April 2021
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 4-13-2021
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Those in attendance were Jason Taylor, Road Maintenance Employee for the Township; Craig Knox, Fire Chief; James R. Smith, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also in attendance were township residents: Bernadine Swingle, Brandon Stackhouse, and Jason Lawson.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Dozer at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Derek Dozer.
Agenda approved. Swearing in of Charles Randy Elson.
Minutes approved – misspelling of Cargill in last month’s minutes.
Public Participation: Mr. Stackhouse - Carson Road – check recording. Jason states that most of that is in the Village of Fultonham. Dozer suggested that they check it out and try to get it repaired. He asked how we would be spending the $20K from the Commissioners - Thompson Run and Foxfire are what Dozer would put at the top of his list of roads that get paved this year.
Mr. Lawson – Roberts Addition – next to Lutz’s. He is fighting water in his basement. He had a plumber come out and run a camera through his drain and out to the road. It is plugged in the middle of the road. Bob Stephenson was out and looked at it and had told the gentleman that this was a township problem. The plumber also agreed. He has had two trees removed because the roots are the cause of the clog. He has fixed the problem on his side but is letting the township know that it could impact the Lutz’s once we get a good rain. Jason Taylor stated that the drainage tile is on the opposite side of the road. The resident isn’t asking for anything to be fixed right now. He is just making the board aware that his fix could become a problem. The trustees all agreed that they would look into getting this issue fixed.
Fire Department Business:
Chief Knox— Brandon Smith and have 4 others in process. He is waiting for a few of the others to pass their FF 1 class before officially hiring them. Medic 1082 is back and 1081 was broke down most of the time 1082 was out of service. National Trail loaned the department a truck to use while we were without.
The FEMA grant from last year – they are in phase two of the process. Phase I usually knocks out 50% of the applications so it is good that they have made it to Phase II.
The department is applying for some additional grants for 2 truck loads of brand new hose and nozzles. They are beginning the process for the Aladdin Shrine grant which will be used for a new thermal imaging camera. They are also applying for the Firehouse Subs grant for new turn-out gear. The recliners were ordered and the Association is paying for half of that bill but they will plan on the Association paying the Township for their half and the Township will just pay the full bill from the recliner company. Craig asked for permission to use the $20K from the county to pay for the gear for the new employees. Jim made a motion to allow that and Derek 2nd the motion. Motion carried.
Restrooms should be functioning by the weekend, with cold water. The plumber was supposed to come in today but they did not.
The OTARMA visit went well and they did not have any recommendations.
The gym painting project is on hold. The painters never submitted estimates, so they are putting it on hold.
Mr. Dozer stated that everyone has to have a liability policy when they are having events at the fire station. Craig also mentioned a hold-harmless agreement that they can sign saying they will take responsibility for the events that take place. Mr. Dozer would feel better if they had a liability policy in lieu of that just to cover our bases. Events need to have this liability coverage in place before the event takes place.
The electric bills – the old fire siren is still being billed to the fire department. Craig has been trying to track that down because the fire department should not be being charged for the siren. The EMA has been attempting to find the paperwork for when the siren ownership was changed. The tower belongs to the FD, the siren belongs to the EMA. The property belongs to the school district. The EMA has all control of the siren and the siren working. The board all agreed to have the bill transferred to EMA from the fire department.
A-EMT class is finishing up as is the FF-1 transition class. A basic EMT class and a FF-2 class will be starting up in May. The FF-2 class is completely full already.
Concrete estimate for the driveway - $17,604.60 for just the concrete. The mix quoted is not recommended due to the amount of slag in the mix. The next better mix would be a little bit more but contains less slag. Jason has contacted some contractors and they are pricing it out at $61,000 minus the $17,604.60 for mix brings it down to about $43,395.40. Much discussion followed regarding what the better concrete mix would be and what the thickness should be. Jim Smith suggested going with the 4000 psi at 5” thick.
Assistant Chief—none.
Road Report – Jason Taylor— Sherman Dr. culvert in the ditch is full of sewage. It is not gray water, it is black. Culvert on Thorn is in. Randy had asked him about a culvert on Dona Drive. Mr. Dozer brought up another issue – at the end of Lincoln Street in Avondale going east to the stop sign off 93. As you turn, it holds water – Dozer asked Jason to see if any of our culverts are plugged and not allowing water to flow. Jim asked if they had any speed limit signs that could be posted because there are some people driving too fast on Bush Run Road. Craig suggested that Jason call the Engineer’s office to make sure that road isn’t journaled at a different speed than what Jason is putting a sign up for.
Old Business – none.
New Business – Gary Browning – Jim told him they were going to survey and then determine what they were going to do with the fence. The surveyor will meet the trustees at 9 am on the 20th to survey Rodayle Drive and get the fence issue taken care of. The fence that Mr Browning feels was busted by a snow plow. – Mr. Browning would like the township to pay for that repair. They decided to find out where the fence belongs first and then decide what/if to fix his fence.
Mr. Dozer had a letter from a concerned resident regarding the property of Dwayne R Bolyard. There are rats running off his property by the old Dairy Queen in Avondale - 3580 Charles Street – he has washing machines, dryers, cars, etc. The pallets cannot be removed but perhaps the cars could possibly be removed. The Fiscal Officer will prepare a letter to be mailed to Mr. Bolyard, via certified mail.
Trustees Reports: Nothing more.
Mr. Knox asked to go into Executive session for fire department personnel issue, at 7:07 pm.
Executive session ended at 7:19 pm.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings.
· 2019 and 2020 records will be heading to the Auditor this week for our bi-annual audit.
· Trustees asked to have an advertisement run for paving for Thompson Run Road and Foxfire Road, to be opened at the next meeting.
· Presented the following resolutions for approval and signatures:
o 03/2021 – Revised resolution Removing street light assessments from the two Maysville Local School District properties that were certified to the auditor in September to state this was for tax year 2020, collected in 2021.
o Resolution stating how much salt we would commit to purchase for the upcoming winter. Trustees agreed to 200 ton.
· CDBG Grant – phone tag with Sheila Samson. Based on her email to the Fiscal Officer there is no CDBG money available this year, but would be next year.
· Let the trustees know about the May 15th deadline to notify the County Engineer’s office if we would like any help with roads this summer – to include chip seal.
Trustee Elson made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Dozer 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, May 11, 2021 at 6:00 pm at the Fire Department.
Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
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