[Blogger Foreword: This post picks up in a discussion about the impact of the elevator project on the use of the school building during construction. After some discussion about taping/screening off the area to prevent too much dust from permeating the building, Jodie spoke:]
Jodie Thompson: I am going to have them move the copier over here. [Note: There will be a lot of dust, and the copier is a $10,000 machine. Not something you want clogged and ruined.]
Vic: Benton needs room to work. I thought we could clear out this desk and fire up the hot spot.
[Then there was some discussion about the hot spot and wi-fi.] Vic also mentioned that in the Township Hall Benton would have a refrigerator and some amenities.
Some of what follows was prompted by Jason's asking the other trustees' thoughts about the proposal from Jeff and Chad.
John Festa: A lot of things need to be discussed. I brought up that we are still waiting to get our master plan. How can we change directions? I want to see everybody have an opportunity. We had an end game in mind, but now we have detours. I don't want to discourage anybody, but not give false confidence.
Jason: I agree. The master plan is going to take quite some time to get going, calendar wise.
John Festa, to Benton: What is your--how do you fit in?
Benton: I am working for MaRSI for 9-1/2 months in whatever capacity to get things lined up for the community center.
JF: As a consultant?
Benton: As an intern.
[Blogger: At this point, I intervened because John Festa was asking or beginning to ask questions that Benton could not answer yet.]
Carole Pollard: This has to be a joint discussion. He has just gotten here. Jeff and Chad have been working on this for a while. It might not be a bad idea to wait until all of us can be here to discuss it. We will have a better balanced and more rational discussion. This is for the over-arching project with the Disciples of Christ churches. I want to emphasize that the churches have prompted this, but it is not, not, not a church program. The National Benevolent Association is picking up half of Benton's stipend and MaRSI is picking up the other half.
The goal is to have a good structure for a community center which would cover not just the things the ministers talked about, but also a full range of the community. This is a little bit like building the plane while you are flying it because every community center is different. We saw one last week in Columbus which is very exciting. It is one in which the school building is being used and is not losing money. It has a bunch of non profits but they are paying rent.
We have just started. A lot of the questions can't be answered yet because we have just gotten started. This may be the only thing like it in the county.
John Festa: Who is "we"?
CP: The restoration society; the two churches in the area because they have the connections to the whole county. Jason, you've been in a couple of meetings about the opioid issue.
[Blogger: This is an addition the morning after making this post: The school district is also involved in the discussions regarding how a community center could help high school and probably middle school students.]
Jason: One. [Opioid meeting.]
CP, continuing: This is a big concern, a county-wide thing and we talk about this [school] being a place for this because the county doesn't stop at SR 303.
John Festa: So my question is not going to be answered tonight.
CP: I think it will be better answered in three weeks. . . . What you are going to get [tonight] is not a definitive answer. It will be where we are at the moment. Sorry if that disappoints you.
JF: You just didn't answer my question. I didn't direct the question at you.
CP: He is the new kid on the block. [Benton just arrived on August 28.]
JF: The utilization committee was to define how to use the building and the building assessment committee would put a price tag on it. We are waiting for a master plan to see how to use the building.
Jan Oros: What about the master plan--I thought you had a beginning.
Benton: I was at the last meeting so I heard about that but I have just been listening.
Vic: Part of your internship is to help on this and work with the committees.
Jason [to Benton]: listed the four committees and continued: That was the foundation for a master plan to use the facility. None of the trustees submitted [?] those committees. They have not been really reporting to the trustees because that sounds as if we are their boss.
I would say work heavily (?) with the utilization committee. I have talked with Todd Peetz in the last week or so. He was the facilitator. We pay him for 40 hours per year of technical assistance. There was a cadence, and every 2-3 months we were meeting at the Civic Center. That has been stalled because of the elevator. Everyone has been putting their effort on getting the elevator installed.
Vic: I am glad you are bringing this up about Todd Peetz. To Benton: Have you met Todd Peetz?
Answer: Yes.
Jason: That would be key to sit down with Todd and review his minutes. Another person is Mark Frizone. Try to schedule some tine to meet with him. He is director of Child and Family Services in Portage County. He organized the entire building and they have teen services. A number of community services use space in his building. All these groups work together and he knows how to get things done.
I don't want to see this drop. I want to see a master plan from these committees to keep us going. I have a ton of questions but I don't think we are there yet. I have a lot of questions on sustainability and is there a business plan . Is it sustainable for money as well as function.
The opioid and addiction problem in the county. I don't want to see overlap. Can there be some synergy. More questions than answers but if you are going to solely(?) focus on this, that will be good.
Benton: Are you sending your specific requirements to the committees?
Jason: They aren't really requirements. What we have to think about is sustainability. Picture yourself as a building owner renting space. You want to see somebody who will stay. Some things are trial and error. Are the leasers experienced, or is this a pop up program? These are just top of mind questions. How do you maintain the funding? This was submitted by Jeff and Chad. Mark Frizone got a copy of this.
Can the mental health and recovery board work on this?
Benton: I am not on any of these committees yet. You do seem to have specific questions that will be included in the committees.
Jason: My opinion--if I gave specific requirements for the master plan, I feel I am taking power away from the committees. If I had my wishes for a good master plan, it should have a lot of detail on sustainability.
Vic: I will get a business card for you. There is another person for you to talk to--Ryan Shackleford. He is FEMA director in Portage County.
Benton: I was just clarifying that you didn't want me to convey anything specific.
Jason: Maybe generalizing, from the Building Utilization Committee, they want the building used for a community center. They have an issue with people paying money to do that. But we have an issue with that.
We probably should have a special meeting on this. There is a lot that needs to be covered first.
[Blogger: This was the end of the business meeting. Public comment was next, and that will be a separate post. Then after that I will, as promised, give information on the bids for the electrical component of the elevator project.]
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.
