"REPUBLICAN MAYOR DAVID HELD: "STATEHOUSE REPUBLICANS UP TO NO GOOD!"

UPDATED:  10:40 AM

STARK COUNTY'S MOST EXTENSIVE "VIDEO" COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

VIDEOS

CITIZEN OSBORNE GETS EJECTED FROM COUNCIL MEETING

.....

"POLLYANA" COUNCILMAN FONTE ON:
 MAKING NORTH CANTON GREAT AGAIN

.....

NORTH CANTON GETS A NEW POLICE CHIEF
THE SWEARING-IN
also

Slide Show of Who Attended

.....

MAYOR HELD CHASTISES OHIO GENERAL ASSEMBLY

There were at last night's North Canton City Council meeting quite a number of items dealt with by council and the Mayor David Held administration.

There was North Canton civic activist Chuck Osborne getting kicked out of council meeting for exercising his First Amendment right of "free speech" in putting up a sign "Silence Law Director Tim Fox" towards the end of the meeting.

Here is a SCPR video of Osborne being "thrown out" via police escort of last night's meeting (1:07 in length).



Let me say this about Osborne.

At last night's meeting he shouted out from the audience several times in disruption of the meeting.

He had had his opportunity to address council and the administration during the "Recognition of Visitors" part of the meeting agenda.

That he chose to demonstrate a lack of self-control in the verbal outbursts is inexcusable.

He may or may not have a point on his First Amendment rights being trampled upon by the meeting's leadership.  I for one hope he does bring a court case on his being expelled from council for the sign he posted on his camera easel.

As much as Tim Fox seems to think he is "judge, jury and executioner" on North Canton questions of law, there are those of us who have not hesitation whatsoever to challenge his take.

On North Canton council appears to buy-in to the Fox perpetuated notion that he is "the Great Lawgiver!"

For me, I trust the courts of Ohio and this nation to get to constitutional determinations; not a law director no matter what the city but especially not North Canton law director Tim Fox.

Moving on.

There was the consideration by council to approve agreements with the North Canton City Schools and North Ridge Place, LLC in settlement of a dispute between the schools, North Ridge and the city on a "thought by some" to have been an illegal 100% abatement of real estate property taxes (70% of which goes to the schools) over 12 years BUT which could not be "once and for all passed" BECAUSE two members of council (Dan Peters, Ward 2, president of council) and Marcia Kiesling (at-large) were absent.  Absences on the part of North Canton council members seem to me to be excessive.

There was a Councilman Dominic Fonte over-the-top laudation of  how (impliedly) North Canton government is "making North Canton great again."

Let me say, that Dominic Fonte as a person seems to be an impeccable individual.

However, his "pollyannish" take on the "overall" working of North Canton government is very self-serving and took on a "Dear Leader" tone of a recent presidential cabinet meeting in which the president was fawned over by adult men and women except for Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Of course, North Canton stand-in president of council Doug Foltz and the rest of council soaked the self-love like they were sponges extraordinaire.

While the SCPR thinks that there are good things happening in North Canton at the city's governors, respect for its critiquing citizens is not one of them.  Note in the following video how Fonte sort of apologizes to his peers for agreeing with North Canton's civic activist in his previous three years as a councilman.  Originally, he was appointed by those he sits alongside of today.

And pick up on Fonte's use of the word "Hell."  Square that up with the Foltz/Fox failure to censure Fonte on the use of a swear word, with Fox's admonition of Citizen Osborne for use of the very same word several weeks ago during a council meeting.

Maybe just a little bit of a double standard?

It is well known that Fox and Osborne do not like one another.

This disparity in treatment, I think,  is one manifestation of quite a number over his nearly five years as law director that evidences what I think amounts to Fox singling Osborne out for "special" treatment.

For council and the mayor not to put an end of what I see as Fox hostility to any North Canton citizen is not an example of "good government" no matter what Dominic Fonte says.

The Fonte video (3:35)



There was council approval of changes in the North Canton charter which does not seem to be "citizen" friendly.

There was the passage of legislation to put a tax issue on a "special" August ballot at an estimated cost of $14,300.  (Source: Stark County's most knowledgeable official at the Stark County Board of Elections):

Travis E. Secrest <tesecrest@starkcountyohio.gov>  Today at 10:18 AM
To:  Martin Olson

The calculated estimate cost to run a Special Election in Stark County is $1,100 per precinct. The City of North Canton has 13 precincts which results in an estimate cost of $14,300. 

Again, this is an estimated cost. Since there is also an election taking place in the Louisville Public Library District some of the costs for administering the election will be split between the two districts resulting in the possibility of a lower total cost for both districts.

Travis

There was the swearing in of new North Canton Chief of Police Lt. John Minock before an overflow crowd of area police and fire officials.

First, a slideshow of who attended and candid shots of key persons:



Next, the video of the "actual" swearing in with comments by Mayor Held, former chiefs Grimes and Weldon and the current fire chief.



But that's not all of it.  (see "Back to meeting," below)

As an aside:

You talk about "fodder of media overload" at a single meeting of a Stark County local government, it was present "in Spades" at last night's meeting.  Unfortunately, much of it will not be printed by The Canton Repository, Stark's "only" countywide newspaper.

A publication people have to pay for.  If I were a subscriber, I'd likely think I was being short-changed.

Time and time again, I am told by Stark Countians that if were not for the SCPR much of the highly significant happenings of Stark County political subdivisions regarding the welfare of everyday Stark Countians would go unnoticed.

Back to the meeting.

Finally, there was the bombshell of a Mayor David Held report on pending action (any day now) of the Ohio General Assembly perhaps doing big harm to city government finances across Ohio.

As far as The Stark County Political Report is concerned, Held's presentation was a sound thrashing issued by Republican mayor David Held of the Ohio General Assembly including area representatives Scott Oelslager (the Senate, the 29th) and Kirk Schuring (the House, the 48th), both Republicans of the supermajority Republican General Assembly for the manner in which it is dealing with as aspect of House Bill 49 (the two year biennium budget bill affecting all of Ohio governance) which Held perceives to be wrought with danger for Ohio's cities.

It is curious that Held neglected to include 50th House District Republican Christina Hagan as a legislator to contact.  Hmmm?

Here is Held in his own words:



About three weeks ago (June 5th), I did a blog (LINK) on the oft-violated by Ohio legislators Ohio constitutional mandate that there be only one subject on any given piece of legislation.

Accordingly, the SCPR couldn't agree more with Held.

So there you have it folks, the most entertaining, inspiring and compelling local government meeting certainly in Stark County and likely all of Ohio if not the nation right here in the Hall of Fame county!