Canton postpones remaining town hall workshops, cites safety concerns

CANTON – City leaders have postponed their three remaining town hall workshops due to safety concerns.

The meetings, where city officials presented information about the mayor's neighborhood transformation initiative and answered residents' questions , had been scheduled for Thursday at Malone University, Oct. 8 at Madge Youtz Intermediate and Oct. 22 at the ONE Center for Leadership.

City Communications Director Christian Turner said multiple factors contributed to the decision to postpone the events. She cited Monday’s City Council meeting that abruptly ended when council leaders said outbursts in the audience prevented them from handling city businesses.

She said the city also has received some information and viewed social media comments that caused concern. She declined to say whether city officials have received direct threats.

Turner also noted that the three remaining workshops were scheduled to be held on non-city-owned property.

“We didn’t want anything to carry over onto the property of our partners in the community,” she said. “We didn’t want to jeopardize the safety of students and community partners.”

The last neighborhood workshop , held on Sept. 5 in southwest Canton, was disrupted by city and non-city residents who have been calling on city leaders to address their concerns about the Canton City Police Department’s use of force on residents. The attendees took those same concerns to Canton Council on Monday, which ended before council could vote on any legislative matters.

It is unclear when the workshops may be rescheduled.

Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com .

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton postpones remaining town hall workshops, cites safety concerns