After the decision about when to look at the latest proposals for the bull pen, Jason made this announcement:
I have received word from Terrie Nielsen that we have gotten the CDBG for $38,000. [Note: It is for $38,600.]
Vic: The grant committee in three grants, two from CDBGs and one from the State, they have brought in over a quarter million dollars. The commissioners have approved two of them--$114,000 from the commissioners and $140,000 with the help of Senator Eklund.
John Festa: They wanted to give us more.
Vic: I talked to all three commissioners and they are really on board. That is one reason I brought up to look for trees. The grant committee has done an excellent job. Along with that you can't leave out what the restoration society has come up with--$10,000 pending and MaRSI itself with $25,000 plus the historical society ($1,000).
John Festa: The rest of the community is seeing that we are working here and getting grants and not taking it out of the township budget. [We?]
And, to the "park committee": People are looking to volunteer their time and money. [In your blogger's view, this re-defines "dragged in by the heels."]
Club and Committee reports were next.
Sue Skrovan, for the Garden Club: We met here at our regular meeting and discussed getting ready for the plant sale. We drafted a letter that I want to read for the board. Jodie Thompson has the original for the file.
[Blogger: I will post the letter here verbatim, but this evening has gotten away. This is a stopping point, and the letter will be posted in the morning.]
To Resume:
Sue Skrovan read the following letter to the trustees.
RE: Bullpen Area Park
Gentlemen:
The Members of the Mantua Center Garden Club are saddened and dismayed over indications that the Trustees are considering allowing a group of individuals recently organized as the Mantua Township Park Committee to erase all of the hard work and efforts of our Club's volunteers. The Mantua Center Garden Club was originally formed in 1964 by residents of Mantua Township to help beautify our community and its' [sic] grounds.
What truly dismays our members is the lack of giving our Club the courtesy of being involved and consul;ted in plans to completely uproot and change the whole area grounds. Trustee Victor Grimm had suggested this new Park Committee consult with and work together with the Mantua Center Garden Club to come to a mutually agreeable proposal for the Bullpen area. This suggestion has fallen on deaf ears. There has been no concerted effort on the part of the Park Committee to contact us or for collaboration. It looks as though this new Park Committee will be given an open door to do whatever they desire at the Bullpen without any concern for others; it is truly disturbing..
Who are the members of this "Committee", when do they meet, how often and where? These questions are simply not being asked by the Trustees. What is their mission statement, do they have Articles of Incorporation? The Mantua Center Garden Club meetings are all open to the public; they are publicized and held in a public meeting hall on Township property. And yet, the Trustees seem to be ready to hand over township property to anyone with a new proposal, regardless of what their agenda might be.
The Mantua Center Garden Club is formulating their wishes in a letter to request two thing. First, there have been several plantings in the Bullpen as a memorial to past members of the Garden Club. The (4) rhododendrons, (2) weeping cherry trees, (1) dogwood and (1) small spruce have all been planted specifically in memorial. The concrete bench is also in memorial to a member. The Garden Club strongly feels these special plants and bench be incorporated into the new design of the Bullpen. It has been suggested that these plantings be relocated to the cemetery, which has no designated garden or memorial park. we feel moving these out of the Bullpen area would totally defeat the intent of those wanting to memorialize their loved ones and fellow gardeners.
Second, the Mantua Center Garden Club requests notification from the Board of Trustees or from the newly created Park Committee: when plans are to begin for the demolition of the Bullpen area providing at least a 30 day notification to allow our members to remove any items threatened by demolition so that they may be relocated.
Cordially,
Susan Skrovan, President Rose Nolan, Vice-President Shirley Ferris, Treasurer/Secretary
Members: Terri Vechery Rose Guth Helpers: Kevin Vechery
Wendelin Taylor Dottie Summerlin Zoe Levine
Martha Levine Anita Vechery Arthur Levine
[There was no response, essentially, from the trustees; I am not sure Sue was even thanked for her concern. She may have been and I just didn't note it. Maybe.]
The next Club/Committee Report was the LCA (Ladies Cemetery Association), Amy Janca reporting.
[Blogger: I do not know if Amy is an officer or was just the only member present at this meeting and therefore spoke. In my opinion, some of the following comments are sidelong attempts to diminish the credibility of what went before, and some are not sidelong at all, but clear examples of protesting too much. We do have a history of this sort of thing after all: the Veterans' Memorial business and the way it was carried out. ]
Amy: We met and will be working at the cemetery Monday doing the yearly work there. I reminded Sue Skrovan before the meeting that there are hostas still sitting there set aside for the Garden Club to take for the plant sale. I believe I tried to clarify the situation with the ornamental trees. We do not have intention of destroying them. They will be worked around and perhaps dug up and moved a couple of feet.
[Note: Several of those threes are flowering crabapples that are probably 20 feet tall. Maybe those are assumed to be permanent, but after listening to everything at this meeting and the one before, I will believe that when I see it.]
Amy, continuing: We are not going to disturb any grounds before the Memorial Day celebrations. It will take too long to get permits and drawings. There will be more than adequate advance notification. [Sue asked the trustees for that information. Apparently Amy is speaking for them here.]
Amy: I am trying to reassure people. Our intention is not to rip up the township. We want to add to it. [Blogger: The township is not just plants and soil. It is also people's commitment to it and their efforts and their love of it. Ignoring all of that without any acknowledgment whatsoever is also a ripping up. The statement above seems to imply that only the "parks committee" wants to add to the township.]
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.
