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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019
harrisonnewsherald.com
Cadiz approves village administrator By JD LONG
jim@harrisonnewsherald.com
CADIZ – In another emergency reading at least week’s regular Cadiz council meeting, Ted Andrzejewski was approved by unanimous vote to be Cadiz’s next village administrator. Ted Andrzejewski, who is from the Cleveland area, was one of two candidates council narrowed their choices down to with the other being Kevin Brooks. Last month council voted 4-3 against passing the emergency reading needed to approve Brooks. But last Friday, the emergency reading of Ordinance 201902, passed unanimously with no
discussion. Other items addressed earlier in the meeting were Joseph Anderson of A.J.T. Rentals LLC. He spoke before council requesting that resident’s water be shut off after one month in delinquency instead of the current two months. Anderson said by the time he’s finally able to rid a tenant for nonpayment his bills are “excessive,” because of the two-month law. He also accused the village of not shutting off delinquent tenants in a timely manner. “On all your water bills on the first month, you put on there ‘delinquent shutoff’ after the first month, but you never shut them off,” he told council. “I talked to [the] water department,
talked to people shutoff they say they can’t do nothing without you authorizing it.” Anderson produced two water bills in excess of $400 and another over $500, which council acknowledged having copies of. Anderson added that delinquent tenants won’t pay unless they know their water will be shut off. “If you can’t shut it off and it’s legal, authorize me [and] I’ll shut them off myself,” Anderson said. Village Administrator Costa D. Mastros as a fellow landlord himself, said he sympathized with him and called the problem not uncommon. Mastros said that the law states before shutting a person’s water off there must be some
form of “due process.” “So, we have a system in place now… I’m not saying we can’t accommodate and maybe go down a month, or maybe shorten the timeframe but we might have to enact other due process issues, or due process rights, if you will to make sure that the tenant has the right to redress whatever issue there might be with their water bill,” Mastros explained. “So, you can’t really use self-help, you have to follow our procedures and we have to make sure that those procedures meet due process requirements,” Mastros further explained. He continued by stating that there are complaints over the fact
that municipalities make the landlord ultimately responsible for people skipping out on their water bills but “we had to make someone responsible so we made the landlord responsible. It’s legal and appropriate to do so.” Mastros did say the village would try and accommodate Anderson without taking away due process for his tenants. Anderson asked why it appears to read as if a delinquent bill will state water is being shut off after one month. Council member Thomas Crawshaw also asked Mastros to clarify the statements on the bill where Mastros said shutoffs occur after two months
See APPROVES PG. 2
Ohio Supreme Court declines to hear lawsuit against MWCD
Warming Up With A Good Book
By JD LONG
jim@harrisonnewsherald.com
The children were warming up with some good books on this below zero day! Left to right: Ezra, Lylah, Caylee, and Lillian Bramble
February is National Library Lover’s Month By ESTHER MCCOY NH Contributor
Along with Valentine's Day, Abraham Lincoln's birthday and that of George Washington, the month of February is dedicated to people who love to keep their eyes glued to the pages of a book, be it a mystery, World War II, a touching love story; or in the case of youngsters, there is, Winnie the Pooh, Wilie Wonka, or some of the older books, such as "Robinson Crusoe," or “Tom Sawyer." With the month of February
being dedicated to the love of reading the Puskarich Public Library and its sister libraries, the Scio Public Library and the Freeport Public Library, have given welcome to all who love the printed word and are observing National Library Lover's Month. "The library is the place to bring enjoyment to those who like to turn the pages to find excitement, adventure, an undying love story history in it most interesting form or just find it an interesting place to study or do research. Sandi Thompson, executive librarian director, said this is where many pre-schoolers are directed to the listening of
stories or those a bit older in reading a story that makes the words come to life. There are hands-on activities, lessons that expose youth to music, art and library friendships. It is a meeting place for public forums, socials, fund raisers, club teas, style shows and classes. There are free tax clinics, adult reading clubs, young children reading hour, quilting lessons, sometimes food classes, talks on Cadiz ancestors and computer classes. February is a cold month. Why not visit the library and find some stories that will take you away to a sunny climate?
Harrison County Court dockets now available on website By JD LONG
Jim@harrisonnewsherald.com CADIZ – Clerk of Court Leslie Milliken announced to the Harrison County Commissioners at last Wednesday’s meeting that their court dockets are now online. The website is: www.harrisoncountyohio.org and down
HARRISON
NEWS-HERALD One section, 8 Pages Vol. 51, No. 38
below is a link to search court dockets. Cases can be searched by name or case a number. “Down below the Clerk of Courts there’s a link that you can search our dockets,” she explained. “So you can go on, you can’t see images but you can search the dockets for every case that we have.” Also, the IV-D contract between the Child Support Enforcement Agency
(CSEA) and the Clerk of Courts was presented to the commissioners by Milliken. Under Local Sources, the nonfederal share was $8,823 and the Federal Financial Participation (FFP) was for $17,128. The total IV-D contract cost came to $25,950. Milliken said there were no changes from last year except for the fact that the amount “went down a little bit from last
Index Area: . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 2 Public Record . . . . . .Pg. 5 Sports: . . . . . . . . . . . .Pg 6 Honor Rolls . . . . . . .Pg. 7 Crossword . . . . . . . . .Pg. 8 Classified . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 9
harrisonnewsherald.com
year because the cases went down a little bit.” The estimated total staff amounts came to $57,041.21 with salaries taking up over $38,400 and another $18,500 from payroll related expenses. Total operations costs are $17,201.81 with total expenses estimated at $65,121.53. The effective period for the contract runs from Jan. 1, 2019 through Dec. 31, 2019
Obituaries, Pg. 5 Curtis Dale Abbuhl Tippecanoe, Ohio Donna Alberta DiLoreto Cadiz, Ohio Betty Jean Grezlik Bowerston, Ohio Jerry Lee Kerwood Cadiz, Ohio Barbara K, Madzia Cadiz, Ohio
NEW PHILADELPHIA – A long-standing case that began in 2015 has finally come to an end. At the January meeting of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), Chief Counsel for the District, James Pringle, informed the board that the Ohio Supreme Court declined to take the case involving the MWCD and “The Harpers.” The Harpers are Leatra, managing director of FreshWater Accountability Project, and her husband Steven Jansto. The Harpers filed the suit “under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA).” This law allows a private citizen to file suit “in the name of the United States…” Under the FCA, the federal government has the choice of taking over litigation of the case or declining in participation and in this case, the Supreme Court declined. “The complaint alleged that when the MWCD entered into oil and gas leases in 2011 to 2014, that the financial benefits from those leases belonged to the United States because of the provisions of the Flood Control Acts of 1938 and 1939,” according to information provided by Pringle. Leatra Harper felt that by collecting royalties off of oil and gas fracking, which the Harpers believe is leading to possible ground water contamination, the MWCD is not being good stewards, she said by phone this week. “We are never going to stop holding MWCD (responsible) public land and public water for their own personal gain,” she said adding that “no other conservancy district does this,” to which Pringle stated in a later interview that he doesn’t believe there is fracking in the other districts for them to even make that decision, and certainly not to the extent of southeastern Ohio. Leatra Harper feels that when the District waters are tested that they’re only testing for “agricultural runoff” and not the dangerous hydrocarbons such as Benzine 226 and 228. To that Pringle pointed to the Seneca Oil & Gas lease (MWCD website), which is 13 pages long and is more than required by law, he said. Pringle said this is what the District stands by if they enter into an agreement with an oil and gas company. Within those pages are 43 headings, or guidelines and another 20 subheadings under “Surface Operations” alone. A previous case (under the False Claims Act), also filed by the Harpers was actually filed back in 2013, which the government chose not to “opt into the suit” there as well. But the Harpers persisted, which led to the current case that the Supreme Court also declined to hear. “The suit was based on the mineral development lease at Seneca Lake Reservoir and language in the
See LAWSUIT PG. 3
Question of the week
Last week’s question
Next week’s question
Should businessess allow employee use of medical marijuana?
Do you think enough testing is done to ensure the safety of our drinking water?
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