Salem council honors longtime police officer on retirement

SALEM -- City council honored the service of the Salem's longest serving officer as he enters retirement.

During its meeting Tuesday, council unanimously approved a resolution commending Lt. Dave Casto for his 36 years of dedicated service to the Salem Police Department from Jan. 20, 1990, through Sept. 1, 2026, as he officially entered retirement.

City Councilwoman Sara Baer congratulated Casto on his well-earned retirement and said that she was grateful to have had the opportunity to work closely with him while planning the city's America 250 parade in July. Baer was echoed by the entirety of the city council, who each thanked him for his service and wished him a happy and lengthy retirement.

Other legislation approved included two routine resolutions accepting the amounts and rates for the city's tax levies and certifying them to the auditors of Columbiana and Mahoning counties, respectively.

During his report, City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello said that the first truckloads of road salt from the city's new supplier would begin to arrive Wednesday, and that he hoped to have the full order on hand by Nov. 1. Cappuzzello also said that he and Streets Foreman Shawn Smith had met with the New Waterford utilities department to discuss the brine system it uses to make its winter salt supply stretch further, and that the city would be adopting the same system.

"They have been doing some different things down there to stretch the use of their salt and have it go a little further. They have a system to create brine which is used to pretreat the streets during [winter] conditions. They've been doing it for four years, and they said they have saved almost 50% of their salt usage. So, we're going to go ahead and take that on," Cappuzzello said. "We're going to have to make a capital investment in this. We're starting to order equipment this week, and the lead time is about 10 to 12 weeks. So, we should have it in place right around the end of Thanksgiving. I don't know if we'll save half, but even if we save 25% usage by creating this system, by making that investment, we'll reduce the amount of salt we use long-term, not only this year, but in the future."

Cappuzello also updated council on the city's ongoing paving projects. He said that the final coat of paving would be applied to West Perry Street, and paving work would begin on Edgewood Drive on Friday. Cappuzzello also said that the city's joint project with the Ohio Department of Transportation to pave the section of Ellsworth Avenue from State Street to Mullins Avenue would begin with milling on Sept. 14.

During the report of standing committees City Councilmen Jim Harrington and Jeff Stockman announced that the finance committee would meet at 6 p.m. on Sept. 15 to review the city budget for 2027. The rules and ordinances committee meeting which was originally scheduled for that time will instead meet at 6 p.m. on Oct. 6.