County treasurer forming foreclosure task force

Special to The Review

LISBON — County Treasurer Nick Barborak announced that he has established a local Save Our Homes task force to address the record number of foreclosures in the county.

“I find it shameful that Ohio is first in the nation in the number of home foreclosures.” Barborak said, in a news release issued Friday. “It is time for community leaders to come forward and face this problem head on.”

The number of foreclosures in the county has increased from 467 in 2004 to 518 in 2005 and a record 530 last year. Ohio had the fifth-highest foreclosure rate in the country in May and the third-highest number of filings for the third consecutive month.

Barborak said he has contacted State Treasurer Richard Cordray, who serves as the chairman of the Education and Outreach Committee on Gov. Ted Strickland’s foreclosure task force.

“I don’t know of any other counties doing this but I expect there will be more,” he said.

Barborak expects to work with the governor and Cordray to come up with a program to educate the public and providing crucial information to homeowners to prevent them getting into a position where they are being foreclosed against.

“Sometimes it is as simple as picking up the phone and making contact with your lender. The trick is to know which individuals and departments within the lending institution to speak to,” Barborak added.

The task force will be comprised of community leaders and individuals from around the county. Barborak said that while still in the early stages, he has already been in contact with several individuals who have agreed to join him on the task force. He hopes that the task force can identify community resources, hold educational seminars for homeowners and share ideas about how to save homes from foreclosure.

Barborak says the 10-12 member task force will include representatives from the legal community, banking industry, real estate and individuals “who’ve experienced the hardship of going through a foreclosure.”

For more information, Barborak can be reached at 330-424-9514.

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