RITTMAN — Whether 15.56 acres in Guilford Township will continue to be part of Medina County will be up to Wayne County voters on Election Day.

“I felt that this was too big a decision that should be made by the council members alone,” said Shawn Vallery, of Rittman, who, along with city resident Phyllis Ramsier, collected 185 signatures to put a referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.

In 2006, Rittman City Council voted 4-2 to annex 15.56 acres of Jane Bauman-Laurila’s Guilford Township land off Rawiga Road. Medina County commissioners also approved the annexation that year.

The land, however, has not officially become part of Rittman and will not if the referendum succeeds, council President Glen Russell said.

“As I listened to what was happening (during the voting), I felt that there were many unanswered questions,” Vallery said. She said since it was not a unanimous vote, there should be more thought put into the decision and more involvement with the voters.

Residents of Rittman and Guilford Township have formed Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility to campaign against the annexation and to inform voters about the referendum. The group has begun raising funds and is officially registered as a ballot issue committee with the Wayne County Board of Elections. The group also has created a Web site — cffr-rittman.com — and flyers to provide information to voters on the referendum.

“I think we have the means available so that when the voters go to the polls they know everything there is on this issue and making a decision that’s educated,” Vallery said.

In March 2006, Medina County commissioners approved an Expedited Type 2 annexation of the 15.56 acres in Guilford Township.

Expedited Type 2 “means basically the commissioners have very little say,” Commissioner Stephen D. Hambley said. With that type of annexation, at least 5 percent of the property must share a contiguous border with the city and then commissioners are required to pass it, he explained.

“We have a bit more discretion with a normal annexation,” Hambley said.

The 15.56 acres have a 5 percent border with Rittman at the service entrance to the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, property for which was annexed to Rittman in the 1990s. The cemetery was dedicated in 2000.

The 15.56 acres, however, are part of 98 total acres owned by Bauman-Laurila. Annexation opponents are concerned 82 more acres could be annexed through an Expedited Type 2 process if Rittman voters approve annexing the 15.56 acres. If the 15.56 acres become part of Rittman, the 82 acres then would have a 5 percent border with Rittman.

Bauman-Laurila refused to comment on whether she wanted to annex any remaining land to Rittman. She also would not comment on whether she would develop any annexed land.

Guilford Township has a 4-acre minimum. Rittman allows properties as small as a quarter-acre, township Trustee Glenn Sheller said.

“All it is is to make one property owner rich,” Sheller said of the possibility of a large development on Bauman-Laurila’s property.

Properties on Rawiga Road are lined with signs protesting the annexation that read “Keep Guilford Green.”

“What if I decided to raise some hogs on my five acres?” said township resident Glenn Waggy, whose house is next to the 15.56 acres in question. If the land is developed, residents “would not like the smell,” he said.

Waggy said a potential development worries him because it might disturb the environment and the peace of the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery across the street.

Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility said the only border the Bauman-Laurila property shares with Rittman is the service entrance to the cemetery. The group says the only way to reach the property is by going 1.4 miles beyond Rittman city limits.

While there has been no official talk of developing the property, some residents have pointed out the confusion it could cause.

Expedited Type 2 annexations do not provide much of a division, Hambley said.

“It doesn’t get detached. It stays within the township, but it becomes part of the municipality,” he said.

Because of this, property taxes on the land would continue to go to Medina County for the Cloverleaf Local School District, Sheller said.

However, in order to pay for city services, 11 percent of the property taxes from such an area would go to Rittman, said a representative from the Medina County Auditor’s Office.

Vallery claimed this would not be enough to cover the money required to pay for city services for any potential development.

“We are expected to pay for fire, EMS, and other services,” she said. “It looks like in this instance we’re going to be losing money.”