Open letter to Tim Crawford

The following email was sent to the listed recipients. It seems that failure to listen to constituents is not a unique feature of the Beltway Gang.

March 20, 2010
Open letter to Tim Crawford,
Summit County Council District 7

Dear Tim,

As a fellow campaigner in the past for addressing problems of representation in local government, I am appealing for your attention in the matter of the hostility that exists between the government of Summit County and the Barberton-Norton Mosquito Abatement District.

As you are probably aware, the Barberton-Norton Mosquito Abatement District (MAD), organized under Chapter 6115 of the Ohio Revised Code, came into existence after the Barberton City Health Department (BCHD) ended its long-standing mosquito control program. Nuisance control of mosquitoes is not a mandated function of health districts, and the regular spraying for mosquitoes was considered a luxury that could not be maintained under the BCHD's limited budget.

Both the Barberton and Norton City Councils were approached with the idea of forming a special sanitary district to reduce the population of biting arthropods under Chapter 6115. When neither council took action to form such a district, citizens from both communities circulated petitions and presented them to the Summit County Common Pleas Court as required by the statute. The Court agreed that formation of the special sanitary district would "be conducive to the public health, safety, comfort, convenience, or welfare" of the affected communities, and ordered that the Barberton-Norton Mosquito Abatement District be established.

There have been complaints by certain disaffected persons that the organization and operation of the MAD, with assessments levied by the Board of Directors (BOD), is an example of "taxation without representation". Such an accusation is no more true than one which would state that levies by the State Legislature are also "taxation without representation". This is so because the landowners in the district are represented by the BOD, who are appointed by their elected officials. Those Directors are required to be residents of the MAD, and can be contacted by any landowner; the meetings of the MAD Board of Directors are also open public meetings at which the public can address the Board directly with its concerns.

At the request of residents in surrounding areas, the MAD undertook efforts to expand. This expansion was opposed by the Summit County Health District (SCHD), which took the position that the activities of the MAD were an unnecessary duplication of the sporadic spraying done by the SCHD. In fact, the activities of the MAD are directed at nuisance control for the comfort and convenience of the residents; possible control of arthropod-vectored diseases are a secondary benefit from the standpoint of the MAD. The SCHD mosquito control program is oriented toward preventing outbreaks of arthropod-vectored diseases; the "comfort and convenience" of the residents is not emphasized by their program.

Despite the different goals of these two entities, SCHD has actively and aggressively worked to eliminate the MAD. In the summer of 2009, the MAD sent out a survey to the landowners of Norton, and nearly a thousand of the recipients replied (22%) with postcards to Norton City Council, the vast majority of which were supportive of the MAD. They did not want their mosquito abatement program to end.

As mentioned above, the landowners of Barberton and Norton are represented by the BOD. The political subdivisions in which the MAD is located (Barberton, BCHD, Norton, Summit County Executive, SCHD) are represented by the District Advisory Council (DAC). The Summit County Executive had a representative on the DAC from the beginning, and upon the City of Norton ending its agreement with the BCHD and contracting with the SCHD, the SCHD was entitled to choose a DAC member.

It is my concern that neither of the DAC members representing Summit County are residents of the MAD. This situation, coupled with the antagonism of the SCHD toward the MAD, is a recipe for mischief. The citizens of Barberton and Norton are looking to you, our representative on the Summit County Council, and a resident of Norton who benefits from the work of the MAD, to protect our right to enjoy our property comfortably.

Thanks for listening to an old Norton Neighbor.

--Jim Hrubik

cc: Dave Koontz, Mike Zita, Scott Pelot, Todd Bergstrom, Don Nicolard, Bill Mowery, Ken Braman, Brenda Hlas, Bob Genet, Kevin Coughlin, Tom Sawyer, Brian G. Williams, John Otterman, various Internet sites.

Repeal 17 : Restore I-3
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http://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-c-hrubik-sr/12/7a4/a58

The MAD website is Barberton-Norton Mosquito Abatement District

Angry messages can be sent to:

• Tim Crawford, Summit County Council, District 7


• Bob Genet, Mayor of Barberton


• Dave Koontz, Mayor of Norton


• Todd Bergstrom, Norton Ward 1


• Don Nicolard, Norton Ward 2


• Bill Mowery, Norton Ward 3


• Ken Braman, Norton Ward 4


• Mike Zita, Norton At-Large


• Scott Pelot, Norton At-Large


• Brenda Hlas, Norton At-Large

Let them know how you feel about spending City tax dollars to oppose the Mosquito Abatement District.