AKRON
Fracking rules
AKRON: The City Council is urging the state to return the authority to regulate oil and gas wells to cities.
Council passed a resolution Monday asking that the state allow large cities to address safety concerns posed by oil and gas wells and to regulate the location and method of extraction of oil and gas. The resolution said “the recent change in drilling technology known as ‘‘fracking’’ has caused concerns for public safety in heavily populated urban areas.”
Councilman Jeff Fusco said cities had this power prior to 2004 when both municipalities and the state regulated oil and gas wells. He said cities were able to address concerns like noise, safety and buffering. The state then assumed control, leaving cities with no say in the location of wells.
Fusco said this represents an “erosion of home rule.”
Council unanimously adopted the resolution.

Firefighter ruling
AKRON: An Akron firefighter shouldn’t have been fired for violating the city’s former residency requirement, an arbitrator ruled this week.
Arbitrator Marc Winters ordered the city to reinstate Firefighter Tim Semelsberger and pay him back earnings since he lost his job in May 2008. Winters will hold a hearing later this month or in early March to determine how much Semelsberger is owed.
Winters said Akron shouldn’t have fired Semelsberger under the city’s residency requirement in its charter when an Ohio law adopted in May 2006 banned municipalities from requiring employees to live in a particular area. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the state law.
Law Director Cheri Cunningham said the city will decide whether to appeal after the next stage to determine Semelsberger’s damages.
Warner Mendhall, an Akron attorney who represented the Akron fire union in the case, called the decision a “good victory.” He estimated Semelsberger is owed about $250,000.

STARK COUNTY
Theft charge
CANTON: A Stark County grand jury indicted a North Canton woman on a charge of aggravated theft, a third-degree felony.
Prosecutors say Caroline Y. Hawley, 59, of 324 Heatherwood St. SW, stole from her former employer, the North Canton YMCA Child Care Center.
The indictment does not specify the amount of money alleged to have been stolen, but during the investigation officials indicated it could be more than $100,000.
It is believed the money was taken over a seven-year period from January 2004 until November 2011.
The YMCA of Central Stark County has declined comment since the theft was discovered in early December.

SUMMIT COUNTY
Sheriff contract
AKRON: The Summit County Council approved a new three-year policing contract with Green to provide sheriff’s deputies for the community.
The $5.78 million deal calls for the sheriff to provide 17 full-time deputies and one direct indictment officer at 20 hours per week from January 2012 through December 2014.

STATE NEWS
ODOT plan OK’d
COLUMBUS: An Ohio Department of Transportation draft plan that delays several road and bridge projects by up to 19 years received the approval Tuesday of the state panel that oversees funding for high-cost transportation projects.
The Transportation Review Advisory Council voted 9-0 to accept the major project list ODOT staff recommended about two weeks ago. The plan now goes to the public for a 45-day written comment period.
One of the largest projects scrapped in the Akron area was the reconstruction of Interstate 76 from State Road in Barberton to state Route 59 in Akron. That stretch includes the Kenmore leg of the expressway. Also pulled from the list was the proposed $22.7 million reconstruction of state Route 94 in Medina County.

Dog bill advances
COLUMBUS: Pit bulls in Ohio no longer would be labeled as “vicious” dogs under a bill that cleared the Ohio Senate. State law currently defines a vicious dog as one that has seriously hurt or killed a person, killed another dog or is among those commonly known as pit bulls.
The Senate voted 27-5 Tuesday to change that definition by removing the reference to pit bulls. The change would require evidence to prove pit bulls are actually vicious. The measure also specifies that the label does not include a police dog that has injured a person or has killed another dog while it’s assisting law enforcement officials.
Some dog wardens have opposed the measure because of frequent pit bull attacks, while others say pit bulls are not inherently vicious.
— Associated Press