‘One Medina’ will make push for dissolution, merger of towns

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 April 2014 at 12:00 am

MEDINA – As a plan for dissolving the village of Medina nears completion, a new “One Medina” movement is set to launch.

“One Medina” will be led by attorney Nathan Pace. He was chairman of the Medina-Ridgeway-Shelby Study Committee in 2010 and 2011. The group recommended the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway merge and the village dissolve to become one government.

That Pace-led committee saw a 30 percent reduction in taxes for the three governments if they became one entity.

The current village dissolution plan forecast about $1 million in reduction of the local tax burden by dissolving the village and passing its services to the two towns and local development corporations. Those numbers will be presented in more detail on Thursday.

Pace and Medina Mayor Andrew Meier see more savings if the two towns pursue a merger if the village dissolves. That would reduce the cost for delivering government services and also attract state incentives. Both would reduce a tax burden that is a disincentive to attracting residents, businesses and investment, Meier said.

The committee working on a dissolution plan for the village of Medina expects to have numbers on Thursday that will show the impact on taxes for people who live in the village and those who are outside in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway.

That data will be discussed during an 8 a.m. meeting at City Hall. The dissolution plan is expected to be voted on by the committee. It will then go to the Village Board. Ultimately, for the dissolution to take effect it will need approval from village residents in a public vote.

Meier will hold a press conference Thursday at 12:30 p.m. He will be joined at City Hall by Pace and Don Colquhoun, chairman of the dissolution committee.

Officials from the two towns have Facebook pages and also a web site about the village dissolution. They call their web site, 2towns4thepeople.com.