July 2024
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 7-9-2024
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, July 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: Donald Jones, Shane Stephenson, Sam Lantz, Brandon Stackhouse, Renee Stackhouse, Adrian Kaminski, William Clough, Ernest Worden, and Chris Harkness.
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: Resident from 4025 Workman Road is asking about the dust and when he could expect something to be done about it. Larken asked if the logging was done and the resident said they are done. Resident stated that brine won’t help. He is unhappy that when he purchased the house 20 years ago there wasn’t so much stone on the road or dust. The road is chip sealed and the Township is using limestone to repair potholes. Discussion continued about the road and the condition of the road. Larken stated that the best they can do is put brine water down but resident stated that if the air is dry, the brine will not work.
East Darlington Road resident is filling potholes himself because they are beating up his cars. Larken said they are having issues keeping the road ditched because of trash trucks then moisture goes under the road causing the potholes. They worked on ditches there last week and then they will go back and work on potholes.
Donald Jones asked if the Trustees had been to his property to check his progress on cleaning up the vehicles / debris. Derek said they had not as they have been dealing with storm damage in the Avondale area.
Adrian Kaminski asked if there were any rules in the Township on swimming pools in a yard. The Trustees stated that is not something the Township addresses and it would be an insurance question. She also asked about the building on railroad street that is falling down. Jason said he might help it along to get it torn down.
Chris Harnkness, Pastor of Uniontown Baptist Church asked if the Township had received any help from any other organizations cleaning up debris from the storm. Larken said until they declare it a disaster, there won’t be any help from the state. The church is tied into an organization that would be willing to help with clean up. The Trustees said they could reach out to individuals in the area to see if they needed help with clean up.
Fire Department Business: There were 133 dispatched calls in June, 100 in Muskingum County and 33 in Perry County. Making the total for the year 746. There were 3 un-covered shifts in June due to call-offs / vacation
Last purchase for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant is intake valves for trucks – Atlantic was the low quote at $7,923.71 for 4 intake valves. He is asking permission to make that purchase. Municipal Emergency Services quote was for $13, 846.00. Derek made a motion to allow them to purchase those from Atlantic. Randy seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The insurance company is sending an adjustor out to look at Medic 1081 to assess the damage to it from hitting the house. He is still in contact with the homeowner about getting their property repaired. PERSO has requested the homeowner’s insurance information and they have no provided Craig with that information yet.
Medic 1082 was at a crash scene and it hit a tree that was out in the road. The tree has been taken care of. This is the truck that is being replaced next year so Craig is not recommending getting it fixed. Allen was the driver of the medic.
Ohio Fire Chief’s Conference is July 21-25. Craig and Jake will be in attendance.
The Firefighter’s Association became a partner with Roth ID tags, which is a no-profit foundation. They are an organization that is a tagging system for car seats so that children involved in motor vehicle accidents can be identified, with allergies, emergency contact info, in the event that the driver is critically or fatally injured.
The Newton Legion is giving their proceeds from their pull-tabs to the Association and they just donated $4,000 to them.
Chase Bryan is the Assistant Chief at Truro Twp. and he was here a month or so ago. Chase likes doing woodworking and noticed that the department was using folding tables downstairs. He offered to make custom tables for their room, if the Association would pay for the materials. He will donate the labor. So they will use part of that $4,000 from the Legion to pay for those materials.
Craig asked Jason if they could possibly unclog the catch basin in the upper level parking lot.
Maysville Water has removed a hydrant on Darlington and they have seeded the area. Craig is not sure how they were allowed to remove it and not replace it. He also said there is water standing at the entrance to the upper level lot and he wonders if it is a water leak from the water department. Derek is going to contact Beth at Maysville Water.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: Jason hit a phone line on Workman in front of Roxie Barnes’ house so we can expect to get a bill from the phone company for that. He is going to widen the curve on Shaw at Moxadarla.
He has spent the last two weeks cleaning up brush from the storm. He has worked on ditching and filling holes.
Old Business: Mr. Jones – Derek would like to wait until next month to proceed with the Nuisance Abatement Resolution to give him time to clean up the damage from the storm.
New Business: Shelly Company bid decision – max amount to be spent on paving is $420,000.00 per FO. Shaw has already been blacktopped so would only need 2” overlay. Pricing that Adam sent over after last meeting seems to be off for Shaw Road. Both 2” and 3” are quoted at $193,559.00. Larken figures Shaw needs to be 20’ wide adding an additional 100 ton – making it about $27,000 more than the quote.
Larken brought up Slack from Wesley Chapel to Ford is 7/10 of a mile for $139,400.00 for 3”. He and Jason think they can get that portion of road ready for paving, if everyone agrees to that.
These two roads would total $359,959 leaving a balance of $60,000.00.
Derek stated that he is not voting on any other roads except Shaw. They have promised the residents for two or more years that they would pave that road. They will have the prosecutor’s office take a stand with the Water Department if they tear up the road with their new waterline.
Larken is content with just Slack (7/10 mile) and Shaw as long as he can continue widening Shaw before having it paved.
Larken discussed the possibility of chip and seal on some of the problem areas / hills. He figured with only doing Shaw they could possibly do 9 miles of chip and seal.
Larken will contact Adam at Shelly for a quote on chip and seal. Derek will contact 20/20 to get a quote on chip and seal.
Derek made a motion that they accept the Shelly Co bid to pave Shaw Road with 2” asphalt for $193,559.00. Elson seconded motion. Motion carried.
Discussion continued with Jason asking for some help with widening Shaw – with an additional dump truck and larger backhoe. Derek pointed out that all vendors need to be run through the Fiscal Officer so a PO can be created, prior to hiring out additional help.
Derek made a motion to allot $50,000 for additional vendors, trucking, labor, supplies to widen Shaw Road. Elson seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—Brenda Wisecarver – East Darlington Road – potholes are awful. Derek asked about signs for Lewellen Road and Jason said they are ordered.
Slack— none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· Distributed the breakdown by road paving figures as presented by The Shelly Company via email to the FO.
· Resolution 05/2024 was presented for the Alternative Tax Budget which is due to the County Auditor by July 20th for presentation to the Budget Commission.
· FO let the board know that the parcels that were to be given to the township, in White Cottage on Crock Road, has hit a snag. Both landowners are deceased and it does not appear that the family has started the probate process. Mr. Zaghi has contacted Fox Law Office and asked that the proper filings commence so the transaction can continue.
· Presented a right of way permit from Spectrum to bore under Chadwick.
· Presented letter forwarded to FO by Mr. Zanghi, from Robert Terrill of 3640 Wesley Chapel Road regarding his frustration with Maysville Regional Water. Derek stated that he had correspondence with him in May 2023 and Mr. Terrill did not reply back to him.
· *****Asked Jason to have timesheets for July 1-15 pay period turned in on July 19th for payroll processing as FO will be on vacation the following week********
Trustee Elson made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Dozer 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, August 13, 2024 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:22 p.m.
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 8-19-2024
SPECIAL MEETING AT RESIDENCE OF DONALD JONES IN AVONDALE
Newton Township Trustees met in a special session on Monday, August 19, 2024. Those in attendance were Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Donald Jones.
Meeting was called to order by 6:03 pm.
The Trustees walked down to examine Mr. Jones’ property. He told the Trustees they could not walk on his property. At that time, the conversation stopped.
The Trustees did talk about a truck that was coming up for auction and what the top bid should be for it, if the Township were to win the bid.
Meeting adjourned at 6:13p.m.
Typed by Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer
Minutes were taken by Derek Dozer, Trustee
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