Foreword: The first meeting in January is, as the title indicates, three meetings on one night: the end-of-year for the previous year, the beginning-of-year in which the officers and representatives to various boards are designated, and the first regular meeting of the new year. The Fiscal Officer conducts the beginning-of-year meeting.
End-of-Year, 2012
Jason began by recognizing John Vechery's years of service to the township and asking for a moment of silence in respect to John.
The minutes were presented and accepted with no changes.
Marie Stehli has filed the financial report with the State. It is available for viewing. [It may be available for viewing on the State Auditor's site; I am not sure.]
She then reviewed the end-of-year cash balances since 2009. Beginning in 2011, the end-of-year balance has dropped by $100,000 for the past two years, which Marie pointed out is not a good trend. She said that the gas tax which is a source of revenue had dropped this year, and the 2013 budget has been reduced.
[This was all presented in a detailed letter which Marie read to the trustees. Your blogger has requested a copy which should be available within a few days; it will be presented verbatim in the blog.]
A bill from Two Ladies Express came in after Marie thought that everything had been completed; she requested approval to pay it. Jason so moved, indicating to pay it in 2012. Marie pointed out that it had to be done in 2013. That was sorted out and approval passed unanimously. (It was for $41.92.)
Marie talked about how the payroll demands will exceed what is in the budget.
Jason said that if they have to move money around they will have to do that. [Two things here: Marie told the trustees almost a year ago that the township could not sustain a new hire beyond one year. Second, Marie had written a letter defining that situation; it will be posted verbatim in the blog also.] Jason thought that since contracted services were down last year, the new hire could be covered that way.
Marie announced that there will be three elections this year: May, August, and November.
A question came up about training workshops for the road crew. Those trainings have to be done or we will lose our rating. [Note: I don't know what the rating refers to but will ask.]
There was a motion to pay the bills, and that was done. At 7:30 this meeting was adjourned, and the beginning-of-year meeting was called to order. Marie conducted that.
Beginning of Year
Officers are as follows: Chairman, Jason Carlton.
Vice Chairman, John Festa
Fire Board Representative: John Festa; Alternate, Victor Grimm
Before going further, Jason said he has been sitting on both Chagrin River Watershed Partnership and Regional Planning but wanted to do only one. That will come up a little later.
Zoning Commission Members: The year before each name is the year the term expires.
2013, Lynn Harvey; 2014, Terri Vechery; 2015 and 2016: Roger Hurd and Phil Derthick, and I blinked for a minute and am not sure who has which year.
Zoning Commission meetings are regularly scheduled for the second Thursday of the month in the Township Hall.
Next, the BZA and Zoning Commission alternates were designated, and I did not keep track of those. For Zoning Commission, I believe Nick Ehlert and Dave Pollard are the alternates.
Vic asked Jason which regional board he preferred to represent the township at; answer, Regional Planning, with Sandy Engelhart the alternate. That was done.
For Chagrin River Watershed Partnership, Vic is our representative with Jason the alternate.
Payroll figures/hourly rates were listed: Brian Tayerle, $15.55/hr. plus $31.25 maintenance [and I do not know what that means or what the time frame is]; Mike Richards, $14.45/hr.; Dan, $12.75/hr. The road crew are each reimbursed $12.50/pay for cell phone use.
Part time labor is $7.40/hr. Marie said she is not sure this still meets minimum wage requirements.
Sexton: $7.00/hr.; $50.00/mo. cap.
Trustees: $11,318/yr.; Fiscal Officer: $18,000 plus a bit /yr.
Zoning Inspector: $600/mo. No benefits. This is a part time position.
Marie reviewed the holidays and vacation and sick days, and overtime was discussed. Anything over 40 hours /wk is time and a half, and working on a holiday amounts to double time and a half.
On the vote to accept these figures, Jason and Vic voted yes and John Festa abstained. Then he asked about custodians. Jason said they should probably be on this list. The pay is $150/mo. plus a certain amount that I did not catch, nor what it was for. John Festa also asked if those were hired positions. Answer: Yes.
At 7:43 Jason moved to adjourn the beginning-of-year meeting. Done.
First Regular Mantua Township Trustees Meeting, 2013
Jason Carlton called the meeting to order at 7:46.
The Fiscal Officer reported that we did get Perrine Asphalt paid on this day. Temporary appropriations and status report followed. Marie announced that we now have a totally new system for the records keeping, and she has gotten everything up and running.
Jason said that Dawn Pechman has turned in a letter about public records and meetings and that Chris Meduri wants to meet with her.
Zoning Commission, Lynn Harvey: Lynn asked if Jason had gotten a disc from Regional Planning; no. It had not been finalized yet. There was some discussion about forms and printing them out.
Lynn: If zoning issues come up that require someone to get a permit, are you handling that now until we get a new zoning inspector?
Jason said yes, that they had a permit now, and normally trustees do not handle that.
Lynn: Do we have a location that will function as a temporary office?
Jason: Yes. And we have to discuss where all those records are going to go and who will act as the interim person.
Jason also added that they had something to deal with that evening for a proposed accessory building, and the check was on hand. Vic said he would talk with Chris Meduri about some of this and that it would be a learning curve for everyone. He looked at the papers that had been submitted.
Jason then confirmed that all of the checks end up on Marie's doorstep, and Marie said that John Vechery had or should have had the receipt books; she had given all of them to him, and he has/had a mileage book.
Jason went on to another zoning issue: Chris Meduri had sent a violation notice to Elmore Christy for a property on S.R. 82. The owner did not comply. This issue goes back to September, and we could have acted on this some time ago. Our next steps, which I talked about with Chris Meduri, regard a resolution that prohibits using land basically as a junk yard. [Jason listed the things that were prohibited.] Chris Meduri said that if we pass a resolution authorizing that office to begin a lawsuit, it will proceed.
Marie asked if Chris had given Jason/the trustees a resolution so the wording would be correct, and Vic said that he thought John Vechery always had that. Marie said she could get the correct wording from Chris. The final decision after some talk was to hold off until next week, which is the regular meeting night.
Vic had another zoning issue that involves putting up a couple more towers out near the Buckeye facility just outside of the Village. The letter asks John Vechery to send a letter stating that no more permits are needed, but there was a reply from Chris Meduri.
Jason asked if Vic would be contacting the owner. The request is to put in a "cabinet," which is basically a 6'x8'x8' shed. Chris's letter was to check with the Portage County Building Department. Over a certain size, a building permit is required.
Jason looked at the agenda at this point and decided to deal with all other zoning issues. Two positions are now open--one for sexton and one for zoning inspector.
Two legal ads have been posted, with the deadline for replies to be a postmark by December 15. [Blogger: This is the date in my notes, but I am not sure that it is correct--whether I missed it or whether Jason misspoke in handling all of this. Either is possible]
There was discussion about the existing zoning phone number and having calls forwarded now. Vic volunteered to handle that; issues could be handled by the board.
Vic has talked with Terri Vechery and has had the three cemetery books since John became ill. He asked about putting the records into the civic center storage area, but Jason thought they could go into an area at the school and that the road crew could help with moving thinks like filing cabinets. [I believe that those records will be in a room separate from the records that are the Fiscal Officer's responsibility.
Vic confirmed that we want to keep the zoning number regardless of where the phone is.
[Blogger: That's enough for now; a logical unit is complete, and this is a long post.]
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.
