April 3, 2006
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Chairman John A. Eberly. All Trustees were present. Frank Kitko led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Motion by Michael S. Troyan seconded by John Eberly to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of March 27, 2006. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed.
REPORTS:
Frank Kitko, Zoning Inspector, presented the following report for March, 2006:
Month
Total
Commercial New
2
Commercial Sign
1
Land Development Activity
1
2
Residential Accessory Building over 160 sq. ft.
2
Residential Deck
1
1
Residential Remodel
1
2
Residential Signs Temporary Building Construction
11
21
Residential Signs Subdivisions
2
Single Family Dwelling
8
21
Variance/Conditional Use
1
1
23
55
Mr. Kitko asked the trustees for permission to attend an all day seminar by the Chagrin River Watershed Partners to be held May 17. There is a $30 per person fee. It will be an in-depth seminar covering many topics of interest to the zoning department.
Mr. Kitko said there are two Board of Zoning Appeals cases upcoming; one on a fence/pool issue and the other a side lot matter.
No zoning permits have been or will be issued for Moreland Phase 2 until a fire retention pond is put in.
Mr. Kitko reported that he met with the new owner of the ice rink. He will be appearing before the BZA for a conditional use permit that will be necessary.
Culverts were discussed. The way it works now is that the County issues the permits and also collects the fee. When there is a problem, though, our road department has to handle it. Currently, there is a developer wanting to pipe all the ditches in a subdivision. John Eberly said he would call Bob Phillips for clarification on the new issuance of permits and policy.
Mr. Kitko noted that Mr. Flesher has requested to deviate from the agreement reached between him, the county planning commission, zoning and the trustees. He would like to shorten the drive, perhaps move the house to the other side of a riparian setback. The trustees discussed it and since there is no paperwork to look at and base a decision on, we need to stay with the plan as agreed upon.
Steve Ciciretto is moving forward at The Corners. The old house on the property was demolished and he will have final plans to zoning in the next few weeks.
Mr. Kitko heard from a property owner on Munn Road in the Industrial area who has discussed the potential installation of an oil and gas well. Frank sent him the guidelines for property owners he has developed.
The next Zoning Inspector’s meeting will be hosted by Russell Township in April and they will discuss oil and gas wells.
Another issue in process is a property owner with two dwellings on one parcel of land. The property has been this way for many years. There are plenty of acres of land. A new septic is needed and the health department is looking into it.
Amy from the Chagrin River Watershed Partners went out with Frank to inspect wetlands that someone wanted to fill in.
Lastly, Frank discussed a business property with tenants. The property was to be vacated for tenant use when the lease was up. That has not happened. Frank will check with the prosecutor’s office. Also, he’ll check to see if the septic is sufficient for both business and apartments or if the property is sewered.
Dave Wilmot, Road Superintendent, presented the following report:
Roads: The roads are holding up well. The road department is using cold patch as needed. The asphalt plants will be opening in the next few weeks and they will begin asphalt repairs then. The road department has begun berm work and has used about 30 tons of 411 limestone to date. VanCuren Services, Inc. finished the tree removal from various problem areas. The road department will now be able to ditch the corner of Thorpe and Taylor May where they have had concerns for some time. There are some standing water complaints for various ditches. They ditched on Valley Road to fix one of the problems. They will re-ditch Queens Way off Munn Road where there is another water problem.
Dave has arranged dumpsters for the roadside pick up and large item drop off days. They will work with the Geauga County Department on Aging to help with senior pick up day on June 1st.
Dave is still pursuing the salt buying co-op but if it does not work out, we need to put our salt out for bids.
Equipment: Dave will get a written estimate for the repairs and reconstruction of truck #15’s bed. The rest of the equipment is in safe working condition. The Case front end loader will need front tires by the end of the year. Several hydraulic lines need to be replaced on the grader. The roller and mowers have been gone over and are ready for use.
Cemetery: The road department has spent considerable time working in the cemeteries. They removed the large hedge by LaRue’s property so that a fence may be installed. VanCuren Services will remove a problem tree for $400.00. The road department is removing small trees, trimming shrubs, fixing stones and fixing snow plow damage. They dug out all the old flower beds and put new top soil in. All the flags and ropes were replaced.
The cemeteries should be in good shape in time for Memorial Day ceremonies. The trustees would like the drive at Mapleshade completed (chip sealed) pre-Memorial Day. The trustees discussed two estimates for chip seal of the cemetery drives.
Motion by John Eberly seconded by Michael S. Troyan to accept the estimate from Ronyak Bros. Paving, Inc. to install approx. 30 tons of #411 limestone, fine grade and roll, apply MC-30 Prime Coat, apply CRS-1 Emulsion, apply #57 limestone, CRS-II Emulsion and #8 Limestone (Double Chip & Seal) at $9,910.80. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed.
Motion by Patrick Cavanagh seconded by Michael S. Troyan to encumber $9,910.80 from the Cemetery fiduciary fund for the Double Chip & Seal of the driveways at Mapleshade Cemetery. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed.
Dave told the trustees that they put the broom on truck 13 and have been brushing township intersections to cut down on the time Reilly Sweeping will need. It has been working quite well.
Mr. Eberly offered a 1,000 gallon plastic tank to hold water for the period of time that Reilly Sweeping will be working here. Last year they reported a problem due to not being able to get water fast enough. .
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Mr. Jack Trethewey asked what was going in on the south side of Stafford Road west of Auburn Road. Looks like a driveway being put in with piles of gravel around. No one knows what is planned.
Mr. Jeff Renner was present from the Auburn Volunteer Fire Department. He dropped off the fire contract and budgets a few weeks ago and wanted to be present to answer any questions the trustees might have. He reported a small profit was made on the Spaghetti Dinner on April 1st. The Fire Devils were very pleased. They served 55 adult dinners and 10 children dinners. Mike Troyan noted that he reported a 2.5% contract increase at the last meeting when, in fact, the increase is 2.9%. The trustees will continue to discuss the contract and will be prepared to take action at the May 1st Board of Trustees meeting.
REPORTS:
Michael S. Troyan received a revised quote from Gillmore Security for the Adam Hall fire and burglary system reflecting the changes made. The price went from $8184.00 to $6890.00. It includes all labor, wire, misc. hardware, programming and training, engineered drawings and required permits. The monitoring fee each month will be $40.00. The trustees elected to think about this expenditure for a few weeks and make their decision at the May 1st meeting.
Patrick J. Cavanagh extended thanks to the road department for all their efforts in cleaning up the cemeteries. He stated that people do notice.
Mr. Cavanagh was present at the April 1st Surprise Birthday Party that was held at Adam Hall. He said it went according to plan and worked out very well. Everyone was very pleased.
Mr. Cavanagh spoke with Jeannette Grovner who has a cemetery database in Excel that she has been trying to get all the townships in the county to use. She would bring the database up to date charging $0.10 per name. It has not been updated for years. Joan Buckley did the last updating.
John A. Eberly attended the Geauga County Health District Annual Meeting held March 29th. They expect income of $2,332,258.29 and their 2007 budget is proposed at $2,137,166.00. Some topics discussed were infectious diseases, the pricing on the new septic systems being proposed by the State, the possibility of a bird flu pandemic, and the fact that there will not be a subdivision assessment.
John has not yet received the estimates from Wheeler Landscaping for the Adam Hall sign or the entrance landscaping. Hopefully, we will receive it before the next meeting so a decision can be made soon.
Susan Plavcan, Fiscal Officer, presented warrants and purchase orders. She presented each trustee the current financials.
Mrs. Plavcan reported notification from the Auditor of State that the Consumer Price Index rose 5.2 percent for the year ended 9/30/05 and, therefore, township trustees and clerks should receive a salary increase equal to 3.0% of their current salary for 2006. Since 2001, the CPI has been used in calculating pay increases for township officials.
Susan also reported on the 7th Annual Local Government Officials’ Conference she attended in Columbus, March 30-31, 2006. She attended the maximum number of seminars and brought back a huge quantity of information. It was a wonderful learning experience.
OLD BUSINESS
A second set of letters to be mailed out – one to each of the five ZIP codes – as done once before, was prepared. This time, the trustees want the letters mailed from a Mantua ZIP code. Frank Kitko took the posted letters and will mail them out tomorrow. We will follow up to see when they are delivered to each recipient.
Mr. Eberly reports headway is being made in sorting out the KCE Board finances. Over 700 children have signed up for baseball and all programs are continuing through the summer with no interruption in service.
Bid letters and packages have been prepared for Road Maintenance Equipment Rental, Aggregate and Asphalt pricing and bids will be opened on April 17th. Road improvement project bids are to be opened April 17th also.
Matthew Blowers, who is cleaning the Administration Building and the old Town Hall, has offered to help in cleaning Adam Hall as needed. The trustees are pleased to have him do the cleaning.
The trustees again discussed the mechanical room at Adam Hall and the need to install shelving and move ceramic and asphalt tile boxes out of there altogether. Dave will take care of that. There is some building stain there that Cub Scout Pack 101 could use to match the bench staining to.
The trustees discussed Frank Kitko’s request to attend the Riparian and Wetland seminar.
Motion by Michael Troyan seconded by P.J. Cavanagh to send Frank Kitko and Jane Hardy to the Chagrin River Watershed Partner’s May 17 all day seminar on Implementing Riparian & Wetland Setbacks. The cost is $30 for CRWP members. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Sam Sotera offered to help out at Adam Hall if needed. He said he would be happy to act as the Township Representative. The trustees will be very happy to be able to call on Sam for assistance.
Mr. Eberly noted that they interviewed candidates on March 27 for the BZA and Zoning Commission Alternate positions and the for Cemetery Sexton position.
Motion by Michael Troyan seconded by John Eberly to enter into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing personnel. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed.
Motion by Patrick J. Cavanagh seconded by Michael S. Troyan to leave Executive Session. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed.
Motion by John Eberly seconded by Michael S. Troyan to adjourn the meeting. VOTE: Troyan, yes; Cavanagh, yes; Eberly, yes. The motion passed. The meeting was adjourned.