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LIBERTY -- Candidates in Liberty's contested township trustee race share similar interests in keeping their community clean and helping businesses grow.
Libby Benson, Kisharra Blackwell, Chris Colon, Jason Rubin and incumbent Devon Stanley all are running in the Nov. 7 election.
The board has made great changes in the township the last few years, but Benson is concerned about property values and the upkeep of properties.
"What you hear from the zoning director is that 'We don't have the rules to enforce' such and such, whether it's trees down, paint, or trash in the yard," she said.
"So in general, each street has a property that is not being maintained, and it's pulling down our property values. I want to see those maintainence codes improved. I want clearer, more concise property codes, and so do the other members of Liberty township."
Benson said zoning is her No. 1 reason for running.
"We can look better and we can be better. This can be a great community that it was 10 to 15 years ago," she said. "And I want to also see more community events that draw a crowd. If you want to go to a farmer's market, you go to Howland. If you want to go to a splash pad, you go to Mill Creek Park. Those are things we can have here, in Liberty, building community and friendship."
For the community's relations with administration, Benson said, "I'd like to see more involvement with the schools, from the board," she said. "I think the trustees should be more involved with the school board and attend school board meetings. And I would like to see someone from the school board attend trustee meetings, and have a couple of minutes where we discuss what is going on with the school. The school is the heart of the community, and whatever issues they're having, I think the community being a part of that is so important."
CHRIS COLON
Colon said he decided to run for the seat because he saw a stark contrast to the township he grew up in.
"I saw that sense of community wasn't here," Colon said. "I was already interested in politics, so why not Liberty?"
He said he spent time talking to people about the township's needs, and "when I decided to run, it was simply to bring that sense of community and build on a lot of positives that are already happening."
Colon said the community has become almost passive and somewhat disconnected from its government.
"We have record investments coming from our federal government over the next few years," Colon said. "I want to make sure Liberty gets that."
Colon said the township's police and fire services are doing a great job, but he believes there is room for improvement.
"I think we need better collaboration with the communities around us, so we can solve some of the emerging problems that we're facing. Namely, mental health, drug markets and homelessness," he said.
Zoning also is a top priority and is one problem that he hears about from residents.
"When residents file complaints about zoning, they're told that there is no enforcement, and there's no way to enforce," Colon said. "I know from meeting with other trustees and committees, while reviewing the resolutions and ordinances from other communities, that there are ways to enforce zoning. There's been successful in McDonald, Howland and Boardman. These are places we can use as examples to change our home-rule resolution to get to a point where we can enforce zoning. What the residents want to see here is a more beautiful and safer community. That involves the zoning issues that we need to rectify," he said.
JASON RUBIN
Rubin said he wouldn't say "people aren't satisfied" with the current board, but he said the zoning enforcement issue has been consistent since he was a trustee from 2009-2017.
"We have cars parked in the front yard with no license plates," Rubin said. "We have houses falling down. Not everywhere, but we have a big zoning issue. We want to be able to try to clean up our neighborhoods, and clean up Belmont Avenue to try to attract more businesses to the area. The more corrective commercial properties we have on Belmont Ave for development, it could help us with the taxes so we won't have to rely on the residence to pay for things all the time."
As a self-proclaimed "numbers cruncher" Rubin has an interest in smarter budgeting for the township.
"They have money now. But after talking to the fiscal officer, other departments and other cities, it seems that traffic ticket money is going away," he said. "They can't take you to collections, or the courts, so people are saying, 'hey I'm not paying this.' They have money in their account now, but if that money goes away in a year to a year-and-a-half, they're broke. They'll have to do layoffs, and I don't want to do layoffs. I'm not raising taxes for the residential harbor."
Rubin added, "I am not for raising taxes. If we exhaust every avenue out there, for commercial development, stay in our budget, and watch our funding and spending, and if these departments are working hard, then I would support a levy. But, that would be the last straw on a levy for me. We have to stay in our budget, run our departments correctly, watch our overhead, and we have to make sure our public employees are actually working to do their job, and still try to bring in commercial development."
DEVON STANLEY
At a recent candidate night at Liberty Local School District, Stanley addressed the zoning issue saying, "enforcement is not the problem."
Only 12 violation cases have been filed in Girard Municipal Court since 2019, according to Stanley. One of those cases has pleaded, and 10 of them eventually got into compliance, he said.
"Any property that has been a nuisance property, we have not only cited but we put on the condemned list. I have seen the attorneys that are working to try and turn those properties around," he said.
"What you have to look at are the positives of our zoning department. It's actually one department that, this year, fully funded itself without any levies. To date, $150,000 of zoning building permits, because of the construction and building that's actually happening on Belmont. That building couldn't happen without the zoning department. We had to re-zone those pieces of property to bring multi-million dollar projects. There is a Mercy Health Lifepoint hospital coming on the corner of Trumbull and Belmont that had to be rezoned to do that."
Stanley continued, "We are enforcing it, and we will continue to enforce it, to make sure no blight detracts from our property values."
In development, Stanley said he thinks one way to improve people wanting to move to Liberty is attraction.
"Liberty is transforming in a way that our streets are some of the smoothest and safest you will see out there," he said. "The businesses on Belmont are coming back. You want to know how you create homeownership? You bring a couple of big projects to the community, like a state of the art rehabilitation hospital that will have to bring skilled workers here. Nurses, people with degrees, people with discretionary income. They have to live somewhere."
The fifth candidate, Kisharra Blackwell, could not be reached for comment.
Meet the candidates
Libby Benson
Age: 43
Previous experience: None
Goals: Zoning, community engagement, business corridor
Kisharra Blackwell
Age: Did not respond
Previous experience: Did not respond
Goals: Did not respond
Chris Colon
Age: 41
Previous experience: None
Goals: Building partnerships, safety, community involvement
Jason Rubin
Age: 53
Previous experience: Liberty trustee, 2009-2017
Goals: Budgeting, zoning, balancing development
Devon Stanley
Age: 51
Previous experience: Liberty trustee, 2020-present
Goals: Development, roads, community experience