If you buy a house in Perry Township in Stark County these days, you may not have access to water. But it’s not because of service issues.
Since early February, requests for Canton water service in Perry have been denied amid a legal dispute between the township trustees and Canton’s mayor.
Potential home buyers and sellers, meanwhile, are caught in the middle of a clash between government officials.
One of them is Renee Charleston, a Lawrence Township resident whose mother has owned a home in Perry for 54 years. She’s moving to an assisted living facility, and Charleston is helping her sell the house.
“We accepted one offer, however, it’s contingent on water service transfer, of course,” Charleston said. “And [Canton’s water department] sent me an email that said any home sale contracts signed after February the fifth are denied.”
Perry is located on the western border of Canton. About 4,000 township residents, like Charleston’s mom, receive water service from Canton.
In January, Canton Mayor Bill Sherer sent a letter to Perry water customers stating new contracts after Feb. 5, 2026 would be reviewed on a “case-by-case basis” due to “current events,” according to the letter.
However, all requests for water service in Perry Township after Feb. 5 have been denied, city spokesperson Christian Turner confirmed to Ideastream Public Media.
“We are not obligated to provide water contracts to anyone outside of the City of Canton,” Turner wrote.
But in the meantime, people in the process of buying or selling a home, like Charleston, can’t close.
“We’re in limbo,” Charleston said. “The family was looking at those home sale proceeds to fund the assisted living situation for my mom, and so now, we’re having to pull funds from other places until this can get resolved.”
Local Realtor Kara Kirkbride is aware of at least a dozen Perry home sales that can’t go through because water service transfers have been denied, she said.
“It’s about innocent, I feel, residents who are being affected by something they have no control of, and that they didn’t do or ask for,” Kirkbride said.
Impasse stems from annexation dispute
Mayor Sherer declined Ideastream’s interview requests, citing “pending litigation” from Perry.
In a statement, Turner wrote that Sherer wants to modify the conditions of a joint economic development district, known as a JEDD, signed by the Perry trustees and the previous mayor in 2023.
Some Ohio cities and their bordering townships use JEDDs to share tax revenues and other economic development benefits and avoid annexation.
This JEDD agreement gives Canton the majority of income tax revenue – 2% of 2.5% total – from a parcel of land on the southeast side of Perry where a data center is planned. Supporters of the data center say it will provide a boon in tax revenue - while opponents, including Perry residents who live near the site, are concerned it will cause noise, traffic and environmental problems.
Sherer’s complaint is that the JEDD agreement states Canton can’t annex other properties in the township without trustees’ approval for 50 years, Turner wrote.
“The issue for the City is section 12 regarding annexation,” Turner wrote. “If the city and the township can come to a new annexation agreement, the current JEDD would have to be amended to reflect the new agreement that would financially benefit both communities.”
The annexation clause was included in the agreement to ensure a collaborative working relationship with the city, said Matt Miller, a Perry Township trustee.
“The spirit of that clause was cooperative annexation, that when the city was ready to expand and wanted to extend its borders, that they would work with the neighboring municipality,” Miller said.
The mayor and trustees have not come to a resolution despite several months of conversations. The issue began last year, when Sherer filed a request to annex a property on the township border where a Fishers Foods grocery store used to be.
“That is when it was brought to our attention that the current JEDD for the data center property in Perry contained an annexation clause with a 50-year agreement and a possible 50-year renewal,” Turner wrote.
Perry trustees denied the annexation request. When the request was not pulled or “cured” within 90 days, as is required in the JEDD agreement, Perry sued Canton, Miller said.
“We filed breach of contract against the city of Canton,” Miller said. “Shortly after that, I don’t know the exact number of days, is when the letter [from Sherer] went out to residents.”
Miller is willing to renegotiate the JEDD agreement and is meeting with Sherer again next week, he said, but Miller doesn’t understand why Sherer is using water service as a negotiating tactic.
“The part that is a big disconnect for me is the involvement of real people in a contract dispute between two governments and really harming those that are trying to sell their house, or they've built a house and can't get the water turned on,” Miller said. “I mean, those are all very real stories and happening at the speed of their lives, which operates so much quicker than government.”
Turner wrote that Sherer is also ready to resolve the issue, but that trustees have not agreed to his proposed changes to the annexation clause.
“During all of the meetings with the Perry Trustees, they have not returned with response amendments to what Mayor Sherer has proposed,” Turner wrote. “The City of Canton has remained ready to negotiate and move forward in the best interest of both communities.”
Perry residents believe Canton wants “to punish us”
The ongoing stalemate has township residents feeling confused and angry.
It’s kept some people from looking for a new home. Perry resident Morgan Byers and her husband were considering moving closer to family members – but feared no one would buy their house since they wouldn’t have water, Byers said.
“I was like very upset, because we can’t sell our house now,” Byers said. “It’s like they’re trying to punish us when we did nothing wrong.”
The only other option is to drill a well, which Byers notes is expensive.
Renee Charleston, who’s helping her mom move into assisted living, was quoted more than $13,000 for a well, she said. Even splitting the cost with the buyer would be pricey, she added.
“Okay, so now my mom has to come up with $7,500, because the City of Canton decided they were going to hold the water hostage? That’s ridiculous,” Charleston said.
When asked to respond to residents’ concerns about the expense of drilling a well, Turner wrote the city is “hopeful to come to an equitable resolution before Perry residents decide to go that route,” and referred residents to the trustees.
Perry plans to sue the city for denying water service, Miller said. The trustees recently set aside $10,000 to hire an attorney to handle the case.
“We’re fighting for the survival of Perry,” Trustee Ralph DeChiara Jr. said at a recent board of trustees meeting. “We have to hire and pay whatever it takes, or there will not be a Perry.”
Even residents who weren’t planning to move anytime soon are concerned about what this dispute means for Perry’s future.
Penny Vick, who lives in the West Manor neighborhood near the Canton border and receives city water, was shocked when she opened Sherer’s letter.
“How can he deny water – a basic human need – how can he just all of a sudden deny water to the residents who have always had it?” Vick said.
Her husband, Eric, didn’t mince words.
“It’s extortion,” Vick said. “It's basically extortion, what he's doing to the residents.”
The Vicks are also concerned about Canton’s annexation strategies.
Canton City Council recently approved an ordinance requiring property owners in townships along Canton’s borders to agree to annex into the city to start or transfer city water service.
“For too long, the city has carried a disproportionate share of regional responsibility without corresponding contribution,” council wrote in a letter unanimously signed by all members.
Eric Vick noted township water customers pay an additional charge on their water bill for living outside the city.
“We’re not getting anything for free,” Vick said.
Perry may move to separate the township from Canton water service altogether. Trustees are exploring a contract with a private water company, Aqua Ohio, Miller added.
Aqua currently serves the city of Massillon, including some Perry residents who live on the western side of the township.
