Heroes

Last night's Massillon City Council meeting was packed with Tuslaw residents voicing their opposition to Massillon's Mayor for Life's proposed annexation of the Tuslaw Local School District. The mayor plans on filing an Expedited Type 2 annexation, meaning the annexation must be approved by the Stark County Commission if one hundred percent of the property owners of the proposed annexation agree to be annexed into Massillon.

The problem for the Tuslaw Schools is a little glitch in the law that our Mayor for Life is skillfully exploiting at the expense of the Tuslaw School District. Government entities, like the Tuslaw Schools, can't legally object to an annexation. Our mayor is annexing the 'Bit of Eden' trailer park adjacent to the Tuslaw schools, so that he may annex the Tuslaw schools. While it is crystal clear that the Tuslaw School District is opposed to the annexation, legally there isn't much they can do about it. They have been checkmated by Mayor Frank Cicchinelli.

Our beloved Mayor for Life is not annexing this property for development purposes. He is pursuing this annexation to grab about $120,000 in income tax from Tuslaw school employees. The teachers and support personnel of the Tuslaw School District will then be subject to Massillon's 1.8% income tax. The teachers, in effect, will be taking a 1.8% pay cut.

The City of Massillon is broke. The mayor is facing a one million dollar budget shortfall this year, and close to a one and a half million dollar shortfall for next year. Put simply, he needs the cash.

The only way for this annexation to be stopped is if Massillon City Council fails to pass a statement of services for the area to be annexed. If they don't pass the statement of services, there will be no annexation.

The Tuslaw community is not going down without a fight. Tuslaw residents have been packing Massillon council meetings, as well our Mayor for Life's Town Hall meetings, to voice their displeasure, and to urge Massillon City Council to oppose what they see as an unfair land grab.

We at the Massillon Review are pleasantly surprised to see the citizenry take action in opposition to what they see as unfair. We only wish our own Massillon residents were so motivated to petition their own council with their own grievances.

The Tuslaw community deserves to be commended. Win or lose, you chose to fight, and that makes you heroes in your community.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrrBs8JBQo

Give 'Em Hell!