February 2022

NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 2-8-2022

Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.  Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also in attendance were, township residents:  Todd Thompson, Jon Stottsberry and Brandon Stackhouse.

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:  Todd Thompson was here to discuss vacating a ROW in about 1865 near the mill on Mill Street.  He has had it surveyed and is just asking to have that vacated since no development has ever taken place.  He just wants to maintain his cattle lot and does not want the ROW to be usable.  FO will take care of getting a resolution together and the township will forward that onto the county to complete the process. 

Fire Department Business:  Craig just wanted to let Jason know that the Broadvue Circle sign is misspelled at the corner of Lakewood and Broadvue.

Lexipol committee is up and running – process is underway for policy and procedures to be updated.

Power load system is in for the new cots coming in. This will be paid for using ARPA funds.   They have gotten pictures of the new medic truck, on the assembly line.  January dispatched runs amount is 117.

FEMA has approved the environmental and historical study for the exhaust system so the truck bay exhaust will be ready to install soon.

Grant from Dept of Commerce – MARCS radios - $41,449.92.

FDIC is coming up the end of April – they have already paid for 3 and he is asking if 6 would be allowed to go.  He went onto explain to Larken what FDIC actually is.  Training is available that they receive continuing ed from and meet vendors, face to face, that they use frequently.  Craig explained some of the training exercises that he has experienced over the years.

Josh hit a deer on his way to the department with his personal vehicle.  Craig is asking if the township would be willing to pay his deductible.  Derek just asked him to get us the information.

Assistant Chief – none.

Road Report – Jason reports – SNOW.  He said that he has used up most of last years’ salt already.  Ford Road was flooded and had ice chunks during the recent storm but he has a path through there now.  There is ice still there laying on the creek banks.  It is passable now.

He is having issues with the garage door at the shop so he is going to call JW Garage Doors to check it out.   

Jason also brought up the issue with where to push snow on Mona.  There is just no place to put snow.

Old Business –

New Business – The trustees and Jason discussed the possibility of looking at some ways to keep cinders dry.  By making bays to divide cinders and salt with poured floors and maybe covering it with tarps until a roof could be built.  Larken stated he will start to get some numbers together and see what they can come up with.

Trustees Reports:     

Elson— none.

Dozer— Blockade in Avondale – the homeowner wants those removed.  Jason said he would remove those once the weather breaks.  Craig asked if those barriers would work as protection for the fuel tanks and the trustees agreed those would work for that.

Discussion followed regarding the spellings of Dollins Street in Fultonham and Dollings Lane off of Wesley Chapel.  The Auditor’s site has the street in Fultonham spelled Dollings.

Derek attended a session at conference regarding the removal of junk vehicles.  You only have to give them 15 days.  Have to contact someone at a junk yard to go through the process of titling the vehicles so they can be towed.  He says the board needs to determine how many is too many and what the age of the vehicles need to be before action will be taken.  A policy needs made to handle the removal of the vehicles. 

Slack— none.

Fiscal Officer Report:

·         Distributed Grassroots Clippings

·         No bids submitted for cemetery mowing – those were due today.  Jason said that Terry Elson gave him some paperwork that he did not bring tonight to the meeting.

·         CDBG Grant – Kyle Dunn is taking over Sheila Sampson’s position and will be holding an information meeting sometime the end of February / beginning of March and will have more details then.

·         Mileage Certification needs signed and sent back to the county.

·         Type 2 Funds from the County totals $16,778.46

·         The ARPA Final Rule has been released and it gives much latitude in spending that money.

Trustee Elson made a motion to pay bills.  Trustee Slack 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, March 8th at 6:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

Newton Township has made every effort to ensure all the information listed on this website is accurate and up to date.  This information can and may change without notice.  Meeting overviews are meant to serve as short informational updates on township business.  We can not be responsible for any inaccurate or omitted information.