June 2022

NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 6-14-2022

Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, June 14, 2022.  Those in attendance were Jeffery Cohen, Assistant Fire Chief; Larry Geiger, Deputy Chief, Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also, in attendance were, township residents:  Bernadine Swingle, Mike Shilling, and Brandon Stackhouse; Adam Foshee from the Shelly Company, and Muskingum County Engineer, Mark Eicher.  Mr. Smith from Pletcher road came in late regarding the old bridge replacement.

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:  Mr. Shilling states that Market Street in Avondale needs a stop sign.  And the street with no name also needs a stop sign.  Cars come up the hill and don’t stop.  Maybe also a “slow children playing”.  Jason stated he could order one.  Stop signs are on hand.

Fire Department Business:  Chief Knox was absent.  Assistant Chief Cohen gave the report.  There were 99 calls in the month of May, 67 in Muskingum County and 32 in Perry.  Year to date there have been 542 calls, which averages to about 3.6 calls per day.  They have responded to the same address 33 times so far this year.  Larry just wanted the Trustees to be aware of that.  The resident lives alone and rarely gets transported.  Training division has 66 students currently enrolled.  The training charter was renewed for 3 additional years with no changes to what is being taught.  A Basic EMT class will be starting on the 7^th and through the summer there will be a 36-hour class, a Level I Transition Class, a Fire / EMS Instructor Class and a new Level I Rescue Class. 

The ladder truck is out of service.  They found that a guard pad had come off and it has allowed the ladder to shift and it caused pieces of the aluminum ladder to be sheared off.  It is at Atlantic to get an estimate.  They are going to replace the pulleys while it is there.

The old zero turn is at American Pride and the estimate to fix is around $1200.   The new medic went to Joe Buckey today to get upgraded tires.  They are allowing trade in on the old tires so not much will be due if anything.  It should be responding to calls by the weekend.

There are 2 a/c units that have gone bad.  Replacing the outside units will be around $8600.  To replace everything, it would be around $10,600.  Larken stated they could keep the air handlers and replace the other parts but there is a difference in freon with old vs. new.  Condensing unit on the outside, from Habegger Corp is around $4000 per unit with new air handler per Larken.  He said he would like installation numbers before any decision is made.  Mr. Geiger asked if ARPA funds could be used to pay for those repairs and just keep the medic loan for the amount that we use for the units.  FO will investigate if that would be allowable.

The county fire meeting- Community Ambulance is enacting a new dispatch policy.  If they receive a call from township resident, and dispatch deems it to not be an emergency, they will ask the resident if they want their local department notified.  If the resident declines, Community will be dispatched.  The department chiefs oppose this policy and they are seeking legal advice.

Interviewing to fill an open position.  They are working with the firefighter association to allow inactive / retired firefighters to be active within the organization, which would produce more active spots on the fire department roster.

New Straitsville would like to purchase one of our old cot system.  Jeffrey asked if the board had a minimum they would like to receive for that.  Refurb cost is typically $4400.  He also asked if they could advertise the old Horton medic for bids.  The department has no use for those cots anymore.  Derek made a motion to allow Craig to negotiate a price for the cots and Elson seconded.  Motion carried.

Dozer made motion to allow Craig to bid out the purchase of the medic and Elson seconded.   Motion carried.

He asked Jason about backfill for the edge of the concrete pad.  Jason and Craig have been in contact about that.

Assistant Chief:  none.

Road Report:  The rain has put a damper on any road work and lots of trees down from last night’s storm. 

Old Business:  none.

New Business:  Open bids for the 2022 paving.  The only bid that was delivered was from the Shelly Company for $425,354.00.  The Shelly rep said it would likely be August before they would get to it.  Dozer stated that we would be in touch.  The township has chip seal to do as well.

Mark Eicher was in attendance regarding the Fletcher Road bridge.  He wanted to show the trustees the plan for the relocation of the bridge.  He passed out plans.  The beams are fabricated and ready to go.  They will vacate Fletcher Road completely and re-dedicate as the new Loop Road.  Discussion followed regarding the plans. 

Trustees Reports:     

Elson— none.

Dozer— Culverts on Thompson Run Road (2802, 2810, 2830) need cleaned out – flooding in basements.  Rice on Jenkins Drive - requesting ditch above his driveway, at Cheryl Tignor’s residence, but his catch basin is higher than the ditch and the water won’t go where it needs to.  

3009 Broadvue Circle – drainage issue – water is not draining down.  Think the ditch needs extended and Jason has permission from one neighbor to do that but still needs to talk to one more neighbor.

6820 Old Town Road – property owner complaint that the grass needs mowed.  Fiscal Officer will mail a letter.

2520 Ford Road – Line fence issue between Mr. Kinneson and Ms. Sherry Scott.  The Scott’s have put T-posts on the Kinneson property stating where she thinks the “line” fence is.  There is an existing fence that is over 20 years old that is likely the actual line fence.

Fiscal Officer Report:

·         Distributed Grassroots Clippings

·         Resolution 08/2022 – To remove the special assessment on Robert Miller’s property because the street light he is being charged for, does not belong to AEP.

Trustee Dozer 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 Tuesday, July 12th at 6:00 pm.

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.