The news of the Village of Morral, Ohio.

06/08/2026

Monthly council meeting is tonight at 6:30pm at the firehouse. Public is always encouraged to attend and let your voices be heard. Monthly council meetings are always the 2nd Monday of the month at 6:30 at the firehouse.

06/03/2026

Reminder, the monthly construction meeting is at 4pm today (always 1st Wednesday of month). While they prefer residents and council not attend, nothing says you can't attend. Then at 7pm is the Board of Public Affairs meeting. This board is who decides what we pay, who we are allowed to hire for our sewer connections, etc. Both meetings are at the firehouse.

05/06/2026

Late notice, but the monthly Sewer Construction meeting is at 4pm today and the Board of Public Affairs meets at 7pm. These meetings are always the first Wednesday of the month at the Firehouse. While they are open to the public, they prefer only the construction/engineers and BPA attend the Construction meeting. Some council members do attend, but even that is not preferred. At 6pm today is a special Council meeting to allocate funds from one fund to another. This should be a quick meeting and not heard what the funds are for, just it cannot wait until next Monday's regular meeting.

04/27/2026

Again, this is NOT a page ran by the Village of Morral. Some seem to miss that point. We will share important information about the Village of Morral and may share information about Morral by others upon review. We do not endorse anything shared by others.

The following was sent to us by Jim Forry Jr. It is long, but should be useful, especially to those attending the special Village Council Meeting tonight at 6:30pm at the Morral Firehouse to address the financial concerns of former Mayor Greg Stephens.

From Jim Forry Jr.
"To the residents of Village of Morral on April 22, 2026

Re: Letter about the income tax and proposed removal by Greg Stephens, former mayor of Morral.

Before you get excited about Greg’s push to remove the 1% income tax or at minimum reduce it. Do you know that is the biggest part of the income the Village gets to operate? Without it, no more street work (more on this later), no snow removal, no park and other town lot mowing, most likely the closure of the park. Streetlights would be out too. No more extra patrols by the Sherriff department.

1st our council members are only paid $50/month, with the hours most put in, they make well under minimum wage for their time.

2nd our town workers barley get more than the minimum wage.

3rd per streets, big complaint is very little has been done for years. The reason is that council knew the sewer project was coming, so it would be a waste of money to pave streets to only have them torn up during the construction project. Council is working on grants to work with the funds the Village has saved up to get all streets paved after the construction project is over. Based on how grants work and settling of the trenches, this complete paving will not happen this year. Without the income tax it will NEVER happen.

4th per sidewalks, same thing as streets.

5th tree trimming/removal work is done with the income tax. I personally would like to see the Village get back to replacing trees that have been and will be removed.

6th the park. Without the income we could not have the park. The former park levy (long gone) never covered the cost to maintain the park. The insurance company has required extensive playground equipment replacement. This will take a lot of money, again to stretch the funds saved up, the Village has applied for various grants.

I personally am against lowering the income tax until all of these projects are completed. Morral Companies pays well over half the income tax the Village collects, and they still donate to the Village.

If the council was to remove the income tax or Greg puts it on the ballot as he has said he would do if council does not do as he has ordered them to do so it would greatly hurt the Village. Greg has told council they could put a levy back on the ballot like we use to have. The problem with levies is that they unfairly punish the elderly and lower income families. As mentioned, currently Morral Companies pays the majority. They would pay far less if a levy was passed and the retired people that do not pay income tax and the lower income who may not pay or pay very little would all pay more. Even if you rent, your landlord WILL pass on the increased cost of a levy.

But most likely you the voters would not pass a levy. The answer to this is either bring back the income tax (if Ohio would allow) and for Greg this gets his name off it since he was mayor for the current income tax. If no levy, no income tax, then some say well Salt Rock Township would take over, which they might have to, but they will not have the income tax, they will still only have the money they have now but be expected to maintain more. They will have to decide what gets priority, which would be the two main streets, this would apply to paving and snow removal. The park may get mowed once a month, if they have the time and money, but most likely will be closed.

Greg’s other issue is the Village is sitting on too much money, that they should spend every penny they collect same year they collect it. Without the current balance, what I call “savings” they could not get some of the grants as it would show the Village lives on the edge, not able to save. This fund could also be considered a “rainy day fund”. You never know when something will break. As it is now, the Village can afford to fix or replace the equipment they have without taking out a loan.

There is a base levy for Morral, not sure what it brings in and the Village did try to get it removed when they went with the income tax, but the base is required by Ohio law. But it is so little the Village could not operate on it alone.

Is our Village perfect? No, but it is far better than many. Are our council members and mayor perfect? No, but they do try and like any of make mistakes. They also have to work with only a few speaking up, they really would like to hear from more, if not able to attend a meeting, then at least write a letter to address your concerns and also what you like that you see, everyone likes to know the areas they are doing something right with. If you do not like what they are doing, then get involved, attend meetings, even run for office, but be warned, you might find it is not as easy as you thought. It cannot be a one man show, so unlike the state and national politicians like to claim, you cannot come in and by yourself change everything, it does take a team approach.

If you cannot attend Greg’s Special council meeting next Monday to address this complaint of his, then PLEASE take the time and write a letter to council, you can email it to: [email protected] or send it to the Village PO Box 156. If you still support the removal of the income tax, that is your right, but be warned if it goes away, you may not like what happens to the Village.

In closing, my wife Barb is one of the council members and this letter is NOT from her, it is from me as I am afraid she and others on council may not be as vocal on this as they should. To some I am just another troublemaker for the Village of Morral, but I do actually care, even if I do not come across that way.

Thank you for your time and consideration on what I have addressed. Please share with your neighbors.

Sincerely,

Jim Forry Jr. resident of Morral most of my life (over 50 years)"

01/25/2026

1st this page is NOT ran by the Village of Morral, the Village does NOT approve of this page, it is meant to be for information about what is happening, what will happen and what has happened in Morral. With that said keep in mind that we are under a level 2, that means you should only go out if you MUST. The state still has roads that have not been hit (confirmed in Wyandot county by Twp trustee). Morral has one tractor and hopefully the mayor (head of maintenance) allows it to stay operating to go back and do cleanup work after all streets are opened once, but we are limited by who is approved/trained to operate the tractor and plow. In the past (years ago) Morral use to have better streets than you had if you left the village. With the sewer project underway there is less places to push the snow and it will take longer. In an emergency contact the mayor after you contact 911. The mayor and her husband are out with their equipment cleaning out anyone that needs help for donation only. As a reminder this page is NOT ran by the Village of Morral but a concerned resident of Morral.

10/30/2025

Election Day is next Tuesday, but early voting is in progress at the Marion County Building. Morral has 5 people running for 4 council seats. Incumbent Darla Hicks, retired schoolteacher, long time resident of Morral and has a true love for Morral and wanting the best for the Village and it's residents. Per the farm animal issue, she understands both sides and does not seem to be for complete ban, but respect for your neighbors. Incumbent Amber Belcher. Amber is the person always behind the scenes pushing to help the fire department out and have community events. She is pro farm animal and property rights. Incumbent Barb Forry, life long resident of Morral. Barb serves on the county regional planning board and does a lot of work behind the scenes too. She is a business owner, although to some that is a negative as how it looks in Morral. She too is pro farm animal and property rights. Incumbent Deb Thibaut, former real-estate agent. She is for no farm animals within village limits or at minimum great restrictions. She is pro zoning because what you do on your property can negatively affect others, so approval by Village council and the mayor should be granted before doing anything on your property. She has stated in the past that she would like to see restricted hours for any business in town, including farmers so people can have quiet at night (10pm to 6am). She is very passionate about having a better future for all in Morral by placing restrictions on what is and is not allowed moving forward. Karen Hughes, the only non-incumbent, long time resident of Morral and wife of current council member Scott Hughes (head of Morral Village maintenance committee) is running and she joins her husband and Mrs. Thibaut on restrictions to better the community of Morral moving ahead. PLEASE get out and vote, your vote does matter and what you want for the future of Morral Village is at stake in this election. Regardless of the outcome of the election, make your voice heard at the council meetings, the 2nd Monday of each month at 6:30 pm at the Morral Firehouse. If you stay silent, then you may not like the outcome of new rules. Morral is currently not zoned, but that will be discussed at the next meeting on November 11th, as to how to get it started and what rules we need in place. Regional Planning Director will be there to discuss how the Village would proceed and what they can and cannot do with existing issues within the village. Again Please go VOTE and attend meetings. As a reminder, even though there are 4 seats open, you do NOT have to vote for 4 people, sometimes not voting for your every seat open can send a message too.

10/18/2025

The Village of Morral use to be a Tree City, but years ago took a stand to NOT replant trees removed near the streets and has not replaced any trees in the park, a few saying the park has too many trees as it is. Is this what the majority wants? Should we go back to planting trees after the sewer project is done or continue on with the removal of all Village owned trees.

09/11/2025

07/29/2025

Yet the Village of Morral is going to ban all farm animals inside the village, unless you have more than 2 acres. But what if those large farmers decide to build large animal buildings? People must decide what they want for the village of Morral. While some say we are a farm community, those in power say we are not a farm community, just a small residential community and that we need rules in place to protect the peace and quiet we deserve to have. So should Morral continue on with plans to ban farm animals? Should they then move on to limit what hours the trucks can come and go from Morral Companies and other businesses inside the town limit? What about the large farmers, should they also be limited to what hours they can farm inside the village, what time they can drive through the village, etc? What about those running businesses from their homes, should that be stopped or at least greatly limited? Morral is the only community in Marion County that is not zoned, should it be? This fall we will have to make choices as to the future of Morral and who we want on council to decide what is best for us. Ask those running for council what they support, what their plans on and vote for who best represents what you want for the future of Morral. But if you truly care, attend a few meetings each year and let your voice be heard. Now they still may not do as you want, but at least speak up until that too is limited. Morral has a monthly meeting the 2nd Monday of every month at 6:30 pm at the firehouse.

Lorain and Mansfield city leaders have recently mulled ordinances to allow residents to own chickens on residential lots, joining other Ohio cities.

01/18/2025

The Marion County Sheriff's Office would like to start a village/township watch program kind of like a neighborhood watch program would work.

Due to our County having so many different villages and townships, we would like to organize this as much as possible by splitting the "watch divisions" up by village or township.

We have 4 sections of Marion County which are divided up by State Route 95 and State Route 423, throughout Marion Township.

On the north east section;
Grandview, Martel, Caledonia, Kirkpatrick, and Grand Praire(twp)

On the south east section;
Waldo, Claridon, Richland (twp)

On the south west section;
Pleasant (twp)
Prospect
Centerville
Green Camp
Bowling Green (twp)

On the north west section;
Big Islang (twp)
Espiville
Meeker
New Bloomington
Decliff
Larue
Morral
Grand (Twp)

We can not run this program without the help of the Marion County Residents. If this program interests you please send Deputy Allen an email at [email protected] with your first and last name, phone number and the location of where you live. (We are not asking for a full address or any personal information)

After we collect enough information to arrange meetings, we will collaborate and begin the process of getting the sectors up and running as we provide additional information and guidance along the way.

If there were any areas listed that have been missed please still feel free to reach out.

We are looking forward to launching this program out of the betterment of our communities safety and general awareness of what is happening around them.