NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 11-9-2021

Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.  Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Jake Lutz and Jeffrey Cohen, Assistant Fire Chiefs; 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, Larken Slack and David Gilder.

Meeting was called to order by Trustee Dozer at 6:00 pm.

Pledge to the flag was led by Derek Dozer.

Agenda:  approved.  

Minutes:  approved.

Public Participation: none.

Fire Department Business:   Hose testing is complete for the year.  The remaining 2001 / 2007 hose, failed which is no surprise.  They have applied for a grant for hose to be replaced.  Run total for October was 83, which is an unofficial total as a few reports need finished.  It is time to renew the agreement with the MEC (medical control group) which is $2500.  The Life pack 15 cannot be repaired per Stryker, which they anticipated, as it is one of the first generation of those monitors.  If Stryker keeps the one that failed, they will give the department 50% off a replacement.  The price of the replacement is $18,971.42.  Craig has found a grant, for up to $10,000, that he is going to apply for to be used toward that purchase.  They would like a decision on whether they can keep the old one as a trade in.  Derek made motion to trade in old monitor and get a new one.  Randy seconded.  Motion carried.

FEMA grant has been accepted, for the exhaust removal system.  They would like to go with MagneGrip at a price of $79,369.00.  Departmet cost is $3,968.45.  They will make the purchase through Savid Cooperative Purchasing.  Derek made motion to do that, Randy seconded.  Motion carried.

New roof has sprung a leak.  Monarch has been contacted and they will be out next week to repair it.  Mrs. Swingle asked if it was normal for water to lay on the flat roof and Craig assured her that since it is a flat roof it is unavoidable.

Craig has been in contact with Shelly Company regarding the asphalt to finish the concrete apron to see if they would consider doing any in-kind work for the fire department.  They are not going to do any in-kind work and want to charge $6800 to do the approaches.  Shelly said it would be 39 ton and they want to put in a 4” base of 301 asphalt and then 1-1/2” of type 1 surface on both sides.  That price excludes traffic control, excavation, etc.  The plant is closing on the 15th of November.  He called Neff Paving but they did not return a call.  He also attempted to contact Williams and Birkhimer, with no luck.  He asked if general fund could pay half and FD would pay the other half.  Dozer asked if this was something that could wait until Spring.  Craig said the one side is filled with stone and dirt.  They are concerned that the snow plow might break up the concrete if the approach isn’t paved before winter.  Jason and Larry will need to dig out the fill dirt before Shelly comes to pave.  Derek made motion that general fund pays half and fire fund pay the half.  Randy second ---motion carried.

Awards and appreciation dinner is scheduled for January 15 at Eaglesticks.  Social hour is at 5 and dinner is at 6.  They will be combining 2 years since last year was canceled due to COVID.

There is a Chief’s meeting this week to work on 2022 budget.

ARPA Funds:  Turn-out gear quote came in at $120,692.00.  Lexipol software total for the Township and Fire Department combined for 3 years is $28,188.50.  The power cot system and stair chair for both Medic trucks is $98,367.00.  The 5.11 barrier coats for 14 employees is $3,369.66. 

Craig asked for 5 minutes for executive session for a personnel matter.  Will do that at the end.

Dozer asked if there had been any type of survey for the department members to fill out on their feeling on how Craig is doing and how morale is going?  He asked Jake and Jeffrey if that is something that needs done and they both agreed that it would not hurt to have a survey.  Craig said that they have monthly meetings and the same people come every month and he tries to talk to guys when he is in the building.  Derek stated that there were issues that have been brought to his attention that there are things not going well – he just wants to make sure everyone is good before it festers and becomes a huge issue.  He offered to help get a survey so they can get a feel for how morale is.  Craig said that they did a survey a couple of years ago.  Derek just wants the questions asked and would like Craig, Jeffrey and Jake to get something together.  

Assistant Chief – none.

Road Report – Berming Foxfire.  Lines got painted on Thompson Run Road and he thinks people are slowing down.  Put new breaks on the truck.  Jason would like a berm box and said they would probably need a used one because they are around $7000 new.  The one they have is fabricated and does not work very well.  He wondered if the county could help them berm.  Derek asked if maybe Springfield would be willing to loan their berm box and if not he will contact the county since we still have money from them that hasn’t been used.  Snow plow is at Jim Smith’s getting fixed.  Derek told Jason to get Larken’s phone number so they could give him a run through on how to push snow.  

Derek called the Sheriff’s office on a resident that threatened to shoot the road crew when they were removing fence.  The situation did not escalate before the deputy arrived.

Jason would also like to have some sand brought in.

Bush Run – has cold patch ready to put down.  Porter Run – holes have been filled.  Graded Holbert Road.  

Old Business – Maysville Water issue on Greenhouse – they have it dug up again.  Jason was not called or notified.  They also have cut across the road in Broadvue without notifying Jason.  Derek is contacting them directly.

New Business – Jim wanted to make a motion to hire a lawn care company to get the cemeteries cleaned up.  The board discussed bidding that out for next year.  They discussed contacting Mercer Lawn Care and Hartman Lawn Care for some quotes.  Derek will contact Mercer.  He will also contact Travis Lyon and ask him to return all the equipment to the township.

The board went into executive session at 6:38 pm and the executive session ended at 6:46 pm.

Trustees Reports:     

Smith— none.

Dozer— none.

Elson— none.

Fiscal Officer Report:

• Distributed Grassroots Clippings 

• Distributed insurance cards for fire department and road maintenance vehicles.

• Resolution 10/2021 – Jerry Stump right-of-way decision from July meeting.

• Resolution 11/2021 – ARP Fund – additional appropriations.

• Distributed copy of BWC certificate for upcoming year to Jason and Craig.

• OTARMA police and fire grant received.

• Winter Conference Jan 26-28, 2021.  

Trustee Smith made a motion to pay bills.  Trustee Dozer seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

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

Next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 6:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m.