Blogger Foreword: For those of you who have been looking for Trustees Meeting minutes on the township website, there is some technical glitch between the two systems that have to "talke to each other" to post the minutes. I am not going to even try to get a grip on that. Best advice is just to check every once in a while--but Marie has tried to post the minutes and not been able to.
That leads to the second foreword: I guess the blog is going to continue as it has been for the past couple of years--not a verbatim account most of the time, but detailed.
Jason began the meeting by introducing Tierney Bryant, Mantua Township's new Zoning Inspector. Tierney is a licensed fire marshal. Jason asked her to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
The minutes were reviewed and corrected and the correspondence listed, including notices of the inspections conducted of questionable properties (Land Bank) by the responsible agencies.
Correspondence included 2 e-mails from Dawn Pechman. Betsy Woolf has spend about 8 hours on Ms Pechman's request(s), and Marie has spent several hours on them as well.
Sexton: Burial fees: $1825.00
Lots: $2565.00
Foundations: $290.00
Zoning: The BZA has a meeting scheduled for March 18 at 1900 hours (7 p.m.). $225.00 has been collected for that hearing.
Lynn Harvey: Tierney Bryant has received her hard copy of the last zoning book. Lynn has picked up the discs and has not yet gotten a printed copy. Lynn said that then the Trustees need to tell her how to go about getting the discs for those who want them. There was some discussion about Lynn getting into the school building to do the copies. She wants to review everything to be sure that it is correct.
A lot of ink and paper has been used in working through the zoning--cartridges will have to be replaced, and Lynn estimated needing about 3 reams of paper.
Road Department: John Festa wanted to know about putting the grader up for auction or bid with a reserve on it. He asked if that is allowable.
Jason: In the past we have had to estimate a value and then based on that value determine that we no longer have a us for it and then we have done on-line auctions. We can also do just a regular auction. In the past we have done sealed bids. I don't know if this is a candidate for that. There are quite a few things that we have to do for items that are above $2500 in value.
John Festa said he did not want to make a mistake in disposing of it.
Jason believed that the thought behind selling it was for purchase of another piece of equipment, basically toward the mini excavator.
John Festa said he did not get a copy of the mileage statement, and Marie said that she did not get one either.
Vic: About the grader: are you going to have someone look at it and appraise it?
John Festa: Good idea. [Blogger: I am going to hazard a guess here that when Vic asks a question and either of the other trustees says, "Good idea," that translates as "I hadn't thought of that."]
Vic: I am not in favor of getting rid of it. There are a lot out there and they are not bringing a lot of money. It is not costing us much.
Marie: Didn't Brian Tayerle say we should keep it? [Blogger: He did, at the last meeting, and made a good case for doing so.]
Jason: Marie, the conversations are among the trustees, so we would prefer that.
[Blogger: I talked with Marie about this exchange. She had offered the comment in her professional capacity and responsibility as the Township's financial officer and advisor. Please remember that the township has spent enough money in the last two years to diminish its cash reserve by at least $200,000, a fact that drew the attention and cautionary remarks of the state auditors. That information is in an earlier blog post that quotes the Management Letter verbatim. So--Jason just told Marie to be quiet, and John Festa and apparently Jason as well are ignoring Brian Tayerle's opinion and advice. One wonders: whom DO they listen to?
One more thing: Marie is not Jason Carlton's and John Festa's secretary, no matter how often they try to treat her like a stereotypical blonde bimbo. And, yes, I know that "blonde" as shorthand for not bright is another stereotype.]
Jason observed that the grader gets used on Old Frost.
Vic: You can use it for berming and pushing back snow. That is why I am not in favor of getting rid of it.
Jason: I don't see any harm in getting a price on it to see what it would be worth and deciding after that. In talking to someone to the south, the market is basically there because of the number of dirt roads.
[Blogger: "don't see any harm. . . ." Has anyone else ever heard the expression "The camel's nose under the edge of the tent"? The rest of it goes like this: once that happens, the rest of the camel follows inevitably. The agenda here is to sell the grader. Skeptical? Watch the way the rest of the meeting went.]
Club and Committee Reports: Garden Club, LCA, and Chamber of Commerce all had nothing to report. Trustee reports followed.
Jason: We are looking at annual lawn maintenance. I have provided you with a copy of the updated dates. This is for maintenance of the grounds the township owns. We have done it annually previously, but many government entities do this on a two-year basis. He listed the buildings, specified 26 cuts for the year, and itemized the things to be done. There is an opt-out clause, and this year two professional references are being requested. He asked about the two-year span, and neither Vic nor John Festa had any objection.
Vic: For the bids--that should be a sealed bid.
Jason commented on the time crunch for advertising and receiving the bids and opening them by a certain date. John Festa inquired about a walk-through, and Jason mentioned including a date for that, which would eliminate some confusion about what is actually to be done by the contractor.
Zoning Inspector additional responsibilities.
Jason: We talked about this a number of times while we were in the hiring process. Section 200 of the Zoning Resolution is to "perform other duties as described by the Trustees." Jason asked if there were any additional responsibilities.
Vic: No additions, but some questions. For reporting verbal citations with the dates: are you going to request a list of the individual citations or just list how many were given?
Jason: There has to be a record of such citations so the home owner knows what is expected. Without a record of the citation, the date can get lost.
Vic: Are you asking for that to be passed on every month to the trustees?
Answer: Yes.
Vic: You wanted a list of citations sent to the prosecutor. We would know that because we are the ones who sign and pass it down.
Jason: I don't know if we have to sign.
Vic: We have to do this by resolution. Normally the Zoning Inspector would bring the paper work to us and we would pass a resolution. The Zoning Inspector does not send it to the prosecutor--we do t hat. I think if the Zoning Inspector keeps a log, it does not have to be passed on every month.
Jason: This is open to discussion. To John Festa: Do you have any thoughts on this?
John Festa: For the first part of her employment I would like to know.
Vic: I personally do not need all that list of people verbally cited. If she kept a log, we would have the record. It does not have to be passed on every month.
John Festa: So you would expect a log every month?
Vic: No, as long as she keeps the log, it does not have to be given to me.
John Festa thought that would be OK. Jason revised the item under discussion to keeping a log of all the verbal citations, to be available to the trustees, and then asked if there was anything else.
John Festa: I would like for the Zoning Inspector to keep an accurate mileage log and I guess we could do that the same way as. . . . I would like for her to keep a logbook.
Jason: I think John Vechery has a log.
Vic: I am sure it is in one of those boxes and we will find it when we go through them. There are a lot of boxes.
Jason: I make a motion to the effect of what we have outlined in front of us--that a log of verbal citations and mileage be kept.
Second by John Festa. Unanimous.
[Blogger Note: Dave Pollard came in at 7:50 and signed before finding a seat. At 8:03 or so, Dan Cozzens, who had arrived before the call to order, got up and signed in. If you ever wondered how the same people always speak last in Public Comment, now you know.]
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.
