A Correction! April 25 Hearing, Moving Ohio Forward

In the previous post, headed about the Green and the school, I gave the date of a special meeting about the Moving Ohio Forward program.  The date I gave was correct, but the day of the week is wrong in the previous post.

Here is the information from my notes: 

There will be a public hearing at 7 p.m. on April 25 in the Town Hall on Moving Ohio Forward, the program to remove blighted structures.

The day of the week for the date of April 25 is THURSDAY.

Following  the hearing, the trustees will have a workshop regarding the paving bids for next year.

Trustees 4-18-13; The Green and the school bldg.

My boss used to say that time is what keeps everything from happening at once.  If that's true, then this week, time was turned off.  Everything happened at once.  So this post is going to be on one of what I consider the two most important topics during the April 18 Mantua Township Trustees meeting.  In my opinion, those two topics were the school building--which we are increasingly, and against resistance on the part of at least one trustee, calling the Mantua Township Administrative Building, and new developments regarding the green at Center Road and S.R. 82.

[An addition on the day after posting this entry:    The Green is going to have to get its own post; this one grew to more than I had anticipated.  Each subject is pretty loaded, without putting them together.]

 This post is about the building.  Well, there is more on the building, but it came in public comment, and this post is going to be quite long enough.



Old Business:  Jason announced that the public hearing for Moving Ohio Forward will be at 7 p.m. on April 25 (Monday) in the Township Hall.  After that there will be a workshop about the paving bids for next year.

Sealed bids for equipment and culvert pipe were opened.  There was one bid, which Jason opened and said, "It's from my father, Phil Carlton:  $52.50 for the culvert pipe."  Jason asked for the board's opinion.  Vic recommended accepting the bid, and that was done.  [Blogger:  My notes have the amount as above, which I think is correct.  As I keyboard this several days later, I suddenly wonder if the decimal point is correct, but I think so.]

Jason, continuing:  The Center School display cases.  Dottie Summerlin, President, Mantua Historical Society, [the historical society owns the cases] reported that people from Streetsboro had come and looked again.  A mover they have spoken with wants to charge $500 to move the cases.  Dottie said that she and Vic had talked about it and talked to Ronnie Kotkowski (who had expressed an interest in any cases that other historical societies did not take).  Dottie:  We thought maybe we could partner with him to drop off a couple of cases.

Center School:  Vic reported that the permits (applications) are at the Portage County Building Department.  They are in the review process.

John Festa:  I was going through some old paperwork and found a report by RPR Architects from 2003.  They described a process to help promote the school to the community so it could be put on the ballot.  It is interesting and in an outline form  and reminds me of how the veterans' memorial committee has been moving things along.  I will do an outline on it for everyone to look at.

It states that the trustees should come up with a plan on the school and figure out what we are going to do with it and how much it is going to cost and how we are going to pay for it.  I think we should put it back on the table and begin working on it diligently.  This is starting to just drag on and drag on.  [Blogger:  So says the man who has blocked anything on the school at every turn since he was sworn in.]

We possibly could appoint a facilitator [?  The kind of facilitator this would take under the circumstances would cost money.] or start a committee and get the community involved with meetings and what we want to do and get some professional people and residents and start moving it ahead.

I think as a trustee board we should get up and get this done.  At the next meeting I plan to have an outline on how we can go about this and make a decision.

Jason:  In order to get something on the ballot for November, they have to have three months' lead time.

John Festa:  I don't know if that is doable for November.  We have a lot of what we need.  I don't think we need any consultants.  [Blogger:  This is how my notes read.  I will check against a recording.  Logically,  John Festa's remarks before and after Jason's interpolation do not make sense together, if my notes are accurate.]

OK.  Here is another piece to this week.

On Wednesday, I was the invited speaker at the Chamber of Commerce meeting as a representative of The Mantua Restoration Society, Inc.  The purpose of the presentation was two-fold:  to inform people even if briefly about the school and to ask that the Chamber consider a contribution to the restoration society to increase its ability  to carry out renovations in the school building.  (The Chamber did make a contribution.) I am not going to try to recount the presentation, but here are the key points:

That as can be expected, opinions are strong and feelings are high, as they are regarding the flagpole project in Ravenna.  Given that, there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation being spread around.

That one of the most attention-getting pieces of disinformation is that renovating the building would cost $2,000,000.

That the $2,000,000 figure came from a 2002 report, as required by the Ohio School Facilities Commission [I believe that is the correct title; the purpose is the same whether or not I have the title right] to determine the cost of renovating older schools to bring them up to present code--the equivalent of building a new building in the shell of the older one.

That the code for school buildings is one of the most stringent (and therefore expensive to implement).

That two things have changed since 2002:  the building is no longer a school, and therefore requirements have changed; the building is now in the second phase of nomination to The National Register of Historic Places, and therefore exempted from requirements on some items.

That one of the ideas being floated around the township is to demolish the building and put up a new one. That venture fails, first,  to consider  the cost of demolition and the many costs associated with that.

Second, new commercial construction runs somewhere between $170 and $190 per square foot.  The 1914 section of the building is 12,000 square feet, and using the middle number of $180 per square foot to replace the square footage of the building (the building itself cannot be duplicated for that), a new building would cost [wait for it]  about $2,000,000--so it's a wash.

 [Of course, it may not be necessary to build another 12,000 square foot building, but one at half that area still costs a million--and that is only for the building, no furnishings.]

Blogger, continuing:  Since he was elected, John Festa has been referring to the 2002 report on the school, and I have regularly criticized him for it.  Having read the report and talked with Carol Corbett about how and why it was written, I am even more critical of John Festa's clinging to it.  One way of defeating a project is to "prove" that it is too expensive or that the building is too far gone.  When the building was vacated in 2004, it had been in continuous use as a school for 90 years--safely.

It is very interesting indeed that 36 hours after I made a public statement about the inaccuracy of the 2002 report, John Festa has now found another one, a whole year newer--but proposing something that the trustees rejected, terminating their relationship with the authoring firm.  (Was there a cause-effect relationship between the two?  I have no idea--but it certainly is interesting.)

The reason the trustees rejected the proposal?  They did not want to impose an additional tax burden on the residents, but were confident that they would be able to carry out the project with the resources that would be available.  Subsequently, their caution was justified when the economy tanked.

A subsequent post will give more information about the RP report.

Mantua Center School--Neither Fire Nor Flood

This post is transcribed from an article in what appears to be the March 1913 edition of The Ohio Architect Engineer and Builder.  A while ago I sent a notice to some of my contacts about The Ohio Historical Society's special posting on its website about the flood of 1913.

The following article, "Lessons from the Flood," was written by Paul Cahill, the architect who designed the Mantua Center School building.  With the annual meeting of The Mantua Restoration Society, Inc., scheduled at the school building on Monday, April 22 (doors open at 6:30), I thought this article might be of interest.  Here it is.

Ohio has suffered from a flood more devastating and terrible in its effects than any during its history.  To attempt to describe the horrors and awful suffering or even to reckon the property loss is not the intent of this article.  We should not allow the terrors of the catastrophy to hypnotize or deaden our minds, nor should be [sic] turn from it with careless indifference as something of little immediate interest for those of us who suffered no direct loss.

The flood brings its lessons which we should seek to catch, and from which benefit may be derived, if the problem is grappled in an intelligent way.

Frame buildings have long proven dangerous when fire risk has been considered.  Under the mighty impact of the swollen waters, they have been crushed like egg-shells.  Floating from their foundations they are not only a loss themselves but a menace to property and life in the vicinity.  For the same reason a derelict at sea is shunned a floating building is feared.  Swept onward by the force of the water it becomes a missile which the power of man is unable to stay.  Other buildings are apt to be damaged, rescuer and rescued in boats cannot escape it.  Finally, stranded against a bridge with other debris it helps dam up the water until wider areas are submerged and finally the piled up water or the frantic dynamiting of men sweep the bridge on down the valley and the pent up waters rush on to further destruction.

Masonry, it is true, did not altogether escape the effects of the flood.  But the cases where it failed are so rare that the lesson to be learned here is obvious.  Masonry walls are safer from destruction themselves and do not become dangerous to life and property down stream when they do fail.  Good hard mortar in the walls would have saved some of the brick buildings that collapsed.  Others where the earth around the foundations was washed out could not have been saved by any precautions short of methods heroic enough to keep the water away from them.

An almost inevitable concomitant of tornado, earthquake or flood is the uncontrolable [sic] fire that completes the work of destruction.  In the San Francisco disaster some years ago, the tornado at Omaha and the flood in the Miami valley last month, the original catastrophy was in each case augmented by fires which raged more or less uncontrolled for hours.

It would seem that more stringent legislative restrictions were necessary to prevent cheap frame buildings from being erected.

There will always be those who object to progress of any kind.  There are always those whose theory of economy is limited to the item of first costs.  It is not to be expected that these people will join heartily in an effort to raise building standards.  Yet this is a matter in which the common interest of all is at stake.

Cleveland suffered little in comparison with other towns in the State of Ohio and other adjoining states.  Her geographical position practically assures her safety, unless a flood similar to the one in Noah's time should again assert itself.  True the usual sleepy Cuyahoga river with its ugly windings caused a furore and might have been more serious than was the case in the low-lying inhabited parts along the course of this stream.  Whilst we view the aspect as suffering no direct loss, still there is always an underlying current of certain circumstances from which she is bound to suffer from indirect sources.

Architects in search of additional business can feel the effects of such floods for their building trade appeared prosperous at one time, but now there seems to be an almost unexplained reason for a slackness in that order of things.

From a glance at the situation there are some reasons that are justifiable for this cause; first the State has appealed to the bankers to invest certain amounts from its capital at a low rate to meet the necessitous demands of the more seriously affected districts, and that indomitable spirit, Patriotism, which is always to be found in the views of the American race, will assert itself and will doubtless make the City of Cleveland somewhat weaker in its finances for her own affairs.

Then again, there are other trades outside that of building which will suffer.  Practically all conceivable manufacturers who have an inter-city trade will be considerably hurt and whatever ideas those concerns had of extending their business would naturally suspend the plans for a future date.  Thus we see from these few points how it is possible that towns not in the wake of the flood can be directly affected and suffer considerable loss.
                                          *     *     *     *     *     *

A note on the above:  Many people know that the Mantua Center School building was erected after the disastrous Collinwood School fire in Cleveland, in which the building went up like a torch and killed something like 170 people.  The Mantua Center building is listed in the site assessment conducted by Dave Summers and Associates as "non combustible."

In addition, the walls are 18" thick from the basement up to the little hip above ground, and 14" thick above that. 

At the annual meeting on April 22, Christine Borkan, who edited and completed the nomination of the building to the National Register of Historic Places, will give a half-hour Power Point discussion of the building--its architectural features, structure, and place in history.  This is a very rare opportunity to learn more about our building and about what that designation--"The National Register"--means.

With the school building on the north end and the East Lawn cemetery on the south, Mantua Township has a true historic district: an area laid out like the New England greens of the late 18th century; three buildings around the green from the 19th century; and the school building, erected in the early 20th century before the traditions of  classical architecture had been displaced by industrially influenced boxes.  And today, many modern school buildings are eerily similar to prison design, with blockhouses at the ends.  We have something very, very special. 

4-4-13 Mantua Twp. Trustees after paying bills

What follows is pretty much just a summary from the recording I had access to.  There were only two topics.
 First was  a discussion of the caterer and menu for the Portage County Township Association dinner, which the Township is hosting in the Administrative Building annex in August.
Second was a review of the sketches that Vic had of the dividing wall in the west room in the Administrative Building to separate the office area from the records storage.

There was a lot of noise on the recording, and without seeing the sketches, it's hard to describe anything.  But here is basically what was discussed.

Township Association Dinner:  The discussion was about who would supply the meal, how that would be done, and the cost.  The intention was to keep the cost to between $9.00 and $11.00 per person.  Jake's will provide the meal, without dessert.  The trustees agreed to get a cake for dessert, source to be determined.

The Wall in the West Room:  Vic had sketches of the wall, which he had reviewed with Randy Roberts, head of the Portage County Building Department.  There were apparently a couple of different designs, affording somewhat different ventilation and light.  The trustees discussed trimming out the various openings, probably with kiln dried oak which Vic thought Doll Lumber would probably have.

During  the main part of the meeting in his report, Vic had mentioned the doors, which he said Randy told him had to be 38" wide.  ADA requires 32" doorways, and there is something about 36" clearance if there is a hallway.  All of the doorways in the building are 36" wide.   Vic said that none of the suppliers he talked with had heard of that size door--they are 36" or 42" wide.  [Blogger:  I assume that this puzzle will be pursued and resolved.]

One of the designs looked better to the trustees, and they had already decided to approve moving forward, so apparently we are finally going to begin the work to move offices into the building. 

4-4-13 Trustees & Public Comment: Center school bldg., other

 Vic's trustee report came after the discussion about the Township cleanup day and the shredding day.

Trustee Reports concluded
Victor Grimm:  At the last meeting we discussed building permits for the west room [in the administrative (school) building].  I drew up some sketches and went over them with Randy Roberts.  The basic permit is the $50 permit, plus 3%, but there is also a review process for $180.
He thinks the door must be a larger door than we have in the basement--38 inches.  I have never heard of that and have called three lumber companies and they have never heard of a 38" door.

Bob Gatto will hold the price on the lights for that room even though that will be fewer lights [than the original bid/estimate, which was for the whole first floor].  That will be about $600 for the lights.
Jason was OK with that.

Vic, continuing:  All the tile and mastic has been removed.  They taped and ventilated everything and did some air monitoring.  We will receive some paper work on that.  The tile was the easiest they have ever taken up and the mastic was the hardest.  The floor is as clean as they can get it.  There is another process that will remove more of it.

Vic:  Made a motion to set aside $630 for Gatto Electric for the lights.  Jason seconded.  John Festa, yes [!];  Jason, yes; Vic, yes.

Vic:  I want to go over a couple of drawings to see about the bid on that.  [Blogger:  That was done after paying the bills.]

Jason, Old Business:  The Land Bank

I have kept this on [the agenda] constantly because something new comes up about it at each meeting.

The letters went out today to all of the land holders and lien holders in the township that are in very bad shape.  They were condemned by the Health Department, Building Department, and Fire Department.  These are the letters that went out and we will be holding a public hearing on that May 25.

Next:  The  ad is out for the culvert pipe.  The ditching head and broom are also advertised.

Center School:  Vic, you gave an update on the mastic and tile.
Also, I got a letter from Dottie Summerlin that she has found someone to take the display cases.

Linda Ehlert, on behalf of Dottie, added that Ron Kotkowski will take anything that no one else will take.  Also, regarding the piano, Ellie Monroe has someone who will look at it.  Perhaps it will also be gone [from the township hall] by the end of the month.

John Festa:  Regarding the Town Hall, I have been asking the Ohio Historical Society about what we can do and what is not allowed.

Vic mentioned again the consultant he had referred to at a couple of previous meetings who appears to have all of the credentials needed to give knowledgeable advice about the best way to deal with the building.

Jason mentioned the annual lawn care bids:  Before the meeting I gave out paperwork for a walkthrough.  Three businesses responded.  This year we will begin doing the maintenance [contract] for  two years.  Jason noted that he had gotten no call from the Builder's Exchange.  That may account for the small number of interested parties.
At 8:20 the bids, which were submitted as sealed bids, were opened.
Jason said that the only new vendor is Park Hollow.  The low bid this year was for $13,645, and the same for next year.  Low bid was R. C. Geil.

Jason commented on the company that got the bid, saying he has heard nothing either good or bad about it, but they have done work in the area.  He asked if either of the other trustees had any reservations and then reviewed the cancellation clause within 30 days.

Jason made the motion to accept R.C. Geil's bid for $13,645 per year for the next two years.  Vic seconded; unanimous.  Jason will notify the business.

Public Comment began at 8:30.

Dave Pollard and Dan Cozzens had no comments this evening.

Steve Zielinski, S.R. 82:  Steve thanked the trustees for moving forward with the veterans' memorial project, mentioning that both he and his sons are veterans.

Matt Parsons, Wayne Road:  Matt referred to a letter that he had not received but had seen from an organization the name of which he was unsure of.  Dave Pollard supplied the name:  The Mantua Restoration Society.  Matt asked if they had done any work in the school.
Jason:  As far as last year, I believe that some of the members took out some of the carpeting that was in the west room.  I am sure there have been some volunteer efforts.  Jason said he had not received the mailing but would like to see it.

 [Blogger:  The letter in question is the first newsletter of The Mantua Restoration Society, Inc., which listed the things that the members have accomplished so far:  removal of the carpet and purchase and removal by two members of the two trailers that had been at the west side of the school--in contrast to the possibility (put forth by John Festa after the purchase agreement had been made) of paying someone as much as $2800 to remove them.]

Matt, continuing:  The mailing touted what they are trying to do and I think that is great and there was certain work in the school and I don't know if that was authorized.

Vic:  They helped with the Open House.  Nothing has been done inside the school this year--just cleaning.

Jason:  Asked Matt if the mailing went to residents.  That was when Matt said that he had not received a copy, but had seen it.

[Blogger:  There are some discrepancies in all of this, but I am not going to parse them.]

Ellen Monroe, Wayne Road:  Four out of my six Open Tuesdays have been completed.  Over 70 different individuals have attended.  It is doing what I set out to do, raising awareness.

Linda Ehlert:  No additional comment.

Carole Pollard, Allyn Road:  For general information, the Restoration Society has offered a number of times to help the trustees on things that would move forward with the west room.  We don't have lots of money but can help to a certain extent.  The trustees have not accepted anything at this point.

The mailing was for members of the Restoration  Society and also for people who signed the guest book at the Open House.  Seven or eight of us worked for the Open House for about 10 days to get that place ready to go, and it was not just a small thing.  We worked like indentured servants, and Vic and Mark Hall were there even longer than the volunteers.

If we have not done anything it is because we have not been given the opportunity,  to be quite honest.

Carol Srajer, Winchell Road:  I would like to comment on the military memorial.  I think it is awesome.  I don't think anyone knows how many people stop at this green because it is historical.  I think it would be an honor to have it on our green.  I have been asked questions about the cannon and the well and the school.

Barbara Herbold and Frank Horack had no comment and no further comment, respectively.

Amy Janca:  At the last meeting there was some discussion about tax exempt arrangements made for t he group that will be doing the memorial.  Has anything been resolved?  If someone wanted to make a contribution, do we know who to send it to?

Jason referred that question to Frank Horack, who asked a couple of parliamentary procedure questions and then finally answered the question:  We approached the Crestwood Ruritans, and they gave approval for us to come under their tax exempt number.  That way there will be a number for the tax exemptions.  We will also set up an account for the Mantua Veterans' Memorial.
Bud Foster added, Now we can open the bank account.

Public Comment ended at 8:40.

[Blogger's Note:  A non profit organization can be tax exempt, which means that it does not pay taxes on what it takes in.  It takes a separate status--501 c 3--for donations to be tax deductible by donors.  That is a detailed process which involves paying a fee and usually means a wait of some months between application and approval.  The group working to save the flagpole in front of the courthouse in Ravenna has applied and is waiting, as reported in the Record Courier a while ago.]

There will be one more post for this meeting, a short one about some discussion and decision about the work on the west room of the administrative (formerly school) building.

4-4-13 Mantua Township Trustees

For this meeting's Fiscal Officer report, please check after the April 18 meeting on the Township website, mantuatownshipohio.gov, for the official report.  Your blogger cannot keep up with the financial statements, and it is better to get accurate information two weeks after the meeting from the official  minutes  than inaccurate information sooner.

Marie announced that there was a notice from the Board of Elections that there will be an election on May 7 in the Administration Building gymnasium.

Vic had mentioned at the last meeting that we did not get our grant through Public Works this time.  Therefore, that amount needs to be decertified.  It came to $325,900.  The proper motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.  [Blogger:  I do not know what this procedure actually entails; it appears to be a routine thing under these circumstances.]

Current cash balance is $763,307.96.

Zoning, Tierney Bryant:  $385.00 collected for permits and fees.  The BZA hearing was successful in Benjamins' favor of a land split.

Two violations have been forwarded to the prosecutor's office.  [Note:  One of these is a property on S.R. 82 east of the corners and next door to the animal hospital.  The other is for a business being run in a residential area on Frost Road.  I think that is correct.]  

I  (Tierney) have been fielding a lot of questions and complaints this month.  [Blogger:  As I understand these things, that situation is kind of typical for the new kid on the block--let's see if we can get the new one to agree to things that the old one would not.]  

Zoning Commission:  Nothing.  Vic said that the Zoning Book is at the Recorder's office.

BZA:  Nothing.  Marie asked about the BZA organizational meeting.  Bob Stehli is chair, and Joan Martin is co chair.

Jim Aldrich, Cemetery:  Graves, $440; foundations, $2975; burial fees, $925.

Jason turned to Frank Horack for some additional details on the veterans' memorial.

Frank:  My name is Frank Horack, nominated this year as spokesman for the Mantua Veterans' Memorial Association.  A blue print and small model of what the memorial will look like is on the side table.  At the last meeting I gave a small spiel about what we thought.  After the meeting I met at the bullpen with Vic about another site.  He showed me the west property line and there would be room for a driveway and angled parking.  What we did not talk about was the cars that had landed up in the bull pen.

I took all this to the committee last Tuesday.  We did not have a full committee then.  We looked at the area.  Last Tuesday, we had about 98% of the people, and I told them about the discussion Vic and I had had.  We discussed various things and took a closed  vote by paper.  [Blogger:  My notes have what is presented here, but in scurrying my pen across the page, I could have used the same abbreviation for two different days.  The outcome is what matters here.]

The choice was the green or the bull pen.  All of them wanted it at the green.  That is my report.

This is a revised plan that our architect drew up, and we can not leave our model and prints here tonight.

In the meantime at the last meeting one of the members learned that we have to get permission from the federal government to move the cannon to the bull pen.  Personally I think the cannon  should be at the bull pen because it is part of the history.  That is one reason we wanted to have the memorial at the green.

If this project is going to go on, I need something from you [the trustees]  tonight.  The weather is breaking and it is time for us to begin doing something about it.

Jason:  At the last meeting you spoke about the memorial at the cannon.  [There was then some discussion about placement of the memorial.

Bud Foster:  When I contacted the Department of Defense about the cannon, as long as it stays on this property, it can be repositioned.  [Blogger:  "On the property":  The township owns the green and the bull pen.  So does that mean that the two  plots are one property or two?  Maybe the federal requirement does not actually apply.  In my view, this project--at least once it became public--is moving very speedily.  It remains to be seen whether the speed is haste.]

John Festa:  I don't see any problems with that.  I think we should do that--take the committee's recommendations and move forward.

Vic:  I don't have any problem with it--I just wanted the committee to know about the other discussions/location.

John Festa:  Motion to begin the veterans' memorial.  Jason, second; unanimous.

[Note:  This topic was introduced at the last meeting.  The model looks very much like what had been put together two or three years ago and considered for the bull pen.]

Road Department, Garden, Club, and LCA all had nothing to report.  Barb Herbold reported for the LCA that they hoped to have a meeting by the end of this month.

Trustee Reports and Anouncements

Jason announced that bids for the lawn care contracts would be opened this evening under Old Business. 

Continuing:  It's the time of year again to look at the salt bid for next year.  Our agreement is due May 1.  He turned to Vic for information about usage.
Vic:  We have used as much as 900 tons, but it is usually about 700,000 tons.  We are over 600 tons, but I do not know the exact figure.
     [Note:  That concluded that part of the meeting/discussion, during which Tierney got up and left.]

John Festa:   I have a couple of questions for Tierney.  [A couple of people said she had left, and one said that she was probably still in the parking lot.]
Continuing  (apparently regardless of whether the person he wanted to consult with was there):  I would like to take care of this--I would like to take care of making a decision on the phones for zoning and sexton.  I think each one should have a separate phone.  I would like to have the zoning inspector to have her own number.  [Johnn Festa said that the 9663 number spells ZONE.  Someone else said that he mis quoted the number as 9336; because I know the long-time zoning number, I wrote it down correctly and cannot comment on what was said.]
John Festa, continuing:  Everybody has a cell phone--we do not need to have an answering machine [in the Administrative Building] to do that.  Also, I think the sexton would need his own phone number and  they don't need to [?] phones.
I don't see it as a real problem to add another line for the sexton.  I would like for us to make a decision.  They are two separate people now and they each need to have their own phones.
[Blogger:  This sounds reasonable enough, but the idea is to have the sexton and zoning inspector each have his/her own phone and not have a phone or phones for them in the building, as I understand this issue.  Phone lines into the building for township business make the building more official and permanent.  The other thing about this is that customarily the employer/business supplies the phones.  This issue, which was brought up at the previous meeting as well, seems to be John Festa's resistance to put phones into the township's building for the township's business.]

Jason:  My recommendation would be to talk to them both individually and see what their requirements are and how they want to receive messages.  I can not speak for either one of them.  I would recommend talking with each of them individually.

John Festa:  I think that would be up to us to decide.

Jason:  But I can handle my voice mail at work so it is the most efficient for me.  I think we should have them decide what would be easiest for them.

Vic:  In the long run, they will run the line at no charge for the administration building.  Keep the 9663 number because that was the number for years, even before John Vechery [was zoning inspector].  Right now it is rolling over [to Vic's office] and it can be hard wired to there [the Administration Building].  They can use that line to dial out if they are in the office and looking up records.
I think we should sit down with them to work this out.

Jason reviewed how Vic had described it at the last meeting, and Vic mentioned the flexibility of the system.

John Festa:  I am suggesting that they each have their own phone number.

Jason:  If you get a chance, call Brimfield.  They way they do it, when you call in, you get their number and you press a number for any government department.  I don't know what the cheaper option would be.  To me it does not matter either way--I would get their preferences.

John Festa:  My take on it is that if it costs a little more and residents get quicker service, I would think . . .

Jason:  One or two--doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

John Festa;  would it forward to their phone?  Jason:  Yes.

Marie:  I just want to remind you that last year zoning  did not bring in enough to pay for its own phone.

John Festa:  Do you recommend that we each [each trustee] individually speak with them?

Jason:  No, go ahead.

John Festa  (to Jim Aldrich):  I know you give us this report once a month.  Would it be possible to keep us informed through e-mail when you have a burial or when something like that comes up?  I would like to know in case there was ever a person fronm the township who is deceased or someone who used to be in the township.

Jim Aldrich:  No problem.

John Festa:  I know this is coming up.  I also wanted to talk about the spring cleanup.  I wanted to make sure about the rules we have--this is how we advertised  last year and I worked at the cleanup last year.  On this second to last line it says no building materials.  Specifically what does that mean?

Vic:  No construction materials.  Dumps do not want dry wall, 2 X 4s, shingles--anything that would go into a construction land fill.

John Festa:  Last year we had a lot of stuff coming in.  What bothers me is contractors with loads of demo-ed building materials.  I wanted to make sure we are going to enforce our own rules.

Vic:  There are two different dump sites and two different charges.  We can take a little.  It does not have to come off a truck if it comes in.  If you put it back on the truck you might find it on the road somewhere.

John Festa:  Maybe we could charge them a fee.

Vic:  We would have to have a separate dumpster.

Jason:  Are we using a different contractor this year?  Do they know the same rules apply?

Vic:  Yes.

Jason recommended working with the Community Journal again, and Vic suggested putting the shredding day into the same ad.  There was a very little more discussion about the ad, and then Jason asked for a motion to advertise in the Community Journal for both.
Moved, seconded, passed unanimously.

Blogger:  This is a good, logical place to end this post.  This meeting was shorter than many in the past year or so, and one more post can take care of Vic's trustee report, Public Comment, and some business transacted after the break to pay the bills. 




    

Background Checks

Earlier this year, a question was asked in a trustees meeting about a background check on a new part time hire.  Someone also asked me, separately, about background and drug checks, so I decided to get more than the brief answer that was sufficient in the meeting.

It appears to me that the employees who are required to have background checks and drug tests are those who are full time or will be in regular contact with residents.

Those employees in the township are Jim Aldrich, Tierney Bryant, and Dan Wysznski.

Jim and Tierney were hired late in 2012 and early 2013, respectively.  Dan was hired part time for snow plowing in 2011 and then was put on full time about the middle of 2012.

When the decision was made to put Dan on full time, the fiscal officer informed the trustees that the budget could not support a full time person past (if I remember correctly) the end of 2012.  Jason Carlton and John Festa voted yes; Victor Grimm, based on the fiscal officer's advice, voted no. Dan was placed on full time.

It is the responsibility of the trustees to request the background checks and drug tests.  No check or test was requested in 2012.

When Jim Aldrich and Tierney Bryant were hired, Victor Grimm requested background checks and drug tests for them and Dan earlier this year. The background checks all came back OK, and all the drug tests came back clean.

The official minutes should show a record of payment for both of the above.  As of the date of this post (4/1/13), nothing had shown up.