SALEM–Salem residents will cast their vote in the contested mayoral race between appointed incumbent Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, and current Third-Ward Councilman Dennis Plegge.

Education and

prior public service

Dickey, a 1976 graduate of Lisbon David Anderson High School, has been serving as mayor for over a year, having been appointed to the vacancy left by the retirement of former mayor John Berlin. Dickey graduated from Kent State University with an associate degree in nursing and attended Walsh University for two years to extend her nursing education. Dickey has also completed an adult education course in international banking from Youngstown State University and holds certifications as an instructor for the American Red Cross and the Ohio DODD MAIS Program. Prior to her service as mayor Dickey served on the city council as Fourth-Ward Councilwoman for 12 years, having been elected to three four-year terms, has also previously been appointed to the Elkrun Township Zoning Committee.

Plegge, the current Third-Ward City Councilman, graduated from Salem High School in 1974. Plegge was elected to council in 2019, defeating the then incumbent Geoff Goll. Prior to his election to council Plegge made an unsuccessful bid for city council in Bullhead City, Arizona in 1997. Plegge said that at that time the city had a population of approximately 40,000, and he lost by a margin of about 400 votes.

Work History and

Community Activities

After graduating Plegge served in the United State Navy from 1974 to 1976 as a Ship Serviceman in Norfolk, Virginia, prior to receiving an honorable discharge. Plegge was a professional boxer for ten years, becoming a three-time Golden Gloves champion during his career, and earning the title of oldest active professional boxer in the world after stepping back into the ring at the age of 60 to raise money for Salem’s K-9 unit. Plegge also opened the Salem Boxing Club in 2004, which he said allowed him to make positive impacts on the lives of many Salem youths during its operation. Plegge also takes pride in his ongoing support of local food banks.

Now semi-retired, Plegge has served as the director of the Salem Super Cruise for the last two years. Plegge has also been involved in the organization of many of the city’s holiday celebrations since his election to council, including the annual Memorial Day, Halloween, and Christmas parades, Easter egg hunts, and fourth of July celebrations.

Recently retired from Threshold Residential Services, Inc. as Director of Nursing, Dickey has worked as a nurse manager for over 30 years. Prior to her position with Threshold Dickey has worked as Quality Control Nurse for Cornerstone Home Healthcare, Northeast Ohio Director or Professional Services for Caretenders, Director of Nursing for Shepherd of the Valley Home Health, Manager of the Internal Medicine and Surgical Clinics at St. Elizabeth Medical Center on Belmont Ave, and Director of Oncology, Pathways Co-Ordinator, and Breast Health Education Co-Ordinator at Salem Regional Medical Center, prior to which she worked as a staff RN for the Salem Regional Health Center, and Alliance Community Hospital. Prior to becoming an RN Dickey held positions at First National Bank of Salem, and part-time positions as a Home Healthcare RN for MVI and as a clinical LPN instructor for CCCTC in Lisbon. Dickey also owned her own business, Lisbon-Possibilities Home Assistance LLC, for three years. Dickey also currently serves as a Red Cross Instructor and MAIS instructor as needed for Ohio DODD providers.

Outside of her professional and public office careers, Dickey is also a member of multiple community organizations, holding office in several. Dickey is the current secretary of One Ohio Recovery district 11, a member of the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association Executive Board, a member of the of the Board for Families and Children First Committee, and Crisis Intervention Committee, and a member of Salem Rotary. Dickey also serves as President of the Salem Area Health Board by virtue of her position as mayor.

Qualifications and Motivation

Dickey cited her existing experience serving as mayor in addition to her time on council, and the “over 30 years of budgeting and management experience” obtained in her professional career as her qualifications for mayor. Dickey said that during her time on council she served as the chair of the rules and ordinances committee for 10 years, and as the President Pro-Tempore of Council and chair of the committee of the whole for eight years. In that time Dickey said council had been able to update city zoning ordinances to be more reflective of “the way people live today and protect the city from blight and property devaluation as well as improve safety,” and that they had authored the city Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area Ordinance. In her time as mayor Dickey said that she had already developed relationships with leaders throughout Salem’s surrounding communities.

“I have built and maintained strong relationships with the leaders of the cities and villages in our surrounding areas in Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull counties as well as many county, district, and state leaders,” said Dickey.

Dickey cited the three biggest accomplishments of her time as mayor thus far as:

The formation of a joint commercial building department with the city of Columbiana; successful negotiation of three labor contract with the city’s unions which will see “raises that were satisfactory to the members and conditions that will bring savings to the city”; and planning and initiating two parking lot access projects to beautify downtown Salem and highlight the public parking available on two sides of downtown which will finish in November.

Dickey said that she was seeking re-election because she loves Salem and wants to continue the work, she has been doing to help Salem grow and gain recognition as a fantastic place to live.

“I am in the position now and have been working on multiple projects and grants to move Salem forward. I love Salem and envision its opportunities to improve and take its place as a lead city in a strong Route 14 corridor. Salem deserves recognition as a stable, pleasant place to live and locate businesses. I can make this happen given the time. I want everyone to see Salem through my eyes,” said Dickey.

Plegge said that his time serving on council has prepared him to serve as mayor. Plegge explained that during his time on council he had worked with many business owners and residents throughout the community and learned a great deal about what made Salem a place where they could thrive.

“Most of the third ward residents I’ve worked with were business owners, and I’ve learned a lot about how the city, and how they were able to thrive by being in Salem, and think it was the best ward for me to be in,” said Plegge.

Plegge said that he was motivated to run for mayor “to make Salem proud of their leadership.” Plegge, a Salem native, explained that it had been his dream to be mayor.

“It’s been my lifelong dream, and I have the chance to do it now,” said Plegge.

Plegge also noted that he didn’t want to see an unopposed mayoral race, and that the lack of anyone else choosing to run against Dickey also helped motivate him to pursue election.

Key Issue

Plegge said he felt the most significant issue currently facing Salem was the potential of an unexpected emergency situation, citing the February train derailment in East Palestine as an example.

“One of the things I see, and you can’t just look at Salem when you’re thinking about it, and I tell everybody this, someday soon the world is going to come to Salem. Something is going to happen in the future, you have to plan on it,” said Plegge.

Plegge said that if elected his plan to prepare for such an emergency would be to develop emergency response committees, and pre-established chains of command and call orders for various kinds of emergencies that may arise. Plegge also said he would pursue the development of a city-wide emergency alert system so that residents could be informed and updated quickly and efficiently.

“We need to get the right committees together, the right people together to plan what’s going to be our response if this or that happens, what’s going to be our response if a train derails like that in the city of Salem. Where do we start, who gets talked to first and where to go from there, so it can be taken care of right away,” said Plegge.

Dickey cited multiple issues that she felt were equally severe including the joint issues of homelessness and substance abuse. Dickey said that while she felt the city has been responding well to these issues, she’d like to see current programming not only continue, but expand, to better reach those in need.

“We have couple of issues that are equally as bad in our town right now that are very sad, we have ongoing substance abuse issues, and homelessness. Those are very hard problems to solve, but I believe that our city is doing a pretty good job, and I would like to see that expanded and continued as far as our peer support. Our peer support people who come in are very good at identifying people in need and knowing who they are, and continuing to go back time and time again until they find them help and get them to accept it. Sometimes there’s help out there, places for them to go to be treated, places for them to be housed, but they’re reluctant to get into the system, and these people that we have working for us now have really started to build that relationship with those individuals and get that trust. So, they are getting into housing, they are getting into treatment, and it’s been very successful in some cases, they are very respectful of those individuals, they call them by name and that’s important, and they don’t give up, they don’t give up on them.”

Dickey also said the city was facing economic issues, as the city’s carryover balance each year decreases with inflation increasing the city’s annual operating expenses. Dickey said that just last year the city had experienced 8% inflation, which was hard on the city’s budget.

“We also have an economic problem, where our carryover every year for the last ten years, and I’ve said it in council before, is dwindling because what we spend is more than what we bring in. That’s inflation, it’s not because we’re giving huge bonuses to people or being extravagant,” said Dickey.

Dickey said that she felt the issue could be solved with continued careful use of the city’s funds, and with further economic development initiatives and partnerships with other area municipalities.

“We have used our money very wisely, so it has held out as long as it has, but we need to bring in more revenue so we don’t have to go to the taxpayers, and I think we can do that with some of this economic development, with JEDDS, and being very careful and joining some services together to try to save money where we can. Every time we save a penny that’s a penny we don’t have to go to the taxpayers for,” said Dickey.

Perry Township Annexation

Dickey said that she first became aware of the 33 properties with deed restrictions on Beechwood Road, Countryside Drive, and Hampton Place at the heart of the ongoing issue between the city and the township during the annexation of a property owned by Hickey Metal Fabrication. Dickey said that annexation had been conducted with the under the understanding that the properties would come into play once the annexation was completed, and the future revenue the city would obtain from the annexation had been why the city gave the township such a favorable deal on the annexation. However, Dickey said that she had been unaware that the restrictions would come as such a surprise to residents.

Dickey explained that while she was hopeful a more favorable outcome could be reached by council, her duty as mayor, and anyone elected to the position, was to enforce the ordinances of the city of Salem. Dickey also said that she held no personal stake in the issue beyond the duties of her office.

“My job is to enforce the ordinances of the city of Salem, that’s the thing I took the oath for that’s what I have to do, and any mayor that comes in has to do that, that’s what we agreed to, so that’s what I have to do. If council finds a way to make this better in the minds of citizens out there, that’s what I’ll enforce. I don’t have any skin in the game except for the fact that I do have to be sure that we are responsible with the taxpayers’ money out there. So that’s my whole position, that I will do what I’m required to do, and hopefully we can make it nicer than they seem to feel it is right now, but it’s going to be a tough negotiation. I’m glad that council is being serious about it and looking for options, I’m also doing that, you know suggestions for them, I’ve asked for some information from the township trustees about their money’s that they’ve spent out in that area since it’s developed that would have entitled them to some of those real estate taxes they’ve already collected over the years. We just want to make it fair and equitable to our taxpayers and the people that live there.”

Plegge said that while he understood the economic benefits of annexing the properties, he felt the residents in question should not be forced to annex if they don’t want to, and that he felt their feelings should be respected.

“I would like to see them left alone myself, but you have to understand that annexation is the number one way to get revenue into the city of Salem, into any city. But this is a situation where these people don’t want to be annexed at all, so that’s the only side I’m on, is their feelings about it,” said Plegge.

Plegge also said that he took issue with how the issue had been handled, noting that the element of surprise experienced by many of the residents bothered him

“I want to make it very clear, the way that we did this was wrong, we pretty much snuck up on these people and said guess what you don’t live in the township anymore, that’s the part that I don’t like,” said Plegge.

Plegge said that if the deed restrictions could be altered legally as had been recently proposed in a joint session of the Perry Township Trustees and the Economic Development Committee, that would be his preferred solution. Plegge also suggested that the city could receive a share of the property tax revenue for the properties in question rather than the properties being annexed directly.

“If they can be modified then let’s just split it, if we do take it, we’re going to have to have our fire and police personnel out that way anyways and Perry Township’s going to have to do the same thing if something happens out there to help maintain that area, so let’s just split it,”

However, Plegge noted that while he did not like the situation, if the deed restrictions could not be altered, he would enforce the laws of the city. “If it’s in their deed I’ll follow the law and vote for the law.”

Salem School Levy

Dickey and Plegge both voiced support of the proposed 3.48 mils 37-year property tax levy to fund a new K-8 school building, noting that new schools attract families to move into a community and promote economic development. Both candidates also described the levy as an investment in the future of Salem’s children.

“You can’t build the future unless you build new first, you can’t just keep on patching up the past. I think more families would be attracted to Salem if we did that. At the same time being a councilman, I hear lots of people against it because they don’t want to pay any more taxes, but they don’t understand, its literally nothing compared to the impact of a new school,” said Plegge.

“I think we value education but it’s time to show the rest of the world how much we do, and that’s that investment, and right now with 67 cents on the dollar from state funds, and $10 million from the community foundation’s grant, it will never be more affordable to invest in our children’s future. It’s a decision that’s going to the voters and they have to decide what they can afford to do, and what they think is important, but as far as the city is concerned it’s an asset to have a new school, and it’s about a third of the cost of a pizza today that you’ll be spending and for older people even less,” said Dickey.

Final statements

Dickey said that voters should vote for her over her challenger because she has more experience in city government, and that through that experience she has learned the best ways to stimulate the economic development and growth of a city. Dickey said that during her time as mayor the city had received $1.4 million in grant funding for local projects, and that with the inclusion of the city’s Appalation Community Grants that figure rises to $3.3 million, and a further $7.4 million in private investments. Dickey also said that her year in office had seen the creation of 49 jobs in the city, and the retention of 107 jobs that were at risk of leaving the city, and a corresponding $2.1 million in new payroll, and the retention of $7.6 million in payroll at risk of leaving the city.

“I’m just starting I’ve only had a year, given four more years we can accelerate that. I’m making connections with our lawmakers at every level and that’s going to continue, they know me now, they trust me, they know what I need because I’m not afraid to ask and tell them what I want,” said Dickey.

Dickey reiterated her love of the city and committed to continuing that growth throughout her term if re-elected.

“That’s my commitment to continue to do that and more. I’m just getting started. It’s like a train. When you first pull out it starts slow, but I’m getting up to full speed, I want to keep going, I don’t want us to go backwards. I really love Salem I really do; I don’t know another community around that I think is any better than us. I’ve seen how Salem pulls together in times of need it’s amazing its absolutely amazing.”

Plegge also cited his love of Salem when asked why voters should choose him as their mayor. Plegge said that he would continue to fight for Salem and would never give up.

“I’ve been working with Salem all my life, and I don’t give up. I’ve been a fighter all my life, and I’m going to continue fighting for Salem, and I’m going to continue to make this the greatest city in the state of Ohio. I believe we have great people in the city of Salem to that makes it easy to work with,” said Plegge.