme store here in North Canton the city simply offered the tax incentives carte blanche, with no questions asked. Sort of like last week’s council meeting when not one single council member posed a single question regarding the request for tax incentives.

The secretary/treasurer for the Albrecht Grocery Company advised me that tax incentives offered to the company have no bearing on plans for the remodeling and improvement being made to the Acme Fresh Market on North Main.

Do I need to refresh everyone’s mind that North Canton is still facing a fiscal crisis? President Revoldt, in Town Hall meetings has indicated that the city could face fiscal emergency and state takeover of the city’s finances. Has anyone forgotten the $1.0 million plus deficit that the city is facing for 2010 and beyond?

And what is truly sad in terms of each and every one of these tax abatements is the fact that the majority of the tax monies that this council is talking of abating are funds destined for the North Canton City Schools

Is anyone on this council aware of the financial constraints that the North Canton City School District is facing over the next three years?

The North Canton Education Association has just been told the following in a recent meeting of its members: For the school year, 2009-2010, if the district is able to trim this year’s expenditure by $1.5 million, the school district can end the school year with a $2.4 million carryover. For the school year, 2010-2011, the carryover will have dwindled to $660,000. For the school year, 2011-2012, the North Canton School District expects a deficit of $1.7 million.

In last week’s Council of the Whole meeting, Finance Chairman Jon Snyder remarked that the dollar amounts that have been abated in previous tax abatements by council were insignificant. Mr. Snyder, the only thing insignificant about the amounts of those tax abatements is how insignificant the tax incentives were in persuading those businesses to locate and build in North Canton.

The tax abatements given in this city are corporate charity and they take away money from the North Canton City School District and if this council continues to hand them out like party favors you will drive the city’s school district into budget deficits that we now face in the City of North Canton.

Mr. Snyder, an abatement of $6,600 a year on property taxes for a corporation that does $400 million a year in sales is insignificant. It is also tax deductible. Downsizing the City of North Canton and the North Canton City School District is not insignificant.

Last Friday, I delivered a letter to the President of The Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company, Steve Albrecht, asking him to decline the city’s offer for tax incentives. I am appealing to his moral sense of duty for a community that is in deep financial distress.

Lastly, I must say that I am disheartened that no one in North Canton City Government knows that his fiduciary responsibility is to the citizens and taxpayers of this city first and foremost. Offering tax abatements just because you can clearly is irresponsible.

I am hoping that The Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Company is a good corporate citizen and will be a strong supporter of our community and decline the offer of tax incentives.

The North Canton City Schools need all the money they can collect and most certainly the City of North Canton needs all the revenue it can collect.