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?]
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.
