April 2006
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 7:00 PM in the meeting room at the township fire department. Those in attendance were; Lori chambers, Pat Kleinhoffer, Paul Slack, Robert Northcott, all township residents; Jeff Swingle, Larry Geiger, Allen Deaver, Craig Knox, Stephen Baker, and Jake Lutz of the fire department; Derek J. Dozer, Charles R. Elson, and James R. Smith, township trustees; Bernadine E. Swingle, township fiscal officer.
Meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM by Derek J. Dozer, chairperson.
Agenda was approved as presented.
Minutes were approved as presented.
Public Participation:
First order of business; Lori Chambers, 8880 Maysville Pike came before the board to request their purchase / take ownership of the old Roseville Prison as she is interested in buying it for restoration to its’ original position. The property is owned by the Muskingum County Commissioners as of 1979 and they are not interested in restoring it and would rather, according to Chambers to be free of the property totally. She has contacted the state, who is next in line for ownership, and according to Chambers, she spoke with both Govenor Taft and Senator Joy Padgett and they too are not interested in obtaining the property. Chambers states there are grants available for restoration purposes and feels it is a Historical Site. It has been offered to Roseville village and they don’t want it; it was then offered to Fultonham who are willing to take it to allow her (Chambers) ownership, but they are not interested in doing all the legal work. County Commissioner, Brian Hill has been working with her for obtaining same, but due to legalities, the property cannot be just turned over to an individual, it must go up for auction / obtained by another government agency. She felt the township would be allowed ownership if they so desired, and was asking the trustees to assist her in obtaining ownership. The trustees agreed to discuss it and would let her know of any decisions they might have, however it has been tabled at this time.
Next on the agenda was Pat Kleinhoffer, a local resident of White Cottage who requested consideration by the trustees of building a public park on the “Commons” area behind the former Newton fire building since it is township property. She asked consideration of playground equipment and a fence around the area to assure safety for children playing there. She exclaimed there were “lots of kids in White Cottage with nothing to do”. Again the trustees agreed to take it under advisement and would inform her of any decisions made. This was tabled for the present time.
Paul Slack, township resident and vice-president of Community Days Committee had the floor with the next order of business. He too was interested in the establishment of a community park and was requesting a contract from the trustees to availability of the “Commons” property to be allowed to apply for grant money to assist in the establishment of a park. He also was requesting a contract with the trustees for their support / assistance in the annual community day’s activities to be able to maintain the White Cottage area as the central location for the activities. He stated he had been a member of this committee for 20 years and there has never been such a contract available. He also requested that the fire department be required to pay commission on proceeds from their food stand during the celebration. Fire department personnel stated they did not even have a food stand the last year and were uncertain as to having one in the coming year. Trustees agreed to discuss all of the above at a later date.
Stephen Baker was present to ask the trustees to take some action in the removal of junk cars and trash from his neighbors’ property. He feels it is depreciating the valuation of his property. Trustees agreed to check it out.
Bob Northcott of 3465 Moxahala Park Road was requesting help in maintenance of his road frontage. He was advised that this was a county road and he needed to contact the Muskingum County Engineers’ office.
Old Fire Station; Cubby Jarrett was not available at this time in the meeting to sign necessary documents to continue with closure of a land contract agreement for purchase of the building.
Fire Department Business:
Craig Knox reporting for E M S department; Necessary paper work has been finalized for the purchase of the new medic. Expected delivery date is late June to mid July, 2006. Once the vehicle starts production, the company will allow tours of same.
Knox reported the no response for EMS runs is down 50% from one year ago. There were no missed runs in March, however April is not doing that well.
The new heart monitors for the medics have arrived and Medtronic will be on site May 1st for demonstration and instruction for usage.
Allen Deaver reporting for the fire department; The recliners ordered from Coconis Furniture are at the store and are due to be delivered April 26.
The projector for the sound system is in and the screen is on order.
Installation of the ceilings in the hall and dayroom downstairs has been completed. Cost came in slightly higher than bid cost due to increase in pricing of materials used.
Barry Gerrard (arborist) is working with the department to develop needed landscaping around the building.
Air Conditioning for the gym / cafeteria area is being scoped out. Estimates secured are as follows; Henning & Sons, installing roof air @ $14,200.00. Saup – Hartley, installing on the ground units @ $12,123.00. King Heating, installing 3 units at 5Ton each, $12,000.00. Mr. Smith suggested that single phase, 13 series would supply best service. Deaver asked Smith if he could possibly talk with the installers as he would be more familiar with the procedure.
Request was made by Deaver to purchase two (2) radios for the new medic at the cost of $2690.00. This was approved by all three trustees.
Since this is the 50th year of Newton Township Fire Department existence, there are plans being made to recognize this goal. Possibly a dinner (off site), followed by a dance and maybe some fireworks to finalize the celebration. Information is being sought to possibly have a “coin dies” made to supply coins to past and existing firefighters; others would be made available for purchase by the public. Cost would consist of ; $750.00 for a Maltese cross on one side and $500.00 for the top of the coin. The die would belong to the township fire department for future use. Cost of the coins would depend on the material used to make the coin. Overlayed with gold would cost $36.00 each, all bronze coins would be $4.00 each etc... Deaver is requesting approval to get the “dies” in progress and the remainder to be determined at a later date. Trustees agreed to take this into consideration during the business meeting.
8:05 PM meeting went into executive session to discuss fire department personnel situations.
8:15 PM out of executive session.
One _______ was involved in an “accident” which killed a dog on March 26 while responding to a fire alarm. She has been restricted from making fire runs for 30 days, however since she is currently taking EMS classes; she may go on EMT responses if she is on station at the time of the alarm.
Trustees asked Deaver to supply them with a “Quarterly” report on Bingo proceedings and to have it broken down as to where the proceeds are being spent as was requested in the beginning.
Deaver also reported the boiler still is not working properly. Several inspections by various companies have been done and it has been determined that the boiler was incorrectly installed initially. A letter addressing this matter has been sent to the Bi-Con contractor, but no response from them at this date. It has been suggested a new pump should be installed at the cost of $1800.00.
Trustees Reports:
Smith reporting; The tree in Ironspot has been trimmed, but has not been taken down as was scheduled to be.
Third Street in Avondale has a culvert that needs to be opened up. Estimates acquired are approximately $1300.00 for pipe and $750.00 for a catch basin to be installed, plus man hours as needed. This could possibly be done the early part of June. Smith feels the catch basin may not remedy the problem. Smith presented an anonymous letter that was left in his door from an Avondale resident that is unhappy with some of the trash around homes in the neighborhood. Trustees agreed that no action can take place until a signed complaint is received.
The township “1994” ford dump truck bed needs sandblasted and painted. Trustees agreed Jarretts’ body shop would be the best place to try to schedule it in.
Elson reporting; The guard rail on Stine Road close to the residence of Linda Dick still has not been replaced / remedied. The culvert was put under the road by the county a couple of years ago, but failed to put up any barriers to prevent vehicles from going over the edge. It is estimated material to do this would cost approximately $300.00.
Dozer reporting; There needs to be some extensive repairs done to Porter Run Road Nothing else to report.
New Business:
Discussion in regards to the air conditioning estimates presented by the fire department was held. It was determined they could proceed with this project providing the cost is kept under $12,500.00.
The 50th celebration festivities were discussed by the board. All trustees agreed the township would cover the cost of having the “dies” made and the association could take it from there to do what they felt they could afford.
One full time road employee is retiring the end of May, 2006 and the trustees felt they
needed to honor him in some way. It was determined the township would purchase a watch for him at the cost of $200.00 - $250.00 and the fiscal officer was asked to do the purchase.
Fiscal officer report:
The Madison Township, Perry county annual lease for fire and EMS assistance was presented for approval. All three trustees approved and signed the lease.
Fire chief Deaver has investigated the situation on Madison Street in Avondale and has provided a letter to the township and the county building inspector as to the deplorable condition of the buildings there.
Dozer was asked for a copy of the culvert permit discussed at the previous meeting. He will provide the same to the fiscal officer in a few days.
Copies of a letter received from Chief Deaver regarding the _____ / dog incident was presented to all trustees to alert them of the situation.
___________ was requested and responded to CDL alcohol and drug testing on 03-17-2006.
A copy of an article titled “what is TABOR” was presented to all trustees for review. This is an upcoming problem for all townships and local government this fall when election time comes.
A copy of the minutes from 1999 which described the results of a confrontation with one Bill Terry / township resident in regards to a small area of Shaw Road was given to all trustees for future reference.
Trustees were questioned as to whether they each have a copy of the Township Sourcebook in their possession. They all claimed to have one, so there was not a need to order any at this time.
Notice from the “Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Release Compensation Board” known as BJAMM has been received that a final payment of $4550.00 has been paid. This should be all that will ever be required of this situation.
Notice has been received from OBWC that premiums have been paid to Gary Sterling through the end of June, 2006.
Election Day is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2006. Two precincts will once again be scheduled into the existing fire house.
Englefield Oil will be increasing their oil / fuel prices effective 05-01-2006.
Copies of the 2005 schedule for Chip / Seal were presented to all trustees for reference to determine what roads would be treated in 2006.
Copies of letter / steering committee members received from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District were presented to all three trustees
UNIZAN bank has been purchased and is now considered the Huntington National Bank. It appears our service / transaction charges will be greatly increased due to this change over. Trustees encouraged the fiscal officer to check into other banks in the area for possibly a better arrangement.
Copies of charges for the current season of chip and seal received from the Muskingum County Engineers office were distributed to all trustees. This must be received at the county office by 05-01-2006 if the township wants to be a part of the county program.
Notice has been received from the County Commissioners that they will be viewing the alley in Hamilton / Moores’ subdivision to consider closing same on 04-27-2006 at 2:00 pm.
Cubby Jarrett was on site to finalize all necessary paper work to purchase the old fire department building at 5555 Limestone Valley Road on land contract. Payments for same will begin in May of 2006.
All bills were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.
The next regular meeting will be held on Thursday, May 11,2006 at 7:00 pm at the fire department.
Meeting adjourned at 10:30 pm.
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