Trustees and Task Force re Community Center

This will be a brief, summary, bare-bones post about the meeting between the trustees and the community center advocates on 6-28-21.

The attendees were Mark Hall, Sue Skrovan, Terri Vechery, Jackie Senkar, Dave Pollard, Terrie Nielsen, Jay Schabel, and Ken Parker, those two the main spokesmen for the community center.  And, of course, your faithful blogger.

Basically, desires and positions were discussed.  Things fell into two major categories as to the uses of the building.  Jay and Ken discussed renting the whole thing--what sounded and has always sounded like a business model.  Jackie voiced concern about having true community activities in the building, and I chimed in on that.  Vic reiterated the original purpose of the purchase of the building--assembly, education, and business--and how the rooms and floors had been designated for use in the permit to occupy.  He advocated for starting small and growing, and said he had several people already interested in space there--in addition to the American Legion.

Jay voiced the idea that this is a very giving community who will get behind the community center.  I did not speak to that last night and wish I had.  The community has been generous in its support of the work on the school, with the goal of having a place to be.  The elevator makes that a real possibility (and Terrie Nielsen said that both the elevator and the bell tower would be done in two days.  (At last, for the elevator, although I think there are some fiddly bits to finish up.)

My view of Jay's comment is that it is true, but that if people feel that they are shut out of their building for the sake of renters/tenants, some of whom are from Geauga County, their enthusiasm will wane very quickly.

There was mutual agreement that the north room on the main floor would be the community room.

Vic said that he had had the Red Cross in a couple of times regarding emergency shelter, but that they wanted something permanent and (I believe) dedicated to just that purpose.  He also said that there are people who want to rent the gym, but they want, as Vic said, to tie it up.  He has been keeping the gym rentals to an event by event basis so as to give the widest possible access to users.

At the end, Jason listed the things on which both parties agree and said he would go to Chris Meduri with that list to develop, it is hoped, a Memorandum of Understanding between the community center group and the trustees.

I am sure that at the regular meeting on July 5 the trustees will report on both the 6-28 meeting and whatever has developed with Chris Meduri since then.

End of report.  

Trustees 6-21, mostly about Community Center

[Blogger Foreword:  Although I had anticipated not being at this meeting, I got there about 8:15.  This post is going to cover the discussion about the community center project and not a whole lot else--but that took a lot of time and pages of notes.]

Jason:  Old Business:  I feel like I am having a lot of deja vu.  A lot of e-mails have gone back and forth among all of us.  I had a conversation with Chris Meduri today and what we have is that there is a proposed lease agreement from May 20.  The structure of the lease agreement is the township, the management group. and the tenants.  That is how we have approached this for the last 6 months.

The management group would be responsible for leasing the building and take the income from subleasing.  Chris has went [sic] through this and said firmly that he can not approve of it because the township is giving up too much.  The trustees can do what they want, but he can not sign off on it.

Why do you have a management company do it when you can do it yourself?   You can hire a management company that could do this and has the right kind of license. 

Jason said he told Chris that thisa was a group of volunteers who arewilling o do this.

Chris thought the rents are normal.  Jason talked with Mark Frisone today and he said that $5.00/square foot is bare bones.  The Portage County Health Department is leasing their space from Family and Children's Services for $5.00/sq. ft.  Downtown Ravenna is at $8.00/sq. ft.  What is to say that this group, if you sign this lease, the township gets a nominal amount and then they charge what they want and get to keep the proceeds.

Jason said that Chris feels there is too much room for windfall having a township building.  He said we are not getting enough return.

 Jason:  If we could break even on it and a bit more to cover expenses, I think we would probably be OK with this.

Chris Meduri:  they are already a volunteer group--have them go out and find tenants.  Townships can donate money to non profits for good causes.  Chris would favor a donation to them to cover their expenses so that every tenant that comes through would be presented to the township, shown the space, and the trustees would give them the ability to present the building and recommend a tenant

Vic:  One of my concerns was about a community room--if they were going to rent it, what would they do--lease that to people who wanted to use it?  What if the township wanted to use it?  I think they shouild start small and see how it goes.  I have people interested in two rooms upstairs and two in the basement.  The two rooms in the basement will fit education. Upstairs would fit business.  That was the whole purpose--find someone to help offset the electricity and heat.  $5.00 is cheap.

Jason:  This was just conversation with Chris Meduri.  His biggest concern is that although he does not doubt the intentions or their desire to make it happen (most of what we talked about were what are the township's goals). . . .

Vic:  I would like someone to take over the custodial work.  I am almost positive that the American Legion wants to move in there and maybe we can get the AL to do some of the custodial duties and knock down some of the rent.

Jason:  I need to contact Jay Schabel and let him know where we are.  In order for this group to sublease the building, Chris feels they need to have a real estate broker's license.  To get around that, they have an interest in the building they can then sublease.  What Chad Murdock is saying is that if they had a leased interest in the building, they do not need the broker's license.

Continuing:  I don't want to kick the can down the road.  These people have put a lot of work into it.

John Festa:  I would like to have a discussion and after we come ip wioth some kind of understanding we can go to the attorneys.  I am sure that if there is a real pitfall Chris will identify it.

Jason:  You don't need an agreement to do this.

[Blogger:  At this point things became more of a general discussion.]

Carole Pollard:  Earlier on in the discussions (I think everybody knows I sit on a number of boards and committees just so I know what's going on), MaRSI was a logical entity to include and early on the task force thought MaRSI would handle the finances.  We did not want to do that, and we all understood why.  Lynn and I went and talked to Chad Murdock.  What he said was something to consider and I am not giving you advice--Jason:  Oh, please do.  Lots of laughter at that.

Pollard, continuing:  Chad said to wait until there is an agreement with the trustees and if MaRSI is willing to do this, they can have a letter of understanding.  My adivce is to investigate the LOU.

Vic:  We did that.

CP:  That was what, 6 months ago?  Two years ago.  The other thing is that at the last meeting I suggested that you all sit down and go through the problem solving process.  I don't want to put you on the spot about that, Jason, but do you remember that?  [He did.]  But don't have the lawyers, but talk about what the trustees want and what the task force wants.

Vic: We just don't know know for sure what they want to do.  How much space do you want?  The answer was everything but what the township wants. 

CP:  When we all started to talk about this and my gosh, the building would be usable for us, we were talking about modest things.  We show up a lot in jeans and tennis shoes, like the American Legion.  It soon got a lot grander than that.  I asked the task force where is the room for us?  I felt we had to stick out elbows out to get anything.
People see that first floor classroom as an ideal multi purpose community room.  There are bookshelves on one side and more than one activity can be accommodated in there.  There are a lot of activities the township can have there also.  In the basement, those rooms were being fitted out for pre school.  They would also be good for art, because art is messy.  There are artists who look at those rooms thinking that they would be good  for art.

[At this point Amy Janca joined in. Although she frequently just inserts herself invited or not, this time everything seemed informal and conversational.]


Amy:  My understanding was that the reason for acquiring the building was for township purposes.

It galls me that the historical society has not been brought up in any conversation.  They need space and for people to see what is there.  Give them a room.  I keep hearing these management people wanting to rent them to other groups and people.

Vic:  You come in the front door, and right there is that room which has two doors.  The little office can be turned ito a unisex bathroom right across from the community room.  I don't think we need full time paying tenants in every space.  I had the Red Cross come through.

John Festa:  I think the next step is to get the group in and spend an hour or two with them.  If waht they want doesn[t fit what we want, let's move on.  We are not getting anywhere with these discussions.  I still like the idea of emergency shelter.

Dave Pollard:  Right from the start I have noticed that there is a perception when you walk into that building you are walking into the middle of the galaxy and space is unlimited.  It  cnanged from this or this or this to this and this and this.  At some point some parameters should be set so that the perception of unlimited space is corrected.  It is a big building, but unless you are going to chop the rooms up into little cubby holes, it won't work.
Continuing:  That buildig so far has exceeded the expectations of a lot of people and at very low cost to the tax payers.

Vic:  The [fire] recall is in process and I will call tomorrow morning and find out about it.  The bell tower is done.  They put a new ladder up to the attic and actually have a steel ladder that closes off and locks.  Eric Hummel and Marty Snow have been fantastic.

Dave:  Did they do anything with the louvers?

Vic:  They are still working inside.  They said that Cal Brant and the people who helped him buttoned it up good so the black plastic did its job.  They are doing really extensive stuff.

Public Comment was next.

Amy Janca:  One question:  I am curious about whether you have made any headway with our website.

Vic:  I talked to someone locally and asked him to take a look at it.  I have seen some of his doe, and they look nice.  I am sure that if he takes it on, he will do a good job.

Jan Oros:  This is a question for Jason.  I know you can't speak for Mr. Meduri.  My question was about the windfall/loophole.

Vic explained how that would work and it was township money going to a non profit.  Vic did not think they had become a non profit.  Vic did not think they had become a non profit.  Basically they wanted us to take all of the repairs out of the 30% that we were going to get from activities there.

Jason:  They are volunteers.  Chris Meduri:  I know a lot of non profits that pay their people very well.  Mark Frisone's entities are a $40 million non profit business.  Chris--this group is acting like a middleman.  A lot of what middlemen do are things we don't want to be doing.
[Jason thought the township was getting very little back.]

Jason:  I don't say that to talk down  or bad about this group. They are doing this all in good faith, and no one is out of a desire to profit from this.

Vic:  It is hard to ix business with government.  One thing that hurts is as trustees is the ORC.  We have to stay within tha.  When I bid a job, I have no right asking what that job you paid [?] last year.  But we have to tell people.

Dave Pollard:  I think the Tuesday meeting about the cemetery project went quite well and was eye opening about how big it was getting to be.  I am not sure there is such a thing as a small project when the government is involved.  This is like the school--it is not going to be quick and simple, but it is worth doing.

It bothers me to see the corner of that wall at East Lawn crumbling.  One of my hopes is that we can get that done, because it will not take a lot of research about what needs to be done.  They are historic cemeteries. We were taught in school that when people were going west and died on the way, they would be brought to that place [Pioneer Trail] and be buried.  I have never been able to look at the headstones to see dates and names.  But by the time we are done everyone will know, and it will be a good thing.

Amy Janca:  I have three pages of names recorded as being buried in that cemetery.  I wondered how they managed to bury so many in there.  [She surmised that many may have been children, who, realistically in those times, would have taken up less space.]

Dave:  I think it was a producteve meeting and people are looking forward to cooperating.

Carole Pollard:  I should have taken notes about what I wanted to say.  I mentioned that because of Heritage Ohio I have contacts with someone who does historical archaeology--buried foundation, cemeteries--among other things.  If the Pioneer Trail cemetery was used the way it was, it would be good to get the 501 c 3 groups involved, and a grant should be possible.  The new committee can not ask for grants because it has no legal registration with the state.  The Historical Society, LCA, and the restoration society all are 501 c 3 organizations.  I would think that if all three vouch for the value of the project, that should carry some weight.

As far as the school is concerned, I want to tell you something that the members of the restoration society know.  For at least 5 years while we were working on the school, with all of the "stuff" going on, I felt as if iron was strapped across my chest.  That has eased off now, with the elevator in there.  It isn't that we can coast, but with the three of you getting together with the task force, that is an excellent idea to pull this in and make it serve the township.

Roger Hurd said once that the job of business was to make profits and grow.  The job of government is to use the funds available to do for the people what they cannot do for themselves.   The times that people have come in and tried to run government entities like a business have been disastrous.  There are a lot of great opportunities in front of us.  I want to thank Terry Hronek for his frankness in describing the situation he is dealing with.

Our animosities are well known, but right now we are playing nice with each other, and let's keep doing that because the township will benefit.

[That concluded public comment, and your faithful blogger left.]   
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Trustees Special Meeting re Community Center

The Mantua Township Trustees will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 28, in the township hall.  They will meet with key members of the task force working to develop a community center at the Mantua Center School building.

This is a public meeting and a chance to hear first hand the ideas and positions regarding this project.

Your faithful blogger is not going to be so faithful as to try to do a transcript or detailed report of this meeting, although I may do a summary of some kind.

There is still the June 21 trustees meeting to get to in some detail, plus some notes on the first meeting to discuss the proposed cemetery renovation project.

Those who really want to know what's going on always have the option--gasp!--of attending any and all meetings.

Public Comment 6-21-18: Pointed remarks

Blogger Foreword:  This post is actually going to start with the last part of public comment because it connects directly with the previous post, from 6-17.  I did not want to put a lot of intervening "stuff" in so as not to blur or deflect attention.

Terry Hronek:   I am requesting more information about our final payment.

 [Terry has done some good things for the township, as is clear in previous blog posts.  He also works for the company that did the Civic Center roof and has been its liaison and spokesperson at recent meetings.]

John Festa has not yet talked with Jodie Thompson.  He can not call her up and tell her to write a check.  [Note:  This is my summary of John Festa's response to Terry's comment.]

Terry:  We put up a performance bond which ran about $700.  Our contract guarantees payment within two weeks of completion.  We completed it yesterday.  There has been a lot of question about finances, and last week [meeting] there were a lot of questions about finances and there was the appearance of a deer in the headlights and tonight she [Jodie] is not here, with a medical problem.
[Blogger:  I learned that it was a migraine.]

John Festa:  He said he would have Jodie make out a check which the trustees could sign.   [Hmmm.  Doesn't this contradict the above comment?]

Terry:  The owner has payroll to meet and if this does not get paid, he will have to take out a home equity loan.

[Blogger:  Although to many of us owning a business looks like a cool thing, the owners are not necessarily rolling in clover.  The owner of the small machine shop that my father worked  for about 25 years had to get a short term credit union loan to meet payroll if customers were slow to pay.  I spoke with someone else not all that long ago who said essentially the same thing:  Meeting payroll sometimes meant getting a loan for a little while so that the employees could be paid.]  

[Blogger:  All of that was interesting, but then after the meeting I had a chance to see what had been done about the minutes.  As written, the minutes from June 7 had completely glossed over the questions the trustees had about checks not being cashed, among other things.  As I understand it, when the trustees dealt with the minutes at this meeting, those whitewashes were clarified.
Also as I understand it, the minutes are not supposed to be a transcript, but are to be an accurate account of what went on in meetings.  The originally written minutes for June 7 did not do that.  As the saying goes, "The devil is in the details"--and those details had to be added in on June 21.]

[Blogger:  That's all for this post.  There was discussion about the status of the community center idea, and a brief report on the cemetery project meeting.  More about all of that in a subsequent post or posts.] 

Trustees 6-7-18, Public Comment

[Blogger Foreword:  This post is not going to be much more than public comment, since the next meeting is tomorrow as I keyboard this.  Also, I will not be at that meeting, so you are mostly on your own for that one, folks.  There was a meeting last night, Tuesday June 19, to discuss the proposed East Lawn and Pioneer Trail Cemetery renovations.  I attended that and may post some sketchy remarks from it, since it concerns our two historic cemeteries.]

Public Comment

Your faithful blogger led off with a Chamber of Commerce meeting report:

Chamber was tonight, so it's fresh in my mind.  DMRC  is where the action is right now.  I am not going to talk about everything.  They are getting banners for the streets, and I have seen them.  They are handsome and show a tree along the river.  Also, the trail.  From the headwaters by the park there the trail has been resurfaced clear up to Asbury or 700.   It is crushed limestone, very very nice, and should last a good number of years.

Most of us have thought of tourism as a family going to the Grand Canyon in the car, but there is also a more modest kind of tourism.  But the Buckeye Trail circles the state of Ohio and is over 1300 miles long.  Mantua has been designated as a trail town, and a place where hikers and bikers can stop, so it is a small destination.  Some work is being done at the Tummonds place, the last building before the river going out of town.  Chuck Tummonds was a canoer, and they are trying to figure out if a parking lot can be put in south of the fire department so that the river can be accessible from there.

I told them about the Civic Center roof and that we are still working towards the elevator.

We met the scholarship recipients, one of whom is an Eagle Scout.  Those kids are very impressive.

Jason, your opportunity to run a golf outing is still out there.  They are looking at ways to raise money for the scholarships, and Terri Vechery has ideas that would tie in with the trail town to raise money.  (House decoration and a walking tour.)  A lot is going on to spiff up the village.  It is very heartening.

John Festa said that he has ridden the trail to Garrettsville and found it very nice.  He commented on work to extend the trail into Aurora.

CP:  There is reluctance in Mantua Township and also Aurora, but they are working on it.  It would be nice to be able to ride from Garrettsville to Solon.  Edie Benner's dream is to be able to ride from sea to shining sea.

Terry Hronek:  The roller is going to go to an airfield down on Pioneer Trail.  But if you need it, you can go get it and use it when you need it.  The airstrip is at Pioneer Trail and Asbury.  They need it to roll their air field.  If you need it, call Lavon and go get it.

Dave Pollard:  Vic, I was wondering if you can give us any details about the bell tower.  It looks as if it will be impressive when it is done.

Vic:  It looks like they have the galvanized sheet metal on it.  They had the little bezel at the top made.  I haven't seen anybody over there, either.  It is usually after 3 when I get there.

Dave:  It looks like it's coming along real well.  I would like to have them take a picture of the bell itself with something for scale so we can put it on the MaRSI website.

Vic:  It has two hammers.  One was frozen up, and Cal Brant worked on it and got it moving.

Dave:  Last Tuesday Susan and I want to Burke Lakefront.  Some years ago I made a donation to restore a B 29 bomber.  They had restored several planes, including what the Tuskegee Airmen flew.  I felt good knowing I had a tiny bit to play in that.  These are old guys,  10-15 years older than I am, working on this all the time.  I am glad we have people like that working to keep these historic things working so people can see what we have come from.  Some people can remember when that was flying,.

That was apparently the end of public comment.

Then--

Vic to Jodie Thompson:  American Legion has not received any of its checks back from January.  I got this in the mail--that check from Dan Faith [?].  They got there Saturday [?] but the postmark is May 17.  The postmark of May 17 was the day of our meeting.

Jason:  A procedural question:  When you sign all of these, do you send them out the next day?

Blogger:  This is my note:  Answer:  Waffling.

Jason:  Is it always out by Saturday?  [Blogger note:  He was insistent.]

Vic:  What is the date on that check?

Jason:  Are there checks that have not been cashed?

Jodie:  Not as far as I know.

Vic:  Nothing in January, February, March, April.  [Blogger:  I think all of this was about the American Legion.]
 
Jodie mumbled something that I could not catch.

[Blogger:  My notes end there, and I am not going to promise anything else from earlier in this meeting.].

Trustees 6-7-18: Quick Pass but Interesting

First, I have signed up for an intensive art and design class that will fully occupy me for the next week plus, so the meeting will get short shrift.  I will add to these comments when I come up for air, but this is going to be the Man of Few Words version of the 6-7-18 meeting, no matter what.

Two things are all that I am going to present here.

The first is very unusual: unique, in fact, in all the time I have been attending trustees meetings.  This meeting began and ended with Jason and Vic  both questioning Jodie about how the accounts were being handled and how vendors and contractors were being paid.  And for those of you who have asked about the audit, no, it is not done yet; there are questions that the auditors still have, but Jodie was on vacation for about ten days.  End of that item.

The other item is of specific interest to all of us.  Bill Stiner, head of Portage County Recycling, spoke at this meeting.  The subject was what he called contamination: the inclusion of non recyclable items in the blue Portage County bins.  In a nutshell, only  the items that are pictured and listed on the lid of the recycling bin should be put into the bin.  That includes some items that are marked as recyclable but that are not on the lid list.  As it turns out, the water softener salt bags that are marked with a 4 are not on the lids and should not be put into the bins.  I didn't tell Bill that about a month ago I dropped a load of contraband into the bin when I cleaned out a bunch of those bags.

Here's why no plastic bags are permitted:  they wind around the shafts of the processing equipment, and then the processing line has to be shut down and the bags have to be cut away.  Time, expense, wear and tear on equipment.

We in Portage County are not doing too badly: our unacceptable rate has gone up from 15% to 19%.  Other places have 50% or more unacceptable stuff: carpeting, grass clippings, all sorts of stuff.

The consequence of all this is a probable rate increase because the payment for what gets recycled has dropped, and the expense of operating the equipment due to unacceptables has gone up.

That's all for this go-round.    

Public Comment at May 21 Trustees Meeting

Public Comment

Sue Lilley, President of the Blackbrook Conservancy, spoke first.  Your faithful blogger is going to give just the high points on this.  The issue is important but in my opinion not something at the center of attention of most township residents, although it is very much the center of Sue Lilley's attention, as it should be.

The issue is who has the authority to make sure that ditching, drainage, water flow, and related matters are being handled correctly.  Or handled at all.

The conservancy and Mantua Center Road are, obviously, in the township; but as Vic has pointed out, it (the conservancy) is a separate subdivision and also has the right to levy taxes.  He commented that the township cannot do that and also that the township is not permitted to combine funds with any other entity.

In the past, the county had been named responsible for the ditches.  Now it seems [blogger] that the conservancy is responsible for them.

At present Mantua Center Road is closed at about Herman Road, so the traffic is light in both volume and vehicle weight.  Sue is concerned that, with the water situation being more serious than in the past, when the bridge is replaced and full traffic volume is restored, the road is going to "go away."

Some of these issues are rooted in earlier land issues; Vic had a record/piece of paper that he offered Sue Lilley that went back to 1879 and related to this issue.  Jason opined that going back into the records to see how it was all set up may be necessary.

[Blogger:  That is a lengthy summary, but not as long as a transcript would have been.]

Terrie Nielsen, Wayne Road:  As Vic mentioned, the bell tower project scaffolding is up and Hummel has advised me that the project will be done by mid June.  I have been on some of the e-mail strings about some of the issues with the elevator's low overhead--

John Festa:  That is not a problem. 

My question is what else needs to be done to get this thing done before/by the end of June.  [Blogger:  I do not have a note about who said that.]

Vic:  I left a message for Canton Elevator and want to see if he got his money from James Martin.  I have talked with Kozma [Electric].  People want their money.

Terrie:  My next question is is there anything I can do to help?  Every Monday I send Hummel an email asking about the status.

Vic:  Hopefully I will know something by tomorrow and I will send you an email.

John Festa:  So we don't know whether Martin has ____?

Jason:  I contacted Martin telling him his check was on the way.  He said he had some small things to button up.  I don't know what they are--whether even though they are small they can interfere with our inspection.

Terrie:  So are you suggesting that I talk with Mr. Martin?  

Jason:  If you want to do that . . . .

John Festa:  If the elevator guys can call us when they put in the fire stuff, we can get Martin in and we can put up the sign saying Low Overhead.

Terrie:  I will keep you posted on Mr. Martin.

Amy Janca:  I was thinking about the people with the clothing giveaway.  Can some kind of concession be made that they could use the gymnasium portion temporarily?

Vic:  They sort the clothing and putit on the racks.  They would have to take it upstairs on the day of the giveaway.

John Festa:  There is more to it . . . .

Terry Hronek:  Terry asked about something being done by volunteers or put out to bid. 
Answer:  We will put it out for bid.  [This was about painting.]

Terry Hronek:  I can get you $98.00/gallon paint for $40.00.

Carole Pollard:  Passed this evening.

Dave Pollard, S.R. 82:  I have been working at cleanup day for nearly 15 years.  The quantities don't change.  I don't know where it all comes from.  One year we filled 3 dumpsters with mattresses.  I swear people tell their buddies in other counties to bring their stuff.

Some of the rubble that comes in that does not have metal in it,I will take that because I always have holes to fill.  But it cannot have nails and metal trash.  It is incredible how much stuff comes in.

Vic:  Shalersville, I was told, went through 20 dumpsters. 

Dave:  I am glad to see the work has started on the bell tower because it will be a visible sign we are really working on the building.  I have had it in my head that at one time the trim o the roof of it was brass. 

Vic:  There was a roofer there today.

Dave:  The last thing--school funding.  We were brought up to obey the law.  We learned that if a law was ruled unconstitutional it was illegal.  We were taught not to support those who engage in such activities.  Twenty years ago the state supreme court called the funding model unconstitutional.  Until that is fixed, I will not vote for a school funding issue.  The taxes go up every year.  I think the school boards in the whole state should band together and work on that.  Maybe a grass roots movement will show up.
[Blogger:  Jodie, you ought to be able to tell if the check [about the elevator] has cleared.

[Blogger:  I didn't put this into my notes, but Dave told a story about a meeting at the school before 2000 sometime when one of our state representatives was there and was addressed specifically about what Dave mentioned above.  He is still outraged about her answer:  "The court told us that it was wrong and had to be fixed, but they didn't tell us how to fix it." 

Dave's reaction to that is/was that she was the lawmaker:  it was her job, not the court's, to figure out how to fix the problem.

End of post.  Your faithful blogger is very glad that there was a 3-week interval between trustees meetings this time.

And--there is a white covering on the bell tower.  I don't know whether that is the final sheathing or not, but what a nice change!

Smoke alarm bids for elevator; fretting about that, John Festa

Vic had quotes for the fire/smoke detectors from Abco and Ashton.  The revision increased the cost and everybody is 4-6 weeks to install.

Jason:  Who do you recommend?

Vic:  It looks like we are getting more from Ashton.

Jason:  I want to go with your recommendation because you have done this . . . .

Vic explained some of the details to Jason.  They were both looking at the information sheets.

John Festa:  I just can't get past this--that it should never have fallen on us.  I think we need it, but I don't think we should pay for it.

Vic:  We all authorized the transfer switch.

John Festa:  I wasn't informed that that was taken out of the plans.  No one ever informed . . . .

Vic:  This is what Charles Cochran wanted.

More fretting followed about the whole thing.  See above.

Vic made a motion that we go with Ashton out of Ravenna for the fire alarm/smoke detector/fire recall for $16,203.35.

Vic:  Basically we waited too long because it went up from $14,900.

The motion had been seconded.  Vote:  John Festa, no; Jason, yes; Vic, yes.

Jason:  You will call Ashton? 

Vic:  I will call him in the morning.

Jason:  We don't have four weeks.  To Terrie Nielsen:  We have to submit the paperwork by June 30?

Vic:  But you need the inspection by that time.

Then Vic gave an update:  If everybody has seen the scaffolding at the school, the bell tower project has started.

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