July 2012

NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES – 7-10-2012

Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 @7:00 pm in the township meeting room at the fire department.  Those in attendance were:  Norm Gill, John Phillips, Tammie Eversole, township residents; Larry Taylor, road superintendant; Craig Knox, Larry Geiger of the Fire Department; James R. Smith, Bob Stephenson and Charles R. Elson, Township Trustees; Derek J. Dozer, Township Fiscal Officer.

Meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm by chairperson James R. Smith.

Pledge to the flag was led by Smith.

Agenda was approved as read:

Public Participation:

                John Phillips was first to speak.  3555 Rebecca Drive (Smith residence) has a hole that is collecting water and mosquitos.  Glass in it as well and small children play in the area.  Would like to see what the Township can do.  Larry Taylor agreed to put large rock in the hole.

                Norm Gill was next to speak.  Mr. Gill asked “what is the status of Lower Kroft Road?  Have been talking for 16 months about fixing it from Bagley Road to the brick house.”  Trustee Elson said “we only talked about doing chip seal in front of the house.”  Understanding Mr. Gill had was chip sealing the entire road.  Mr. Gill stated he “spends hours and hours cleaning his vehicles.”  Trustee Stephenson explained how in front of the houses would be chip sealed but the flat open part of the road where no houses are present would be gravel.  Mr. Gill told Trustee Elson to apologize to his wife for him and stated “I am personally sorry for what I am going to have to do.”  Trustee Stephenson told Gill that he better not be threatening him.  Mr. Gill stated that “this was not the agreement or tables would have been knocked over.”  All three Trustees were visibly upset and angered by the threatening statements.

                Tammie Eversole was next to speak.  Mrs. Eversole said the holes from last year on Lower Kroft had been patched and she hopes they hold.  Through the “s curves” is bad and keeps getting wider and wider.  Dust is unreal.  Mrs. Eversole then asked if there “was a schedule for the brush?” stating that Lower Kroft and Rucker are bad.  Trustee Stephenson said he would look at getting brine applied to the road.

                Mr. Gill asked to speak and said “Everybody appreciates the alley in East Fultonham.”

  Fire Department Business:

                Knox presented run stats.

                Knox presented/read email from Chief Deaver stating how the generator was a good investment and really helped during the storm.  There were problems with getting the fuel filled up as the supplier wasn’t called and for a while the phones weren’t working to reach them and the EMA would not respond to his calls.  A resident helped fuel get moved around to the tanks and Sidwells also helped until the tanker came.  There is now a schedule in place if power is lost.  The generator has a 200 gallon tank.  The County is still up in the air about reimbursement for fuel during the storm.  There was a request put in to the EMA to use a few of their emergency phones during the outage but the request was denied.  Commercial Electronics stepped in and helped the department use some phones until they regained service.  Bernadine Swingle was a big help during the storm by calling local churches to organize resources and letting people know that Newton Gym was opened up as a shelter.

                There were two accidents during the outage involving FD vehicles.  The night of the storm a firefighter side swiped a dumpster while leaving the scene so will work with either insurance or Jarretts.  The next week a driver was on RoseHill Rd. and went off the right side and over corrected and came back on other side causing damage to the squad.  Driver was sited for failure to control.  Knox estimated around 20 K of damage to the vehicle.  Major damage.  With that stated Knox said the work previously requested and approved to the other squad will now be focused on getting the squad involved in the wreck back to where it needs to be as the “whole side needs to be rebuilt.”  Work on 1081 will not occur and money will be used on 1082.  All three trustees agreed this was ok.  Knox stated that the driver was reprimanded.

                Chief Deaver talked to AEP about replacing lights to new bulbs (t8) and for every light switched the will be reimbursed $28.  Knox will give Trustees a call with costs to consider on the project.  All three Trustees were in agreement if cost was affordable.  Trustee Stephenson made a motion and it was seconded by Trustee Smith that if cost was under 7K investment (considering reimbursement) they could move forward with the project.

                Old brush truck needs new tires.  Trustee Stephenson made a motion to get the tired and the motion was seconded by Trustee Smith, all three Trustees approved.

Old Business:

                Elson – None.

Stephenson

Wisecarver issues on Heckel looks like State issue per Chess.

Fence on Avalon – Has 6 weeks to get fence down as it is a public nuisance. 

Dilts Lane – Turnaround.  House up on the hill and the turnaround is supposed to be at the bottom.  Discussion followed.  Stephenson will check with the County.

Called salt company and canceled order for upcoming year due to inventory.

Smith – None.

 New Business:

Elson

3680 Sandra Drive wants ditch cleaned out.  Jason Taylor said that Maysville Water played a big part in the issue they are having.

Stephenson

Provided a list to the County EMA of Newton Roads with storm issues.  The Ohio Department of Transportation is possibly going to be helping with roads called out on certain days but hasn’t heard back.

Creek by Township garage on Crock is a concern as it could become damned up as it has in the past if flooding occurs.

A Mr. Hartman gave Trustee Stephenson a call and gave him a quote of $155 an hour for 2 men and a chipper to help with clean up.

Smith – Nothing to report.

Road Reports

Jason Taylor

Presented estimates on Chippers and long discussion followed about cost benefits of renting and availability of chippers in Zanesville.  Trustees discussed the options and pros and cons for purchasing a chipper.  Trustee Stephenson made a motion that if a chipped could be purchased for $8,000 then they should buy one.  Trustee Elson seconded the motion and all three Trustees agreed.  At that time they asked Jason Taylor to call one of the vendors during the meeting.  Taylor called Vermeer and made an offer of 8K which the salesman accepted.  A short five minute recess followed to allow Dozer to go print out the check and give it to Taylor to pay for the chipper when he picked it up.

Larry Taylor – Nothing to report.

 Fiscal Officer Reports:

                Copies of Bank Reconciliation, payment register, minutes, and monthly Grassroots Clippings was made available to all trustees.

                Alternative Tax Budget information/resolution was reviewed and approved to be submitted.  Stephenson made motion, Smith seconded and all three Trustees approved.           

                Dozer agreed to contact Mr. Waltemire about the Greenhouse Rd. property before the next meeting to discuss and arrange payment of $2,000 for reimbursement to the Township for clean-up on property he is buying.

All bills presented were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.  Motion to pay the bills was made by Trustee Stephenson, Elson seconded and all three agreed.

                Next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 10, 2012 at 7:00 pm in the township meeting room. 

                9:20 pm meeting adjourned.

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