Mahoning County Engineer Patrick Ginnetti took for the letter he penned a letter to a Jaronte Dr. resident excoriating Judy Peyko for her “continued manipulation of...facts [that] is not aiding in the solutions to the issues currently being experienced in Boardman,” and her “false and misleading statements.”
      Mrs. Peyko is among a small group of people who have taken issue with local, township government in recent months, and who have received an inordinate and inaccurate amount of publicity from the Mahoning Valley’s mainstream media.
      For example, last week during a meeting of Township Trustees, attended by no more than 27 people, including perhaps a dozen who offered remarks, a headline in a daily newspaper read “Boardman Trustees flooded with complaints.”
      12 people speaking from a community of more than 35,000 people would hardly seem ‘a flood’ of comments,
      And, of those dozen people, at least a half-dozen have expressed political ambitions of one sort or another, and their comments are more directed towards local politics than issues facing Boardman Township. Let’s see---
      Among those speaking was a former Trustee who never completed one drainage project during her tenure in office, whose street was resurfaced during her first year in office, and whose performance was so poor she ran almost dead last in a six person field when she sought re-election. The voters couldn’t be fooled!
      There’s a union official, whose union has bargained in behalf of the Boardman Township Road Department, who frequently criticizes the efforts of the employees the union represents.
      There’s a couple of private citizens whose offerings often have nothing to do with surface water issues.
      There’s a wanna-be candidate who has decried (falsely so) the lack of new construction in the township, then turns around and cuddles-up to those who want a moratorium on new construction here.
      Under Ohio law, township trustees cannot place a moratorium on new construction. That is against the law, yet these few people want their elected officials to act in excepion to Ohio law.
      What kind of representation could public officials provide to their constituents, if they act in exception to the law?
      And, of course, there is Mrs. Peyko, who as Mr. Ginnetti points out, often speaks without facts, merely accusations.
      We note, over the course of nearly a month that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Adiministration (SBA has set up headquarters at the Boatdman Township Goverment Center, the numbers provided by those agencies reflect damage at rather minor levels, when compared to events across the country.
      FEMA says it has provdied assistance to 300 people (in Boardman, Canfield and Poland) totaling $450,000, or just $1,500 per person.
      SBA numbers are larger. As of July 22, SBA has approved 16 loans worth nearly $400,000 for Mahoning County residents. These include 15 home loans for approximately $386,000 and one business loan for $13,500. (That averages out to $25,000 per loan).
      All totaled, in the month the federal agencies have been here, 316 people (or households) including a single business, received assistance as of July 22. We are grateful for the help.
      In addition, Boardman Township was awarded a grant for $124,000 to address surface water issues around Huntington Dr., issues that are, by the way, exacerbated by the Ohio Department of Transportation directing water flows from their roadways into the Huntington Dr. area and Mill Creek.
      The ABC Water District and Boardman Township are addressing water issues, as well.
      For example, In Jan. 2019, Boardman Township sought assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers, well before any heavy rainfall. And. the Corps of Engineers indicated it could well be more than a year before assistance, if any, could be received.
      Mother Nature, when she decides to act, is hard to beat.
      Don’t be deceived by the naysayers and their small minions. Local government, county goverment (to some degree), and the state and federal government have provided aid, and are still trying to find ways to provide solutions.
      Like the Army Corps of Engineers, it won’t happen overnight.