August 2022
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 8-9-2022
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Jake Lutz, Asst. Fire Chief, Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also, in attendance were, township residents: Kent Cornett, Brandon Stackhouse, Renee Stackhouse, Martin Smith and Mitch Smith
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: Martin and Mitch Smith - Fletcher Road project – funding from the township for the stone if the Smiths move the dirt. The plans call for 4” of #4 limestone and 4” of #304 limestone. Dozer stated that giving up the property is not a gain for the township in the grand scheme of things. The landowners think it is around $6000 for the material.
Dozer made a motion to appropriate $10,000 from the $22,000 of county money that
they will be giving us, to be used for stone on this project. Elson seconded
the motion. Motion carried.
***This is not allowed to be used for the stone, so the trustees will have to
pull that from another fund.***
Brandon Stackhouse’s driveway is washing again. Jason said he could try to divert it.
Fire Department Business: There were 131 dispatched calls in July. 105 of those were in Muskingum County and 26 were in Perry County. For an average of 3.7 calls per day which is up from last year. Policies are complete except the ones that may have to be mimicked by Township policies. Training division has completed a 36-hour fire class. State charters have been renewed for fire and EMS. They are starting a basic EMT class, a FF 1 Transition Course, and a FF 1 Course.
Damage to the ladder truck has been linked to the Masonic Temple fire. It operated for 16 hours at that fire. The Pierce engineers have determined that the prolonged exposure to the extreme temperatures that night caused ice build-up under the pad causing it to freeze and crack. Which forced it out of its placement causing the damage to the lower mid-section. The section has to be completely replaced for a total of $99,872.41. Our insurance will cover $25,000.00 of that cost. Craig spoke to the Rural Development office and they could apply for a low interest loan to repair the truck and the air conditioner repairs. The lead time to repair the ladder is 4 months. He does not think that it is worth applying for that loan. Understanding that the bill will not be due until next year. His thought was we could always rely on ARPA money if needed, making the medic payment for 2023 out of regular funds. Dozer would like to see us make the first payment on the medic out of regular funds and then the following year pay off the loan with ARPA funds. Craig also pointed out that after January 1, we will have the money to cover the ladder repair and it can be appropriated right off the bat at the beginning of the year.
Dozer also asked if the person that started the Masonic Temple fire was being charged with a crime. Knox stated that if we wanted to pursue restitution from that individual, we would have filed prior to the them being charged. It was a misdemeanor charge.
Randy made a motion to pay for the repair on the ladder. Dozer seconded. Motion carried.
Fiscal officer will check with OTARMA on the Addendum for “freezing of equipment” before we pay our annual contribution – should coverage be raised on this section or is it just a waste of time. Discussion followed about whether our claim could have been covered under some other section of our policy.
FEMA is slowly releasing awards. They did receive $4,747.01 from Health and Human Services for uninsured COVID patients, which was part of the CARES Act.
The lower double doors in the cafeteria need finished. Larken will speak with Paul Construction about that.
A/C for the gym – check recording. Stewart’s is stating they will not service the equipment if someone else installs it. Craig thinks we need to look elsewhere at a/c repair. Kessler will service what they put in and all the mini splits that already exist. They will not service the boilers. $99 per unit for diagnostic fee is what they would charge to service our a/c units. Kessler $20,350 is their updated quote for the units. Larken wants to have a heads up before they start. He doesn’t want them to cut any more holes in the tin.
Community Days is Sept 23-25, 2022. The chicken BBQ is on the 25th.
No offers were received for the purchase of the medic. Craig thinks we have to advertise that again. FO will take care of running that ad again in the Times Recorder and on the OTA website.
Craig thought we should have an open-enrollment for health insurance for the firefighters, to remain compliant with Obama Care. It would be a zero percent match. The part-time employees would have to pay their full coverage. He thinks with the hours that some of the employees are working, they would be eligible for employer-based heath insurance. We just need a form where they can check yes or no that they want coverage. November is the open enrollment deadline.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: Email from Tom Barry – salesman at FYDA. He is saying there could be supply and demand issues and to act soon. There are issues getting vehicle chassis. The last truck was under $100,000.00. Grader was down and is now back together. Workman is complete with all the grindings. He has some potholes to fill still. Slack and Opera are next and then Ridgley. He is working on gathering supplies for winter.
Water department cut a little on Shaw. They did at least call to let Jason know.
Jason has talked to Sam Lantz about possibly filling potholes on a part time basis. He is off two days a week and the trustees could give him direction on where to work. Derek asked if he would be a good worker. Craig said he is a great worker.
Larken made a motion to hire Sam on a 30-day trial as a seasonal employee. Will review at September meeting to continue employment. Pay rate would be $15 per hour and starting at his earliest convenience. Dozer seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Old Business:
New Business:
Trustees Reports:
Elson—Chip and seal will be in September now. The second week more than likely. Paving should be happening the end of this month.
Dozer— none.
Slack—none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· Review OTARMA insurance policy for the upcoming year so the annual payment can be submitted prior to due date of 9-1-2022. Trustees agree to up the liability to $5,000,000.00.
· OneOhio Bulletin 2022-003 from AOS, Keith Faber distributed for discussion on the need for a resolution declaring how the OneOhio Opioid money will be spent, prior to that money being received by the township. Some discussion followed regarding the possibility of doing education at our schools with hand outs telling kids the dangers of opioid use. This is tabled until the September meeting.
Trustee Slack made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Elson 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 Thursday, September 8th at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:52 pm.
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