Trustees 12-15-16, Mostly Public Comment re School

Shalersville, Mantua Village, and Mantua Township, plus a few other entities, are going to share the cost if something goes wrong with the fire alarm monitor.

Vic suggested setting up a budget line item of $1,000 for that, and Jason suggested $500.  That was the amount set, I believe.

Vic:  I am still fighting with the heat in the old part [of the school].  I called Shalersville and they referred me to someone who actually lives in the township.  He was there from 11-4 and came back at 7 today.  He was having as much trouble as I was.  I put some parts in last Friday, and it worked for a while, but it's back to not working.   He [the service man] said twice he had it done and had to work on it some more.

No more new business.

The speed limit on Wayne Road:  The speed limit could have been raised after it was paved.

The Elevator:  Vic gave Jason a copy of the permit to begin the demolition on the school for the elevator.  The contract has been signed, and we will get a set of prints.
  [Blogger's emphasis.]

There was some discussion about the sewer tie-in project on Pioneer Trail.

Public Comment began at 8:40.
Mark Hall, Brian Summerlin, and Marie Stehli had no remarks.

Carole Pollard, Allyn Road:  I returned to a comment made at Governor Voinivich's memorial services:  Not everyone can be great, but everyone can be good, and being good trumps being great.
[I am summarizing my remarks here.]  I observed that in this season, and with a new year beginning, that idea was a good one to take to heart and act upon.
[See what you make of what followed, dear reader.]

Steve Zielinski, S.R. 82:  About the walk-through [with the trustees and Mark Frisone].

[Blogger:  The people on the walk-through included three members of the Community Center Task Force in addition to Mark Frisone and the trustees.] 

Jason:  This was an information gathering session.  No decisions were [or could be made].  Mark Frisone is the head of Family and Children's Services and in this walk-through we went through the building and there were no "Aha!" moments.  He shared some ideas about senior housing and a shared building that he thought would be successful.  We discussed a variety of things.  He had made mention that he has seen shared services work together that he never thought would work together.  He was going to do some checking about what he thought could be next steps.

There was also some discussion among the folks there about what does it matter who owns the building.

Family and Children's Services owns their own building.  If the community says it wants a community center, do the trustees need to own the building?  The trustees are not in the business of scheduling or working out what groups would be in there.  We [the trustees] have other things to work on--roads and ditches.  If that is what the community wants, does it matter to you who owns the building?  You are going there for a service.  That is the thing that was tossed around a little bit.  I don't think the trustees have discussed that.  Everybody had a chance to ask Mark Frisone questions and he was a spout of information.

John Festa confirmed what Jason had said:  Mark Frisone has been in this for a long time and it is good to pair up with public and private entities.  The idea of apartments would cost a lot of money to do.  But as far as the community, it doesn't matter who owns the building; if one of the community groups wants to lease the building, we would be happy [to consider that] and maybe even rent from them.  It may or may not work.  [If someone wanted to take the reins, we may consider it.]  [Blogger: The brackets around that sentence are in my notes.  Today, almost two weeks later, I am not sure why they are there unless I summarized John Festa's words, keeping to the intent but not noting them verbatim.]

Jason:  I think everything is on the table.  Mark Frisone can not get grants or funds unless the entity requesting owns or has full control of the building.

 [Blogger:  Between the Grants and Funding Committee and The Mantua Restoration Society, Inc., close to $300,000 in funding has been brought in for the school building.  The trustees have contributed $10,000 towards the elevator project and have signed the necessary papers.  The Grants and Funding Committee has applied for further grants as well.  That process is like a river:  it just keeps rolling along.]

Jason, continuing:  I don't think it's out of the question that he may be interested in something like that, but he does have that power--to get hundreds and thousands of dollars. He has a full time grant writer on his staff.  He has statistics and data on what different groups from this area utilize as services in Ravenna.  Maybe it would make more sense for them to get those services here.

It is loud and clear the township wants a community center.  It is a matter of who is going to run and fund it.

Steve:  The last thing:  Merry Christmas to all.

[Blogger:  Roger Hurd spoke next.  His remarks are a major part of the first post for this meeting.]

Dave Pollard, S.R. 82:  When you have that kind of cooperation  [that Roger described] for that long, it is something to be really valued.  You don't find that lasting that length of time in many communities.  It is something that should be treasured by the community, and I hope it keeps going like that for another 150-200 years.  It is unusual in a good way.  Have a merry Christmas and spend time with your families.

Roger asked for a chance to speak again, and Jason recognized him:  My wife and I clean the church, and we take one bag out twice a week and then two bags once or twice a month.  On twelve-eighteen weeks a year, it [the shared dumpster] is full to overflowing, and we have to wait until it is emptied.  [It is a three-yard dumpster.]  [Blogger:  In my opinion, this is a quantifiable way of defining fair use of the dumpster.]

Larry Leitzow, S.R. 82:  I had a call from Jim Aldrich (sexton) this morning [Thursday].  He said the furnace is not working in the school.

Vic:  Someone was there working on it at 7 in the morning.

Larry:  Maybe it's time for a new one.
What about the sewer lines being capped off?
[Blogger:  This picks up the thread that was started in the October meeting at the Civic Center facilitated by Todd Peetz.  My intention is to go back, pick that up, research it on site as well as in the updated plans, and report facts.]

Vic:  I don't know, Larry.

LL:  Maybe you should have come out here and hooked into the main line.

Vic:  That would have cost a lot of money.

Vic:  This [the elevator project]  is the commissioners' job.  [Blogger's boldface.]

Dan Cozzens, Winchell Road:  There are rumors about the sewer and the heat.  Has anyone come up in the last year with a plan about what you are planning to do?  It seems ridiculous to put an elevator in if you aren't doing anything with the building.  You have been talking for years about getting a plan together.
[Blogger:  Correction:  For a good long time, two of the trustees iterated and reiterated that we need a plan.  No action followed the comments.  There was no talk that would lead to actually developing a plan, no authorization of anyone with the requisite expertise to develop a plan. Just "We need a plan."]

Jason:  Putting in the elevator into a building not being used:  one of the concerns was that we wanted to be sure the building was totally accessible.  Then the funding committee went out and got funds for the CDBG from the commissioners.  We had to discuss doing it.  Where would the rest of the money come from?

The same group was able to get money from Senator Eklund's office:  $140,000.  That money plus the CDBG is going to be used for the elevator.  The township is going to put in $10,000.  The other money is being given to us.  We are very lucky.


The Utilization Committee has come to the trustees a couple of times.  Coming to now, we have a couple of church organizations trying to spearhead this and have some committees they are bringing together to see how to make it a community center.

Work needs to be done about room renovation.  Maybe the tenants can do some of that.

The elevator project has been going on for over a year.  It takes time to get the money together.  I think we are starting to move forward on this.  If a community center is what the community wants, we haven't heard otherwise.


DC:  What will it take to do it correctly and not part way?  Heat and AC?  You need to know the total cost--has anything been figured up yet?

Jason:  Before the elevator project one was the Assessment Committee.  They came to us just before the elevator hitting, and said, "How can we give you a cost if you don't know what it is going to be used for?  That is when the elevator went in [as part of the considerations, blogger's interpolation] and the Building Assessment Committee worked on that.

DC:  As a building owner, wouldn't the owner be responsible for heating, windows, roof, etc.?

Jason: I don't think it would be fair to go back to them after all they have done.

Vic:  The items you are talking about, my conversation with Mark Frisone is that we should watch for grants for a roof, and our grants committee has been very fortunate in getting the grants.

DC:  Grants are great, but it has to be in a timely manner.  [He then gave examples of possible problems.]

[Blogger:  For a long time, the argument was that the trustees didn't want to "piecemeal" the project of the school building.  But I have seen project descriptions for buildings totaling millions of dollars, and guess what?  They go in stages.  Is there a difference between that and "piecemeal"?  Well, sort of, I guess:  stages must go in logical order.  But the project still doesn't get done all at once.]

Jason:  No township in Portage County has the money to do this.  He mentioned a levy.

DC:  Chances would be slim and none.

Jason:  I am hoping Mark Frisone could be our savior in this with some agreed-upon contexts and we would be a tenant.  A lot of those conversations are up in the air.

[Blogger:  One more note:  I believe there is a prohibition about putting a levy onto the ballot for only one building.  The township owns five:  the township hall, the civic center, the township garage, the salt shed, and the school.  As I understand it, the levy would have to be for use on all five.]


Dave Pollard:  [To my surprise, Jason recognized Dave.]  The Grants and Funding Committee has been looking at the whole thing and it has been a serendipitous process for all of the committees--they keep finding the right people.  The township has put in $10,000 and the restoration society has put in more than double that.  The Grants and Funding Committee is being careful to keep the costs to the township minimal.

The community also said they want the township to retain ownership of the building.  I will tell you flat out I don't care much for Mark Frisone.  That is first impression.  He is not the kind of person I would want to be friends with.  That may not have anything to do with how he does business.

I do not want to see the people who want to keep the building as part of the township see it taken out from under them.

Jason:  I disagree with that.  I am all about what the community wants.  I don't want to __?__ characters.  You are the first person who has said anything about Mark Frisone.

They were almost done, and then Jason recognized Jan Oros.

Jan:  I can see how well this topic was orchestrated.

You would actually sell the building to Mark Frisone?  Because when we talked about the land across the bullpen, you said you couldn't sell it.   [It would have to go up for auction.]  Would it be different for Mark Frisone?

Would you be opposed to leasing it to Mark Frisone?

John Festa:  We can lease the building and then rent rooms in it.   I would entertain a lease--that would be a win-win.

Jason:  To me it [ownership] is not off the table.

[Blogger:  Essentially, that was the end of the meeting.  The trustees recessed to pay the bills, and I left.]

Trustees 12-15-16

Present:  Larry Leitzow, Steve Zielinski (sp?), Dan Cozzens, Jan Oros, Marie Stehli, Brian Summerlin, Mark Hall, Todd Peetz, Benton Stull, Roger Hurd, Dave Pollard, Carole Pollard

Todd Peetz was attending in order to present information about fair housing laws, which all CDBG recipients must receive.  People cannot be denied housing based on race, gender, having children, handicaps, or military status, among others.

Todd also announced that Regional Planning now had a grant writer, and that the commissioners had hired a planner.  The intention is for everyone to have an equal chance to receive grants.  The first grant is a service of regional planning.  If a township or other government entity gets one grant, writing the next one is funded through technical assistance hours, available to all eligible county entities.

Todd also asked about a meeting date in January regarding the school.

Jason had not thought about it.

Club and Committee reports were next.

 The only reports were from The Mantua Restoration Society, Inc., and the fire board.  The restoration society is planning an arts event.  It will be an Artist's Overstock auction, a Mini Art Quilt Auction, and a cookie walk.  The restoration society and the task force to develop a community center in the school are collaborating on this.  It will be a fund raiser and also a way of leading people through the school, since the plan is to have cookies and the mini quilts in the available rooms, with the little quilts as silent auction items.  The art items will be sold by live auction in the annex, with Rick Painley as the auctioneer.  The date is February 11, to give cookie buyers a chance to get sweets for Valentine's day.

The fire board report from John Festa was that a contract has been approved with the fire fighters for one year.

There was some routine business about plowing snow at LaDue Reserve.

Then there was discussion about correspondence from the president of the Gold Wings motorcycle club, which meets in the Civic Center.  They were concerned about the cost of the rent.  However, they store their things in the building at no additional cost.  The feeling was that there have been very few increases, and we need to come up to some kind of par with the market.  The rent has been $50/day and is due to go up to $65 at the beginning of the year.

What followed was a leisurely discussion about the services shared by the township and the Mantua Center Christian Church:  the well (which requires water softener), the dumpster and trash pickup, and the parking lot(s).  The issue about the parking lots is that the road crew could possibly be pulled off plowing the roads to clear the parking lot.   The church pays part of those fees, and it has been a handshake  agreement for some time. The septic system is also shared, with the distribution field all on church property and two tanks, one on church property and the other on the township's.  Recent work on the septic system came to $1672.50.  Roger Hurd stated that the church paid $270 for one of the expenses involved.  The church pays for the dumpster and is then reimbursed for 2/3 of that by the township.

Jason  thought that perhaps the township was paying somewhat more than its fair share, and Brian Summerlin thought the church could pay for some of the water softener.  Vic thought it would be impossible to sort out the costs.

It was a neighborly, unhurried discussion, but there were impatient mutterings from the back of the room.  [We had been spared those since about August, but now they had returned.]

There was discussion about the Chagrin River Watershed Partnership, which has dues of about $1300.  The discussion comes up every year about whether to continue it, but the group is a good source of information.

[Blogger:  I am going to pull in comments from later in the meeting because they are so relevant to the discussion about the services shared by the township and the church.]

Roger Hurd, Mantua Center Road:  A comment on the cooperation between the church and township:  that goes back 170 years.  I wasn't here the whole time, but part of it.  In the 1840's after the church was build, the church built two horse barns and hitching rails on township property.  The barns were on church property.  In the 50's the parking lot on the south side was a field.  Durfee Aldrich dug it out, and various businesses--Brugmann's, for example--brought in the grave.  The idea was to have a community parking lot.  In the 1970's the church undertook to redo the Civic Center and wrote one check for $7300 for material.  Vic Magyarics and some others put in hundreds of hours and hauled a lot of loads of dirt out.  At the time it was agreed that we [the church] did not have to pay rent if we wanted to use it.  In the 40's and 50's when the township had one truck and two guys, the church plowed everything.  That is the kind of cooperation we had.  When the lift station went in, we tapped into that.  It was my understanding that we paid for part of the lift station or did the township pay for the whole thing?

Vic:  I don't know, Roger.  I am sure we shared the expenses.

Roger:  The lot line is at the door of the church.  The steps belong to the township.  We would not do anything to jeopardize that.  It has been a long, long time of mutual backscratching--176 years.  That is what I wanted to bring up--history and the background of cooperation.  We are landlocked by public land and understand our position there.

Jason:  Thanks, Roger.  I didn't know that history.  I hope we can make things fair and keep working on it. 
 

Public Comment, Trustees

Blogger Foreword:  Well, several days of major computer problems plus the onset of the holidays (not to mention the SS/DD quality of "government" in the township) have conspired to delay posting public comment from the last meeting.

Amazingly, it was over by 8:10p.m.  There was a rather curious transaction about the minutes, but I need to check something about that.  My intention is to check for accuracy and then give the whole string, which had its beginning clear back in October.  [The time is from memory; it was a while ago.]

Public Comment began at 8:00 p.m. 

Amy Janca, Barbara Herbold, and Carole Pollard had no comment.  Apparently my saying nothing was of some unkind interest to someone sitting in the vicinity of Barb and Amy, because there was a derogatory sounding grunt from that area.  Apparently with the Harrasser-in-Chief no longer attending meetings, someone else has moved to fill in that niche.  Whoopee.

Mary Ann Weber,  re bullpen:  [This was about the licensing agreement that John Festa has been pushing.] 
Not really [anything] other than that my attorney thought a couple of changes were a little strange.  And what is the point of signing an agreement if the township can revoke it at any time?  

It upsets me every time I have to come to a meeting.  I am about ready to throw up right now and I have anxiety attacks a couple of times a week.

[Blogger:  If Mrs. Weber had hoped that somehow this would prompt some compassion, she was absolutely wrong.  My own view is that her remarks, as anguished as they were, would be seen as a sign that they had her on the run and only needed to close in--about like wolves going after a weak animal in the herd.  And none of my comments here should be read as critical of her.  I think plenty of criticism is justified, but not of her.]

Jason:  This is exactly the way it should be and the township has not used the barn at all.

[Mrs. Weber actually said more than I noted, and much of it was about the property line in relation to the barn on the property.  The whole thing is more of a tangle than it appears in this post, including a good deal of irritation on the part of the property owner, who is upset by the situation also.  The Webers are renting.]

Dave Pollard, S.R. 82:  What if anything has been done about the issue Bill Kelley brought up?
[This is about the encroachment on both the east and west sides of School Lane, which Bill came to three meetings to seek action or at least a reasonable response.]

Jason:  We haven't discussed anything about it.  The guys are going to do some chipping about overhead brush.

Dave:  There is a lot more to that than there is with Mrs. Weber's situation.

Jason:  We haven't really talked about it.

Jan Oros, Wayne Road:  Jan asked about seeing her name in the minutes regarding speed limits.

Jason explained the process of a speed study.  This had to do with Skinner and Sheldon roads, both of which are posted at 40mph.

Jan:  I believe the speed limit on Wayne Road should be dropped for the same issues--sight line and it has become a cutoff road between 44 and 82.  With a driveway and the speed that people are traveling, that is an issue.  [Visibility out of Jan's drive can be a problem, in light of the speed at which people travel.]

Jason then talked about speed studies.

Jan:  The speed limit is 45mph, and I think that is too fast.

Jason:  It  is not a fast process.

Vic:  A lot of that depends on the surface of the road.  When it was paved, it may have been 45mph, but the condition may have changed.
The township trustees are only allowed to set speed limits on gravel roads and subdivisions:  25-35mph in both.  [Traffic count and line of sight are among the relevant conditions, and there is only one gravel road in the township.]

Jan:  We have had cars up in our front yard and [one] off the road across the street.

Public Comment ended at that point:  8:10p.m.

[Some of the details, which are clearer in the moment, have been left out of this post.  It is hard to visualize property lines which are only being discussed, not examined or demonstrated on a map.  The same is true of the right of way issue that Bill Kelley brought up.  That is an interesting issue that seems to me of much more real importance than the one for which John Festa is pushing a licensing agreement that is essentially meaningless.
[School Lane is used on Election Day; for the trustees--Jason and John Festa--to ignore that is serious business.  Could it affect whether the school is used for voting?  My opinion is that ignoring it should affect the status of the two trustees who are avoiding the issue.  That one deals with voting rights and the responsibility of elected officials to protect those rights.  
[The bull pen property line issue has a lot more to do with the good old boy conduct that has been foisted onto the township since 2009.  Someone with power or influence over a trustee or trustees wants it.  Never mind about long-established custom and neighborliness, and even less about justice being tempered with mercy.
[The next trustees meeting is day after tomorrow, as I keyboard this.  I can hardly wait.  Can you spell "sarcasm," boys and girls?]

Trustees 12-1-16: Elevator Notice to Proceed

Blogger:  This post is only going to be one brief entry, which I consider significant enough to deserve solo status.

Vic:  I got an e-mail from Lisa Reeves.  She has sent the paperwork to proceed to the contractor on the elevator.

Apparently all the contracts have been signed.  We don't know how much will be extra through the grants because it has taken so long to get things signed.  Lisa is worried about change orders.  Most of the grant is probably used up.

John Festa:  Do you know if the final plans were submitted?

Vic:  I will know tomorrow.

Jason:  Do we need to talk about the elevator?  [Blogger:  Just from these words, a number of interpretations are possible.  As I heard it, the question was about whether further discussion needed to be carried out at the moment.]

Vic:  It is moving forward.  Continue to go after other grants.

Jason:  The $140,000 . . . .

Vic:  She thinks it has been used up also.

[Blogger: Lisa copied me on that e-mail.  In it, she specified a completion date of June 30, 2017.  Vic mentioned that, I believe, but since I already knew it and also knew pretty much what this post would be, I did not record that part of his remarks.]

Special Meeting 10-27

Blogger:  This is going to be a summary of a few points from the special meeting, mostly from memory checked against notes.  It is not going to be the usual approach.  That meeting was a month ago, in the middle of so many meetings that I missed an insurance deadline (my own fault, but a measure of how crammed October got).  I am not going to revisit it in detail, and in many ways it was a tape loop which can be accessed at a number of other meetings or inferred from context.

Here is an overview.

Chad Delaney and Jeff Jackson wanted to have the special meeting before the November 7 community meeting that Todd Peetz conducted so that they and the trustees understood each other's goals and positions.

In a nutshell, Chad and Jeff want a community center.  Jason Carlton and John Festa want no more work to be added to their duties, and Jason sees Chad and Jeff/the community center as renters/tenants.

Their desire to have no more work explains why they act as if the school does not exist.

Viewing the community center as a tenant rather than as a service to the community means, according to a person on the Grants and Funding committee, that it would not be possible to get grant money.

With the proper structure, it would be possible to address the issues of Wi-Fi and available computers, for example.

At a recent meeting, Jason made the statement that people weren't lined up to rent the building.  "If you build it, they will come" makes for a warm fuzzy movie.  In the real world, it takes advertising and promotion, which two of the trustees have avoided.  In fact, a surprising number of people have rented the gymnasium/annex, and thanks to Vic's constant availability, the 1914 building was rented while two dance studios recovered from flood and fire.  The potential is there, but it isn't visible to someone who is willfully blind to anything but his own convenience.

Interestingly enough, someone else thinks that "no one is interested in renting it" is a stupid position to take.  Check out the Tuesday, November 29, Record Courier "Sound Off!"  The second item certainly sounds like a comment on things right here.  Did I send it in, or my brother Dave?  Why hide behind anonymity now, when we have spoken for ourselves for years, and when I have been sued and the blog upheld as an expression of our right to freedom of speech?  I was just tickled that someone else had the same view of the "no one is interested," since the popular view from two of the people at the front table is that only a few feel like Dave and I do.

I think a lot of people feel like that, but it takes a lot of endurance (and the ability to suppress one's gag reflex) to sit through meeting after meeting when Jason states, as if it were a virtue, that he is not an expert in these matters.

So--here is a list of thoughts, some of which are facts, some of which are expressions of my values.

First:  Anyone who ran for trustee after 2004 knew that the township owned a building which had been purchased for a variety of solid community and government uses.

Second:  Jason claimed in 2009 that he would work to get us into the old school.

Third:  Jason and John Festa's chief sponsor (maybe not chief for Jason, but certainly sponsor enough to claim Jason as "his man"), in meeting after meeting in 2010 brutalized Vic Grimm and Mark Hall.  There were two main attacks:  It had been too long, and the project was above Vic's pay grade.

Fourth:  Jason, to repeat myself, states and re-states his lack of knowledge.  I am a career teacher, and a good one.  Shame on anyone who has had a position for 8 or 9 years, with his own promise echoing in his past, who still claims to know nothing about a major element of his job.


Fifth: The trustees are responsible for more than just the roads and ditches, which are not small things but are for the most part "cookbook."  Trustees are responsible for the township and its property.  The school has been ignored as much as possible since 2010, and what has been done has been done by Vic, members of the Building Assessment, Utilization, Grants and Funding, and Volunteer committees.  Jason and John Festa have made the supreme effort of putting their signatures onto some documents which represent hours of work by other people.

Sixth:  Thanks to Skip Schweitzer, the mask, as I said has been ripped off.  Spin is spin.  We should be running a laundromat at the Township Hall, because the spin cycle gets trotted out at every meeting, as if we couldn't all practically recite it almost like a choral accompaniment, having heard it for so long.

In another context, the Community Center Task Force has been meeting, defining itself, and generating some enthusiasm for the building. 

In addition, the trustees; Chad Delaney, Jeff Jackson, intern Benton Stull; Task Force members Brian Hurd, Jay Schabel (sp?), and Ken Parker; and Mark Frisone, Director of Family and Children's Services, met recently for a walk-through and discussion of the building.

I anticipate that their meeting and points discussed will be part of the topics of the next trustees meeting, on Thursday, December 1.  You should make the effort to be there.

Upon reviewing this post, it is more op ed than pure fact.  I want to think that my opinions are conclusions drawn from observation and research.  You have just read an amalgam of both.

To resume and catch up, sort of

First of all, my breather from doing all these posts included not attending the November 17 trustees meeting, so there will be no blog post detailing anything about it.  I was told a couple of things that I may pass on, but remember that they are hearsay.  And I will get to them later if they seem worth the effort.

There was a community meeting conducted by Todd Peetz on Monday, November 7.  I mentioned it in a previous post and said that I would not comment on it until after The Weekly Villager had published Skip Schweitzer's article about it.  The Record Courier ran an article about the meeting written by Matt Merchant which did a good job, and Tuesday's (11/22) paper carried a letter written by Lynn Harvey and Roger Hurd clarifying a few details.  Their letter is a model of clarity, conciseness, and accurate facts--worth hunting up, if you missed it.

Skip's article is in the November 25 edition of The Weekly Villager--today's date, as I keyboard this.  I can't really add anything to it, since it started with the headline "Mantua Center School Meeting Erupts Into Loud Shouting Match" and kept on from there.

Skip's article refers to a member of the "ad hoc hostile group" [hostile to the school] "rehashing an old issue about ductwork."

I do want to add something on this head.  The statement was that the blueprints for the elevator indicated that ductwork would be capped off, and the clear implication was that it would be left that way and part of the building would be without heat.

Right.

I was in the building the day that Hal Stamm and John Zeit, licensed structural engineer and registered architect respectively, pulled out ceiling tiles to see what was up there in what will become the elevator shaft.  They discovered the ductwork, and their immediate conclusion was that it would have to be dealt with.

During the shouting match, that was exactly Skip's point:  that licensed professionals--experts--have been involved in this project, and wouldn't you, who do not have those credentials, expect that they would re-route the ductwork?

Benjamin Franklin had this to say, which I think applies extremely well here:

Half the Truth is often a great Lie.

I will do some checking about the status of the ductwork.

If you're interested in who made the allegations about the ductwork, scroll back to the blog post about the bids for the electrical work on the elevator project and think about which bid was the most unrealistic.

There was also a special meeting so the trustees and Jeff Jackson and Todd Delaney could discuss things regarding the school and the community center.  I need to review that and will only summarize what to me were significant points, since things do keep moving and playing catch-up is really wearing. 

A Breather

The past few weeks have been marked by a rash of meetings.  On October 27, there was a special meeting between the trustees and Jeff Jackson and Chad Delaney to discuss and explore thoughts and issues about the community center idea.

Jeff and Chad had urged that they meet with the trustees before the community meeting with  Todd Peetz so that the status of the building and their purposes and intentions and those of the trustees could be mutually stated and understood.  It was set to last an hour and a half and came close to that time.

The community meeting facilitated by Todd Peetz was held on November 7 and went to two hours.  A lot got said, some of it very pointed.  The shams and masks have been stripped away; now it will be a matter of seeing if two of the trustees act as if nothing had happened.

Skip Schweitzer was at that meeting, in two capacities:  as a member of the Building Assessment Committee and as a columnist for The Weekly Villager.  He ran the article past me, and I am going to delay a blog post about the meeting until after Skip's article has been printed.   It is in Skip's usual vigorous style.  Some people may not know that Skip is also a former trustee, so he knows what the machinery of government looks like and how it ought to move.  With luck, the article should be in the November 17 Villager.  It is more restrained than parts of the meeting were.  More residents should have been there.

So--stand by, read the Villager, and I will catch up on odds and ends in the blog after that.

Trustees 11-3-16

Blogger Foreword:  This post is going to be stripped down to what I consider a major step forward  and then public comment.  Period.  The past few weeks have felt like trying to put 10 pounds into a 5-pound bag.  OK, here goes.

Jeff Jackson and Chad Delaney were not at this meeting.

Vic talked about the funds for the capital grant (the one through Senator Eklund's office).    All of the paperwork has been filed [after some apparent confusion about that] and Vic reported that we are now "on the board" in Columbus to be in line for approval.

It looks as if we will not receive any money from Columbus until after the first of the year because in December the government begins to shut down.

Marie Stehli and Jodie Thompson agreed that it would be OK to move $20,000 so we can certify the money.  Lynn Harvey is here tonight and can sign off of The Mantua Restoration Society, Inc., money.

Vic, continuing:  Things have changed since last week on this, but one thing can be changed without a resolution.  Basically this will get rid of the old Bank of New York account.  [Blogger:  That was the account through which the trustees purchased and paid for the school.]

Vic reviewed the amounts and funds to move them from.  This will give us the $55,000 for the down payment on the elevator.  The main thing is to sign the contracts.

Vic, to Jason:  Are you OK with moving that around?

Jason:  Yes, as long as we keep careful documentation of it.

Vic handed the contract book to John Festa, who looked disgusted with it, in my opinion.
[John Festa generally looks disgusted with most things having to do with the school, in my observations.]

Jason asked Vic about making a motion to the effect of the transfers.

Answer:  Yes.

Vic [I believe] then made a motion to move $20,000 into the Center School account.  Jason seconded it, and all three trustees voted yes.

Vic to Jodie:  You will have to create a revenue fund.
The other thing is signing the contracts.

John Festa:  I need to read this contract.  [The contract was about 90 pages, from the look of it.  John Festa had picked it up, riffled through it, and set it down, still looking disgusted.  This is one of his habitual delaying tactics:  He has to have more time to read and decide.]

Vic:  What we are signing for is the money.
To Jason:  We need to sign it tonight, Jason.  This is to certify the money.  $92,613.40--this is what Jodie and the trustees are certifying.

$82,613 from the Portage County Commissioners
$10,000  from the trustees

Jason clarified what had to be done right now.

Vic:  The grants can't be paid up front.  There is still another contract for the electrical; that will be from Columbus.
Continuing:  I wanted to make sure of the amount.  They have awarded us $140,000.

John Festa:  Do we have a certification on that?

Vic:  They won't give us a certification until . . . .[Blogger:  I lost that date or "marking" event.]

Jason signed the certification.

John Festa:  There is no place for me to sign.

Vic:  Only Jason and Jodie need to sign.

Five sets of those papers had to be signed, each one going to a different government entity.

Vic:  Thank you for signing that, and know that Lisa Reeves is very happy for your doing that.

In other business, John Dickey reported on zoning and Larry Kasmarik and his administrative assistant discussed insurance and their services with the trustees.  That took a while.

After that and several other things, John Festa presented a list of things he wanted to get done by the end of the year.  One of those is some kind of decision about a license regarding  the property at the bullpen.

Vic reported that the Boy Scouts are close to completing the project to repair and refurbish the 12-holer.

He also reported that a representative of an alarm system company had come in to check the township hall.

In public comment, Mark Hall had no comment.

Sue Skrovan said she had been approached by the people who have been meeting on Tuesdays in the annex to see if they could meet at the Civic Center during the winter and the construction period.  After some discussion, that was approved.
Sue also asked John Festa about minutes on the Fire Department website--there are none posted.
John Festa replied that it is all on Facebook.

Dave Pollard: At the last meeting I had mentioned that Susan Buckles and I were going to host a meeting after people vote.  It is not at the end of the day but after voting.  It is at the Civic Center, probably by about 10 a.m.  Last election, we went until about 6 but we may clost a little earlier if people are going home for supper.

People can go there for lunch--the same kind of food we have at the corn maze.  Food is also coming from other members of the restoration society.   It is not a restoration society event--although everyone is a member.  We decided that this year we will ask for donations for the food and keep out enoughj for the hall rental and give the rest to the American Legion for their Honor Flight to take veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the war memorials there.  Ray Corbett is part of that.

I had seven uncles in WWII, and all of them came home.  I don't know whether the government would consider one of them a veteran because he was in the Merchant Marine, which suffered more casualties than any other branch.

Those men really did save the world from tremendous [evil].  [Blogger:  That wasn't Dave's word, but it will do.]

Poll workers can come for lunch, and they were very appreciative last year.  We are doing whatever we can for the community.  We hope to make this an event for every election.

[Blogger:  My own public comments were simply to remind everyone of the American Legion soup supper on the next day.]

Jason announced the community meeting for Monday, November 7 in the Civic Center at 7p.m.

The trustees then broke to pay the bills, and I came home.

Todd Peetz Meeting 11-7-16

On Monday, November 7, Todd Peetz, Director of Portage County Regional Planning, will conduct a meeting at the Civic Center at 7 p.m.

The purpose is to take stock of the status of work on the Mantua Center School Building and to move things forward (as I understand it).

The trustees,  if present, will make no decisions because it is not their meeting.

The more people who attend, the better--and then, if those who have attended also make their thoughts known to the trustees, especially Jason Carlton and John Festa, even better.  The idea has been stated from the trustees' table that the same half dozen people regularly attend meetings and regularly speak (on the same topics because we keep hearing the same things from the front table) and are the equivalent of a broken record.

The attitude from up front is that those people (we, actually, since it's Dave and I a lot)  are some kind of lunatic fringe.  I disagree.  But we are determined enough and tough enough to keep at it.  We could use some help.

Even if you don't show up at a regular meeting, it would be excellent if you made it to the Monday 11-7 meeting at the Civic Center at 7 p.m.

Public Comment 10-20, Elevator and Community Center

Public Comment began at 9:30.

Rod Summerlin:  No comment

Terrie Nielsen:  I am here on behalf of the Portage County Board of Elections.  I request that the closing mechanism on the exterior door of the annex be adjusted so that the time between opening it and closing it must be three seconds.  It is less than that.  That is an ADA requirement, and it is easy.

Vic:  It is supposed to be easy but not with that door.  There is another issue with that door, and I have it pretty close.

TN:  Apparently at the last election the light that had been brought in was taking up parking spaces.  Parking in that lot has been tight.

Vic:  Bill Kelley has brought that up and I have made arrangements with him to park election officials in his yard.

Carole Pollard, Allyn Road:  I do not recall that anyone on any of the committees was authorized to develop a master plan.  Terrie Nielsen was grilled like hot dogs tonight, and she is Grants and Funding, not Building Assessment.  If you are surprised and don't know what's going on, you did talk about adopting a hands-off policy.  These are the chickens coming home to roost from that policy.  If you don't tell somebody they are supposed to do something and you don't set expectations and you don't set a reporting schedule, you will get exactly what happened tonight.

I think that since it is your building and your responsibility to the people and the building, you have a financial responsibility there . . . .We have been talking about a master plan for 2 years.  It sounded as if with this community center meeting we are back to square 1:  Let's see what the community needs.  I didn't hear anything about moving forward.  You have a report from Todd Peetz that is still relevant that says what the community wants.  It seems to me that the meeting on November 7 should start from there.

The second thing, Jason, is that when you campaigned for office 7 years ago, you said you would work to help get us into the old school.  We are still not in there.  I am not sure what hard work you have done; I can see what other people have done.  This community center idea is handing you a perfect opportunity to begin using the building in a wonderful way and be a hero in the township.  I don't understand why there is all of this resistance.

I think it is interesting -- sometimes people reveal themselves unconsciously.  The term circular was used a couple of times.

[It was used at the front table by, I believe, John Festa, but maybe Jason, and also by Chad Delaney.  It may not have made it into my notes, but it was said.]

I think if you took the time to look at the video, which no one will probably do for good reason, I think you would see that.

 It is time to move and you said you were accountable.  Being accountable means holding yourself to your own word.  I told you some time ago that if you were a man of your word, I would be your champion and not your critic.  This gap between what you said and what has happened is exactly why for 7 years I have been your critic.

I know you don't appreciate it.  Nobody does.  [Nobody appreciates being criticized--but results oriented people suck it up, listen to criticism, and act upon it if it is accurate.]
But I am urging you to move forward and show us that you can keep your word. 

[I was done at that point, and Jason asked Vic how long we have been using the gym.  Answer:  2010 or 2011.  Jason's campaign promise was to work to get us into the old school.  When we were working to clean it up for the open house, he showed up for less than an hour, wiped the gym mats, and left.  I'm not sure he has done anything else in the building other than show up for a few events when someone important was going to be the speaker.]

Roger Hurd, Mantua Center Road:  I would like to make a suggestion that a true community center is not one which we expect to charge the tenants money to maintain the cash flow.  A true community center is for the benefit of the community.  I would like to suggest that you put a small levy, about 1/4 mil, on the ballot so that it can become a true community center so that people like Jeff Jackson and Chad Delaney can use the building.  1/4 mil would more than cover the operating expenses.  It might not pay all the expenses, but it would help.  As you know, I have been a critic of what Nancy Taffel has to pay for her free community clothing giveaway and I continue to be a critic of that. 

Bob Green:  [I am going to summarize this.  Mr. Green had sat patiently through all of the tap dancing and spin of this meeting in order to ask why he had not received any confirmation that he had purchased two cemetery lots, paying $500 for them on September 6.

[Here is what happened next:  Jason said that the trustees only meet twice a month.  John Festa and Jodie said they would talk with Jim Aldrich.  Jason, I believe, asked Jodie about a check, and Jodie said that Jim gives her a lot of checks, a statement that was contradicted later--it isn't that many.]

Vic:  Will you leave me a number of what the check number is?  [Vic gave Mr. Green his phone number.]

Jason:  It is not our goal to hold anyone's money back.
Mr. Green:  But it has been 7 weeks.

[Blogger:   OK.  Look at the responses to Mr. Green:  Jodie weakly defended herself; John Festa defended Jim and promised to check with him; Jason defended procedures.
[The only person who responded to Mr. Green's distress was Vic.   Is anyone surprised?

[At some point, this whole thing was so disgusting that I reacted visibly, which Jodie objected to--tough.   I also at one point banged my head against the wall behind me, which Jason objected to.
Tough, again.  It was a sorry display of how not to be a public servant.]

Dave Pollard, S.R. 82:  I think Reverend Chad used the perfect word when he said "circular."

Has the township health insurance been paid?  At one point it wasn't paid.

I think you need one trustee to head up liaison on the elevator project.  Vic, you have been involved with that building since purchase and have good rapport with people in the county.  One person, not a committee.  Things get lost.  If it is you, things will move forward and be noted when necessary.  That is a big building over there.  Mr. Festa's complaint when we have to pay the utilities:  there is no reason why two things can't go on simultaneously. 
This has gone from a few years ago when you were against doing things piecemeal and now you want to [piecemeal the piecemeal.]

Jason and John Festa objected simultaneously to Dave's remarks.  Jason commented that there are 4,800 people in the township and about 6 come to every meeting and say the same things every week.


Dave:  Same thing as you--same thing same thing same thing.

The master plan is an umbrella.  The master plan is an umbrella for the community center.  Now we are going to have another meeting to hear what the community wants, and if only one thing is different, that will be used as a delay to discuss.

There are two or three other things.  I don't know how the roof will leak through 4 inches of concrete.

 So I won't be accused of being only negative about you poor guys . . . .:  Go Tribe.

Vic:  As far as the contractors, that was so the two contractors could coordinate.  That was one of the reasons Lisa Reeves had both of them there.  That is so they won't do something that has to be torn out.

Dave:  My point is that it is a big enough building that work can be done [by contractors] in different parts on their specialties so we don't have to wait for one thing to be done before the next thing can begin.  It should not be used as an excuse:  The elevator is in there, but no one else can be in there until everyone is done.
 [Blogger:  I am going to take responsibility for whatever seems scrambled here.  I know that Dave's point is basically that it's possible to chew gum and walk simultaneously.  Doing only one thing until it is done and then laboriously starting only the one next thing is ineffective except as a delay.

[I listened to the recording again to try to make out what Dave was saying, but his voice has a soft quality that made it impossible.  My apologies to him and to any readers.]

[At this point, public comment was done and the trustees recessed to pay the bills.  People hung around and talked for a while but filtered out until the only people left were Sue Skrovan, Dave, and I.  This is what happened next.]

John Festa spoke to Vic about an article in the Record Courier:  Hardly any work has been done when a conflict of interest was identified when John Festa's company Gable Elevator bid on the contract.
Vic clarified that although the article made it look as if he had attributed delay to Gable's bid, he had not said that.
John Festa:  He needs to print a retraction because this is dishonest.  I knew it was the case--you are a [standup guy]. 

Vic said he had spoken to the reporter and had him contact Lisa.
 
John Festa:  That is dishonest reporting and I wish he was here tonight because I would have told him.

Vic:  I did tell him it has taken us a long time.  [Vic then went into some detail about what he had told the reporter.]

John Festa:  It almost seems as if the reason was . . . . I have another thing coming up also.  I will confront that person for dishonest reporting.  The way he wrote it is that  . . . .
We pulled it before the conflict of interest, and besides, we were the only bidder.

[The bid was filed.  It was not signed because John Festa tried several ways for it to be acceptable, and Chris Meduri, the township's legal counsel, told him that none would not pass muster.  Being the only bidder is irrelevant.]

John Festa:  It is dishonest reporting and someone is going to pay for it.

[Blogger:  Again, this is not a court transcript.  I listened again to the remarks above, and their intent has been preserved here even though they are not verbatim.  I believe the content has not been distorted.]

Adjournment was at 10:15.

Trustees 10-20-16: Mostly about the Community Center

Before Jeff Jackson and Chad Delaney presented more information and possibilities for a community center at the school building, there was a brief discussion about insurance.  Part of that was some puzzlement about why the company, and not our agent, had contacted the trustees.  It appears that the premium had not been paid, but that conversation was rather subdued and hard to hear.  Jason referred to the whole insurance issue as a swamp, which pretty much echoes the whole country's experience with health insurance these days.

Jeff and Chad:  We checked about a couple of things setting up a community meeting regarding getting everyone together at the Civic Center or the school.  Todd Peetz is going to work on that and needs to know that it is certain.  [Blogger:  It is.  The meeting is Monday, November 7, at 7 p.m. in the Civic Center.]  Terrie Nielsen will not be there.  [Terrie is on the Board of Elections; she is going to be a tad bit busy the day before the election.]

[Everyone was OK with that.  It is not a special meeting, but set up by Todd Peetz.  No decision making will take place.]

Jason to Jeff and Chad:  You wanted to talk more in depth with the trustees before this meeting.

Jeff:  before you make a decision, can we give an opinion?  This is why we want a special meeting.  We hear John Festa's frustration and as you said at the last meeting, we can talk for a long time about this.  Discussion before the community meeting [would be useful].

There is no reason we can't be occupying and participating in the building.  Vic has been really great about working with us, but there is no reason to hold off the use of the building.

Chad:  I wanted to know the difference between a community meeting and a special meeting.  Because we have so many questions about next steps.  I was at the community meeting [some months ago at the Civic Center].   There was not a lot of chance to interact with you three or [learn] what you want.  We want to  know the steps to take to get there.  We got a chance to say what we need, but we don't have a chance for discussions.

A special meeting gives the chance to find out what you really want us to do.  My fear is that at the community meeting, if it is even optional for you to be there, that doesn't encourage us much.

It is the chance to interact with you all to see what your concerns are and how we can work together--all the things we need to work out.  If it is strategically appropriate for the special meeting after, OK, but it makes more sense to us to have it before.

Vic:  I have no problem meeting beforehand.  I have attended a couple of the meetings.  The last one was a kind of walk through of the school.  One of my concerns is that we get that area sealed off [where a lot of dusty work will be going on for the elevator].  I am glad we are done with the rental of the building to the dancers.   [Vic checked about some of the details.]

Jeff:  We want the longer vision, too.  I don't think we have any worries working with you.  That is not a problem about giving us warning [about construction].

Vic:  We will have to find a location for the things in the main room.

Jeff:  We are interested in a larger [longer] view.

Vic:  Starting with pop up events sounds good.

Terrie Nielsen:  Can they use the annex in the meantime?

Vic:  In between rentals.  The gym, is being used almost every night in the week.

Chad:  I thought last time that John Festa did a good job illustrating the circular thing.  They need more, what do they want, etc.

It isn't just the program that Jeff Jackson and I are doing, but making sure that all of our work will be helpful to you.  We want to be sure we are being good stewards of our resources.  We hope your meeting is where you are.  [Blogger:  I missed a word or something that makes that last sentence problematical.]

Vic:  Where the middle room is, when the construction starts they will want to use that room.

Jeff:  We need an opportunity to talk about what is acceptable to you.  [At this point, I was momentarily distracted and may have missed a sentence.  I think that the room in question may be in the basement, here.  But the room desired as a community room is the north classroom on the main floor.  Everyone who actually wants to use the building seems to agree on that.]

Jeff:  What we don't want to have is for people to feel they are wasting their time.  We don't want you to sign a blank check.  I think a special meeting should help us move the committees forward.

Jason:  I see you as tenants, like a business coming to us looking for rental space.  You are looking for space you will call a community center.

Jeff:  We are putting our tenancy on the back burner.  We want to put the community center out front.  We want to make this building what it was intended to be 12 years ago.

Chad:  The proposal we gave you can end up being completely different.  As far as specifically using it for the teen center, we are not completely attached to that.  We want the bigger picture.

Jason:  What I am getting at is that I don't want to make the decision of should the teen center or a ___ group go in?  To me it doesn't matter.  Someone is running the community center.

Jeff:  Who will make that decision?   Right now it all comes to you.  The building has cost 7 cents a square foot for the last three years.  So could I rent the building for that cost?

[At this point, Jason got very prickly and told Jeff that he was being confrontive.]

Jason:   I would rather talk with Chad than you [right now.]   I feel that we are getting the run around.
[Blogger:  The trustees are getting the run around?  It would make more sense for Jeff to have said that at this point, in my opinion.]

John Festa:  Without sounding negative, since the beginning of the year we have been intending to move forward.  I don't know how things have changed since then.  It seems as if you are pulling away from what we have agreed on.  I am in favor of committees and a master plan I can present to the entire community and let them know what you are doing.  I am waiting for the committees to send[?]  me a new commitment.

Terrie Nielsen:  What is your definition of a master plan?

JF:  What the committees want to use it for and how much will it cost.  [Blogger:  The survey that Todd Peetz conducted in 2014 is relevant here.  Ignoring it strikes me as deliberately obstructive.]

Jason:  Here is what is going to happen.  With Terrie Nielsen beginning to submit a master plan, that will include what Jeff Jackson and Chad Delaney have submitted.

JF:  You are putting words in my mouth.  There are other things people would like to see--the historical society.

Jeff:  How does the historical society get into the building?

JF:  It is easy--they move in.  [!!!! After all of the roaring and delays and stipulations and requirements for every other use, suddenly it's OK if the historical society just moves in?!]

Vic:  The Grants and Funding Committee did too good a job for us.  They succeeded and they got the grant.  They have gotten us over $250,000.  The most important thing right now is the elevator.  That pulled us off the master plan because we changed direction to focus on the elevator.

Chad:  Is one of the stumbling blocks the source--that Jeff and I submitted a plan that was not from the committees?  If the committees brought it forward, would it be more acceptable?  Is that a fair way of presenting your perspective?

Jason:  I see you guys coming to us presenting the community center.  I want to see tenants using the building.  Get a nominal [?] amount of rent to do whatever you want to do with it.  I would trust you to do that.  This begins to get to the special meeting.

Chad:  When you were not present when we came, I sensed more of a stiff arm.  We thought that is what we were offered.  But we were told that would not work because there was not a master plan.  What you just said doesn't seem to conflict with what  we were thinking.  What you just said makes sense.

Jason:  We didn't need a master plan for Nancy Taffel to move in.  We would need a master plan for the whole building.  What do we want to see for this building 5 years from now.
[Blogger:  Keep this in mind as things progress during the rest of this discussion.  See if the reasoning and reasons are consistent.]
We don't need to have a master plan in front of us to get started.
[Blogger:  My note in the margin of my notebook here is WHEN?

Chad:  Are you all on the same page about that?

Jason:  I can't articulate that.

Vic:  To stay withing the ORC, we can have a special meeting but we need to notify the newspaper 24 hours ahead.  It has to be an open public meeting.  We can not go into executive session in a public meeting.

Jason:  If you can name some folks to be primary, it is the trustees posting the meeting and setting things up.

Chad: What do you think, John?

JF:  Personally I don't agree with going/getting ?. 

Chad:  For the trustees to do that is very wise.  There is a short term and a longer term understanding.  For the short term we can make a proposal.

Jason:  People aren't knocking down the door.  We have to look at you as tenants because someone has to write the check to the township.  If you want a special meeting, towards the tail end of next week.

[Blogger:  My note here says 4 hours discussing it.]

Jason:  Come to the community meeting and let the facilitator  handle it.  Then after that if a special meeting is needed then maybe we could do that.  He can work these things out.

Vic:  I would be open to a special meeting next week.,

Jason:  I would be OK later in the week.  Thursday.  Then, John, if you are not in favor, two trustees are necessary.  Your attendance is not required for the meeting.  My emphasis is start small with a couple of groups to see how it works out.

Chad:  We clearly have a lot to talk about.  If we want to set that and move on then people don't need to sift through any ore of this.

[The meeting was set for 6 p.m. on October 27.]

Vic:  The right thing is to notify the newspaper and then post it on the bulletin board with 24 hours' notice.

A time limit was set for 6 to 7:30.

Jason:  I will throw an advertisement into the paper.

Vic:  E-mail it and it will post it.

Next was a little about an upcoming zoning hearing, and then the Yarolin septic and sewer issues on Pioneer Trail.  Some help for Mrs. Yarolin seems to have been arranged.

There was a little about the logo, followed by public comment.  This post is plenty long enough; public comment will be a separate post.

  

Trustees 10-20-16

Various routine things went on at the beginning, including a couple of exchanges in which it seemed as if Vic was telling Jodie how some things needed to be done.

Garden Club will meet in November to  make home made centerpieces and floor mats using natural materials.  The December meeting will be a dinner at a restaurant.  The club will also decorate the township hall in December and will welcome help.

Dave Pollard announced that he and Susan Buckles will have refreshments at the Civic Center from 10 or 10:30 to about 5 or 5:30 on election day, for people to come to after they have voted.  He stressed that it is for after people have voted.

John Festa announced that the fire department has approved the dispatch contract for three years with Mantua Village.

He also elaborated a bit on the inspection regarding new lighting, a recommendation for additional lighting in and around the exit and entrance areas for the fire alarms.

Terrie Nielsen asked about which building.
Answer:  The school.

Under new business, Jason announced that John Dickey had been getting phone calls from residents who do not seem to access the website and who are calling for people who are no longer with the township.

Jason thought a mass mailing might be the answer, in the form of a magnetic card.  He thought the cost would be about $1.50 each, with 1500 households.
[Blogger:  That works out to $2250, for a township that seems to be tight on money.  Furthermore, I can attest to how many addresses are no longer accurate.  A dollar and a half to get something returned seems a bit steep.]

Sue Skrovan mentioned that Mantua Village puts such information in its quarterly Mantua Matters, which is distributed to banks and the post office.

John Festa continued, regarding the fire alarm for the township hall and the historical society's role in that.  The best bet seems to be a DSL line.

Jason asked Dottie Summerlin if she had any information.
Dottie:  We met Monday and she (Linda Ehlert) was going to look into some things.  We did not make any decisions.

John Festa also raised the issue of needing a portable light for Election Day.

Vic:  Brian Tayerle had some questions about it.  I told him to get some pricing.  He would prefer to pick it up and return it himself.

John Festa's final item was to raise the possibility, inquired about by Brian Tayerle, of having a 4th week of vacation after 10 years of service.

Vic:  I checked with other communities and it is 12 years in one and 15 in another [to get 4 weeks of vacation.]  Since this is a government job, the private sector gets about 6 days of vacation per year.  The public sector has about twice that.  They get eleven holidays and 11 sick days.
When you only have two guys working, this is an issue.

There was some discussion about fire cabinets [for the garage, I believe] and also how to handle the gravel for a culvert project on Skinner Road.  The job is taking a lot of gravel; if the owner of the property paid for half of what's required, that could come to about $1500.
[This project is among the group that goes back several years and gets worked on as possible.]

Elevator Progress.  John Festa to Vic:  People would be there last Tuesday?

Vic:  Yes.  We went through with the electrical and the general contractor.  We are still waiting on some paperwork from Eklund's office.

Terrie Nielsen:  The paperwork has been filed.

Jason:  What exactly does that mean?

Terrie:  I don't have a bill.

Vic:  They needed a submittal form first.

Terrie:  That is what has been filed.

Vic:  Now that it is filed, things can start.
To Terrie:  Did you get things to Lisa Reeves?

John Festa:  I was at the meeting and I was shocked to learn that we don't even have the plans submitted to the plans examiner.

Terrie:  I know that they were submitted.

John Festa:  The general contractor was there.

Terrie:  There are plans.

John Festa:  The plans examiner rejected them.

Terrie:  I am unaware of that.

John Festa:  They have not been revised.  We don't have plans and can't start the project.  We are behind on the project through no fault of our own.
[Blogger:  He's just now noticing some of this?  These comments sound like stagecraft to me.  I asked about this well of un-knowledge and was told that the only thing that was an issue at the pre-construction meeting was the uncertainty about the money.  It's there, but red tape is keeping things stalled. The impression from John Festa's comments is that things are hopelessly confused.  Not quite spot on.]

Vic:  I talked with Lisa Reeves from Regional Planning today.  She said Terrie was coming tonight to talk with us about some of this.

John Festa:  The board of trustees are not being informed about this.  The GC wants to start and anything that is changed since he was approved, then all of the work we did not to get change orders--we will get change orders.

Vic:  We need for the township to certify this money to show that it is coming in.  I talked with Lisa today but on the one form it says to certify it, we are in line to get the money and we can certify it that way and I talked to Janet Esposito so we can get the paperwork.  We want to get started before the prices change.

John Festa:  I have never seen a walk through . . . .     [He trailed off here.]

Terrie:  Who is looking for the plans?

John Festa did not know.

Terrie:  I work across from the building department and will walk across there to find out.

Vic:  JohnZeit is working with Charlie Corcoran in the building department.

John Festa:  Whatever you can do to help.

Terrie:  I don't want to step on anyone's toes.  I got the impression from Lisa that she is in the process of drafting an extension for a year.  I let her know that the paperwork was filed.  I will get in touch with her tomorrow.  I will be happy to begin calling people and pushing on them.

Vic showed Terrie a form and asked if Lisa had it,because she seemed to need it.

Terrie:  I will follow up with John Zeit and the building department because I was unaware of this.

John Festa repeated the problems.

Terrie:  I understand that the lack of forward motion was lack of money.

Vic:  We need to get this going so we can certify the funds.  But there is a provision that we might be able to certify that the money is coming in.  That she just brought up to me today.

John Festa:  How do we pay them once they begin?

Terrie:  I would be more than happy to send a bill to whoever is supposed to getit.

Vic:  The elevator company wants $55,000 down.

There was some discussion about the tangle of conflicting requirements.

John Festa:  We need to have more communication with the people out there.  We have no idea what is going on.
[Well, anyone who has been paying attention can see that Vic apparently knows what's going on.]

Vic:  They have been communicating with Lisa Reeves.

Jason:  It might be as simple as asking to be included.

Terrie:  The money is there in Columbus.   

John Festa:  I am just bringing it out to the trustees.  We need to get our noses to the grindstone so we get the project done.   

Jason:  Anything else on the comprehensive plan?

Terrie:  Yes.  I am working with Dan Tillett, Hal Stamm, and Eric Hummel.  I have sent them a draft.  Hopefully, that will be  ready for you by the next meeting.  At the last meeting there was a lady from State Farm about grants available.  Essentially we are using the same proposal that went to Eklund, without the elevator and bell tower.  It is for other things like the parking lot and rood and replacing the windows with period appropriate good windows.  My understanding is that the party requesting the money will go through MaRSI  because it needs to be a 501 c 3.

[That was the end of the elevator/grant discussion, and it is also the end of this post.]

Special Meeting re School as a Community Center

This is a reminder:

Tonight, October 27, Thursday, the trustees will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. in the township hall to discuss how the school can be used as a community center.

This is the only topic of the meeting.

Its format is different than usual, also:  Jeff Jackson, Chad Delaney, and a designated small group of representatives of the various groups studying, advocating, and working on using the Mantua Center School building will participate in discussion with the trustees.

The meeting is open to the public, but only those seated at the table will be participants in the discussion.  [The trustees at some point may, I believe, ask for additional comment, but I am not sure of that.]

This discussion should very clearly define positions regarding the use of the school.  Anyone with even the slightest interest is encouraged--urged--to attend.

Trustees on 10-20-16 set meetings for 10-27 and 11-7.

First, a master plan was not presented, which I had hoped for.  The key people in the Building Assessment Committee are working on it.  Your faithful blogger hopes it will be at the next meeting.

Second, two meeting dates were set:

On Thursday, October 27, at 6 p.m. in the Township Hall the trustees and Jeff Jackson and Chad Delaney will meet to have a serious discussion about the use of the Mantua Center School building as a community center.

Jason explained on October 20 that Jeff and Chad could have additional people at the table.  People at the table could speak, but no one else.  The meeting is a public meeting in a public place to discuss the use of a public building.  It is open to the public.

In my opinion, this meeting is very important and should be very instructive and enlightening for anyone who attends.  I hope a lot of you do.

The second meeting will be on November 7 at (I believe) 7 p.m. at the Civic Center.  This will be moderated/facilitated by Todd Peetz and is also completely open  to the public.  Again, as many people as possible should try to attend.

[My opinion is that two of the trustees will try to make this merely another go-in-circles sound-good evening of platitudes.  Your attendance and voices can at least blow that out into the open, even if nothing much happens.  In fact, since it is not a trustees' meeting, no decisions can be made.  But the groundwork can be laid and then followup action can be demanded.]

[To me, those two meetings were the most important things to come out of an inordinately long meeting.  Two of the trustees tried hard to have the special meeting after the community meeting--which would have continued the delays and inaction.]

See you Thursday, if not before, I hope.

Trustees 10-6-16, Last of Public Comment

Blogger Foreword:  The as yet unposted public comment is what I said, and it came after Terri Vechery's remarks.  Since it is not dependent on Terri's comments, but addresses some of what Jeff said and the situation in general,  it is going here.  Trying to insert it after people have begun reading these installments of the blog is unwieldy.  So here goes:

Carole Pollard:  I think what Jeff said was pretty eloquent.  The idea of a meeting that pulls everyone together--all four of the original committees plus the task force-- with the express purpose of moving forward with the master plan [is good]. I suspect we are closer to having the master plan than it sounded for a while.

The master plan and business plan can be developed concurrently and without waiting to do one and then the  other.  The building can also be used while those things are being done.  The building is usable now.  Now with dust everywhere and holes in the walls, we will have to work around that.

What I really want to urge is an idea that I ran across years ago.

The obstacles are not something that should stop you.  They are the things that show you the path to success.  So the question is how do we deal with this, and how do we overcome it, and how do we gain use out of this?

The elevator was thrown up as an obstacle for a couple of years.  It was an obstacle.  Well, look what has happened.  We are going to have an elevator one way or another, and Lisa Reeves deserves a golden something or other for the work she has put in on our behalf.  The obstacles are speed bumps.  They are not Berlin walls.

[Blogger:  At this point, Jason shifted back to Jeff more or less conversationally and talked about getting Todd Peetz  back.]

Pollard:  The biggest leaps of progress we have made are the times we have leaned on Todd Peetz.  He has managed to smooth things over and pull them together.

[Blogger:  That will do.  Between a presidential debate/insulting match and the meeting tomorrow (as I keyboard this), more is not necessary.  Any gaps will get filled in.  But I urge you to go back and see how many times in the past two months exactly the idea of getting Todd Peetz back has come up--with no action.  You are what you do, not what you say.  Jason loves to talk.]

Public Comment 10-6-16: Terri Vechery, others

Terri Vechery:  From a grant and funding standpoint the more people you get in there, the more money you get.  If you have a senior center corner, you can apply for grants.  Are you going to get the cart before the horse, or the horse before the cart?  This is like the CDBG grant.

Call Todd Peetz to come in.

Jason:  Agreed.  We want to have a better idea of your vision.  We envisioned those committees and the task force all coming together.  There may be some work between [now and]  then [?].  [Blogger:  The faster I take notes, the harder it is to translate some of them.  My pen was flying on this section, but the last sentence makes sense without changing what seemed to be the intent.]
We have been thinking about solutions and process [?] and we think we definitely need to get them all together with Todd Peetz.
[Blogger:  Right.  He has been saying this for at least three meetings.  What's the hangup now?]

John Festa:  I like the idea of a community meeting. 

Vic:  I think there is some work to do before then.

Jason:  It may be the first of November.

[Blogger note:  Terri Vechery had just won the biggest Queen of Hearts drawing in the world, and the two junior trustees treated her like wallpaper.  Simple courtesy dictates at least a curt "Congratulations."  Nothing. What do you think would have been said if one of their buddies or supporters had won that pot?]

Nick Ehlert:  Gentlemen, I want to thank and encourage you.  I am a preservationist.  I can see the school be an asset for the community and an asset for children.  I also want to stress preservation of what we have.

Mary Ann Weber:  I just wanted to say that everyone who has had to work on the tree has been sure to park over to the side and give me access.

Dave Pollard:  I am not 100% in favor of turning part of the school into a drug rehab center.  That is the county's job, but they don't do their job unless they are pushed into it.  Portage County never busts anyone for heroin--only marijuana.  But if we got someone knowledgeable and professional in the building, it might serve as a guiding light for the county.  The county has known where it [drugs/heroin] is coming from--there is a lot of money involved.  I don't know why in Portage County it is a couple of pounds of marijuana and a few grams of heroin [that get the attention and the arrests].  I have reservations about having a drug rehab center, and [but?] if we can find a use as a drug rehab center, OK.

We are going to get the elevator sometime.  It is October, when we were told it would start in June.  We can begin using the building the way the community wants.
[Blogger:  I was startled at Dave's comment about how even using the building for drug rehab would be acceptable because it would be using the building.  I know how much he despises the whole drug culture.  This is a measure of how much we need to get into that building, and it is increasingly beyond comprehension that two trustees, both of them almost uninvolved in anything but the narrowest of concerns in the township, have had the sheer gall to stall as long as they have.  They have spent years wasting money and resources by neglecting one of their responsibilities:  to care for and maintain the township's buildings.]

Rod Summerlin:  I was asked to be on the task force and attended the first meeting.  I wanted to testify to the caliber of the people I saw there--different professions and stations inlife.  All of them are convinced that grass roots are where we begin to address the needs of the community.

[Blogger note:  I have not gotten a recording of the meeting yet, but will post my comments as soon as I get it.]

Jeff Jackson re Community Center to Trustees 10-6-16

[Blogger Foreword:  Unless indicated otherwise, all comments are Jeff's, regardless of paragraphing or spacing.  Brackets within the text indicate insertions for clarity.
[Despite the title, this was public comment, so more people than Jeff will be represented.]

Jeff:  Chad Delaney can not be here tonight.  I had a chance to listen to the last trustees meeting so I think I can answer any questions you might have.

We said at the beginning that we wanted to be transparent.

We want to have tenants and a teen center and a small business incubator.  At the last meeting we heard you say we couldn't do anything.  Tonight you mentioned the historical society [moving to the school building].

A lot is going on with the elevator, and things are not totally stopped.

What we also wanted to talk about was that when we talked about developing a community center we want to work alongside you.  We have always taken the position that this is something that everyone wants.  We want to provide the energy and resources.  We might focus for the time being on a community center.

With the endorsement and encouragement of the Building Utilization Committee, we have put together a task force to be talking about uses of the building.  Neighbors, business people, and people who have used the building [are included].  It reminded me of a thanksgiving holiday.

We will be meeting again on October 11.  We want to have three subgroups:  community resources, building resources, and community wants and needs.

We want to have several small community get together ideas and use that to build up knowledge of what the community center can be.

We have the Veterans' Day dance and quilt/art auction [coming up].  One of the ideas/needs was tax help preparation and also some short programing to get the community in.  That is the gist of what the task force wants to do.  We have heard the phrase "Elevator to nowhere."  No one wants that.

[Blogger:  Partly because all correspondence with elected officials is public record; partly because Jeff is maintaining the commitment to transparency; and partly because of the restoration society's commitment to renovating and making the building usable, I am aware of e-mails that have been exchanged.  Jeff did not accuse the trustees of building an elevator to nowhere.  He said he had heard the phrase--implying that somebody out there is saying it.  The group I have always called "the hostiles" carried on about the building being a money pit; the crack about the elevator is in the same category.]

Jeff, continuing:  We have been offered a special meeting sometime and we would like that so we are all on the same page.  We would like to have a special meeting so we can concentrate on getting the master plan progressing and into your hands.  We would like to flesh that out and understand the township budget better.  Everybody asks about the cost of rental, and we would like to be able to get that out.

The one idea we have is, what if we used the main room on the main floor for community meetings?  What is we used that as a way of understanding how all the committees can work together.  That is one of the ways we thought we could work out having a practical space.  That is what we can talk about at that [special] meeting.  I don't know whether there are any larger questions.

Jason:  I wasn't saying the historical society can have space and you would not.  A lot is in motion and you guys met with me and gave me a proposal.  What I kind of see happening, at the meeting I was unable to attend, the master plan came back into the question.

What I see is the four committees and you guys as tenants and utilizing the building.  But tonight I see you as helping with the utilization.  [Blogger:  Is there a problem with this??] 

Jeff:  We have had two different agendas.  One is tenant-based and one is community based.  The meeting [the proposed special meeting] can be to discuss how to build the community center.  Have a practical way working on this with that one room.  I think everyone agrees tghat would be a good purpose for that.

Jason:  I had a discussion with Mark Frizone [sp?]; when the groups were set up we thought the community could form these groups and the trustees are kind of saying to the community what do you want. 

We don't have expertise  or background in this.  Mark Frizone asked (1) these groups that want to go in want to go in all over the place.  So how do you grow and develop stability.

Then how do we marry that with the needs of the community.

But I think a separate meeting [would be good] because there is a lot to hash out. 

Jeff:  We met with Mark Frizone and his program managers.  [Then Jeff talked about the kind of information he got from Mark Frizone.]

Jeff:  Every community center is different.  It takes no expertise to have a vacant building for 12 years.  [Blogger:  Then he gave examples of how to move forward.  How could this center enhance commuinity life in Mantua Township.  When I get the recording of this meeting, I will see if some of those comments should be added.]

[Blogger:  This was the second comment that raised an objection, this time from Jason.  When Jason was elected in 2009, his main backer (well, one of them, anyhow) attacked Vic at every meeting about how long the building had stood unused, starting from the 2004 purchase date.  Never mind that it took two years to sort out the red tape with various records and the State of Ohio.  So regardless of when we could really start on the building, it is 2016 and we have been  dithering around about all of the problems for seven more years. 

[The answer to the "no expertise" is either to educate oneself or to get someone to do it who does have the expertise.  In a previous meeting discussing the master plan, Jason commented that professionals don't do the work, they hire people to do the work.  In the seven years since Jason was elected, it would seem that the "no expertise" question could have--should have--been answered so things could move forward.]

Jason:  I don't think anyone gets it right 100% of the time right off the bat.

Jeff:  I don't know how to ask for a special meeting, and what has to be done.  It has to be public and announced.

Jason:  After public comment we can discuss it.  [This was not done.]
It would not be the week of a trustee meeting. Probably toward the end of the onth.

Jeff:  That would be good--so people are still excited about it and things can progress.  I think that would be perfect.  Do you think beginning with one room would be practical?  

Jason:  Starting small is probably always good practice.  [That's a response.  Did it answer Jeff's question?]

Jeff:  Some of the questions are big, but if we had a chance to work on a smaller project together that would benefit everyone . . . .

[There was nothing from either of the other trustees.  Jeff's comments and Jason's remarks deserve to stand alone in order to be properly reflected upon.]

[Blogger:  Here is my view of this exchange:  There is nothing to take issue about with what Jason said.  But did he do anything, or even propose to do anything?  He uttered a lot of agreeable sounding platitudes that no one can argue with.  But:  What moved forward as a result of this exchange?  If you find anything, I would like to know about it.]

Trustees l0-6-16

[Blogger Foreword:  This post is not going to make any attempt to cover the whole meeting.  There was discussion between Linda Ehlert and Jason about the Historical Society.  That will be included.

[Also included will be some discussion about the elevator project, but this post will concentrate on Jeff Jackson's presentation and discussion about the Community Center project at the school building.

[Nearly 40 people attended this meeting, some from the task force and some residents who are interested in the project and who have been committed to the school being saved, renovated, and used.

[Public comment will be included, although what I said will have to wait until I get the recording.]

The Mantua Shalersville Fire Department will stop monitoring the township's fire alarms at the end of December.  This is of concern to the Historical Society because of their collection of artifacts, information, and archives on the upper floor.  Jason gave Linda Ehlert, Historical Society president. the opportunity to comment.

Linda:  Jason and I talked about this and Tim Benner delivered the letter to us.  My understanding is that the monitoring had been getting done free.  We do pay gas for the little bit of heat we have upstairs. 
The township is thinking that maybe the historical society should pay a little more.
She commented that doing the monitoring via the internet sounded good.

Continuing:  Our final meeting of the year will be the third Monday.  If you can get me prices, let's have a discussion about it.

John Festa:  Of course any new upgrades, we have to decide how much it will cost.

Jason:  Just so everyone is aware, Linda and I have had some discussions about this.  Getting upstairs in this building is very difficult.  With the elevator going into the school, it is my idea that the historical society would be much better served in the school.  I have had many discussions with people in the community.  The elevator would help with accessibility.

Linda:  We need $500/year for liability insurance.

Jason:  I don't think we are ready right now to place people in there or rent out large areas.

[Blogger:  A couple of meetings ago, Amy Janca proposed the same thing, with the added idea that the historical society holdings would be better protected in a climate controlled building.  At the moment and for the foreseeable future, the school is hardly better climate controlled than the township hall.  It will not be climate controlled until the upgrades, some time in the future, cover modern HVAC or the equivalent.  Jason's idea may have come from that source, but I would bet on it being a new brainstorm from John Festa's patron.]

John Festa reported on the fire inspection and said that one recommendation was a CO detector because of the type of heater used upstairs in the township hall.    The garage came out mostly OK in the inspection. 
[That was no surprise to your faithful blogger.  John Festa focuses on the trucks and equipment, and Jason lavishes his attention on the roads.  The buildings, except for the garage, fend for themselves.  My point of view is not against the garage; it is about the lack of balance in attention to our historic buildings.]

Vic mentioned a safety grant through OTARMA of $500 that could be applied to the lighting required as part of safety upgrades.

John Festa commented on the status of medical marijuana:  The trustees can regulate the number of cultivators, processors, and dispensaries or prohibit them.  A zoning resolution would be necessary, and Chris Meduri recommended both a zoning resolution and a resolution by the trustees.
Another option is to consider a moratorium.

Vic:  I would like to see some of the other resolutions.
Vic's trustee report was next.

Vic:  I have been working with Lisa Reeves, Regional Planning, on the elevator grant.  There is still a lot of paperwork from Senator Eklund's office because there is still a 30-60 day lag after they receive the paperwork.
There is a walk through on Tuesday at the school at 9:30 for the electrical work.
Continuing:  There were four quotes.  The highest was $53,000, which was over the estimate.  The lowest was $26,500 and there were two around $35,000.

Jason:  Any idea about when construction might commence?

Vic:  No.  The holdup is that we have to certify the funds.  We need the funds from Senator Eklund's office.  Jodie Thompson has to certify $90,000 that we don't have.  We can't even finish signing the bid for the elevator.  We probably have enough.
I don't know if the electrical is tied into that.  It was a separate bid but still part of the master contract.

John Festa:  Does this all go through the commissioners?

Vic:  Lisa Reeves is the contact.  She has put a lot of time into this.

JF:  I am concerned--it is getting close to winter time.  [Right, he's concerned.  This from the man whose employer bid on the project and cost us over a month to sort things out and re-bid.]

Vic:  Lisa has been applying for extensions, but she can't do that forever.

Nancy Taffel's lease for the clothing giveaway rooms was extended.

There was some discussion about the logo and the website, with nothing definitive about either.

Public comment was next, and it will be its own post.