Barb Herbold, Ladies Cemetery Association President: There has been some some comment about the ruts on the newer part part of the cemetery and I do not know what can be done about it. We have had record rains.
Mark: I asked the guys to get up there as soon as they can without making things worse.
Vic: We have had 42 burials this year alone to this point. We are going to try to clean some of that up this Friday.
Carole Pollard, Allyn Road: I wanted to make a small addendum to my remarks at the last meeting. All my life I have been outspoken about various kinds of abuses I observed. Always as well, when I have spoken, once I look around, I find out that there are people applauding me from the wings, giving me thumbs up, smiling, or thanking me afterwards. I may be the only voice raised. I am not the only person with the feelings, attitudes, values, and indignation that I have expressed. I think it is important to know that. I keep on doing it, but I also understand how difficult it is for many people to come to grips with speaking up, saying the kinds of things that I think need to be said. I understand the nervous toll that it takes, but that is irrelevant. It has to be done. Some things have to be said.
The other thing is that I have some questions that are sort of about zoning and the cemetery, but they deal with finances, so Marie seems like the person to ask.
I was wondering how much money comes in for zoning. I realized it will fluctuate from year to year.
Marie: [This year] $2100 in fees. We are over budget--it has been low for several years. It has been as high as $6,000. We have budgeted $9500 for transfers [from the General Fund] and have used $2,000 of that.
CP: I know this next isn't zoning, but John has done both jobs for so long they're kind of wrapped around each other. What does the cemetery generate every year?
Marie: This year, the budget for the cemetery is $21,000; transfers, $12,000. So far we have received in $17,700 for the cemetery, with almost $12,000 in burials. The cemetery and zoning fund, especially zoning, do not pay for themselves. The General Fund is the only fund we can transfer from, and then we cannot transfer money back. We are this year over budget. [Activity in zoning] has been very low. The transfers are budgeted transfers.
CP: Is John Vechery bonded? Is the person who handles this money bonded? [Note: No.] What does bonding mean or permit?
MS: Bonding is a kind of insurance that the person collecting the money will pass it on to the township.
CP: I was just curious and thought it was something to consider in the future.
Dan Cozzens (sp?): Question about the sound deadening. Is this board on board fencing?
Vic: It is 3/4" thick, 5-1/2" wide, mounted on 8' posts. [Blogger: I think the posts are 8'. It may be that the fencing panels are 8' wide.]
Dan asked about whether there was sound deadening included and why the west side had been left open.
Vic: The cover opens [in such a way] that the west side had to be left open. A full building would have to have a 9' ceiling to accommodate the aerator cover/lid. There is another tank that also needs to be opened. It is open so we can get to the pumps.
DC: What about snow packing in?
Vic: [The fence] will be up above the ground a bit so wind can blow through.
DC: What about the speed limit signs at the Meadows?
Vic: The prosecutor has not gotten back to me. We may have to have the Portage County Engineer do a study. If we have the State come out, the State may have to do a survey. If the State did that, it would probably raise the speed limit on Center Road because of the new paving. (The speed limit is 35mph at present.)
DC: Was there never a speed limit posted on those streets?
Vic: Chris was checking with Scott Miller. It looks as if we still need something from the engineers. Some major changes have been made in the last couple of years about what trustees can do.
DC: One more question about Mantua Center Road. Why are there passing zones? It's kind of dangerous.
Vic: Yes [it's dangerous.] There was not supposed to be a center line painted on the road. But that came about from painting the center line on Coldbrook and Hilldale. When the roads began to crack, the garbage trucks were blamed and then the drainage was supposed to be inadequate. But there was a 12-inch perforated pipe 300 feet long in that area. Then the base was supposed to be inadequate. But everything had been spec'ed and cement stabilized.
Maybe the center line should not be put on because it makes the road look narrow and forces everyone to the edge. That was up to the painting company.
Dan commented on the danger to the workers and kids on the ball fields because there is a passing zone indicated right at the township garage and the ball fields. Apparently the striping/passing zones are indicated by topography and not by anything else.
Jason explained that the paving company thought that the center line would be helpful in case someone went left of center. The striping would make it obvious.
Dan pointed out that the method used did not take into account the activities in the area.
Dave Pollard, 3692 S.R. 82: This is nothing pressing, but I have mentioned it before. Vic and I were out on Old Frost Road on Saturday, and there are two places where a new culvert would be good--100' south of my south property line the water wants to drain off to the west and can't and just sits there.
The other is just about where the road flattens out. The water sits on the Roundup Lake side and sometimes goes ever the road. There was a death on this road in that area [a number of years ago.] The phone line is a problem. Maybe you could get some cooperation from the phone company.
Vic: The phone line is actually under the road by 5'. [Note: not 5' deep, but 5' laterally from where it should be.] I was out on Frost because the township has acquired a freezer that someone had dumped out there and Dave had contacted me about it.
Dave: If the road is widened, the phone line will have to move because the road is not running correctly now. Also, there is one bad chuckhole on that road. I have said this before: I do not have a problem with a gravel road. But the road crew should drop the scarifiers on the scraper at least once a year. That would break up the hardpan and let the scrapings accomplish more [to fill in the low spots.]
Larry Lietzow and Larry Parsons: Nothing.
Matt Parsons: Inquired as to the names of the two newly hired part-time, on-call road crew for snow plowing.
Vic asked, since Matt had inquired previously [I believe] about the condition of Wayne Road, whether he had noticed any difference in it since it was worked on.
Matt: I don't even know why that [Blogger: drainage tile, I believe] was put in.
Vic: There was water in there and that is why the road was breaking up. They found a lot of topsoil there. The problem with many of these roads is that there is no base under them--the roads are sitting on topsoil. That [on Wayne] has been a soft area for years.
Matt: I never had an issue with it.
[Blogger: Well, SOMEBODY did. I need to check on this. Enough complaint was made at a meeting a couple of months ago that I went out to find the yawning chasms on Wayne Road and took photos of the deterioration.]
About This Blog
The purpose of this blog is to give an accurate account of what is said during Public Comment at Mantua Township Trustees meetings.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Principles
Two ideas guide and support me:
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
