DISCUSSION: ITS ABOUT TIME FOR HARTVILLE MAYOR ED TUCKER TO HAVE A HEART-TO-HEART WITH POLICE CHIEF GEORGE DRAGOVICH, JR. ABOUT MOVING ON?

Hartville Police Chief George Dragovich, Jr. is in another controversy?

According to Edd Pritchard's report in The Repository yesterday, the chief has a disgruntled officer (Officer Bardwell) on the Hartville police force because the officer does not believe his on-the-job complaints are being heard.

A key matter that The Rep writer failed to inform Rep readers of is this. Chief Dragovich, according to a source of the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report), works from his home.

Isn't this splendid?

This "little morsel" of missing information from both The Repository's report and a report by the Akron Beacon Journal (see link below) may actually be a key reason why the officer took the chief's mailbox and his complaint and put it on Mayor Tucker's door. The Report's source says that Dragovich does not regularly and consistently check his mail (perhaps as little as two times a year?). And consequently a number of important matters are not dealt with in a timely fashion which proves frustrating to folks like Bardwell.

To be nice, The Rep's article was incomplete to say the least. For a more complete account go to the Akron Beacon Journal's version, CLICK HERE.

Citizens of Hartville should be peppering Mayor Ed Tucker and Village Council with a volume of questions about what is going on here and demand swift and immediate corrective action.

The Report thinks Tucker et al have an awful lot of explaining to do. Apparently, they do not believe that The Repository and the Beacon Journal are going to consistently and abidingly press them on this bizarre way of running police administration within the Village.

Reading between the lines of the Beacon Journal's story, The Report gets the impression that council members and Tucker are appropriately indignant for media purposes, but once the press goes away very little or anything will be done by these elected officials to get the chief in line with doing prompt, efficient and effective police leadership.

The Report's take on the Mayor Tucker, Bohaychyk, Currie, Beltz, and Sullivan reaction and action is "to blame the victim."

The Report has begun its scrutiny of Hartville government and the days of getting "softball" coverage are over.

Chief Dragovich has a storied history of late involving his conduct as the man in charge of Hartville's law enforcement.

It was only on January, 2008 (with the assumption of office of Mayor Ed Tucker) that Dragovich came of paid administrative leave imposed by former Mayor Bev Green in September, 2007 as an outgrowth of a complaint received against Dragovich. The Rep's Edd Pritchard reported Green's action this way:

Green placed Dragovich on leave after hearing a complaint that he had accosted a customer at a local convenience store. She then turned the complaint over to the Stark County Sheriff's Department for an investigation.

In November 2006, Dragovich filed a lawsuit against Mayor Green in her capacity as mayor for "usurping his authority" as chief.

To just to get "a little bit sarcastic" with the chief: "Gee chief, your right. You run such a tight policing ship in Hartville that one wouldn't want anyone else to get in the way."

In October 2006, Dragovich rescinded previously announced plan to retire by retracting same during a Village Council meeting.

In December 2003, Dragovich was involved in an incident at Hartville's Giant Eagle, to wit: (as reported by The Rep's Kelli Young)

Mayor Owen Stoll gave Police Chief George Dragovich Jr. a verbal reprimand Tuesday for acting inappropriately after a Giant Eagle security officer stopped the chief outside the W. Maple Street grocery store for leaving with two votive candles without paying for them.

Back to the premises of this blog.

George Dragovich, Jr. should seriously consider, in the opinion of The Report, returning to Plan B.

What is Plan B?

Retirement, that's what.

Dragovich was scheduled to retire in June, 2006.

It was a good idea in 2006. It's an even better idea in 2009!

DISCUSSION: IS HARTVILLE'S SEWER RATE HEADED TO $50 PER MONTH?

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) believes these are particularly hard times for the village of Hartville.

Mayor Ed Tucker is scrambling these days to get state and federal (can you believe it?) money to improve and update the villages' sewer plant. Right now use is at 97% and the rates are soaring.

In early January, Tucker told the Akron Beacon Journal that he was opposed to reworking the sewer system because it cost too much. Here is a Google summation of Tucker's position as of January 8, 2009:

... Hartville mayor opposing sewer work. Proposed $1 million design for $6.4 million plant expansion too costly, says Tucker, who favors repairs

Interestingly enough "patch and repair" is what Tucker favored when in challenged former Mayor Beverly Green in 2007. Green worked hard to get the village up-to-date on its sewer system. It is poetic justice that the problem is now Tucker's.

Why would The Report say parenthetically "can you believe it?" Because when Republican Ed DiGiacomo was mayor from the 1980s through the mid-1990s, the village turned down the opportunity to obtain Community Development Block Grant money due to the federal "strings attached."

But things are different in Hartville these days. The Report has been told that Longaberger is down to precious few employees in Hartville and, of course, the storied Schumacker Lumber is no more. However, there is one bright spot: Scott Process Systems, Inc. It is said to be growing and probably is the main reason Hartville is staying afloat these days.

Since Tucker and his administration are besieging Ohio and Washington officials for a handout, it must be that Tucker has converted from a "patch and repair" man to an "expansion man."

The price tag for expansion will be high. When Green was mayor, a resident's sewer bill was at $9.00 or so, increased to $17.00+, then to $27.00+ and now council is considering an increase to $33.00+. How far off can $50.00 a month be?

The political warfare continues in Hartville and the sewer issue is only one of many fronts that the political battles have been and will continue to be waged.

Tucker and his political cohort ousted Bev Green and her friends on council. Now, The Report understands, Tucker and his political friends are blaming Green and her supporters on council for everything that ails Hartville these days.

Four council seats are up this time around. And The Report expects "a battle royal" for control of the reins of government. The Report will not be surprised to see Green and her allies go for a rematch in November by trying to wrest control from the Tucker crowd.

Will Hartville see another sea change in its political makeup in November, 2009?