June 2008

NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES  06-05-2008

            Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 7:00 pm in the township meeting room.  Those in attendance were many township residents re; the widening of Thompson Run Road; Larry Geiger, Tim Swingle, Craig Knox, and Jeff Swingle of the fire department; Larry Taylor, township road employee; Derek J. Dozer, Charles R. Elson, and James R. Smith, township trustees and Bernadine E. Swingle, township fiscal officer.

            Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by James R. Smith, chairperson.

            Agenda was approved as presented.

            Minutes were approved as presented.

            First order of business was Public Participation.

            Smith explained that the plan is to widen the narrow areas of Thompson Run Road to accommodate two way traffic in areas that are currently to narrow to allow this to happen.  He also explained that most of the widening would be to the “west” of the road as it runs north to south.

            The following comments came from the floor:

            *Hopefully a sign can be re-installed to indicate a “blind driveway” ahead.  Also, concern that widening of the road may cause excessive speed on the road.

            *In speaking with the State Highway Patrol, the allowed speed on this road is 55 MPH unless marked otherwise.  Why would you take the widening off the west side of the road when there are 16 driveways on the west side vs. 2 driveways on the east side.

            *There seems to be a rumor that the survey states the county is unable to obtain an adequate right of way allowance.  The state came through the area and set a “pin” at the intersection of Foxfire and Thompson Run Road some years ago and this should allow for an accurate survey reading.

            *The comment was made that the surveyor stakes in the middle of the road are not accurate.

            *If you leave the road the way it is currently, traffic still runs too fast.

            *Why is it necessary to widen the road at all?  Trustees comments; for safety reasons, we don’t want someone to get killed and this is inevitable if some improvements are not made.

            *Comment of “I have 3 gas meters that are not more than 10’ from the road and it is not safe with traffic now”.

            *There are several water meters that are currently VERY close to the road.

            *Commending to the trustees for planning to widen the road and I feel it will be much safer.  There have already been several accidents on this area of road!

Dozer – to the attendees; What do you want?  There are some here that are very unhappy with taking more off the east side of the road; they are just being quiet at this time.  We have already crowded the McConnell property with the new bridge recently installed.  We are attempting to try to accommodate everyone to the best of our ability.

            *There needs to be 35 MPH signs posted.  There are fields on the east side and houses on the west side of the road.  You speak of what is most economical, which will be more expensive?

Dozer – to the attendees; signs are an easy fix, this can be done.  If the neighborhood sticks together, you can get some help from local authorities.

            *Ed McConnell states he understands the situation; he is a little gun shy of township trustees and county commissioners due to some experiences in the past.

             Bruce McConnell states the fence row along their property is grown up and needs to be cleaned up which would help widen the road somewhat.  He will personally try to clear out and clean up some of the trees.

             Dan McConnell can’t understand why some survey pins cannot be found.  He has a county map from 19   which states an accurate survey is impossible.

            *What will our yards look like when the widening project is completed?  Smith – we will be taking pictures before we start and will attempt to return it back to normal AMAP.

            *Can the drainage problem across from T & K be corrected?  According to Larry Taylor (township employee) a drain would need to be installed “VERY” deep to get around it.  This was originally done by the county and they no longer stand behind a lot of their work that was completed 15 – 20 years ago.

            *How soon will the work start?  Smith – to the attendees; Possibly sometime in July, 2008, depending on the weather and how the other road work progresses.  We will probably be doing a small section at a time as to not inconvience any more than necessary.

            *This should add value to our properties and will it be safer??  It sure will be.

            *Signs need to be posted for speed / no thru traffic.  Everyone was in agreement, but also agreed this would not likely stop the problems.

            Nutter Road resident was next on the agenda; Maysville Water came through and really made a mess of Nutter Road and did not completely finish it.  There are 4-wheelers and SUV’s running back and forth tearing up the road and I don’t like it.  There was considerable more discussion on this topic.  Trustees assured him that all they could possibly do had already been done.

            Fire Department Report was next on the agenda:

            Geiger reporting: 

            *There have 2 quotes presented for a new phone system to be installed throughout the fire house.  1 quote was; $6991.00, another was; $5888.99.  Dozer moved the quote of $5888.99 be accepted and move from there with the application.  Dozer also noted that 50% of the funding come from the fire fund and 50% come from the EMS fund.  Elson seconded the motion.  Smith agreed on same.

            *Update on starting with part – The plan remains to be starting July 1, 2008 if at all possible and no further meeting needs to be held with the trustees unless some drastic changes need to take place.  $50,000.00 is to be set aside in / from the EMS fund to cover wages to be paid.

            *Pictures and quote from Kessler Sign Co. were presented to replace the existing outdoors sign that has wind damage.  The quote for a new “LIGHTED” sign came in at $25,250.00.  All three trustees viewed the specs and agreed on what has been presented.  Dozer moved to go ahead with the purchase; $5000.00 to come from the General Fund, $5000.00 from the fire fund, $10,000.00 from the EMS fund and $5000.00 should be paid by the insurance company.  Smith seconded the motion, Elson agreed on same.

Dozer noted to the fire department personnel; Deaver is requested to present 2 articles from the department for the newsletter.

            Knox reporting for the EMS department:

            *Last month stat reports were presented for viewing.  There have been 54 more runs made this year than in the same period of 2007.  No responses are on the decline and the new part time paid help should improve this even more.

            *Need to spend $2500.00 on supplies / training by the end of June 2008 to fulfill grant obligations.

One Ken Blaney from Newark, Ohio came into the meeting at 8:30 pm to explain that he works with a volunteer group of local citizens that is attempting to get a railroad (Glassrock Line) opened between Mt. Perry and Fultonham.  He has acquired a lease for storage of the train in Fultonham and is hoping to bring some tourism to the community.  He has the train that has been vacated in the Heath area which consists of an engine, 2 cars, 1 open car and 2 cabooses.  A rail lease has been signed for passenger transport.  He was requesting support from the township (trustees).  A letter of intent will be drafted by him and be presented to the board for approval at a later date.

Larry Taylor road maintenance supervisor was next order of business;       

*Most of the roadside mowing of township roadsides is completed.

*8 Ton of cold mix has been used to patch holes in the roads.

*Dozer commented there is a very large hole on Lewellyn Rd. that needs filled.

*Trees are being trimmed on Slack Road and then ditching will be done.

*Twenty – Twenty has contacted Taylor re; chip / seal and will be starting soon.

*A culvert has been delivered on Workman for bridge replacement there ASAP.

            Trustees Reports:

            Smith reporting;

                        A lady in Avondale on the east end of Main Street is complaining of people cutting through her yard on 4-wheelers and wishes to request from the county commissioners the right to claim / maintain the area as private right of way   A vote was called and all 3 trustees voted NO to allowing this to proceed.

            Elson; nothing to report.

            Dozer; nothing to report.

            Old Business;

                        Dozer has been contacted by Maria at the Muskingum County Prosecutors’ Office re; the complaint against a resident on Hoover Ave., E. Fultonham for trash removal from his property.  This has been ongoing since late in 2007.  Maria was requesting from Dozer some time frame for resident to get the trash removed.  He (Dozer) suggested July 1, 2008 but met with some static from resident.  The Prosecutors’ Office has allowed him until August 1, 2008 and if he does not comply, he will be taken to court by them.

New Business; nothing to report.

Fiscal Officer reporting;

            *Muskingum County JEDD meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 9, 2008 at 3:20 pm in City Hall.  Smith has agreed to represent the township however, Dozer agreed to stand in if this becomes a problem for Smith.

            *Request has been received from Ohio Department of Commerce for application approval of a liquor license for D. Norman.  Approved by all 3 trustees.

            *Estate taxes in the amount of $7723.00 have been received.

            *A letter of intent to the Muskingum County Budget Commission was presented for approval of trustees.

            All bills presented were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.

            The next regular / scheduled meeting will be held on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 7:00 pm in the township meeting room at the fire department.

            Meeting adjourned at 9:28 pm.

NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES  06-17-2008

An EMERGENCY meeting was called by chairperson James R. Smith to update pending chip/seal production of various roads within the township.  2 roads in Southern Hills and 2 in Jenkins were left off the initial list brought up at the April meeting which were approved at the May meeting.  Sealing will be starting in the next few days.  Kunkler contacted Trustee Smith and said it would not be wise to leave these areas unsealed while sealing the rest of the Southern Hills and Jenkins areas.

Meeting was called to order by Mr. Smith at 7:56 pm with the following persons present; Art Kunkler, representing 20 / 20 Enterprises; James R. Smith, Charles R. Elson and Derek J. Dozer, Township Trustees.

Kunkler submitted proposals #5 and #6 to cover and include roads missed under the initial proposals; these being Nolan, Sunset, Sandra, Rebecca.  Elson noted that Slack and Opera needed to be added as well.  Kunkler commented it would not be smart to separate these 2 proposals as they are located in close proximity to each other.  These roads can be added to another separate grouping or proposal.

All three trustees again agreed to complete all submitted projects this year along with Nolan, Sunset, Sandra, Rebecca, Slack and Opera.  Proposals #5 and #6 will be completed this coming Thursday, June 19, 2008 and/or Friday, June 20, 2008.

Kunkler submitted a complete list of all roads under consideration for the 2008 project to the Township.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 pm.

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