Staff photo / J.T. Whitehouse Dr. Anthony Lattanzio presents a computer printed model of a proposed statue of a young William McKinley that a group of Poland citizens would like to see placed on Village Hall property next year. He brought the idea to village council on Tuesday.

POLAND — Village council at their meeting Tuesday heard from Dave Smith, who was representing the newly formed “Save the Poland Library” organization, which he said is growing rapidly.

“We held our first meeting last week,” he said. “Seventeen people signed in. This group feels very strongly that our library needs to remain in its present location.”

He said the organization feels that Poland Village Council needs to show support for the group and its effort. He said it won’t be the first time that council got involved with a library move.

“In 1935, our first library was on the second floor of the fire station,” Smith said. “Back then village leaders got involved and helped secure a separate library for its citizens.”

Smith asked council for a simple statement of support and council members agreed they could do that. However, one council member didn’t want to wait to show her support.

“I want to go on record to say the only solution is to restore the library,” Abbie Bosak said.

She said too many Poland residents have donated a lot to make the Poland branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County what it is today and the library board needs to keep it where it is and restore it.

Library officials are reviewing three options for the Poland branch because of structural issues with the building’s foundation. Option one is maintaining the library branch as is. Option 2 is renovating the library to address the foundation issues. Option 3 is relocating the library either by building new or retrofitting a current building.

Smith said the new group is seeking names on petitions calling on the library board to keep the Poland branch where it is. One group volunteer, Susan Dickens, said residents from all over Mahoning County are signing the petition.

Joan Smith also has been collecting signatures. She said a local business was approached and asked if a group member could stand outside the business and ask for signatures.

“I won’t mention the business name, but the store manager said the corporate rule did not permit standing on the property to get signatures,” she said. “But the store manager felt the library needed to stay and he gave permission to stand on the property.”

Dave Smith said there will be more opportunities to sign the petition at Village Hall, and petitions were available there for people to pick up. He said the petitions will be presented to the library board on Sept. 11.

McKINLEY STATUE

Also Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Lattanzio, a former Poland Village Councilman, gave a presentation on a proposed statue to be placed on Village Hall property. He presented a 3D computer printed model of the proposed statue.

“Most statues of McKinley are of him as president,” Lattanzio said. “This statue would be of him as a young man after graduating from the Poland Academy (now the middle school). This would be the only known statue of him not portraying him as president”

He said McKinley spent a good amount of his youth in Poland Village and thus a statue of him as a young man was more appropriate.

“The goal is to have this done by the end of 2026,” Lattanzio said. “The artist, Tom Antonishak, would need about four months to form the sculpture, and it would take another eight months at a foundry to make the finished bronze statue.”

The goal would be to raise the estimated $105,000 through donations and local support. The intent would be to start the process by January of 2026.

“With the Village celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday, this statue could be done, placed and dedicated by the end of 2026,” Lattanzio said.

The one thing Lattanzio needed was a commitment from Council to allow it to be placed on Village Hall property.

“We need a yes to begin the fundraising,” he said. “It would be hard to solicit funds without a location for it.”

Council held a quick discussion and decided approval could be given pending on final location at Village Hall and a final agreement pending on the Architectural Review Board and zoning. The vote with those stipulations was unanimous in favor of the new statue.

In other business, Council approved hiring Police Chief Don Lambert to fill the position of zoning code enforcement at a salary not to exceed $12,000 per year. Lambert will become official after signing the contract Village Solicitor Jay Macejko is preparing.