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.]
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.
