August 2021
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 8-10-2021
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, August 10, 2021. Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Jeffery Cohen, Assistant Fire Chief; James R. Smith, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also in attendance were: Dora Maxwell, Brandon Stackhouse, Colleen Rice and a resident from Foxfire Road that did not sign in.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Dozer at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Derek Dozer.
Agenda approved.
Minutes: Change the first paragraph on the second page to state that Mr. Dozer motioned that it was fine for us to pay for the repair to the tool.
Public Participation: Dora Maxwell was here on behalf of the White Cottage Community Days and asked about camping during Community Days. Asking if they can send ducks down the hill on plastic instead of in the creek. Part of the hill belong to the fire department and part belongs to Maysville Schools. They would need to obtain permission from the school. Mr. Elson said to talk to Greg at the bus garage to get permission to use their grassy area. The parade, from now on, will be referred to as the Bob Stephenson Memorial Parade and it will take place on Saturday evening, September 25th at 6:30 PM. She also asked if they could obtain an alcohol permit for the Hillbilly Casino night in February. The trustees said that was find as long as we get the paperwork signed. The Auxiliary is wondering about putting up a shelter house in the old ball field but Chief Knox stated that the Fire Department would like to use that area for training. Mr. Dozer also brought up the liability with a shelter house. The board tabled the shelter house discussion.
A Foxfire Road resident is asking what the status is on paving Foxfire. Mr. Elson stated it was supposed to start tomorrow but Jason said they might actually be starting on Thompson instead. Mr. Knox stated that the Sheriff’s office got word today that Thompson Run is going to be closed tomorrow for paving.
Jeffrey Cohen is here as a member of the public and is asking about Shaw road and fixing some of the large potholes. The trustees stated that Shaw is on the “radar” for paving in the future but for now they can patch it with cold mix.
Fire Department Business: Mason Deaver has been promoted to fill the vacant Lt. position. The Level II had a live burn on Sunday. Some of those students have tested and 22 of the 26 have passed. Craig has ordered the flashlights for the trucks using the OTARMA Police and Fire Grant.
It is time to renew their agreement with OHD, for the fit tester for face pieces. The 3-year plan costs $3234.00. Craig asked if it was ok to renew for 3 years. The trustees agreed that was ok.
A local homeschool group is asking, if they supply all materials, could they have girls volleyball in the gym. Mr. Dozer stated that they would need liability insurance on the staff and students while they are here.
Pat Kelly called about the concrete bids. Mr. Dozer made a motion to go into contract with G and M since they were the low bidder. Mr. Elson seconded the motion and the motion was carried. FO will contact Mr. Kelly to see if there is any type of contract that needs signed and sent to G and M.
Craig brought up the meeting with the budget commission, next Tuesday, regarding the levy roll-up. Mr. Dozer thinks we are better off just financing a new medic than to ask for the levy to be rolled back up. Craig discussed that they still have debt payments on fire trucks and the building for 5 more years totally around $125,000.00. More discussion followed and the overall determination was to look into just financing a new medic.
Craig stated that there would need to be a change in how they do the over time for the firefighters. Anything over 53 hours in one week would have to be time and a half. This comes from the FLSA and Craig took a class at FDIC last week about the topic. Craig stated that moral is down a bit and there are a few guys getting maxed out on ours. Derek asked if we were under staffed but Craig states that is not the case. How many hours does a FF need to work in a quarter to maintain their status as FF? Craig said he is working on that right now. He is thinking 120 hours per year would be reasonable. He stated there are probably 13 staff right now that are working below what is needed of them.
ARP Funding – Craig found out that heart monitors and even squad could be an addition to the department and not a “replacement”. They could possibly use the oldest squad as a reserve and add to the fleet.
Assistant Chief—none.
Road Report – Jason brought up the paving on Foxfire and the difference in mileage from the bid and the actual mileage from Stine and then from 22 to Limestone Valley. Jason is being told that is not included. Mr. Dozer called Mr. Foshee, during the meeting, and had to leave him a voicemail, asking him to please clarify that with his superintendent when the paving gets started. Mr. Foshee called back just a few minutes later. He stated that would not be included and Mr. Dozer asked if we could get a price (deeply discounted) to finish the road and we can look at it, even if it is next year. Mr. Foshee stated that if we could get him a tonnage or mileage, it would be much less expensive to get it done this year with the current project. Jason is going to run and get measurements on Foxfire so a call can be made back to Adam this evening. Mr. Foshee called back and already had the measurements he needed and state that $36,060.00 additional is what it would cost to add it on now. Discussion followed about the money available for expenditure and the board decided to pass on this for this year. Adam called back and he spoke with their VP and Shelly have agreed to bill that to us in January so we can go ahead and get it done. Mr. Dozer made a motion to allow Shelly to pave the remainder and we will pay that on Feb 1. Mr. Elson seconded the motion and the motion was carried.
Rucker is almost done but the rain today halted progress. The old dump truck is in pretty bad shape and is thinking it might need replaced. He is going to continue ditching and patching holes.
Old Business – Derek spoke with Beth at Maysville Water and she stated that she didn’t get a hold of Jason, when they cut on Sunset and Dona Drive because he was on vacation. She has the other trustees phone numbers.
New Business – Cybersecurity – 2004 was the last edition of any type of policy for fire department cybersecurity. The FD is working toward upgrading their system to all cloud based stuff – it is not going to be cheap – likely a $15 - $20K project. Email accounts – newtontownship.org emails for all four of us. Craig stated that they will work on all of these and we can submit that back to OTARMA.
Trustees Reports:
Smith—
Dozer—
Elson—
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· The audit is still in process and is supposed to be completed soon.
· Resolution 7/2021 – selling air compressor and tanks to Carthage Township for $1.00
· ODOT Township Stimulus Program – money can be used for sidewalks, roadways or culverts (less than 10’). $250K limit per project. Application process opened on August 1 and will close on October 15, 2021. The money has to be spent by December 31, 2024. OMEGA will be helping townships apply for funding – an email was received from the Engineer’s office last week. Trustees agreed that we are interested so FO will contact OMEGA to let them know we require their assistance.
· Bolyard follow-up – Derek still was not successful in contacting him. Derek will contact Jeff LeCocq at the Sheriff’s office about collecting VIN’s on the vehicles.
· ARP application has been submitted and approved. We should be receiving our first tranche by around August 12th in the amount of $272,457.51.
· What is the next step on the concrete project? Do we need to officially award it to G and M? FO will follow up with Pat Kelly about a contract.
· MVR’s for township employees – where are we on that process? Mr. Zanghi may need to draft a document for us providing language for employees to give consent to run an MVR on them. Craig states this is already on the employment application.
· OTARMA – Cyber security meeting / findings.
· AEP Transmission – who needs to follow up with Heidi about the use of our roads? Derek will be in contact with Heidi and let her know that is ok.
· OTARMA – Anniversary packet has been received with our annual bill of $41,555. We will receive a dividend in the amount of $2427.44 in the coming weeks from OTARMA. Craig and the trustees believe the value of the new medic should be $240,000 instead of the $189,00 shown on the policy. FO will contact Wendy at OTARMA and have that adjusted.
· MORE Grant application has been submitted to OTARMA.
Trustee Smith made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Elson 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, September 14, 2021 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.
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