June 2023
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 6-15-2023
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, June 15, 2023. 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: Bernadine Swingle, Shane Stephenson, Brandon Stackhouse, Dora Maxwell, Renee Stackhouse, Kent Cornett, Donald Jones, Todd & Karen Ferrell, Bobby Spears, Quincy McGee, John Stottsberry, and Chris Wright.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Dozer at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Derek Dozer.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: approved.
Public Participation: Residents in attendance regarding letters received due to junk cars on their property. Donald Spears stated that his brother passed away and he is in the process of cleaning up his property but had to wait until he was allowed due to his passing. He is concerned with his rights and what he is allowed to do on his property. Dozer stated that they can do whatever they want on their property, but there are regulations about junk cars. He used the Temple’s as an example and said they are taking care of their property by building a fence. This resident also stated that the parts on the vehicles are worth a lot of money because they are no longer available. Slack stated if you have a collectable car that can be covered up, that would also be acceptable. Slack went on to say this was all brought about by residents who were concerned about the junk cars. The resident also stated that he felt the letters were threatening and he would have like to have been invited to a meeting to discuss the issue prior to receiving the letter. Dozer stated he did understand that.
Kelly Temple stated there are other residents who have junk cars and they are not receiving letters.
Another landowner stated the letters do not give any contact information so they weren’t sure how they were to communicate with the township. The trustees noted that information.
Mr. Talbert on Workman asked what the issue is with his property. He said his vehicles are all operable. The trustees stated that as long as they are operable, they are fine.
Dora Maxwell – Community Days committee is disbanding due to lack of help. They used the money in their fund to purchase chairs and chair racks. They gave their assets to the Newton Township Auxiliary. Dozer stated that he appreciated the communication.
Another resident received the second junk car letter and he stated that he would build a fence to block his junk cars.
Landowner with a noxious weed problem at 3017 Broadvue Circle. He says the weeds are above his chest, growing through and over his fence. His neighbor mows the yard and weed eats every Sunday but will not take care of the weeds at his property line due to a dispute with that neighbor. Dozer stated there is noxious weed legislation in the Ohio Revised Code. He also stated that if he lived in the country, he could mow 96” over the property line but he does not recommend it in town.
Fire Department Business: There were 95 dispatched calls in May – 81 in Muskingum County and 14 in Perry County. Bringing the total for the year to 493. They had 4 12-hour shifts go uncovered in the month of May. The training division is starting a Volunteer Fire Course and an EMT Basic Course in July and a Firefighter I class in August.
Ohio Ambulance Transportation Grant – the department is eligible for up to $20,000 under that grant. The app deadline is July 31st. Craig checked with Paumier to see if that was a grant that they would apply for or if the department needs to do it on their own.
They met with an engineering firm out of Logan regarding the Appalachian Funding Grant and the project was accepted by the state. The department made it through Phase I and this engineering firm was hired by the state for Phase II. This firm is being paid 30% of the project cost that the dept would not have to pay. The grant will be used to pay for the regional training center to be built in the old ball field at the fire station. The estimate is a little over $3M at this point. In the fall, the firms that got hired by the state, will review the projects and they will recommend to the department of development which projects should move on. There is $450M available and the state will only build 6 to 8 projects. They want these projects to be unique. Most of these projects are downtown beautification which is not the purpose of this money. The firm stated the fire dept project is unique and would be a good fit for this money. Planning and drawings will all be paid for by the dept of development and the fire dept would own those.
Slack asked if they could partner with another entity to build this facility and Craig stated yes, they could do that. Craig told them he would not have a problem partnering with another entity to provide training services as a regional facility.
Shane Stephenson has resigned from the dept and is now going to be a part of the firefighter’s association. Robbie Chambers has verbally asked for a leave of absence.
Marketing campaign started on the 14th of May to help fill empty positions.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: The new backhoe has been received and Jason really likes it. They have been working on Shaw Road, removing trees to prepare to start widening. The culvert is in on Sunset. The Workman culvert needs ditched and then he will re-assess and see if it is ready for the culvert. He is working on ditching and filling pot holes.
Randy asked him about working on Ridgley – the first hill.
Old Business: Larken brought up Shaw Road and that last year it was going to cost $150,000 to pave it – 2” thick, 4’ wide for 1-1/2 mile will be added. Pouring the base with concrete is going to cost around $152,000.00. Blacktop would cost $125,000.00 for that additional material. Concrete will set up faster and will hold up better. Dozer stated they could just get grindings to fill it in and pave over the grindings a whole lot cheaper. Then there is the issue of the water department’s plan to replace their water line. This line will go down the center of part of Shaw. Total cost for this road alone would be $340,000.00.
Larken’s plan B is to go ahead and widen the road and pour the concrete and hold off paving Shaw until next year. Dozer agreed. Elson also agreed that is too much money to put in one road. Dozer stated there are other roads that need paved this year and if Shaw gets paved this year, there won’t be money to do the other roads.
New Business:
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer— none.
Slack—none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· Township has received $15,000 from the County Commissioners to use on the repair of roads.
· Presented additional paperwork from Huntington Bank, for the backhoe purchase, for signature.
· Warranty Deed has been recorded for the purchase of Crock Road property. Payment to previous landowners (Garrox) is in tonight’s checks.
· Received the $500 MORE Grant from OTARMA.
· The 2021 / 2022 audit is currently underway.
· Presented Junk Car letter tracking spreadsheet and “Thank You” letter to find out who needs to receive the “thank you” letter.
· Presented the annual agreement with Madison Township to provide EMS services to their residents, for signature.
· Presented Resolution 09/2023 to reduce allocations for General fund by $24,176.00.
· Presented Resolution 10/2023 to mandate a “no parking” policy on Mona and Dona Drive for commercial vehicles, per ORC 4511.01
· Presented Resolution 11/2023 to allow the public bidding / sale of the Yammer Mini Backhoe, per ORC 505.10, this is surplus property to be sold and removed from Newton Township inventory.
Trustee Dozer made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Larken 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 11, 2023 at 6:00 pm
Meeting adjourned at 7:57 pm.
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