September 2022

NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 9-8-2022

Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, September 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 resident:  David Gilver

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. Gilver states that Kelly Temple’s brother, on Moxahala Park, is accumulating junk cars.  Mr. Dozer said they would check into it and see if the township can do anything about it.  More discussion followed about the lack of zoning in the township.

Fire Department Business:  Opened one medic bid that was received into the PO box.  The bid was from Emergency Remarketing for $2386.18.  This bid has been declined.  FO will notify them.

Dispatched calls in August – 130.  Which is an average of 3.8 calls per day.  SAM account is being updated. 

A/C install started today and should be complete by end of day tomorrow.  Garage door opener was broken and a new opener has been installed.  The cooling condenser for the walk-in cooler has gone bad – estimate is $6500.00.  They store bottled water in there.  Plus they use it during chicken BBQ.  Larken said a used unit could be used but it will be hard to find one.  Craig said he may call Mattingly and see if he can borrow a truck for the weekend of the BBQ.  Larken suggested he contact Phillips Meat Processing about using a couple of their units for that weekend so they can separate the chicken from the ready to serve foods.

Derek brought up the landscaping at the front entrance.  He would like to see that get cleaned up either by the duty crew or hiring someone to take care of it.  Craig said the guys had started on that earlier this week but have not completed it yet.  The association is updating their by-laws to allow people to retire from working for the fire department but still be active within the association and do things for the association.  Retired firefighters do not have voting rights currently but they are looking to change that so they do have voting rights.    Dozer asked what percentage of shifts were left uncovered in July and August and Craig said there was maybe a 12-hour shift left opened once or twice per week that went fully or partially uncovered.  They weren’t out of service since they still had two on shift.  He also asked what could be done to entice some of the workers to work here instead of going to another station to work.  Craig stated that Falls Township is a full-time position for the employees so they work every third day, they get overtime for any hours over 40.  They are also a private company, not governed by the board of Trustees.  Craig said since we have started paying overtime during a 7-day period, it has helped.  He is trying to see if it would benefit by having one full-time employee each shift based on the money spent on the OT.  Other stations are having the same staffing issues.   Discussion followed on the possibility of a bonus system, given yearly, for hours worked throughout the year.  This will be addressed for 2023, in December.

The public bidding requirements have been satisfied at this point so Craig asked if he would be permitted to contact Atlantic and see if they would allow us $25,000 credit toward the ladder repair in exchange for the old medic.  The trustees gave him their blessing to do that.

Assistant Chief:  none.

Road Report:  Paving was finished today.  It looks good and Dozer said he had received some calls from happy residents.  Chip and seal has been pushed back a little.  Jason said he is working on Lower Krofft.  Discussion about adding a few more roads to the chip and seal list since the funds are available. 

Old Business:  Sam Lantz is doing a great job.  Terry Elson is doing a good job on the cemetery mowing.

New Business: 

Trustees Reports:     

Elson—Tina Browning – 4798 Foxfire Drive—she wants her ditch cleaned out.  Jason has looked at it already and it really cannot be fixed.  He has also gotten calls from people wanting the township to dig up their yard and put pipe in so they can mow their yard.  Discussed having Terry Elson weed eat around the township garage since the guys can’t get to it.  Or have Sam Lantz do it when he gets time.

Dozer— none. 

Slack—none.

Fiscal Officer Report:

·         Distributed Grassroots Clippings

·         Discuss OneOhio Opioid Resolution.  Devin Deaver is working with Maysville and Foxfire schools to use this money to educate students on the dangers of opioids.

·         Presented Resolution 14/2022 from the Muskingum County Auditor to accept the amounts and rates determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the Auditor.

·         Contract with Compass Materials for road salt.

Trustee Dozer 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, October 11, 2022 at 6:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 7:39 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.