October 2020
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 10-13-2020
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. Those in attendance were Jason Taylor, Road Maintenance Employee for the Township; Craig Knox, Fire Chief; James R. Smith, Robert Stephenson and Derek Dozer; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also in attendance was township resident Bernadine Swingle.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Smith at 6:05 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Trustee Stephenson.
Agenda approved.
Minutes approved.
Public Participation: none.
Fire Department Business:
Chief Knox—Jeff and Jake have been promoted to the Assistant Chief positions. The FD has approved a new patch to be attached to their uniforms. The fire department medical director, Dr. Zeeb, has been uneasy how the direction has been done over the past couple of years. He wants to make the relationship more official. Regional council of governments—is what we have been running under. His medical group oversees these entities. A two-year contract, for this service, would be $5000.00. Instead of paying Dr. Zeeb directly we would pay the medical group. We can use their instructors for our training academy. There is a $150 start-up fee on top of the $5K. We have been using Truro Township’s login, so our own login would be an annual fee of $150 to $200 per year.
Trustee Stephenson made a motion to sign the contract and Trustee Dozer seconded the motion. The motion carried with an aye vote from all members.
Hose section failures—they have chosen the sections that they will replace and the total is $8280.86.
Greenhouse Road training fire—Jason and Larry have offered to help with the backhoe if the house goes crazy toward the end of the burn. Roseville, South Zanesville and Newton will all be there.
Medic 1082 went in for warranty work. It was losing oil and has gone to Crawmers for repair and ended up at Dutros since the repair work was under warranty.
Breathing Air systems will be in on 15th for SCBA system. Finley will be in to test pumps on trucks. Board of Elections will be having elections here on November 3rd.
The department is looking at a face mask / respirator grant that is a 95” covered grant with a 5% match from department / township. Craig is looking into what the 5% match would cost.
CARES Act money— $1450 per drinking fountain for the FD and the one at the township garage. There will be 6 total fountains. The department has also purchased 20 automatic hand sanitizer dispenser, wall mounts, and 4 self-standing mounts, 6 cases of hand sanitizer gel, 13 auto flush clamp valves that are retrofit for our toilets and 9 restroom sink retrofits for existing sinks. Discussion followed on how the township / fire department might spend the additional $187K in CARES Act money that the township has been given.
Trustee Smith made a motion to spend $10,000 with Robinson Plumbing and $2600 with Katom for hand sanitizers. Dozer seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Assistant Chief—n/a
Road Report – Jason Taylor -- Started cleaning up trash on Yost Road. Still need to clean the ditch at Avalon and a culvert in Jenkins Addition. They have hauled close to 12,000 pounds of uniforms off Payne Road. He is taking the new dump truck to Jim Smith’s to get the spreader fitted. Mahon Road is complete.
Old Business – Shelly Company has charged a little extra than what they quoted. They used extra on Freedom Lane and a small section of Old Glory, so the bill is a little higher. Trustee Stephenson feels that they did a great job and we need to go ahead and pay the extra. Trustee Smith feels we should only pay $271,964.09 and the trustees will ask that a representative from Shelly come to the next meeting to explain the overage. It shows on the estimate that Freedom and Old Glory were all on the original quote.
New Business – Discussed Washington Street right-of-way on the Jerry Stump property. Trustee Stephenson made a motion to pass a resolution to vacate the alley in question and Trustee Dozer seconded the motion.
Trustees Reports:
Stephenson—none.
Smith—none.
Dozer—none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings.
Trustee Dozer made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Stephenson seconded the motion.
All bills presented were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.
Next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 6:00 pm at the Fire Department.
Meeting adjourned at 7:09 pm.
Newton Township has made every effort to ensure all the information listed on this website is accurate and up to date. This information can and may change without notice. Meeting overviews are meant to serve as short informational updates on township business. We can not be responsible for any inaccurate or omitted information.