The City of Massillon has much to thankful for this day.
The divisive leadership of our Extraordinary Mayor for 37 Days is finally coming to a conclusion.
His rubber stamp city council has been replaced by a Republican majority city council, which will hopefully impose some financial sanity upon our city's governance.
Massillon voters have chosen a new path for their city, electing Republicans and Democrats to lead our city, and rejecting both Republicans and Democrats aligned with the old regime.
And we are thankful.
We expect to see the end of the old ways.
We expect to see the end of the bullying and intimidation that was the hallmark of the Cicchinelli administration.
We expect to see the end of the sweetheart development deals, where the city takes all the risk, and our tax dollars are used to cover the failures.
We expect to see the end of our parks tax money, passed in good faith by the city's voters, being hijacked to pay for golf courses and restaurants.
We expect to see councilmen thinking for themselves, ending the 'shenanigans,' and putting the public good in front of their personal loyalties;
"If I signed it, and apparently I did, it was in error," Hersher said. "It was a mistake. There's no shenanigans on my part" (The Independent, November 22, 2011).
We expect to see the end of administration officials lying to us, the public, to justify a mayor's personal agenda;
According to City Engineer Keith Dylewski, these "select streets" "scored high on a ratings system used by his department" (Keith Dylewski justifying repairs to the mayor's street, The Independent, August 16, 2011).
and then;
"Correcting an earlier report, Dylewski said the paving project was not scored on a ratings system, but its condition still warrants the proposed repairs" (The Independent, August 29, 2011).
or;
"I feel confident the dollars will be there to make it through this year and we'll have the dollars to make it through next year" (Frank Cicchinelli, The Independent, July 6, 2010).
or;
From the November 14, 2002, Parks and Recreation Board Minutes;
"The Mayor explained that the merging of these two areas will maximize resources of the current departments and provide an organizational structure which will promote efficient operations giving top notch service to the public. The Mayor believes this decision now, in the long term, will be beneficial to everyone, and he stated that they promised the citizens that the City would not subsidize this golf course."
or;
"There is no doubt the parks and recreation department is getting more criticism this year (than in the past)," he said. "I think the reason is two things. One there will also be anti- (Mayor Frank) Cicchinelli people. If he says the sky is blue they will think it is green and, two, there are people who are continually looking for something to pick on."
- Parks Czar Kenn Kaminski explaining that the parks aren't in horrible condition despite visual evidence to the contrary. It is only that critics of the parks system are "Anti-Cicchinelli" (The Independent, May 10, 2010).
We expect to see well intentioned people, working together, doing their best to improve our city.
We don't expect them to always agree, but we do expect them to put the best interests of the citizens first.
And if this does occur, and it should occur, we would all be thankful.
From the hardworking staff of the Massillon Review, we wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
