May 2024
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 5-14-2024
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, May 14, 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: Mike Bennett, Mike Bennett Jr., Bernadine Swingle, Brandon Stackhouse, Sam Lantz, Shane Stephenson, John Hope, David Gilder, Renee Stackhouse, Kent Cornett, and Duane Bolyard.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Slack at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Larken Slack.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: Missed zero on $100,000 home for levy.
Public Participation: Mr. John Hope spoke with Derek Dozer about an alley that is not maintained that is parallel to Lincoln Street. There are trees along the alley that are rotten that need to be removed as it is not safe for his grandkids to play near them. They appear ready to topple. He is asking if those could be removed. He is at 4477 Moxahala Park Rd. He is willing to clean them up if the township would cut them down. He said there are 3 that could be easily taken down. Jason said he would come down when he gets a minute and cut those down. Derek feels all but one are manageable to be removed by the road crew.
Mike Bennett has a neighbor at the end of Axline with a camper in the ROW, along a non-maintained road. The dog warden was there over the weekend to deal with an issue with a dog at the location. The camper sits completely in the right of way. The lady with the camper has a dog and the dog runs under the camper and got a kid by the leg. She thinks the property belongs to her and not public right of way. Derek let him know that the Township can not do anything about the dog. Landowner states that the dog and the camper go hand in hand. Adrian Kaminksi is the owner of the camper. Landowner had met with Derek the end of last year at the location so they could figure out the property lines, etc. The decision was made to let the landowners work it out, but that has not worked. Landowner stated that Derek was going to contact the gas company to relocate a location post for their gas line so she could move the camper. Larken suggested writing a courtesy letter asking her to please move the camper out the right of way since the road is open, for safety reasons. Derek also said he would speak with this landowner’s other neighbor, Junior, and come back with his remarks to the next meeting. Derek is not sure the township wants to get into enforcing the parking issues on non-maintained roads, but will still reach out to Junior.
David Gilder Moxahala Park Road spoke with Derek about a truck that is parked on his property that does not belong to him. The pickup truck that was parked on his property is inoperable. Landowner was going to have it towed and take possession of it. There is a service type vehicle that does run and a Jeep of some type. Derek said as long as two of those vehicles are operable, he is fine. His neighbors have put up cinder blocks to keep these folks from parking vehicles along his property. Derek said if an additional car is added, to call and we will send a junk vehicle letter.
Kent Cornett asked if there was a mowing schedule set yet. He would like it done prior to Memorial Day. Jason said he was having Jeff start in a couple of weeks.
Duane Bolyard is here about receiving a letter in 2021 about junk motor vehicles and then he received another letter in the last 30 days. He was not aware of any previous letters until a Sheriff’s Deputy delivered the 3rd letter to him in recent weeks. Discussion continued about vehicles that were sold near the Dairy Queen in Fultonham many years ago. This landowner also has washing machines and other large appliances on his property in Avondale along with junk motor vehicles. He is here to state that he cannot sell off or get rid of anything until his divorce is finalized. Derek asked when the divorce will be finalized but Mr. Bolyard does not know. Fiscal Officer to mail all three letters to Mindy Bolyard at 4200 Roseville Road, Roseville, OH 43777 via certified mail. Mr. Bolyard asked that the letters not be mailed to his wife.
Fire Department Business: There were 127 dispatched calls in April - 77 in Muskingum County and 50 in Perry County. Total for the year is 493. They are 95 calls ahead of 2023. There was one uncovered 12-hour shift in April due to a call -off.
Medic 1082 had an oil leak so it went to Hughes and it has a motor issue, that will be covered by the Jasper warranty. A new motor will be installed.
Request for quotes went out to vendors for hoses and nozzles to spend the Assistance to Firefighters Grant money. Those quotes are due May 31st.
Paumier is asking if we would be willing to charge for records requests for the time for researching and sending records out. Craig doesn’t think they get a lot of requests in a year. They have supplied a chart – first 10 pages is $3.77 / per page, 11-50 $.79 / page, 51 and over is $.32 / per page. Plus, postage, which is the actual cost of the postage. An initial fee of $23.25 for research. This fee is for people other than the patient requesting the records. Derek asked if the individuals are always free. Craig said no, but a policy could be made that patients get their records for free. Third parties could still be charged a fee. Board agreed to just charge third parties.
The radio tower has a generator that belongs to the county. That has gone bad and the county is looking to get it repaired.
They have received quotes for the mini-splits. There are 4 that are not working. The vendor that came in the lowest was Stewart Plumbing. Install 4 new Mitsubishi outdoor units, install 8 new indoor fan units, complete installation includes all materials and labor and includes bi-annual maintenance of coil, drain and filter cleaning, operational testing, once in the spring and once in the fall for all 6 units for a total of $33,850.00. That project was budgeted into the improvement of sites line item. Craig is asking for permission to grant approval to Stewart Plumbing to replace those units. Derek made a motion to accept that quote, Larken seconded. Motion carried.
Craig stated there is a wall along the staircase on the east end of the building that was not properly sealed and water has come in. He said they would get a quote to get it fixed.
EMS appreciation week starts this Sunday. There is a cookout here at 4:00 pm, provided by the Auxiliary.
Allen Deaver has been promoted to the position of Deputy Chief. He will oversee the operations and training side of the department.
The levy documents must be back to the Auditor the day before the August Trustees meeting. The way Mr. Zanghi has worded the resolutions, it will be a 3-mil replacement permanent. They will replace the current 3-mil revolving levy with a 3-mil replacement plus 2 additional mils. They were not allowed to replace the 3-mil with a 5-mil – it has to be the same millage. So the 3-mil levy would have stayed there until it expired and the new one would have run as a 5-mil additional, so this was by far the better option.
Jason told Craig that the road between 4600 and 4620 Crock Road will be closed the next couple of days for maintenance. Huggins will also be under maintenance but it cannot be closed.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report: Mowing is set to start in a few weeks. He is getting on top of the potholes.
Old Business: Derek wanted to expound on the Axline situation. The camper is not in the way so much that traffic cannot pass.
Junk Motor Vehicles – Larken had FO email copies of the letter to Mark Zanghi at the Prosecutor’s Office. Mark replied just this afternoon and stated that the township had given more than enough time to remedy the situations. He stated they would be allowed to proceed with removal of vehicles. Zanghi also said he would be willing to send a letter from his office giving “x” number od days for the vehicles to be removed. Larken asked where do the vehicles get towed to. Craig said that law enforcement agencies charge per day and then when not claimed, they get sold at auction. The sheriff’s deputy will request the tow truck when he / she is on site for the vehicle to be towed. It is unclear who incurs the cost of the tow, but fairly certain it would be the township.
New Business: Applicants for road department position were presented. The board decided to review them and set up interviews before or after the next meeting. Derek stated that we would need a special meeting if a decision needs made prior to next meeting. A special meeting was scheduled for June 4th at 6:00 pm to interview candidates. FO will contact the candidates with the date and time for interviews.
Board determined that we want to accept paving bids at the next meeting. Trustees will email a list of roads for Fiscal Officer so advertisements can be placed for bids.
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—none.
Slack— none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· Distributed questionnaire from Tom Montgomery to possibly switch health insurance to Aetna at a lower rate than what we are currently paying Anthem. Forms given to Jason, Randy and Derek.
· Resolution to purchase salt from ODOT for signature.
· Real estate transfer for land owned by Pentecostal Church of God for signature.
· Resolution declaring necessity to levy a tax in excess of the ten-mill limitation for Fire / EMS services, to be signed by board.
· Presented letter from Englefield Oil giving notice of a price increase.
· Presented a letter form The Energy Cooperative / dba NGO Development regarding the conversion of a well into oil and gas production on property owned by Briar Rabbit.
· Presented results of the meeting with KLA Risk Management, in conjunction with OTARMA, liability and property insurance provider for the Township.
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, June 11, 2024 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:14 p.m.
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