Richfield Township
Trustees
December 16, 2004
The Richfield Township Board of Trustees opened their regular meeting at 7.05 pm on December 16, 2004 with the following in attendance:
Shano Cica-Mraz, Chairperson
Laurie Peters Gilmore, Trustee Vice-Chairperson
David Wyatt, Trustee
Laurie Pinney, Clerk & Zoning Inspector
Linda Bowmer, Township Administrator
Two residents & one newspaper representative
Ms Gilmore gave the road report. The service garage improvements on Boston Mills Road are almost complete and the road personnel will be working from this garage during the winter as the salt is stored here. The garage at Rising Valley Park was considered as a more permanent location, but it proved to be too small. Therefore plans are moving ahead to go out to bid for a 600 sq ft 14’ x 40’ modular building to attach to the current garage on Boston Mills Road.
The Administration report was provided by Ms. Bowmer. The township has received a letter from Sherrod Brown, inviting township officials to a presentation by Phil Berkley of the Army Corps of Engineers on December 17 at the Brecksville Community Center. Ohio Edison Representative Robin Patton has responded regarding the problem with the street lighting contract. Ohio Edison legal representatives have changed a few lines, which should bring the contract language into conformance with Ohio Revised Code requirements. The Trustees asked Ms. Bowmer to run the revisions by the Prosecutor's office for an opinion. The street lighting contract is due January 20, 2005. The application deadline for the Rising Valley Park Board is tomorrow. Two applications have been submitted to date. The trustees may consider appointing one as a full member and one as an advisory member, given that Richfield Township may become the sole owner of the park at some point in 2005.
The Zoning report was provided by Ms. Pinney. No items to report, aside from a comment on the success of the December 9 meeting with Briarwood area residents, which was very well attended.
The Clerk report was provided by Ms. Pinney. No items to report, aside from warrant report. Motion made by Ms. Cica-Mraz and seconded by Ms. Gilmore to approve warrant report items 10966 to 10986. Motion passed by unanimous approval.
New Business: Ms. Cica-Mraz announced that Carole Gibson, Clerk of the Village of Richfield Council had passed away earlier in the week. The Village of Richfield has sent a proposed addendum to the current police contract, allowing for a one-year contract at a rate of $420,000. Ms. Cica-Mraz commented that she would be comfortable with up to a ten percent increase over the existing contract, providing for a five percent increase for increased costs and five percent for adjustment of the Richfield Township portion of costs, given that they have three years of cost history since signing the original contract. Ms. Gilmore discussed the contract offer made by the Summit County Sheriff’s department. Topic was opened to the floor for discussion. Tom Sadar, of 5044 W. Streetsboro Road, had questions regarding funding of the contract and accountability in terms of Richfield Township coverage. Rich Fleming, of 2780 Columbia Road, had several comments regarding the quality of service that had been received by the Sheriff’s department, the Richfield Township department and the current coverage by the Village of Richfield department. He also feels that the trustees seem to be somewhat arbitrary in their analysis of the proposed increase and would like to see a more thorough breakdown of the township’s share of the costs. Mr. Sadar also had additional comments about response time issues. The trustees asked Ms. Bowmer to set up a work session to discuss the contract further and would like to invite the Mayor and President of Council, possibly also the Chief of Police.
Citizen’s Forum: Mr. Fleming asked about enforcement of the violation in the Light Industrial-Office District, where there are a number of trailers parked that can be viewed from the turnpike interchange. The trustees commented that this was to be a temporary situation, given the upcoming approval of the JEDD and development of the property, so that investing resources in correcting the violation seemed unnecessary. At this point, the JEDD approval has moved forward more slowly than originally anticipated and Ms. Pinney was asked to take action on the violation, since a large number of trailers are now on the site.
Motion made at 8:50 p.m. by Ms. Cica-Mraz and seconded by Ms. Gilmore to go into executive session to discuss pending legal and personnel issues with John Slagter, township legal council. The motion passed with unanimous approval.
Motion to go out of executive session made at 9:40 p.m. by Ms. Cica-Mraz, seconded by Ms. Gilmore and received unanimous approval.
The proposed FedEx construction on a ten-acre site within the township, adjacent to the existing FedEx building was discussed. FedEx had anticipated that construction of the building would be several years away, but now may need the construction to take place sooner, requiring that the JEDD agreement be finalized in a timely manner.
The developers for the proposed Briarwood Estates subdivision have sent a proposed amendment to the 1983 judgment entry to the township for review by the trustees. Following review of the proposed amendment and discussion of the potential benefits and disadvantages of the original approved plat versus proposed plan amendments, a motion was made by Mr. Wyatt and seconded by Ms. Gilmore to decline the proposed amendment to the 1983 judgment entry, and allow development according to the existing judgment entry or according to current zoning. The motion passed by majority approval, with the following votes cast: Mr. Wyatt, yes; Ms. Gilmore, yes; Ms. Cica-Mraz, no.
Motion to adjourn made at 9:45 p.m. by Ms. Gilmore, seconded by Ms. Cica-Mraz and received unanimous approval.
Last updated: 02/25/2006