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2007 VOTERS GUIDE

SUMMIT COUNTY GENERAL ELECTION - NOVEMBER 6, 2007

 Published by the League of Women Voters of the Akron Area Education Fund

CITY OF AKRON MAYOR

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08) 

QUESTION 1:  WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH BY SERVING A SIXTH TERM? 

QUESTION 2:  WHAT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE TO FIND AN ACCEPTABLE SITE IN ORDER TO RELOCATE THE FOUNTAIN ST. TRANSFER STATION?  ARE YOU STILL LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE?

DONALD L. PLUSQUELLIC        Age:       58                    Democrat

166 S. High Street, Room 200

Akron, OH 44308 

EDUCATION:     Business Degree, Bowling Green State University, Law Degree, University of Akron

OCCUPATION:  Mayor

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  33 years public service. President, City Council; Attorney; Supervisor, Goodrich; Rubber Worker, Teamster                                                

ANSWER 1:         Most important is that we continue to create new jobs and new economic opportunities for our community.  Further, my philosophy on regionalism is well known;  I feel our pursuit of more regional partnerships in government will keep Greater Akron strong for the future and economically sound.

ANSWER 2:         We have solicited citizens’ ideas through the local news media, have asked Akron City Council members for input, and I have personally driven the city and Greater Akron to scout locations.  Engineers, planners and other city employees have assisted.  We still hope to find a workable or suitable site.
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CITY OF AKRON CITY COUNCIL

Note:  All candidates, with the exception of Akron Wards 3, 4 & 8, are unopposed in the November 6^th election

WARD 1 COUNCIL

(1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

QUESTION 1:  NAME TWO ISSUES IMPORTANT TO YOUR PARTICULAR WARD.  HOW WOULD YOU ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

QUESTION 2:  WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO RUN A MORE FINANCIALLY EFFICIENT CITY GOVERNMENT?

JAMES P. HURLEY III                Age:       50                            Democrat

1227 Clifton Ave.
Akron, OH 44310 

EDUCATION:     1976 North High Graduate, Trade School Continuing Education and Code Class

OCCUPATION:  Licensed Electrical Contractor

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Lifetime Ward 1 resident, Community volunteer, Member of various organizations 

ANSWER 1:         Youth violence, gang-related issues and safety among the elderly.  I am continually working with the police and safety forces in our community. Also presently working with the Mayor and Albrechts to obtain grocery stores in the Highland Square and North Hill areas.

ANSWER 2:         I currently serve on Parks & Rec Public Utilities and Budget & Finance Committees.  These Committees are put in place to examine, discuss, collaborate and reach the best possible decisions as a whole.  We work together with other committees to become a better financially efficient city.

WARD 2 COUNCIL

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

BRUCE KILBY                      Age:       56                                Democratic

1750 Olalla Ave.
Akron, OH 44305

EDUCATION:     B.A. History Univ. Of Akron. +150 Sem. Hours in Special Education

OCCUPATION:    Retired Teacher/Full Time Councilman

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  10 years as a Ward Councilman. Ward 10 **

ANSWER 1:         There are not enough police in the neighborhoods to address “quality of life” issues in the neighborhoods like loud music, barking dogs, & curfew violations – Solution is reorganizing the police dept. & more police officers.  There are thousands of vacant houses in Akron that are a blight on the neighborhood**

ANSWER 2:         Firstly, the City cannot take on any more debt which is not around $800 million.  With interest it is supposed to be around $1.1 billion.  Much of this debt has a fund sourse; ie water, sewer, school construction, etc.  Much of it does not, and is considered General Obligation Debt**

WARD 3 COUNCIL

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

MARCO S. SOMMERVILLE                                                Democrat

618 Copley Rd.
Akron, OH 44320 

EDUCATION:     *

OCCUPATION:    Funeral Home Director

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  First elected to city council in 1987.  President Akron City Council

ANSWER 1:        The two most important issues facing Ward 3 are quality of life of our youth and, economic opportunity for the entire community.  The people are starved for opportunity today and hope for tomorrow.  I promise to continue the progress and work to provide promising educational and economic opportunities.

ANSWER 2:         The City of Akron has achieved national recognition for our ability to thrive in difficult economic times.  Prudent fiscal policies driven by balanced allocation of the available resources to meet the needs of the city have helped us to be the city leaders that we are.  I will continue to seek innovative ways to lead and grow with a balanced budget and improving our income base.

OLIN CLAY                            Age:       59                                Independent

852 May
Akron, OH 44311

EDUCATION:     Akron Public Schools 2.5 yrs U. of Akron

OCCUPATION:   

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Life common sense

ANSWER 1:         JOBS-community improvements. Influence powers and money to build and operate in community create pride in community, youth and adult and seniors.

WARD 4 COUNCIL

(1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

CEDRIC B. COLVIN                 Age:       43                           Republican

265 S. Main St. Suite 109
Akron, OH 

EDUCATION:     B.S. Political Science – Criminal Justice University of Akron – Juris doctorial – University of Alabama School of Law

OCCUPATION:    Attorney

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Former Assistant Attorney General Defense Attorney

ANSWER 1:         The two most important issues are: (1) lack of good jobs for adults and youths; (2) revitalization of Copley Road.  I’d actively recruit companies and emerging business to the City and Ward, work to clean-up crime in the Copley Road Area, and seek all options to revitalize Copley Road.

ANSWER 2:         Council must first quit passing questionable laws that cause costly legal challenges and enough support has been given to large economic developments that do not financially benefit the city at large.

RENEE L. GREENE                  Age:       58                                Democrat

477 Mineola Ave.
Akron, OH 44320

EDUCATION:     B.S. Elementary Education

OCCUPATION:    Retired Akron Public Schools 30 years Teacher;  Akron City Councilwoman

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  University of Akron; 10 years on Council

ANSWER 1:         Two issue that affect Ward 4 residents include juveniles – lack of jobs, incidences directly relating to juvenile behaviors – speeding, loud music, property and crimes against persons.  Recommendations include: recreating jobs programs for the youth that could lead to future jobs in the city especially cadet programs in the safety services.

ANSWER 2:         Financially efficient City government should be run as is well demonstrated in Akron:  budgeted needs established across the board, maintenance of credit ratings above average, debt controlled, bills paid, outside resources sought through federal  and state funding sources, incentives for new businesses and job creation for large and small businesses.

WARD 5 COUNCIL

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

JIM SHEALEY*                                                                Democrat

1258 Delos St.
Akron, OH 44306

WARD 6 COUNCIL

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

TERRY ALBANESE*                                                        Democrat

2530 Cedar Creek Lane
Akron, OH 44312

WARD 7 COUNCIL

(1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

TINA MERLITTI                    Age:  36                               Democrat

304 Clinton Avenue
Akron, OH 44301

EDUCATION:     St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, BA The Ohio State University

OCCUPATION:    Community Relation Specialist, County of  Summit

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Second term, Akron City Council.  Emergency Management Agency, 8 years

ANSWER 1:         Vacant homes attract vandals, vagrants, and thieves.  I’m working to improve our notification and billing process to increase maintenance of vacant structures by owners. 80% of my calls are from problems with rental properties.  I am working with our Health Department on ways to help landlords get quality tenants.

ANSWER 2:         Recently we combined our Weights and Measures Department with Summit County.  We will continue to look for opportunities where we can combine efforts on a regional level to reduce duplications and save money.

WARD 8 COUNCIL

(1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

RANDY COLE                    Age:       40                            Republican

2399 Amesbury Rd.
Akron, OH 44313

EDUCATION:  University of Akron, B.S., Ohio State, Graduate Studies

OCCUPATION:   President, GovTech Solutions

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Service to several community organizations, including working  since 1994 to Build the Towpath Trail

ANSWER 1:         City Services- Too often programs are introduced without careful thought on implementation.  Rolling out the giant trash cans without accommodating seniors and disabled citizens comes to mind.  Crime- We need more police on the street and additional tools and methods for residents to inform and interact with the APD.

ANSWER 2:         The use of performance based budgeting would require careful examination of programs and eliminate spending based solely on inflationary growth.  Involving residents earlier in planning road, sidewalk and storm water improvements will make sure the projects meet basic needs and will increase pressure to reduce assessments and overall construction costs.

BOB KEITH                     Age:       57                                Democrat

585 Winslow Ave.

Akron, OH 44313

EDUCATION:  B.S. Degree, Technical Education; University of Akron

OCCUPATION:    Owner, Summit Tailoring – Men’s & Ladies’ Custom Clothing

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Ward 8 City Councilman for 10 years,  Chairman – Public Service Committee**

ANSWER 1:         I will continue my work on ensuring the safety of Ward Eight with superior police protection, neighborhood block watches and community policing.  Also, I will continue to work to secure the needed improvements to not only the streets of our Ward but the streets and highways of the entire city.

ANSWER 2:         The City should look for opportunities where they can team with the County, community organizations or other political subdivisions to pool financial resources and combine efforts so as to reduce cost overlaps and duplicative work.

WARD 9 COUNCIL

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

MIKE FREEMAN*                                                              Democrat

1914 19^th St. SW
Akron, OH 44314

WARD 10 COUNCIL

 (1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES ON 01/01/08)

KELLI CRAWFORD*                                                           Democrat

1460 Seminola Ave.
Akron, OH 44305

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AKRON MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE

(1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES 01/01/08 )

QUESTION 1:  WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS FOR THE REHABILITATION OF REPEAT OFFENDERS?

QUESTION 2:     WHO ARE YOUR JUDICIAL ROLE MODELS?

EVE BELFANCE                                                                Age:       45          

590 Merriman Road
Akron, OH 44303

EDUCATION:     Firestone High School 1980; Yale University BA 1984; Case Western Reserve School of Law, 1990

OCCUPATION:    Judge

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  17 years in law; federal judicial law clerk

ANSWER 1:         Repeat offenders must be closely monitored and given programming to eliminate the issues (e.g. drug use) that prompted the offense.  Our recently established DUI court targets repeat DUI offenders.  These offenders are offered intensive treatment and are closely monitored to ensure that they are not a risk to the community.

ANSWER 2:         There are many American jurists I admire including Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and Learned Hand, who possessed expansive legal knowledge, intelligence and high moral character.  Learned Hand once stated: “If we are to keep democracy, there must be a commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.”

AKRON MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE

(  1 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES 01/02/08 )

JOHN E. HOLCOMB                                                       Age:       58

217 S. High St. Courtroom #907
Akron, OH 44308

EDUCATION:     Baldwin -Wallace College, B.A., University of Akron, J.D.                        

OCCUPATION:      Judge, Akron Municipal Court

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  Ohio State Bar Examination, 1974,  Elected judge 1996, Re-elected 2001 

ANSWER 1:  We have specialty courts in which the defendant pleads guilty and must complete a one year program, otherwise the maximum sentence is imposed.  I am the presiding judge in the drug court in which addicts are offered treatment, otherwise they service 6 months in jail.

ANSWER 2:         Judges Sam Bell and Glen Morgan.  I appeared before both as a lawyer and admire both.  Each were outstanding judges.  Any party in their court felt they had a fair and impartial trial.  I aspire to that goal.
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AKRON  BOARD OF EDUCATION

(3 TO BE ELECTED - TERM COMMENCES 01/01/08) 

QUESTION 1:   WHAT EFFECT HAVE THE TESTING REQUIREMENTS OF THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND LAW HAD ON CHILDREN’S EDUCATION?

QUESTION 2:   WHAT POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS HAVE CHARTER SCHOOLS HAD ON AKRON PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

KIRT CONRAD                                                 Age:       34

498 S. Firestone  Blvd.
Akron, Ohio 44301

EDUCATION:     BA – Kent State,  MPA – University of Akron

OCCUPATION:  Director of Planning METRO RTA

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  OSBA Capital Conference, Leadership Akron

ANSWER 1:         The results have been mixed.  The increased accountability has increased cooperation between grade levels and across subject matter.  However, the testing takes a lot of time from teaching and the federal fund has fallen short.

ANSWER 2:         I feel charter schools have only been negative on all public education in Ohio.  They pull resource away from public schools and for the most part perform worse than public schools.

AMY REEVES GROM                                             Age:       43

146 Portage Dr.
Akron, OH 44303

EDUCATION:     Bachelor of Music / University of Akron

OCCUPATION:  mother, community volunteer

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  public school teacher for 10 years, current parent of APS student

ANSWER 1:  While I believe in the need for assessment, we are placing too much emphasis on this process.  There is a place in a well rounded education for the arts, physical education, and foreign language.  But since these are not assessed, they all too often can be underemphasized or lost.

ANSWER 2:         We have a separate and unequal funding system in Ohio.  Until the playing field is equal I can find no positive effects.  APS has lost thousands of public tax dollars to for-profit charter schools, while continuing to have to educate every child that comes through the door.

REV.  DR. CURTIS T. WALKER, SR.                               Age:       54

1109 Courtleigh Dr.
Akron, OH 44313               

EDUCATION:  B.A. Psychology, M. Div. Doctor of Ministry

OCCUPATION:  Pastor

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  College educated, 33 years in ministry

ANSWER 1:         There are advantages and disadvantages.  On the one hand we are held accountable as a district and we do a lot of testing.  On the other hand there are a lot of unfunded mandates that hurt the district.

ANSWER 2:         Charter schools have had a negative effect.  We have lost millions of dollars.  Our enrollment has suffered.  We have provided services to charter schools that we can’t provide to our students.  The only positive is competition.  This is not fair competition because we are not on the same playing field. 

AKRON BOARD OF EDUCATION

(1 TO BE ELECTED – UNEXPIRED TERM TO END 12/31/09)

JASON HAAS                                                            Age:       34

905 Hereford Dr.
Akron, OH 44303                               

EDUCATION:  MA, University of Akron, BA, Eastern Illinois University

OCCUPATION:  Research Analyst, Summit Co. Dept of Economic Development

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:  *

ANSWER 1:         The law’s legacy is accountability for school districts.  These accountability measures, however, are inflexible and can have the effect of a district appearing to fail on a whole because a single subset of students struggles to achieve standards applied to them.  Flexibility must be inserted into the standards.

ANSWER 2:         Since FY02, charter schools have siphoned $84,622,450 from Akron schools for inferior, unaccountable alternatives.  Given the poor educational outcomes provided by charter schools, there simply have been no positives in this arrangement for either Akron Public Schools or the district’s students. return to top

SUMMIT COUNTY ISSUES 

TYPES OF LEVIES 

Two types of levies that can be requested are renewals and replacements.  A renewal collects the same amount of dollars year after year at no additional cost to the taxpayer.  Consequently, as values rise, the effective, or collection rate of a levy decreases.  Both the Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board (ADM) and the Children Services Board (CSB) have operated under a renewal for the past several years without an increase in levy dollars.  A replacement levy returns the effective rate to the original millage and allows collection based upon current property values.  The combination of increased property values and a higher effective rate results in an increase to the average taxpayer. 

ISSUE 20 

PROPOSED TAX LEVY (REPLACEMENT AND DECREASE)

ALCOHOL, DRUG ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES BOARD 

Ballot Language

A replacement of a portion of an existing levy, being a reduction of 0.1 mill, to constitute a tax for the benefit of Summit County for the purpose of mental health and recovery programs for children, adults and families and for the acquisition, construction, renovation, financing, maintenance and operation of facilities by the county of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADM) Board at a rate not exceeding 2.95 mills for each one dollar of valuation, which amounts to 29.5 cents for each one hundred dollars of valuation, for 6 years, commencing in 2008, first due in calendar year 2009.

EXPLANATION: ADM has had no increase in funding for 12 years.  There were levies renewed in 1997 and 2001 with no increase in cost to the homeowner.  30 affiliated agencies are serviced by the Summit County ADM Board.  The proposed tax levy is a replacement and reduction of millage.  Even though the millage is reduced by 0.1 mills, the cost to the homeowner will increase due to higher property evaluation.  The levy, which will take effect in 2009 and last for six years, will cost the owner of a $100,000 house $7.60 a month or $91 a year, an increase of $49 a year over the current levy.

ISSUE 21

PROPOSED TAX LEVY (REPLACEMENT AND DECREASE)

SUMMIT COUNTY CHILDREN SERVICES BOARD

Ballot Language

A replacement of a portion of an existing levy, being a reduction of 0.31 mill, to constitute a tax for the benefit of Summit County for the purpose of the protection and placement of abused and neglected children by the Summit County Children Services Board at a rate not exceeding 2.25 mills for each one dollar of valuation, which amounts to 22.5 cents for each one hundred dollars of valuation, for 6 years, commencing in 2007, first due in calendar year 2008.

EXPLANATION:  CSB, whose purpose is the protection and placement of abused and neglected children, has had no increase in funding for 9 years.  The proposed tax levy is a replacement and reduction of millage.  Even though the millage is reduced by 0.31 mills, the cost to the homeowner will increase due to higher property evaluation.  The levy, which will take effect in 2007 and last for six years, will be an increase to the owner of a $100,000 house by $11 a year.

Website links:   ADM  www.admboard.org     CSB  www.summitkids.org

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State Issue 1: Referendum on Sub. Senate Bill 16

Please note: State Issue 1 did not receive the required number of petition signatures to be voted upon by the electorate, but because of the printing deadline, it may be listed on ballots. return to top