MANSFIELD — Mansfield City Council unanimously consented Tuesday evening to annex 27.011 acres of land currently in Madison Township.
Property owners of the land, Blevins Finishing Systems Inc., 288 S. Illinois Ave., and Steven R. Brown, have petitioned for the annexation.
The land is located on the city’s southeast corporation limits on the west side of South Illinois Avenue.
Madison Township will continue to receive real estate taxes for the property, though Blevins employees will pay income taxes to the City of Mansfield, Public Works Director David Remy said.
Remy said the land owned by Brown is largely vacant, though there are storage sheds. He said annexing the Blevins site without annexing the Brown property would leave the latter property on an island in the township.
The Blevins property is on about 19 acres with the Brown land taking the remaining eight acres.
Madison Township trustees will next vote on the expedited annexation. If trustees approve, Richland County commissioners will approve it and City Council will formally vote on it Jan. 7.
Mayor Tim Theaker told Council that Blevins was approved last year to begin using city water after officials there learned the well/tank it was using didn’t provide sufficient flow for its fire suppression system.
Once that service began, under city law, the land would need to be annexed into the city.
Remy said it was a “win-win” with the township keeping property tax base and the city gaining the income taxes.
In other action Tuesday, City Council voted to:
— vote on approve the mayor’s appointment of Richland Bank President Chris Hiner to the city’s Fair Housing Commission, filling an unexpired term. Hiner’s term will expire July 15, 2021.
— voted to accept a $38,389 grant from the Ohio Office Criminal Justice Services for the Mansfield Police Department’s Project Safe Neighborhood Program.
— heard from Deborah Mount of Clifton Drive who said she was shocked when she learned City Council on Oct. 1 had had fully compensated a city homeowner $4,986 for a sewer backup damage claim while only awarding another homeowner $600 for a similar claim at the same meeting.
Mount said she went back and examined two years of claims and said her research found the $4,986 claim was the only sewer backup claim the city had paid in full during that time. Mount said most claims are denied completely and said the average payment on approved claims was $497.
Mount urged Council to consider claims equally and not to use them to repay political favors, though she was not specific. When Council approved the claim, At-Large Councilman Cliff Mears and 1st Ward Councilman David Falquette were the only votes against it.
