October 2023
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 10-10-2023
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, October 10, 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: Shane Stephenson, Dave Huff, Jon Stottsberry, Shon Harrah, Mike Shilling, Jasmine White, Brandon Stackhouse and Sam Lantz.
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: Dave Huff asked about Shaw Road and what the status is. Larken let him know that they have been busy getting the other 3 roads ready for pavement. Dozer let him know they would continue to repair holes, etc. this year. Mr. Huff asked about the culvert situation in his front yard. Larken said to install a new culvert for 180 feet it would be about $2500 for materials. It will take roughly 3 days to replace that culvert and that repair is not critical at this time. Larken said he would like to get the widening done down to Moxadarla yet this year. Mr. Huff asked if there has been any discussion with the water department to find out what their plan is for Shaw waterline. Larken stated he thought all the trustees needed to attend a water department meeting to nail down what their plan is. The water department told Mr. Huff they plan to bury the waterline along the side of the road after it is widened. Larken let him know that the water department cannot go on the side of the road due to gas lines and fiber optic cable. The water department is really the hold up on getting the paving done on that road. Larken went on to explain that there are a lot of other roads in the township that are not paved that take a lot of time to maintain with ditching and filling holes.
Shon Harrah of Hoover Ave has a drainage problem. He lives near the old general store and the two culverts tied in to the drainage for the old store are clogged. The new drain goes to the parking lot of the store and is covered up with gravel. There is another drain with busted concrete clogging it up. Dozer let him know that Hoover is a county road but the road across from it would be township, where the water is coming from. It was determined that the drains were put in by the county not the township. Dozer suggested he call the county and set up a field visit with them.
Alley is still being blocked in Fultonham. Dozer said he found out that they need to install No Parking signs. The trustees will need to pass a resolution and notice published in the paper. Trustees thought two signs saying No Parking between signs.
Mike Shilling– Avondale – was asking the status of the Junk Vehicle enforcement in his area.
Derek made a motion to send the 3rd letter to the following six residents: Duane Bolyard, Charles Street, Donald Jones, Madison Street, Misti Malfe, Charles Street, Christopher Cannon, Maysville Pike, Robert Cunningham, Roseville Rd., and Kendra Talbert, Workman Road. Randy seconded motion. Motion carried. Derek will create the letters and leave them to be signed by all trustees.
Fire Department Business: There were 119 dispatched calls in September. 81 in Muskingum County and 38 in Perry County. That brings the total for the year to 969. There were 4 full under-staffed shifts in September. The department is conducting fire prevention activities with local schools. They will also be participating in the area trick or treats and trunk or treats.
They had meeting with Vocational School and planners for the Appalachian Grant funding and they have agreed to join projects with the Vocational School to make one project. We are in the Omega region and each county has to put a list in order of importance to proceed. They were told one of the training facilities would be moved on and one would be denied. The hope is that by joining together they get approved. If the Vocational School fails, they may have the opportunity to join with the Village of Shawnee for their Main Street improvements and tag on to them.
Craig signed an agreement with Belmont Tech for their EMS / Medic students to ride along with our medics for their required hours.
Medic 1082 is back from having the motor replaced and seems to be running well.
Tanker tires need replaced. It has the original tires on it and that truck is a 2011. Craig is asking to replace tires at $6812.60 quoted by Joe Buckey Tire – quote has expired so it may be a little more. Dozer made motion to replace tires up to $7500.00. Slack seconded. Motion carried. The trustees asked him to keep the tires and they could be recapped and used by the road department.
Craig asked Jason to look at the drain at the firehouse. Jason wonders if maybe a pipe has come apart causing it to wash.
Chicken BBQ was a success – a profit of just under $5,000 was made!
The Firefighters Appreciation banquet is on January 20th Eaglesticks.
Proposal to purchase new medic truck – they would sign a contract to agree to purchase in 2025. This will allow them to lock in a price now. Atlantic has offered to give them $40,000 for Medic 1082 as a trade in. The salesman at Atlantic has offered to be a broker for us at no cost to try to sell it for the department. Braun is another manufacturer and they are currently running 2 years behind. If we take delivery in 2025, we would be on target on replacing the medics every 8 years as previously discussed. Dozer asked what the plan is – Craig said he would like to stay on the 8 -year plan and sign the contract for $399,996.00 to take delivery in 2025. Larken asked if there were other dealers. Craig said they had Hortons in the past but they had chassis issues that they could not get fixed. The City of Zanesville bought a Horton on the 450 chassis and it was $368,000.00. Braun is a little more expensive than PL Custom (purchased from Atlantic). Larken made motion to enter into a contract with Atlantic. Randy seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: Jason found the branch on Rucker Road and got it taken down. He checked the hole / culvert on Workman. It is pretty bad. Carson, Crock and Huggins are paved have some ditches that need some attention and need bermed. Jason said he needs to get seed and straw down.
He worked on the culvert on Foxfire and it is almost finished. There is some additional work that needs done on Workman.
Larken wanted to present info on seeding that township resident, John Stottsberry is able to do. Mr. Stottsberry says it will grow slow on steep banks this time of year. He puts a fiber in with the seed that “glues” it together to make it stay put. He calls it an ODOT roadside grass. Larken says all the banks that need seeded are clay. Larken has calculated the cost to seed the roadsides and he was within $150 of the quote by Mr. Stottsberry. Carson is ready for seed. Carson Rd. is 10,132 sq. ft. @ $.12 / per sq. ft. = $1215.00, Shaw Rd. is 5250 sq. ft. @ $.12 / per sq. ft. = $630.00. Larken made motion to have seeding done up to $4500, Dozer seconded motion. Motion carried.
Larken had a concern with the price that Shelly gave on Huggins Road. The super for Shelly came out and determined it was over - priced so Larken asked them to do Stiers. Crock was 71 ton more that estimated. That left 371 ton extra (from Huggins). So they went 2” thick on Carson which will cause us to owe $9200 more for the paving. There is 1032’ on Grant Cliff Rd. – 186 ton of blacktop - $20,000 roughly. Balance of $11,000.00 – used 46 ton to do patching so we should be $6400 to the good. Dozer suggested using some of that extra blacktop to fill holes on Shaw. Jason isn’t sure the asphalt will stay hot enough to get it there.
Larken would like to choose the top 5 roads for paving for next summer so they can concentrate on getting those roads up to speed before this time next year.
Old Business:
New Business: Dozer asked to go into executive session to discuss a personnel issue at 7:25 and closed executive session at 7:35.
Larry Taylor will be retiring effective October 31, 2023. The township will not be hiring anybody at this time but will discuss in the future. Mr. Taylor has been paid for all his vacation time for the year and will use all his allotted sick time on October 31st. He is still eligible for 2 days of personal time which will be paid on his check with the payroll ending date of 10-31-2023.
Derek asked if we could have the next meeting on November 9th due to a conflict. Meeting date was changed.
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer— none.
Slack—none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· OK Coal & Concrete bill – charging for rental of skid steer from 7-19-23 to 9-29-23 – equipment was down with a blown belt a portion of the rental time. Following up with Larken.
· Lexipool Township Policies – Craig went through and matched them with the Fire Department and they are ready for review by Trustees.
· Presented Resolution 17/2023 – to install no parking signs on 4th Street in Fultonham and alley named TR 1165.
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 Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 6:00 pm
Meeting adjourned at 8:10 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.