January 2024
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 1-9-2024
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. 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, Kim Smith, Renee Stackhouse, and Brandon Stackhouse.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Slack at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Larken Slack.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: approved.
Public Participation: Kim Smith on behalf of Zack Smith Foundation. They had previously teamed up with Community Days organization for the Hillbilly Casino Night and she was asking for permission to sell alcohol for Zack Smith Foundation’s All-In Casino Night on March 16, 2024. Derek asked that they have a couple deputies on hand for that night and she assured him that has been taken care of. Derek made a motion to allow the sale of alcohol at the All-In Casino Night and Randy seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Shane Stephenson said there is a tree on Stine Road causing traffic to veer left of center to avoid. He asked to have it trimmed back.
Fire Department Business: There were 126 dispatched calls in December. 98 in Muskingum County and 28 in Perry County. Total runs for the year – 1297 with a daily average of 3.6 runs per day. They were down 33 runs from the prior year. There were no fully un-covered shifts in December. There was a fatal fire on Hoover Avenue last evening.
The training division is starting an Advanced EMT training on Feb 1st.
The ORCA group has decided not to include the department on their application. The grant writers submitted the department proposal to the Ohio House and Ohio Senate for them to consider in their application budgets. Larken asked if ORCA gave a reason why they decided to exclude the department. Craig said there was an EMA email group and the Muskingum County EMA director didn’t directly speak against their group and said publicly he would support it but he questioned why they needed included in a different district’s application when there is already a training facility in Muskingum County. The 4 applications being submitted for Muskingum County are for the development of entertainment and recreatioanl district downtown, library repairs and other improvements to downtown.
Rescue had all batteries replaced because the first one in the loop went bad.
Radio tower project has been completed.
Three garage door openers had to be replaced.
The Chief reminded the Trustees about the banquet on January 20th.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: Found all the air leaks on the old dump truck and got them fixed. He ordered some items to repair items in the shop. He pushed slush this morning. He pre-treated prior to the last little snow and it helped.
He ordered another set of tire chains to have on hand. He is busting up the salt that got wet so it is usable. The plow was put on the F-350 today.
Shaw widening is almost complete.
Old Business: Derek asked about the asphalt invoice for Springfield Twp. (Grant Cliff Rd). Larken has been having issues getting any backup for the bill that Shelly sent. Derek did receive some paperwork. Larken said that Charlie Harkness says the township owns 2/10 of a mile but the ODOT inventory says .310 mile. $54,873.36 was the total amount billed for the Springfield portion of of Grant Cliff paid by Springfield. That was for 514.25 tons of asphalt. Dale from Springfield stated that we release the “extra” amount of mileage back to Springfield in lieu of us paying for that portion of pavement. $36,241.50 would be the Newton Township portion and $14,500 was the Village of So. Zanesville’s portion. More discussion followed regarding the product used on the Newton portion of Grant Cliff Rd. Derek made a motion to give Springfield Twp. the .310 miles of road inventory on Grant Cliff Rd., Randy seconded the motion. Motion carried. We will not be paying anything toward the paving bill for Grant Cliff Rd.
John Hogue, 4477 Moxahala. He has a couple of trees that need to come down.
Larken asked about the status of the junk cars / letters. Craig said that the Sheriff’s office would need contacted. Derek questioned if this was a good time of year to take the next step with weather conditions being uncertain. Larken is going to speak with some scrap yards. They will assemble a list to receive letter number one to start the process with new properties.
Logan Goins on Porter Run Rd – has the lower section of his fence torn out so they can replace the culvert and get the road widened.
New Business:
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—none.
Slack—Township resident has a trailer for sale and he is wondering about purchasing it for the hoe. He wants $5,000 for the 16-ton trailer. It is 25’ long – 2014 year. Larken made a motion to purchase the trailer for $5,000 from Sloan Mumford. Derek seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· Status of legal ad for cemetery mowing – Derek suggested the ad state the following --Mowing for all cemeteries in Newton Twp. Mow one time in May on or after May 15th, In June every two weeks until Aug 30. Once in September on or after Sept 15 and once in October on or after Oct 15th. Jason Taylor and his phone number attached to the ad. Bids due by April meeting.
· Noted that Derek Dozer would be attending the OTA Winter Conference in February and will take the Public Records training on behalf the Board of Trustees.
Trustee Slack 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, February 13, 2024 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:54 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.