April 2022
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 4-12-2022
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Jeffery Cohen, Assistant Fire Chief, Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also, in attendance were, township residents: Todd Thompson, Kelly Temple, Bernadine Swingle, Brandon Stackhouse, Dana Swingle, Mike Shilling, Richard Warren, Kent Cornett.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Elson at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Randy Elson.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: approved.
Public Participation: Melissa Bell, candidate for Muskingum County Commissioner, gave the board and the audience a quick run-down of her resume and qualifications as candidate for Commissioner.
Kelly Temple owner of Temple Auto Sales and Maysville Muffler comes to the board regarding the vehicles stored at his property on Limestone Valley Road. He is just asking what it will take to make him legal with the new Township guidelines for junk vehicles. Mr. Dozer stated that building a fence would help a lot by hiding the number of vehicles he has parked on his property. Mr. Dozer has drafted letters that will be used to enforce and escalate the junk vehicle policy set in place by the Township. There will be two letters sent to any homeowner with junk vehicles. Mr. Dozer stated that there has to be a procedure followed.
Dana Swingle asked if there was anything that could be done in Avondale, with the resident’s property with all the junk in his yard. There are vehicles, washing machines, stoves, refrigerators, etc. Mr. Dozer stated that there is just nothing that could be done. Chief Knox also said that they have checked fire codes and the fire department cannot enforce anything either.
Richard Warren is a new resident in Broadvue – Lakewood Dr. He is asking about property line pins and if they actually exist. Chief Knox lives in the area and stated that when he bought his property they only found 1 pin.
Fire Department Business: Doug Goins has resigned due to not having enough time to dedicate to the position. Shane Stephenson has been hired to take his place. Craig asked if there was a set number of positions allowed for the Fire Department. They concluded that 44 plus the chief was good. Exhaust system is well on its way to being completed. The new medic will be delivered the end of this month or the beginning of next month. The FEMA grant has been delayed this year due to a computer glitch at FEMA. All Lexipol’s policies have been completed and they are moving on to procedures next. Madison Twp Trustees has asked that the fire chiefs of the three departments they contract with to meet on May 9th to review the current contract and the service rates.
ISO review went well and the dept should get their rating in the next six weeks. Medicare has increased their rates again, by 5%, and they require a resolution be signed by the board in order to raise the rates for the medic runs. This would take BLS to $598.50, ALS to $764.40, ALS-II to $929.25 and $22.05 per mile. Dozer asked what those abbreviations all stood for and Craig said the BLS is for basic life support, which is like a sprained ankle. ALS is advanced life support which would be chest pain, an allergic reaction. It is more serious but not life threatening. ALS-II is life threatening.
Craig asked Larken if he had a chance to look at the exterior of the building. He said he did and went on to explain what all would need done to fix the west side of the building. He said he got a quote from Paul Contracting and it totals $24,700. Discussion continued on metal colors and all that will go into the repair work. Dozer made a motion to accept the bid for $24,700, Elson second. Motion carried.
Assistant Chief: MARCS grant was awarded for $41,449.92. JD Johnson Sales & Service LLC is the vendor that Jeffery found with the most reasonable pricing. This would pay for 20 radios and those are issued to members that live closest and are most responsive to runs. Randy made motion to buy radios and Larken seconded motion - carried.
Road Report: DOT pulled him over in the track hoe. He is working on Crock Road right now. He plans to ditch on Porter Run.
New Business – Larken presented that Kessler Sign Company is donating a 40’ bucket truck to the road crew. The county has a truck with a motor that will fit the bucket truck and are asking $2000 for that truck. They will take the motor and transmission out of that truck and put in the bucket truck. Kessler’s wants a letter stating we have received the truck and what the market value is. Randy asked when they would have time to change out motor and Larken said he has someone else in mind that could do the work. Mr. Dozer asked Jason to make sure that he takes all training that he could possibly take to learn how to run the bucket truck, then he would be ok with it. If not, then he is really not interested in getting a bucket truck, due to the possibility of injury or death. Larken said that their needs to be protocol when the bucket truck should be used. A resident asked if that truck had recently been inspected for safety and Larken said that Kessler had just had that done and it had passed. Larken made a motion to accept the bucket truck from Kessler and buy the 2002 International Dump Truck from the county for $2000, Derek seconded. Motion carried.
Trustees Reports:
Elson— none.
Dozer— none.
Slack— He brought up the building of bins for salt, sand and cinders at the township garage. This would hold about 400 tons of product. The total cost would be about $40,000. This would not have a roof but eventually they hope to add a roof. Dozer asked if it would hold water and Larken said that it would be sloped to drain water. He presented a sketch of what he had in mind. Dozer made a motion to go ahead with the construction of the bins for the garage not to exceed $45,000. Elson seconded. Motion carried.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· 3/2022 – Making a junk car ruling for the Township – if the Trustees choose to sign it.
· Josh Bryan – are we going to pay for the repairs to his vehicle – collision with deer while responding to the fire station for a run. Total is $612.96. Randy made motion Larken Seconded motion carried.
· Medic Financing – Huntington had stated they would not gouge us on pre-payment of the loan, once we get ARPA funds.
· Funds available for chip seal / paving for the summer - $495,000 set aside for this purpose.
· Delille contract – needs discussed and signed. Trustees agreed to just continue leasing the cylinders.
· CDBG Grant – Derek will ask them for the information.
· Received $12,500 from the County Commissioners for repairs and maintenance to township roads.
· Received $13,500 from State Fire Marshal for FF / Training Grant
· Received $41,449.92 for MARCS Grant
Trustee Elson 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, May 10th at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:50 pm.
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