CLINTON: The day Mayor Allen “Al” Knack took office, the village had just ended the year with a general fund $5,000 in the red.
Knack said the lack of funds for 2012 will allow for only small steps as the village of 1,214 residents regains its financial footing.
“But what I see is a great place to be. It just needs a little tweaking here and there,” Knack said in a recent interview.
Knack, the owner of Knack’s Sunoco on Manchester Road since 1974, said the village will do what it can to capitalize on its assets, which include a charm only small-town living can afford.
“It’s the way a small town ought to be, like a Norman Rockwell painting,” he said.
A 1 percent income tax council approved in October — the first in the 200-year history of the village — should help relieve the financial pressure brought on with declining revenue. The tax, which is to be collected for five years, will generate the maximum — about $230,000 — during the third year of collection. The Regional Income Tax Agency, responsible for enrolling residents and collecting the tax, estimates only about 20 percent of that amount will be collected this year.
Knack said former Mayor Phyllis Mayberry approached him last year. She asked him to take a more active role in the community, told him of her plans to retire and suggested he run for the office. When a council seat opened in November, Knack was chosen to fill it, giving him his first experience in the political arena before taking the mayor’s oath Jan. 1.
Since then, he has been learning about government, he said.
“During the first snowstorm, I rode around town in the snowplow with Terry [street commissioner Terry Siegenthaler]” he said, trying to learn more about the village.
Economic development
Knack said even he was surprised by the number of businesses in the village he discovered after taking office, naming more than 10 small enterprises within the village limits.
He cited the village’s proximity to highways and railroad tracks that make movement of goods and people easier, but said the lack of sanitary sewers in the community prohibits business, industrial and even residential growth.
“The problem we are running into is with the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency],” he said. “We don’t have any sewers, and with lot sizes of 50 feet by 140 feet, they aren’t big enough for septic systems. But we are first in line for federal money because we are the first in need,” he said.
He said his administration is looking into available grants to alleviate some of the problems.
Clinton boasts the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail and trailhead near downtown and the Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park, nearby on South Cleveland-Massillon Road. Knack said he holds the memorial park close to his heart.
“A lot of my family — my brother, father and friends — served in the military. I can do what I do because they did what they did,” he said.
Knack requested the Ohio Department of Transportation provide signage from state Route 21 directing traffic to the park. He learned earlier this week that the state said the park, with an estimated 20,000 visitors last year, does not generate enough traffic to warrant signs. He has other ideas to increase visitors to the park, such as encouraging tourism with brochures and suggesting schools make the park a destination on field trips.
Streets, utilities
The mayor’s goal for the street department in 2012 is to find money to pay for an additional truck. The lone truck used for all road repair and snow removal for the village’s 19 miles of streets is 15 years old. The body and frame have been welded back together twice, Knack said.
“We need to make sure the roads are all right for our safety forces and residents,” he said.
The mayor has no immediate plans for changes in utilities, but would like to see the village’s single cable franchise change the way it charges customers who purchase only one service. People who bundle services get better rates, Knack said.
Parks, recreation
With two main parks, the mayor said he isn’t planning on spending money for recreation. The village has lighted softball and baseball fields, playgrounds and picnic pavilions, he said.
“I’m not going to commit anything we can’t afford to parks,” he said.
Safety forces
Several years ago, the village contracted with New Franklin for police protection. With the current financial constraints, the city has agreed to continue the contract at $70,000 for the coming year, with no increase over last year.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.