Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

We have much to be thankful for in the City of Champions this year.

 

Despite the confusion of one of our council members, as he authored his rubric for better parks management, we are thankful we live in Massillon, and not Brunswick.

 

"The Director of Parks and Recreation shall have the control and management of parks, park entrances, parkways, children's playgrounds, public recreation facilities, gymnasiums, swimming pools, playfields, or indoor recreational centers, and any lands or buildings set aside for park or recreational use by the public, and the acquisition, construction, repair, and maintenance thereof. The Director shall create and supervise all Recreational Programs for the City of Brunswick."

 

 

We are thankful we have chosen elected officials who focus on the big issues of the day and the serious concerns facing our city... like where the mayor and her staff sit at council meetings.

 

Thank you Milan, Sarita, Nancy and Quinessa for keeping your laser like focus on what is truly important to the people you represent.

 

We are thankful for the attention to the will of the people displayed by some members of our city council.

 

Back in May, over 68 percent of the voters rejected a plan to make Massillon's city income tax one of the highest in Ohio.

 

One would think that plan would be dead and buried.

 

But it isn't.

 

Because no doesn't really mean no, and we fully expect the income tax increase proposal to come forward again in 2014.

 

We are thankful that the Extraordinary One, Massillon's Once & Future Mayor for Life does not believe his rejection by city voters in 2011, and the multi-million dollar "vat of red ink" he left his successor should deter his return to the mayor's office.

 

We anticipate his extraordinary return.

 

Because he provides us abundant topics on which to write.

 

And we are thankful.

 

But most of all, we are thankful for our readers.

 

You are truly the "extraordinary ones," and we hope you enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Fountain of Misinformation

The Independent newspaper ran a story today squelching the persistent rumor that the Massillon Senior Center was closing.

No one has proposed it should close.

The mayor has not proposed closing it;

"I have no intention of closing the senior center if I'm in charge," the mayor said. "I would like to expand it and grow the building so more people can use it." (The Independent, November 26, 2013)

City Council has not proposed closing it;

"City Councilman Ed Lewis, R-Ward 6, said council has not discussed closing or moving the facility, nor does it plan to draft legislation to do either." (The Independent, November 26, 2013).

Some of the speculation is a result of the retirement of long time director Nancy Johnson.

Word on the street is some of the speculation comes as a result of Massillon's one woman rumor mill, Ward 2 Councilwoman Nancy Halter.

It would appear nobody likes spreading a rumor more than Nancy Halter.

Among other rumors passed along by Councilwoman Halter according to our faithful readers include;

Mayor Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry resigning after the first of the year, and moving out of town, Florida we understand.

And this summer's rumor of Mayor Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry resigning to take a job in Washington.

There is naturally going to be some angst and speculation among Massillon residents about various governmental services in our Fair City as a result of the city being placed into fiscal emergency by the state auditor.

Feeding that speculation via rumor and innuendo is not a productive way for our elected leaders to spend their time. As an elected official, you have credibility with the people you serve. They will believe you.

Massillon has serious problems. We urge our elected leaders not to throw gasoline on the proverbial fire and stoke the fears of our residents.

Running a city is serious business.

Stop the gossip and get back to work.

Success in the City of Champions!

Windsor Ontario's loss appears to be Massillon's gain.

If you thought the Federal League was "anti-Massillon," you should see what the people in Windsor, Ontario had to say about our beloved City of Champions when it was announced that the Heinz Corporation was closing it's Windsor area plant and moving production to other cities, including Massillon, Ohio.

What was Windsor's loss is Massillon's gain.

In what has to be the singular biggest achievement of the regime of Massillon's new leader, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry, she and her team negotiated a deal not only keeping the 450 local jobs at the Heinz corporation in Massillon, but adding another 249 jobs.

Almost 750 jobs in a city of about 32,000 people.

To say this is a big deal is a vast understatement.

Business retention and expansion is an ultra-competitive game between communities, and this is a huge win for Massillon.

While we are surprised that Catazaro-from-Perry did not try to move the Heinz plant to her home and native land, the vast pagan wasteland known as Perry Township, we are sure her detractors are vexed.

On one hand, this was a great coup for Massillon.

On the other hand, Catazaro-Perry gets credit for doing it.

According to the Windsor (Ontario) Star newspaper, the Heinz corporation will be investing $28 million dollars in the new Massillon plant.

This means Heinz will be part of the Massillon business landscape for some time to come.

And the best part, unlike some past deals negotiated by a certain past mayor, Massillonians aren't on the hook for the mortgage.

Grown Ups At Work

Massillon's Financial Planning and Supervision Commission had its very first meeting yesterday as it began the process of cleaning up the "vat of red ink" left to Massillon City government by our former Mayor for Life, the Extraordinary One, Frank Cicchinelli.

According to the Independent newspaper, "they gathered for nearly three hours in Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry's office for a general introductory and procedural meeting, as well as to outline some goals of the group."

However, no where in the article did we read about a contentious debate over where the mayor and her staff would sit.

Apparently, everyone in the room behaved like adults, and didn't play petty, junior high school lunch room games over where the members of the commission would sit.

Unfortunately for the people of the City of Champions, we can't say that about everyone charged with overseeing Massillon's health and welfare.

On Monday night, with their trademark laser like focus on the big issues facing our community, Massillon City Council finally had a vote on the pressing issue of the day.

Deciding where the mayor and her staff would sit.

As we last left High School Confidential, the Republicans on council were mad that "that woman," Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry hired a Republican as her safety and service director. Republican Al Hennon's decision to join the administration of a Democratic mayor was met with anger and name calling from some of his Republican colleagues.

The solution? They were not going to let Mayor Kathy sit at their table during lunch, and an ordinance was introduced moving the mayor and her staff from the front of the council chambers during council meetings.

And Monday night was the vote.

And the vote failed on a five to four vote.

The good news is that five members of Massillon City Council realized that this was ridiculous, stupid, immature and petty, and were adult enough to vote no.

The bad news is that four members of council were not.

Milan Chovin
Nancy Halter
Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly
and Quinessa Hampton

were more interested in junior high school vengeance than the adult responsibilities the voters tasked them with when they were chosen to serve.

If this vote is any indication of the maturity and level of responsibility belonging to some of the members on Massillon City Council, and we believe it is, then the next two years will be extraordinary for the amount of shenanigans we can expect from some of our city council members.

It will give us much to write about.

And the people of Massillon much to be sad about.

Monday Night Shenanigans

When our current mayor, Democrat Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry, reached across the partisan divide and hired former Massillon Schools Superintendent Al Hennon as her permanent safety & service director, one would think the Republicans would have been pleased that "that woman" hired a Republican into the top job in her administration.

One would be wrong.

Al Hennon was also the Republican candidate for Massillon City Council President.

Normally, the job of council president is not all that relevant to the governance of a municipality.

The council president simply runs the council meetings.

Except in the case of former council president Glenn Gamber, who acted as the former mayor's loyal enforcer.

Gamber acted as the de-facto boss of council, and the council members, for whatever reason, let him.

The current council president, Tony Townsend, appears to lack Gamber's informal authority and merely presides over the meetings.

We can't imagine Hennon being a head cracker in his role as council president, but we could be wrong.

Hennon, we hear, wanted to be more than the referee at council meetings twice a month, and felt he could contribute more as safety & services director.

The Republicans were enraged that Hennon went to work for the usurper, "that woman," Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry.

They screamed treason and demanded revenge.

And they had a plan for vengeance.

A petty, ill-conceived plan, but a plan nonetheless.

They would smite Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry from their presence and ban her and her administration from sitting up in the front of the council chambers during council meetings.

Seriously.

They were going to make her sit in the back of the council meeting room, away from where the council members sit.

Seriously.

They have turned their rubric for better seating into legislation, and will be voting on an ordinance to move where the mayor sits at the meetings.

Seriously.

This is what some members of council are fixated on.

The city is broke, the State of Ohio has put Massillon under fiscal emergency, and our city council will be voting on moving the mayor and her staff to the back of the room.

Tonight.

Seriously.

Sarita Cunningham stated at a prior meeting of city council that having the mayor and her staff sit up front next to the council members, "gave her the willies."

It gives us "the willies" that council is spending time on this.

We imagine the vote will be close.

We will share the vote tally with our faithful readers, so they know the name of each council member who is so totally absorbed with petty politics, and who has such a total disregard for the real issues of the city, that they are more interested in playing "gotcha" with the mayor than focusing on Massillon's real problems.

We would like to remind council members so inclined to revert to their junior high school method of dealing with people they don't like by moving where they sit in the cafeteria to grow up.

Or quit, so that adults can take your place running the city.

The Newest White Elephant in the Room

The Massillon Senior Apartments at 59 Lincoln Way East.

A private enterprise.

And guess who pays the loan?

We do.

In an all too familiar pattern of "business development" under the reign of Massillon's Once & Future Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli, the City of Massillon is once more on the financial hook for someone else's private enterprise.

Tuesday night, taking a break from the critical business of determining who sits where at the meetings, City Council requested that the Law Director start the process of obtaining a receiver for the Massillon Senior Apartments. A receiver would be a third party who would run the building and collect the rents on behalf of the city.

Currently, a private developer, John Lucas collects the rents.

Massillon pays the loan.

Seriously.

He gets the rent money and Massillon pays the debt.

And Massillon still owes $925,000 dollars on the loan.

As some of our long term faithful readers may recall, the original developers stopped paying on the loan in 2010, but Massillon City Council was not notified by the city auditor until after the mayoral primary of 2011.

We can only speculate as to why the late notification.

Current operator John Lucas made an offer to buy the building earlier this year, but he couldn't come up with the money.

And now he quietly collects the rent.

While we pay the loan.

The Senior Apartments are just one more example of the "Massillon Miracle" of development, a narrative promulgated by Team Cicchinelli.

We don't argue that these are great business deals for the developers.

The City takes the risk and the developer takes the money.

What's not to like?

Except when the business fails, and our cash strapped city has one more financial obligation to pay as the result of another questionable deal executed by our former leader.

We are now left wondering if any more white elephants will be entering our collective room, led into the city by our Once & Future Mayor for Life.

Another Extraordinary Mess

Massillon's Once & Future Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli, imagined himself to be quite the wheeler dealer and engine of economic growth for the Industrial Crossroads of Ohio, now known as the City of Champions.

Unfortunately, many of these deals were financial sandcastles, propped up by the people's money, susceptible to being washed away by the high tides of an unsustainable debt load.

The nine hole expansion of the Legends of Massillon Golf Course was one such debacle. This expansion, spurred on, according to our former mayor by "overzealous golfers" is the ultimate in municipal white elephants. The whole course had to be rebuilt to accommodate the extra nine holes, and the resultant debt was so large, the city could not sustain it. This is when the mayor decided to dump the debt on the Parks Board, a move which has crushed park operations ever since.

Cicchinelli didn't do this to unload the debt, he just wanted to help out, to merge golf course and park operations, to merely run things more efficiently.

"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" (Parks and Recreation Board minutes, November 14, 2002).

Cicchinelli claimed that his proposal "was not a big scheme to have the parks department cover the golf course's expenses" (The Repository, December 17, 2002).

As we all learned, it was a "big scheme to have the parks department cover the golf course's expenses."

And don't worry, it will all be paid off...

In 2032.

Only 19 more years.

Then we have our City's foray into the hotel business.

The mortgage of the Hampton Inn is being paid for with our community development dollars.

"It (The Hampton Inn) was a good expenditure of tax dollars and the city is better off for it" (Frank Cicchinelli, The Independent, May 8, 2009).

And at the end of the 20 year mortgage in 2019, the City of Massillon will be on the hook for an almost $1 million dollar balloon payment.

We borrowed $2.25 million dollars, which doesn't even count the interest payments, for a hotel someone else owns.

Extraordinary.

And who can forget the proposed 6,500 seat arena?

Junior hockey right here in the City of Champions.

A million dollar state grant was spent on site preparations.

Unfortunately, proposed financier, Steven Waldman ended up in a Florida prison.

Are we done yet?

Nope.

The next white elephant has just entered the room.

We just hope someone brought a pooper scooper.

A big one.

Let's Get This Party Started

Ohio Governor John Kasich has made his third and final appointment to Massillon's Financial Planning and Supervision Commission.

Bob Gessner of Massillon Cable TV.

He joins local businessman Bob Yund and former Perry Township Administrator Elaine Campbell.

Some may question the appointment of Campbell, as she worked in that pagan wasteland known as Perry Township, but we decided to give her a pass after the uncovering of several facts by our crack Massillon Review research team.

Firstly, we can find no evidence that Perry Township ever experienced the dire financial problems plaguing Massillon that occurred as a result of the poor deals and overspending under the leadership of the Extraordinary One, Massillon's Once & Future Mayor for Life.

Secondly, Campbell does reside here in the warm confines of the City of Champions as she is a citizen of Tigertown.

The players are in place and it appears time the Commission gets to the serious of work of straightening out the mess.

We hope they do not maintain the same laser like focus on municipal finances that our city council has, or they will spend six weeks debating the seating chart, and whether or not the mayor has to sit in the hallway during the meetings.

Just last week, despite facing a multi-million dollar shortfall, with delinquent bills piling up to the ceiling, City Council decided it was time to spend more money on capital acquisitions.

Seriously.

How about using that money to pay the bills?

Part of this attitude, no doubt, results from the fact some members of council won't believe their own eyes and see the financial wreckage wrought by the former regime.

It would be a sign of disloyalty to the prior occupant of the mayor's office.

They continue to believe all is fine, all is well, and the only problem is that the current mayor, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry scammed the State of Ohio, and cheer leaded us into a problem that otherwise did not exist.

Unfortunately for Massillon, the problem is real.

We are broke.

And ignoring the problem hasn't worked.

It has brought the State of Ohio into the mix.

And hopefully the Commission won't tolerate the shenanigans going on by some of our elected so-called leaders.

And will worry about the finances instead of who sits where at the meetings, and selecting a parks director who already has the job.

Honor Those Who Served

It Was Not Extraordinary

The man who coined former mayor Frank Cicchinelli with the adjective, "extraordinary," fell short in his political comeback bid in Massillon's First Ward.

Former Safety & Services Director Mike Loudiana, our Once & Future Mayor for Life's right hand man lost to Republican incumbent Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly.

Team Cicchinelli was unable to plant their flag in the First Ward.

And we are sorely disappointed.

This, of course, will be a mere bump on the comeback trail as native born, God fearing Massillonians everywhere are still waiting for their sovereign's inevitable return to smite "that woman."

Cicchinelli neighbor, Republican Jim Triner also went down to defeat last night to Democrat Shaddrick Stinson, despite the fact there was a second Democrat in the race, Current Councilwoman Quinessa Hampton's husband, Edward.

The Democratic vote was not splintered enough to ensure a Triner victory.

Ward 2 Republican Nancy Halter and Ward 6 Republican Ed Lewis eked out razor close wins against their Democratic opponents.

Lewis, a likely mayoral candidate in two years, had to be surprised by the close shave he took in Ward 6.

The balance of power on council has now changed from a 5 to 4 Republican majority, to a 5 to 4 Democratic majority.

Look for long time Councilman Paul Manson to be chosen as the new council majority leader.

Manson, a die hard Cicchinelli loyalist will faithfully carry the Cicchinelli banner in leading council's new majority.

Election Day in the City of Champions

It's Election Day in the City of Champions and we urge all our faithful readers to go and exercise their right to vote.

And by tonight, some questions will be answered.

Will Team Cicchinelli be on the ascendancy and plant their flag in Massillon's First Ward, celebrating the election of former Safety & Services Director Mike Loudiana?

The thought of that happening just gives Sarita Cunningham-Hedderly the willies.

We believe it would be "extraordinary."

Will mayor in waiting Ed Lewis hang on to his Ward 6 seat? Word on the street is Lewis has been angling to run for mayor since he first took his council seat.

Will Nancy Halter's past support of hotels and golf courses bring her another term in Ward 2?

Will the Democratic vote in Ward 4 be diluted, resulting in Cicchinelli neighbor, Republican Jim Triner pulling the upset, and being elected in the traditionally Democratic southeast side ward?

None of the at large races are contested, but we will have a new member of council at large, as the Honorable Councilman, the Esteemed Larry Slagle, "Voice of the People," joins Ward 5 Republican Donnie Peters in temporary retirement.

Temporary retirement.

They both will be back.

Michelle Del Rio-Keller will take Slagle's place, a woman known for her intelligence and independence.

And who will be elected to our school board as the two incumbents, Phil Elum and Tom Seesan retire. Both Elum and Seesan are quality individuals and will be difficult to replace. They were never worried about who sat where at the school board meetings and could function as adults at the meeting.

We don't care who you vote for.

Just vote.

Another Productive Night

It looks like Massillon City Council will be spending another productive night diligently working on the people's business.

They are maintaining a laser like focus on the critical issues facing the City of Champions.

They are working tirelessly on the one issue that has the biggest impact on the lives of the people of Massillon.

Making sure the mayor doesn't sit up front at the council meetings.

Here at Massillon City Council High School, Mayor Kathy stole Al Hennon at the Homecoming Sock Hop, and the rest of the gang doesn't want her sitting at their lunch table.

So, tonight they will be considering the serious business of amending Massillon's law books to change rule number 64, "who is admitted within the bar."

No, no, no...

Not who is admitted within a bar...

Hmmm....

Nah, too easy.

" who is admitted within the bar" refers to the front part of city council chambers, where the city council and other city officials sit.

Mayor Kathy and her administration are to be moved to the back of the room.

Or maybe even out in to the hall.

Or perhaps into the parking lot.

This legislation is the manifestation of the childish antics of people who do not appear grown up enough to sit together, let alone run a city.

High School is over people.

Grow up.

This lack of maturity, focus, and common sense is disturbing.

It should give everyone in Massillon the willies.

Stat of the Day

According to one of our faithful readers, one who apparently has a little too much free time on their hands, our beloved Massillon Tigers Football team has been nothing short of extraordinary in their series with arch-nemesis Canton McKinley during the mayoral reign of Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry.

During the reign of Catazaro-from-Perry, our Tigers are undefeated, posting 3 wins against no losses versus McKinley, including a playoff win last year.

Under the reign of our Once and Future Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli, our Tigers were .500 versus McKinley, posting a record of 14 wins and 14 losses.

It is clear that our Tigers can overcome any handicap this year, including playing for a city led by "that woman."

Best wishes in the playoffs!

The 124th Meeting

The Massillon Review wishes our hometown Massillon Tigers best wishes as they take to the field Saturday for the 124th time against their arch-nemesis, the Canton McKinley Bulldogs.

A win for our Tigers and it's off to the playoffs!

Good Luck Tigers and look for our Massillon Review float in tonight's Beat McKinely parade!

It Just Gives Us the Willies

As the City of Champions slides into fiscal emergency, Massillon City Council approaches it's job with a laser like focus as it grapples with the critical issues of the day.

Like where they plan on having the mayor sit during the meetings.

Again, we are serious.

There is a real live ordinance being debated in city council which if passed, would move the mayor and her administration from the front of the meeting room to the general public area.

For real.

This is how they actually spend their time.

It is believed this rubric for better seating is a punitive response being pushed by some on council as retaliation for "that woman" hiring Republican Al Hennon as Safety & Services Director.

One of our faithful readers shared with us Councilwoman Sarita Cunningham's rationale for wanting the Catazaro-from-Perry administration to move from the front of the room to the back of the room.

Apparently, having the mayor and the staff sitting next to her "gave her the willies."

What gives us the willies is a city council so lost for focus and so absent of seriousness that it spends its days worried about where the mayor sits at the meetings.

It does, however, look like Catazaro-from-Perry just hastened her move to the back of the room.

Or in the case, her new assigned seat will probably be in the parking lot.

She dared veto the well researched, well thought out rubric for better parks management authored by the Honorable, the Esteemed Councilman, Larry Slagle.

It appeared to be a fine job of cut and paste, as the version we received referred to the "City of Brunswick."

It was a plan to deal with a parks director who was already appointed.

Or maybe it was a rubric to return a former parks director to his job.

It did put city council firmly in charge of the parks.

Which based on recent history would be an unmitigated  disaster.

They would struggle endlessly with issues like where to put a swing set.

And the thought of them managing these complex issues just gives us the willies.

High School Confidential Part 1

The word on the street is that certain members of our esteemed, serious minded city council decided it was time to discuss a rubric for seating at the meetings right after Mayor Kathy-Catazaro-from-Perry appointed former Massillon Schools Superintendent Al Hennon as her Safety & Services Director.

They were mad at "the usurper" and were not going to let her sit at their lunch table any longer.

Were the Democrats mad because she appointed a Republican, as she is a Democrat?

Nope.

Were the Republicans happy that one of their own was selected to the top appointed post in city government?

Nope.

They believed the appointment was shenanigans on the part of the Catazaro-from-Perry administration.

Because Al Hennon was running for election as a Republican against Democrat Tony Townsend in November in the race for council president.

Hennon dropped out and Townsend got a free pass.

Did this change the balance of power on council?

Nope.

The council president only votes in the case of a tie, and as there are nine members on Massillon City Council, if everyone shows up to the meeting, there won't be a tie.

Word is that some folks believe "that woman" appointed Hernnon purely to give her pal Tony Townsend a free ride because Townsend would be her lackey as council president.

But if Hennon agreed to work for her, isn't he now her lackey, too?

So aren't they both her lackeys?

So did it really matter who became council president?

Both candidates appear to be Catazaro-from-Perry lackeys.

In discussing mayoral appointees by "that woman," Team Cicchinelli uses it's own rubric for evaluating their fitness to serve.

If the person knows Catazaro-from-Perry, they are a lackey, and if they ever agree with anything she wants to do, they are a rubber stamp. And trust us, nobody knows more about rubber stamping than Team Cicchinelli.

So, logic would dictate the only people "that woman" could hire who would garner the approval of the associates of our Once & Future Mayor for Life are people she has never met who hate her.

Those people probably are not going to get hired.

We would well imagine that for Al Hennon to be offered and accept the top job in the city, he probably already knew "that woman," and probably (gasp) agreed with the way she was running our fair city.

The problems at high school were more important than this.

Someone else wanted to be King of Homecoming.

Hit the Road Jack?

Under the Honorable Councilman Larry Slagle's rubric for better parks management which he shepherded through Massillon City Council, when City Council wasn't distracted by who was sitting where at the meeting, he laid forth qualifications for the position of "Director of Parks and Recreation."

As an acknowledgement, we realize sharing the esteemed councilman's proposal constitutes a vicious personal attack against his outstanding reputation. We are indeed sorry for stooping to this despicable level, but here we go;

The Department of Parks and Recreation shall be headed by the Director of Parks and Recreation.  No person shall be appointed Director of Parks and Recreation unless they have been actively engaged on a full-time basis as a Director or similar level in Parks and Recreation activities for a minimum period of ten (10) years or more prior to his/her appointment.  In addition, an individual appointed to the position of Director of Parks and Recreation must have at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Parks Administration, Public Administration, Sports Management or similar degree from an accredited institution of higher learning, plus have supervised a minimum of twenty-five (25) employees at one time.  A Master’s Degree in Park or Recreation Administration or Public Administration is preferred.

The question becomes one of whether or not current Parks Czar Doug Nist is qualified to keep his job under Larry Slagle's New World Order for Parks.

We realize this is how they may do things in Brunswick, but is Nist out the door in Tigertown?

It is well known that former Parks Czar and Cicchinelli loyalist Kenn Kaminski would love to return to the City of Champions.

It would also appear these qualifications were tailor made for just one person.

Is this recently passed ordinance just a mechanism, a rubric so to say, to return Kaminski to his former post, adding one more Cicchinelli loyalist into the mix as we prepare the groundwork for the Extraordinary One's triumphant return as our Once and Future Mayor for Life?

Our guess is that the chess pieces are already being moved around the board.

And we imagine the result will be nothing less than extraordinary.

What Does He Know, He's a Canton Guy!

Apparently, Repository Columnist Jim Hillibish didn't get the memo about how Massillon really got into fiscal emergency.

Let us recap;

Things in Tigertown were truly perfect.

Some would say extraordinary, under the 24 year reign of our prior mayor, Frank Cicchinelli.

All his development projects, and associated debt parlayed Massillon into a bounteous land of milk and honey.

All his projects were successes, with perhaps the lone exception of the nine hole expansion at the Legends of Massillon golf course, pushed by some "over zealous golfers."

Massillon was truly a model of fiscal responsibility.

And then storm clouds covered the sky and a four year darkness descended upon our fair city.

The usurper, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry, arrived on to the scene, and in a mere 17 months, all by herself, emptied the city coffers, created a mountain of debt, and turned the once proud government of the Industrial Crossroads of Ohio into a broken vat of red ink.

She then, for political purposes only, cheer leaded the Auditor of State to place Massillon in fiscal emergency.

Most critically, all of this was her fault.

None of this was the fault of our Once and Future Mayor for Life.

And we, a hopeful citizenry, wait patiently for our hero, the Once & Future Mayor for Life to return to the scene, rid us of "that woman" from Perry, right the wrongs, and once again captain our ship of state and lead us again to a land of prosperity.

Jim Hillibish wrote a column this past Friday discussing the City of Champion's descent into fiscal emergency.

And it is clear that Hillibish doesn't understand how Massillon got into this situation.

We now share with our faithful readers his misguided reasoning, his departure from reality, and his failure to recognize the truth.

http://www.cantonrep.com/opinion/columnists/x919098245/Jim-Hillibish-When-growth-fails-to-outpace-its-costs-you-have-Massillon

We hope he comes to recognize the truth.

Because the truth shall truly set you free.

Do They Have a Seating Chart?

Ohio Governor John Kasich has made two of his three appointments to Massillon's Fiscal Planning and Supervision Commission.

This is the board that will oversee Massillon's finances during Massillon's fiscal emergency.

The first pick was former Perry Township Administrator Elaine Campbell.

http://governor.ohio.gov/Portals/0/10.23.13%20Kasich%20Announces%20Appointment%20to%20the%20City%20of%20Massillon's%20Financial%20Planning%20Commission.pdf

The second pick was Massillon businessman Bob Yund, owner of Yund's car wash.

http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Portals/0/10.24.13%20Kasich%20Announces%20Appointments%20to%20State%20Boards%20and%20Commissions.pdf

Word on the street is that the third pick is likely to go to Bob Gessner from Massillon Cable TV.

But we are very concerned about the people chosen to oversee our fiscal black hole.

We aren't sure this commission will have the laser like focus and surgical attention to detail our Massillon City Council has had in dealing with the vat of red ink left us by the departure of our Once & Future Mayor for Life.

Will the Fiscal Planning and Oversight Commission quickly agree where everyone gets to sit at the meetings, or will they need to spend time debating and passing legislation to arrange a rubric for seating?

What if they don't like where Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry sits? What if the rest of the Commission doesn't want her sitting at their lunch table?

These are the complex issues that vex our city council on a weekly basis.

We just hope Governor Kasich's Commission appointees are up to the task.

No Response

"...he (Frank Cicchinelli), is an extraordinary mayor."
      - Former Safety Service Director Mike Loudiana

Extraordinary.

As is the choice the unfortunate voters of Massillon's First Ward face in the election in just two weeks time.

In one corner, we have Democrat Mike Loudiana, Safety Service Director to none other than our Once & Future Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli.

Mike Loudiana, who as Safety Service Director milked our cash strapped City for extraordinary amounts of overtime.

Mike Loudiana, the right hand of the Once & Future Mayor for Life who must believe that the voters' repudiation of his former boss doesn't apply to himself.

That somehow he escapes the taint and the shenanigans of the Cicchinelli era.

Yesterday, the Independent newspaper published a story about the candidates in Massillon's First Ward. It also printed a candidate's profile which asked each candidate what the issue was in Massillon.

Under Mike Loudiana, the response was "none."

No issues.

When the Massillon Review's crack research team found the online candidate's profile on Cantonrep.com, the question posed to Mike Loudiana was;

"What will be the key issue facing your city over the next few years?"

Loudiana's response?

"No response"

No response.

No issues.

No problem here.

How about the fact that the handiwork of your former boss contributed greatly to Massillon being placed in fiscal emergency?

Could that maybe be an issue?

Maybe the issue is people running for council who don't know what the issues are, or who have "No response" to the question of "What will be the key issue facing your city?"

Based on these responses, we believe Mike Loudiana will be perfectly suited to grapple with the difficult and complex issues currently facing Massillon City Council.

Like who sits where at the meetings.

Captain Edward Smith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward John Smith (27 January 1850 - 15 April 1912) was an English naval reserve officer who served as commanding officer of numerous White Star Line vessels. He was best known as the captain of RMS Titanic and died when the ship sank in 1912.

Like the Titanic, our beloved fair city, the Industrial Crossroads of Ohio, the City of Champions has hit the financial iceberg.

It has hit the iceberg as the decisions of our Once & Future Mayor for Life have collided with our once heretofore unsinkable city. The years of overspending, the double digit debt issues, the runaway overtime, the free wheeling spending of money when it was clear to everyone, well, almost everyone that the dollars were not there.

Fortunately for the citizens of the City of Champions, we have people representing us who are focused like a laser beam on the financial well being of Tigertown.

We have council members who have stepped up to the challenge, and have brought forward the needed common sense plans to deal with the critical issues of the day.

Like who sits up front at the council meetings.

Seriously.

No joke.

Captain Smith is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as the ship is quickly sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Apparently, the big issue of the day for a number of our esteemed city councilors is who sits where at the council meetings.

They don't want the mayor and the members of the administration to sit up front with the council.

It is speculated this is some sort of punishment for Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry for hiring former Massillon Schools Superintendent Al Hennon as Safety & Services Director.

And this is their response.

To ban her from the front of council chambers.

And they introduced a resolution to do it.

And, apparently, this is being seriously debated.

At real meetings.

This better be a joke.

Massillon has real problems, and anyone who is seriously pushing this as an issue of legislative importance is incapable of serving as a leader of this city and should seriously consider quitting as they lack the capacity to deal with rudimentary problems, let alone a city in fiscal emergency.

This isn't high school. If the mayor took your prom date, and you throw a tantrum, you don't get to move her to a different table at lunch.

And if this is the case, then all is lost.

The ship is truly heading to the bottom of the sea.

And, in the reportedly final words of Captain Edward Smith to his crew, "You know the rule of the sea. It's every man for himself now, and God bless you."

A Solution in Search of a Problem

Massillon City Council was focused like a laser beam last night on the biggest problem vexing the City of Champions.

Were they discussing city finances and the fiscal emergency?

No.

They have bigger concerns.

Like who appoints the Park Director.

Even though we have a Park Director.

Council passed the Honorable Councilman Larry Slagle's rubric for better parks management.

City Council is now clearly in charge of the parks, as they appoint the director.

As a result, we have several questions.

Is the new parks management plan in effect in Massillon, or just Brunswick?

Secondly, as this was clearly a solution in search of a problem, and with certain honorable council members fixated on the departure of former Parks Czar Kenn Kaminski, we have to wonder if last night's move was the first step in showing Park Director Doug Nist the door and returning Kenn Kaminski to his former position.

A move which, no doubt, would please the Once & Future Mayor for Life.

14

This past Saturday, the Independent newspaper published an interesting article about the City of Mansfield, which, like our own beloved hometown, has been placed into the category of fiscal emergency by the State Auditor.

It discussed the City of Champions' entry into the fiscal quagmire.

On Oct. 8, the state auditor placed Massillon in “fiscal emergency,” citing substantial deficit balances in city funds as the main reason for the designation. Years of continuous debt carried by the city and inability to pay bills were other factors. (The Independent, 10/19/13).

Years of continuous debt carried by the city...

They must be wrong. That can't be true.

Everyone, but everyone knows the truth.

The real truth.

Our former sovereign, the Once & Future Mayor for Life, the Extraordinary One ran our town magnificently for 24 years. Except for one error, when he listened to "overzealous golfers" who forced him to expand the Legends of Massillon golf course, all was well in our fair city.

The "dollars were there" and things were humming along perfectly until "that woman," the usurper, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry stormed the castle walls, and took Massillon from a bounteous kingdom of plenty, to the barren wasteland of debt and fiscal emergency, all by herself, in a mere 17 months.

If there is debt, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry must have created it.

"Cheer Leaded" us into it, according to some.

So, our crack research staff thoroughly studied the audit, available for all to see at Ohio Auditor Dave Yost's website.

http://www.ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/Reports/2013/Massillon_Fiscal_Declaration.pdf

We needed to show the world once and for all how "that woman" put us in debt.

From the Audit;

 

We reviewed the outstanding indebtedness of the City as of May 31, 2013, which consisted of fourteen debt issues. A summary of the City’s outstanding debt is presented below:

 

Fourteen debt issues?

 

How could Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry have done all this in just 17 months?

 

Oh wait.

 

She didn't.

 

Someone more extraordinary helped.

 

$9.5 million dollars alone in "debt issues" for the golf course and Hampton Inn alone.

 

 

Golf Course Construction Refunding Bonds - 2002

Interest Rate - 1.5-7.16       Issue Date - November 1, 2002    - Amount $7,281,233

 

Housing and Urban Development Section 108 Loan - 1999

Interest Rate    6.75            Issue Date - August 1, 1999          - Amount $2,250,000

(The Hampton Inn)

 

14 debt issues.

 

14

 

Wow.

2015 can't come soon enough so that our former mayor can return to the scene and fix all the fiscal problems.

Especially the ones he created.

We Are the Massillon Review

The Unveiling

Will occur at the strike of midnight.

The Money

It is almost time.

The great unveiling.

The shroud of secrecy being lifted.

But...

Before the great unveiling, we need to pick our chosen charity;

FOR YOUR INFO During a public comment period, Councilman at-large Larry Slagle, a Democrat, offered to donate $250 to a charity of choice to anyone who ousts an anonymous “blogger” or website producer who he claims is unprofessionally “attacking” him periodically. (The Independent, October 10, 2013).

In honor of the weekly example of civility offered on the floor of city council by the Honorable Larry Slagle, treating others as he would be treated, we desire this money be donated to the Values.com foundation, his own shining example a focus of aspiration for us all.

Civility.

Pass it on.

www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/121-Timeout

The Bounty Hunter

We are ready.

Ready to collect the Honorable Councilman from Massillon, Larry Slagle's $250 dollar bounty.

From Last Thursday's Independent Newspaper;

FOR YOUR INFO During a public comment period, Councilman at-large Larry Slagle, a Democrat, offered to donate $250 to a charity of choice to anyone who ousts an anonymous “blogger” or website producer who he claims is unprofessionally “attacking” him periodically.

We are now ready to expose and list our crack staff.

We are now ready to lift the veil of secrecy shrouding the world wide media empire that is the Massillon Review.

Why are we doing this?

For fame and profit, or are there deeper reasons?

Actually, it's for the fame and profit part.

We want the money.

Additionally, our crack staff has lost night after night of sleep after realizing the impact of the vicious, brutal attacks on the estimable Councilman Slagle where we (gasp) repeated his printed quotes and shared his proposed parks ordinance with our faithful readers.

A truly blood curdling sequence of postings that probably has the children of our community sleepless from the resultant nightmares.

(Cue the nightmare music)

For this, we are repentant and realize the error of our ways.

We must strive to follow the bright shining path of civility blazed through the body politic by the Honorable Councilman himself.

Stay tuned throughout the day as the staff of the Massillon Review comes clean.

It should be extraordinary!

Thank You!

As our faithful readers may, or may not realize, the Massillon Review has no advertising budget to speak of.

But we do have a champion. A man (not a boy) who is crusading tirelessly to increase our readership.

The Honorable Massillon City Councilman Larry Slagle.

Larry is working diligently to increase our readership, and for this we thank him.

We should probably add him to our crack marketing team.

As a matter of fact, he is our marketing team.

All by himself.

Unfortunately, others, certainly not us, but others may see his recent tirades, we mean well reasoned, necessary discussions, as evidence of his thin skin.

We do not.

We acknowledge the error of our ways.

We realize our vicious, personal attacks where we (gasp) repeat his quotes and share his proposed ordinance is unacceptable.

Using a man's (not a boy's) own words to explain what he said.

Shame on us.

We now give those with weak stomachs fair warning.

Lock the doors and hide the children.

We will now present a quote from the Honorable Councilman, the Estimable Larry Slagle.

Some people (other people, not us, of course) might want to say something like, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

And some people (other people, not us) may wonder why the Honorable Councilman is still in the kitchen. After all...

Here it comes.

Last chance to turn away from the screen.

Close your eyes.

“I don’t believe that people in the same household should be elected officials in the City of Massillon and taking paychecks,” Larry Slagle said Tuesday night. (The Independent, January 30, 2013).

 

AGHHHHHHH!!!

 

A vicious personal attack if ever there was.

 

We warned you not to read this.

 

You should have listened.

Seriously?

According to a recent story in the Repository, the Plain Township Board of Trustees is seriously considering buying the Edgewood Golf Course.

Seriously.

Apparently, Plain Township is so jealous that their neighbors to the west have a golf course, they want one, too.

"Township Trustees Louis Giavasis and Scott Haws said they would seriously review the request." (The Repository, October 9, 2013).

Seriously.

Maybe they are listening to overzealous golfers.

And we all know how overzealous golfers get.

Next thing we know, Plain Township will feel the need to expand their new golf course.

It would now seem a warning is in order from someone with golf course experience of his own.

Extraordinary experience.

"He said it was a mistake to build the additional nine holes urged by possibly overzealous golfers."
-Massillon Mayor Frank Cicchinelli discussing the debt at the Legends of Massillon Golf Course at a city council meeting, The Repository, 8/21/07.

A mistake.

Something our Once & Future Mayor for Life does not often admit making, so Plain Township should heed his sage words and wise advice.

Hasn't Plain Township been watching what has happened only a few miles to their west?

We are swimming in a vat of red ink.

Park vandals were running amok because our Parks money is sucked into the giant black hole that is our municipal golf course.

Have you not learned from our mistakes?

The old saying goes, "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Don't end up like us.

The Repository then offers Plain Township something to ponder at the end of a very thoughtful editorial concerning the issue;

"Last but far from least, should township government be in the golf course business? Massillon’s ownership of the Legends of Massillon course has spawned years of controversy about the debt created by purchase of the course and the subsequent use of tax dollars to expand and maintain it." (The Repository, October 10, 2013).

Learn from us.

Don't make our mistakes.

Seriously.

You Haven't Seen it?

According to Friday's Independent newspaper;

Results from a recent Massillon Police Department audit are scheduled to be reviewed Monday by officials during a city council work session.

Our only question is, why bother?

The results have been floating around town for some time.

Word on the street is that one of the members of City Council leaked the audit before it was supposed to be released. Apparently, this person, whom we'll now refer to as the City of Champions' own Edward Snowden, wasn't supposed to do that.

The end result is pretty much everyone has seen the audit.

Except maybe the Independent.

So there should not be any real surprises.

The audit examines our police department and compares it with other police departments in other cities.

Is the audit good?

Is it bad?

If you really want to know, start calling city council members.

Based on past behavior, there appears to be a good chance one of them may just give you a copy before the official release.

Holy Cow, Batman!

Councilman Larry Slagle is not happy.

He believes he is being picked on.

From yesterday's Independent newspaper;

FOR YOUR INFO During a public comment period, Councilman at-large Larry Slagle, a Democrat, offered to donate $250 to a charity of choice to anyone who ousts an anonymous “blogger” or website producer who he claims is unprofessionally “attacking” him periodically.
Slagle called the website author a “coward” for not putting a name and face to the content. In addition, he noted he doesn’t like being called a “boy” or “boy wonder” on the site.
Slagle cited professional courtesy as a reason for the individual to go public.

"Attacking him."

And referring to him as "boy" or "boy wonder."

Well, he certainly can't be referring to the crack staff at the Massillon Review, as we do not refer to him with the pejorative "boy."

Now, as far as the "Boy Wonder," that is another issue entirely.

For those unfamiliar with the exploits of the Caped Crusader, the protector of Gotham City, Batman, be advised that Batman has a sidekick, a junior partner, a "Watson" to Batman's "Sherlock Holmes."

And this sidekick's nom de plume is Robin, also referred to as "The Boy Wonder."

A sidekick.

Now, we understand that the Honorable Member of Council might be upset because we have done the unthinkable.

We repeated his previously printed quotes, shared with our readers his proposed park plans, and delved into his prior interest in the parks system.

Yes, certainly a horrific attack from which he shall never recover.

It is certainly not our fault he left in "City of Brunswick" when cutting and pasting together his ordinance.

He can only blame himself.

While our crack staff discusses the topics of the day in our fair city, gleaned from the pages of our local newspaper, or shared with us by our faithful readers, we do so with a tongue in cheek approach, with personal animus towards none.

Perhaps we would be better served by the Honorable Member of Council's own example of professional courtesy.

Or, perhaps we would not.

Our faithful readers like to share with us, and we like that they like keeping us informed.

And we were so pleased to learn of the decorum and respect shown at a Massillon City Council meeting several weeks ago when the Honorable Member of Council Larry Slagle and his colleague, the Honorable Member of Council Paul Manson queried our City's Chief Executive as to the reasoning behind former Park Director Kenn Kaminski's resignation.

Now, be mindful that Mr. Kaminski departed from the employ of the City of Champions a year and a half ago.

He resigned.

But his resignation seemed to be the topic of the day with the Honorable Larry Slagle and the Honorable Paul Manson.

The fact our beloved hometown was slipping deeper and deeper into a fiscal morass did not draw comparable attention.

The Honorable Mr. Slagle and the Honorable Mr. Manson began to grill our mayor, the Honorable Kathy Catazaro-Perry as to her role in Mr. Kaminski's departure.

They claimed she drove him out.

And when she claimed this was not the case, they claimed she lied and called her a liar.

Liar.

Harsh words and a strong allegation.

So what's the truth?

Let's ask Kenn Kaminski.

We now present an excerpt of a letter shared at a subsequent meeting of our esteemed City Council, a correspondence rapidly making it's way through cyberspace;

Good afternoon Mayor,

I hope all is well and you are enjoying the nice weather. As you know I have been gone from my position for you for a year now. I have been watching Massillon from a distance and I see that you are doing an admirable job even under the very bad financial situation that you were dealt. Keep up the good work. 

The reason that I am writing you is because I wanted to make you aware of why I withdrew from the interview process for the Director of Recreation. I am going to have to digress a little to give you a little background. After you were elected, I felt that we had a very good relationship and I truly respected all that you and Mr. Maier were trying to accomplish. I felt that we would have a great working relationship and I felt that both of you realized that I put my whole heart and soul into being the best employee for the recreation department. I made the decision to leave 100% due to the Recreation Board’s two members, Mr. Rickett and Mr. Hickey. At the time I thought that you and Mr. Maier could trust me and most importantly count on me to lead the department in a positive direction. I understand that the trust factor is very important on both ends and I felt that we believed in each other even as I was carrying around the tag “a Cicchinelli guy”, I think both you and Mr. Maier realized that I was loyal to who was in the office of the Mayor and Safety Service Director and not the previous administration...

Yes, we can clearly see by the above correspondence that the Honorable Members of Council were quite right to question the Honorable Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry's integrity and call her a liar.

We are also confident that the Honorable Members of Council in question subsequently apologized in a profuse and sincere manner for incorrectly sullying the integrity of our mayor.

For to do otherwise would indicate a complete lack of professional courtesy.

We only ask that the Honorable Member of Council, Larry Slagle join with us in cherishing the uniquely American right of free speech.

And we encourage him to donate his $250 "bounty" to a local civic or charitable organization of his choice. Perhaps even one that would have been eligible for community development dollars had they not been expended on a hotel mortgage.

The Winner Takes It All

It is readily apparent that the Cicchinelli comeback plan includes perpetually repeating the mantra that he, the Extraordinary One, our Once & Future Mayor for Life, was not responsible for any of the fiscal distress being felt by our city.

That he has no part in placing our fair city in fiscal emergency.

That his 24 year reign as Sovereign of the City was Massillon's glorious time of renaissance.

That his time in charge was truly Massillon's days of wine and roses.

And that his successor, the Usurper, "That Woman," Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry absolutely and completely screwed up all his good work in her mere year and a half as Tigertown's chief executive.

He left it perfect.

She destroyed it.

Now, such an explanation would require the voters of the City of Champions to take leave of their common sense and require a complete white wash of the past.

Let us reflect.

Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry didn't build a golf course.

She didn't add a questionable nine hole expansion which required the entire course to be rebuilt.

and, she didn't unload the resultant debt on the Parks Department.

Cicchinelli claimed that his proposal "was not a big scheme to have the parks department cover the golf course's expenses" (The Repository, December 17, 2002).

Well, actually, it was.

It wasn't Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry who got us in to the hotel business, propped up with our community development block grant money, and leaving us with a $1 million dollar balloon payment that our broke and bankrupt city has no conceivable way of paying back.

"It (The Hampton Inn) was a good expenditure of tax dollars and the city is better off for it" (Frank Cicchinelli, The Independent, May 8, 2009).

No, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry didn't try and build a 6,500 seat hockey arena, and she wasn't scammed by a financier who subsequently went to prison, who represented he could get a loan from the Banco de Brasil, but couldn't properly spell the name of the bank.

"Cicchinelli still wasn't concerned because construction trailers and equipment have been removed from the site. He remains optimistic The Arena will be built" (The Repository, May 14, 2003).

No, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry did not allow her department heads to rack up massive quantities of overtime while the city couldn't pay it's bills.

These decisions all rest squarely on the shoulders of the Extraordinary One.

But that isn't the story he needs to tell.

The story he and his team need to tell is how he only did extraordinary good work, and "That Woman" ruined everything.

And this is the tale they shall spread throughout the land.

And this is the tale they need the citizenry to believe.

Let's check in and see how they are doing.

Are the people buying it?

Nope.

The Independent is running a poll;

Who is to blame for Massillon's fiscal emergency?

The winner so far?

You guessed it.

The Extraordinary One.

His vote total is over two and a half times the vote total of Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry.

It's a landslide.

Team Cicchinelli clearly has some work to do to get folks to believe none of this blame rests with him.

We wish them good luck.

They are going to need it.

Let's Get Fiscal

To what should come to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Auditor of the State of Ohio, Dave Yost, put our beloved fair city, what our former mayor called the "Industrial Crossroads of Ohio," what our current mayor calls the "City of Champions," into the category of "fiscal emergency."

In lay terms, it means we are broke.

Extraordinarily broke.

So broke, the State of Ohio has to step in.

Apparently, a $2.6 million dollar budget deficit is haunting Tigertown.

It looks like the chickens have finally come home to roost.

This monstrous budget deficit is the result of the vat of red ink that our Once & Future Mayor for Life, the Extraordinary One, Frank Cicchinelli left for his successor, the Usurper, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry.

"When Kathy Catazaro-Perry takes over as the city’s mayor early next month, she will not have much time for on-the-job training before having to jump head-first into the vat of budgetary red ink inherited from the current administration" (Editorial, The Independent, November 30, 2011).

That can't be right.

The Extraordinary One left our fair city in extraordinary shape when he departed.

Didn't he?

The dollars were supposed to be there, remember?

"We'll be able to pay for these increases," Cicchinelli said. "I'm not concerned about it. We will be there. 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" (The Independent, July 6, 2010).

See? The dollars are supposed to be there.

This has to be Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry's fault.

Otherwise it would be the Extraordinary One's fault.

And we know that can't possibly be the case.

Otherwise his Massillon miracle, his development schemes and dreams were merely sand castles swept out with the tides, propped up by vast quantities of our tax dollars.

Massillon has a $2.6 million dollar budget deficit.

How, and when did this happen?

Let's check in with the City's Chief Financial Officer, Auditor Jayne Ferrero;

“Until we change something on the revenue side, that ($2.6 million) number will not change,” Ferrero said. “That’s where we were at last year and the year before..." (The Independent, September 14, 2013).

Let us examine Auditor Ferrero's comments.

Massillon will be $2.6 million dollars in the red at the end of this year, 2013.

"That's where we were at last year..."

OK, at the end of 2012 (last year), we were $2.6 million dollars in the hole.

"... and the year before"

The year before was 2011, the last year of the reign of our Extraordinary Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli.

Let's focus on the "... and the year before" part.

So, according to Auditor Ferrero, we were $2.6 million dollars short at the end of 2011, as the Extraordinary One departed, however temporarily, from the scene.

And at the end of 2012, the first year of the Usurper, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry, we were still $2.6 million dollars short.

And at the end of 2013, the second year of the Usurper, we will still be $2.6 million dollars short.

So, according to Auditor Ferrero's comments, Kathy Catazaro-from-Perry essentially balanced her budgets (2012 & 2013). Her only problem was that she inherited a $2.6 million dollar shortfall from her predecessor.

The deficit didn't disappear in the last two years, but it didn't get worse.

It is clear Massillon's current chief executive has made the difficult choices to stop the City's bleeding. Layoffs and cuts are never popular with the worker bees.

It's a shame her predecessor did not deal with the problems he so clearly created in the same fashion.

Because if he had, the State of Ohio probably wouldn't be putting us in fiscal emergency today.

And we wouldn't be broke.

Extraordinarily broke.

So Tonight Were Gonna Party Like It's 1999

1999 was an extraordinary year for Massillon's Once & Future Mayor for Life, the Extraordinary One, Frank Cicchinelli.

1999 appeared to be the zenith of his extraordinary reign as Lord Sovereign of the City.

He did what he wanted.

And whatever he wanted, City Council approved.

Some would say they rubber stamped.

In 1999, Massillon got itself into the hotel business, and committed $2.7 million dollars to the Hampton Inn.

In 1999, Massillon bought the land for the ill-fated nine hole expansion of the Legends of Massillon Golf Course.

A decision that was so disastrous, even the man who doesn't admit making mistakes admitted this was a mistake;

"He said it was a mistake to build the additional nine holes urged by possibly overzealous golfers."
-Massillon Mayor Frank Cicchinelli discussing the debt at the Legends of Massillon Golf Course at a city council meeting, The Repository, 8/21/07.

Overzealous golfers.

And one would think the overzealous council members who approved this boondoggle were responsible as well.

And in 1999, Massillon spent money for a feasibility study for an event center, the 6,500 seat hockey arena that was never built.

While the Extraordinary One ran the table on his ambitious, ill-fated agenda, he did not do it alone.

Massillon City Council voted for all this stuff.

But, all those people must be gone by now.

Mustn't they?

Well, they are almost all gone.

With one exception.

Current Councilwoman Nancy Halter was on Massillon City Council in 1999.

She was there.

And voted for it.

All of it.

She voted for the Hampton Inn Hotel agreement.

And she voted to buy the land for the golf course expansion.

And she voted for The Arena study.

Her votes contributed mightily to the vat of red ink that is now drowning Massillon City government.

So, when the Extraordinary One returns and reclaims his rightful place as Caesar of the City, he and Nancy Halter can once more party like it's 1999.

Together.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

As our Once & Future Mayor for Life plots his comeback, and moves the chess pieces around the City of Champions as he lays the ground for his undoubtedly triumphant return, he realizes he needs friends.

Friends are important in the daily hustle and bustle of the modern world.

You see, even a Mayor for Life can't impose his extraordinary will on our fair city without help from City Council.

Back in the day, these folks on Council would cheerfully rubber stamp proposals such as golf course expansions, hotel purchases, and arena boondoggles with nary a word of discussion.

And as a result, Tiger Town is still reeling from the financial ramifications of these extraordinarily questionable expenditures of our tax dollars.

Drowning in the vat of red ink left by Massillon's former CEO.

For example, as a result of the ill-fated nine hole expansion of our beloved municipal golf course, we will still be paying off the debt on the Legends of Massillon until 2032.

Only 19 more years and it's all ours!

For those keeping score at home, it will be paid off in what we assume will be the first year of Frank Cicchinelli's 11th term in office, as no doubt his prudent and responsible fiscal management during his first reign as sovereign will, no doubt, convince the voters of Massillon to return him to power in 2015, and having survived the "Usurper," "That Woman from Perry," we will prudently return him to office every four year hence.

Ah, but those deals for golf course expansions, hotel purchases, and plans for a 6,500 seat hockey arena happened in the past.

In the long ago, and the far away.

Those deals were rubber stamped by people who have long since departed Massillon City Council.

Disappeared into the mists of history.

All of those people must be long gone by now, mustn't they?

A Rubric for Shenanigans

After Massillon's former Parks Czar, Kenn Kaminski, left for greener pastures, he realized just how much he missed the City of Champions, and wanted to come home.

No, the Extraordinary One, our Once & Future Mayor for Life was gone, but the Cicchinelli acolytes believe these four years in the wilderness will be but a brief respite from his reign as Lord Sovereign of the City.

And there was a vacancy.

Kaminski's replacement, Bob Straughn, was sacked by the Parks Board.

Apparently, the Usurper, "That Woman" from Perry did not object to the sacking, and did not fight to keep Straughn in charge.

So Doug Nist was made Interim Parks Czar.

By all accounts, Nist, a God fearing, native born Massillonian, graduate of Washington High School, and college graduate with a degree in recreation management from West Virginia University did a fine job running our parks as interim director.

It appears our park system is improving.

Even the infamous "Park Vandals," who so tormented Director Kaminski, have been largely held in check.

And all seemed well in our fair city.

Except we had a problem.

Former Czar Kaminski wanted to return.

When applications were being accepted for the permanent position, Kaminski applied.

And here is where it gets murky.

Would the Parks Board get to make the permanent appointment, or would the Usurper get to make the permanent appointment?

And, allegedly, one of the Parks Board members called Kaminski and told him to not even come to the interview, he had no shot.

And that's when Team Cicchinelli got their dander up.

And that's when the Boy Wonder had a plan, a rubric for better parks management.

To end the debate over who had final say over appointing the parks director, Larry Slagle proposed that City Council decide who was in charge.

And guess what?

City Council would be in charge.

City Council would make the appointment.

Forget the boring text book arguments about legislative versus executive authority in the administration of the day to day affairs of the municipality.... ZZZZZZZ... ZZZZZZ....

Oh, sorry, we dozed off.

Forget that other stuff.

This appeared to be a nothing more than a pure power play by those who wanted Kaminski's return.

And they thought they had the votes on City Council to do it.

So if City Council could make the appointment, the Kaminski supporters had a shot. They could bypass the Parks Board, and the Usurper.

The Boy Wonder then summoned his superhuman powers, and "wrote" legislation fixing the park problems, which would forever settle the debate over who hires the parks director, and would make things perfect in our parks in perpetuity, "ending the politics," as he would remark.

We often joke about something being a cut and paste effort.

This definitely was.

While we were on hiatus, one of our faithful readers sent us Larry Slagle's proposal.

And we shall share excerpts with our faithful readers.

Like this one;

"The Director of Parks and Recreation shall have the control and management of parks, park entrances, parkways, children's playgrounds, public recreation facilities, gymnasiums, swimming pools, playfields, or indoor recreational centers, and any lands or buildings set aside for park or recreational use by the public, and the acquisition, construction, repair, and maintenance thereof. The Director shall create and supervise all Recreational Programs for the City of Brunswick."

Brunswick?

A small piece of advice. If you are going to poach someone else's work, make sure you change the author's name to your own.

Now, once one gets past the fact that Massillon isn't Brunswick, one must examine the rationale for reworking the parks system.

"Councilman at-large Larry Slagle, who proposed the measure Monday, seemed to disagree. “It’s a lot harder for politics to be involved with nine individuals than one individual,” he said." (The Repository, July 9, 2013).

Nope. No politics with City Council in charge.

"Slagle later challenged the mayor by asking why Nist remains interim director after serving more than seven months in the position." (The Repository, July 9, 2013).

It almost seemed that Slagle wanted Nist to get the job.

Almost.

Brunswick Pride is Community Wide!

City Councilman Larry Slagle has always had a keen interest in our fair city's park system.

As a matter of fact, he focuses in like a laser on the big park issues of the day.

Some would say he is fiddling as Rome burns, neglecting the serious issues of municipal governance to pursue his plans for parks and recreation.

While the City of Champions has been crushed by the vat of red ink left behind by our former chief Executive, our Once & Future Mayor for Life, the Lord Sovereign of the City, the Extraordinary One, Frank Cicchinelli, Larry Slagle is most concerned about "taking the politics out of our parks."

Or, some would argue, injecting politics into our parks.

Just a few years ago, then Ward 4 Councilman, now Council President (and does that fact unhinge the Cicchinelli acolytes), Tony Townsend offered a proposal to rename Shriver Park after trailblazing former Ward 4 Councilman, the late T. Roy Roberson.

It seemed a simple request. Council could vote to rename the park, or not.

But it turned into a four month political odyssey, thanks in no small part to the assistance of Councilman Slagle.

It is believed that the Extraordinary One opposed the renaming of Shriver Park because he wanted to flex his political muscle and show Tony Townsend who the boss was.

But this was problematic, as it was right before the next mayoral election, and the Extraordinary One probably didn't want to offend supporters of the late T. Roy Roberson.

Political expediency would have called for him to kill the name change proposal while not looking responsible for doing it.

Fortunately, others worked to kill it, specifically, the former Council President, the former mayor's loyal enforcer, Glenn Gamber, and the boy wonder, Larry Slagle.

They worked Townsend over pretty hard at a council meeting in August 2010, and tried to force the park naming proposal back to the Parks and Recreation Board, the five member board dominated by Cicchinelli loyalsts.

And then Cicchinelli made "The Pledge."

"Mayor Cicchinelli told 4th Ward residents there are no plans to sell Shriver Park, or many others, and he pledged to Councilman Tony Townsend that he would help him rename Shriver by urging his Parks and Recreation Board appointees to vote in favor of it" (The Independent, August 31, 2010).

Now, most people realized that "The Pledge" was a hollow promise, as the Once & Future Mayor for Life's allies on Council eventually killed the proposal in December of that year.

City Council debated this issue for months. It dominated discussions.

They were transfixed over whether or not to rename a park.

And the Boy Wonder was so transfixed by how we name city parks, he wanted to create park naming policies.

Seriously.

Policies for naming a park.

Slagle wanted to use "current policy as a rubric for establishing guidelines for council" (The Independent, October 12, 2010) to deal with this titanic issue.

Seriously.

It's a park.

And deciding to change it's name should not have been a four month process.

But it was.

And now it appears Councilman Slagle has more outstanding, well conceived plans for park management.

He wants to settle the dispute about who is truly in charge of Massillon's system of parks and recreation.

Is it the Mayor?
Is it the five member Park Board?
Is it City Council.

Indeed, he has a rubric for better park management.

A plan so well researched, so meticulously planned, with so much attention to detail that when he was literally cutting and pasting it together, he forgot one thing.

This is Massillon, not Brunswick.

We are... Brunswick?

Back in March of 2012, Former Parks Czar Kenn Kaminski left our Fair City for greener pastures.

While the Once and Future Mayor for Life, the Extraordinary One, Frank Cicchinelli made sure Kaminski received a steady diet of overtime in his employ, the new mayor, the Usurper, cut out overtime for city department directors.

Perhaps Kaminski couldn't keep his family fed as Massillon's highest paid employee on the paltry $90,000 or so he made annually.

"Kaminski was the highest paid city employee with a salary of $90,169 annually" (The Independent, March 22, 2012).

Perhaps life without the Extraordinary One was just not a life worth living.

It is well known around town that as the Vietcong prepared to storm City Hall, Our Departing Dear Leader encouraged his employees to abandon ship before "that woman" took over.

Some drank the Kool Aid.

Some didn't.

Community Development Director Aane Aaby chose to stick around and help the new administration with the transition.

Aaby apparently didn't get the memo.

Make things as miserable as possible for the Usurper.

Rumor has it when Cicchinelli found out about Aaby's treachery, his extraordinary reaction had the walls in City Hall shaking.

But others were more faithful and obedient to their sovereign.

Kenn Kaminski was the ultimate loyal flak to our Once and Future Mayor for Life.

When the parks were deteriorating from a lack of maintenance, he blamed it on the now infamous "park vandals."

And of course, Kaminski knew what the real problem was in our beloved home town;

"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" (Kenn Kaminski, The Independent, May 10, 2010).

The anti-Cicchinelli people.

Forget the vat of red ink generated by the Extraordinary One's wheeling and dealing.

Kaminski hit the nail on the head and the truth was told.

But verily, a prophet is never accepted in his own land.

So Kaminski struck out for greener pastures, a land where the overtime could flow like milk and honey, where the vandals would be banished forever.

And this glorious land was called Fairview Park.

But all was not joyous in Fairview Park.

And how could it be? Fairview Park did not even have a municipal golf course.

With an extra nine holes.

The story is oft repeated that Kenn yearns to return to the City of Champions.

And it is believed he let his yearning be known to his supporters.

But for Kenn to come home again, someone would have to step up and put the wheels in motion to make that happen.

They would need to outsmart the Usurper.

And have a plan.

A rubric, so to speak, for the proper management of our parks.

And the boyish wonder to carry it out.

A Happy belated Mothers Day!

On the Saturday before Mothers Day this year, The Independent newspaper printed what was meant to be a feel good story about Massillon's first woman mayor, Kathy Catazaro-Perry, the family she shares with local doctor, Anthony Perry, and how she juggles being mayor and mom to her and Dr. Perry's six children, including a daughter who has Downs Syndrome.

There wasn't anything overtly political in the story, just a busy woman handling career and family responsibilities. This is a common experience shared by many women in Tiger Town, though most don't live their lives under the same spotlight as a mayor does.

However, what this harmless, non-political, non controversial pre-Mothers Day story wrought on the comment section of our local hometown paper did not appear to keep with the spirit of the occasion.

The comments posted lacked joy.

They were misogynistic and personal.

And many folks around town believe these extraordinary comments sprung from the friends and family of  Massillon's Once and Future Mayor for Life, the Extraordinary One, Frank Cicchinelli.

And these comments would appear to be representative of the feelings of Team Cicchinelli, who, like the Japanese soldiers at the end of World War II, hiding in the caves, refusing to believe the war was over, continued to fight for their Emperor.

For them, the election defeat of their Lord Sovereign of the City could never have happened.

What the Extraordinary One and his gang never quite figured out was that the root cause of his defeat, the crux of his problem, the error of his way was his insular behavior.

Surrounded by lackeys and sycophants, he compiled a Nixonian enemies list that would have made Richard Nixon himself blush.

He would take punitive action against someone for a perceived slight that happened years prior. With the Extraordinary One, the wounds never heal.

He would crack skulls over something as harmless as an attempt to name a park.

He was perceived as being mean, aloof and punitive.

Which brings us back to Mothers Day 2013 and the comments posted.

Which appear to be representative of the joyful attitude he brought to Massillon City Hall.

On May 20, 2013, The Independent had this to say in that week's "Cheers and Jeers" editorial;

"JEERS to those commenting on Indeonline.com who used an inspiring Mothers Day article about the mayor and her family as an opportunity to take personal and political shots at Massillon's "first lady." The vindictiveness and general belligerence reflected in those inappropriate remarks may be the biggest reason we saw a changing of the guard at City Hall in 2012."

To whom could they possibly be referring?

Frank Cicchinelli will be back.

Mark it in red on your calendar.

Like a General Douglas MacArthur before him, he shall return.

He and his crew saw the last mayoral election as a blip, an aberration, a correctable event.

The comeback is on.

And we are confident his quest to reclaim what is rightfully his will be carried on with the same dignity, good will and spirit of fair play that was his hallmark.

It, of course, will be extraordinary!

And we missed you, too!

The warm letters of encouragement, the pleas of "please come back," the shared stories, pictures and insight about what is occurring in Our Beloved Home Town have inspired us in ways you will never know.

And we apologize.

For missing our time together.

The holidays, birthdays, weddings, and graduations.

And the little things.

We should have been there.

But the crack staff is back in place, and we shall endeavor to return to sharing quality time with our faithful readers.

We missed you, too!