RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
JANUARY 20, 2005

The Richfield Township Board of Trustees opened their regular meeting at 7:10 p.m. on January 20, 2005 with the following in attendance:

Laurie Peters Gilmore, Trustee Chairperson
David Wyatt, Trustee Vice Chairperson
Shano Cica-Mraz, Trustee
Laurie Pinney, Zoning Inspector & Clerk
Linda Bowmer, Township Administrator
Three residents

A motion was made by Ms. Gilmore and seconded by Mr. Wyatt to approve the minutes of January 6, 2005 and January 13, 2005, as amended. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

A motion was made by Ms. Gilmore and seconded by Ms. Cica-Mraz to approve warrant report items 11043-11078. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

The Clerk report was provided by Ms. Pinney. The Trustees had requested that Ms. Pinney consider the possibility of hiring a clerk assistant, as authorized under HB 148, to assist with attending trustee meetings and taking the minutes. Since HB 148 requires the Clerk to attend only four trustee meetings per year, an assistant hired to attend trustee meetings and take minutes would be functioning beyond the scope of the clerk’s duties and could not be considered a clerk assistant. An employee hired for this purpose would be considered a regular township administrative assistant, and hired by the Trustees. The short-term financial outlook for the township is somewhat uncertain, given that there have been cutbacks proposed for local government funding and given the substantial negotiations in process for safety service contracts and the JEDD agreement. Ms. Pinney advised that the Trustees postpone hiring additional staff at this time and that she continue to attend regular monthly meetings and take the minutes, until the economic picture for the township has stabilized. The Board agreed to follow this course of action.

Spending amounts for various categories of legal counsel had been established at the January 6 meeting. One category, the Glencairn zoning appeal, has come in with invoices higher than the originally approved amount. A motion was made by Ms. Cica-Mraz and seconded by Mr. Wyatt to approve additional spending of up to $10,000 on this matter. The motion passed with unanimous approval. Ms. Pinney provided a Cash Summary by Fund report for the 4th quarter of 2004. The OTAS financial program provides only a limited number of quarterly report formats, but spreadsheets could be created and data transferred to these reports, to provide whatever information the Trustees would like to see. A draft copy of a report, titled the Certificate of the Total Amount from All Sources Available for Expenditures and Balances was provided. The report will be checked and finalized by Ms. Pinney and submitted to the Summit County Fiscal Office by the January 31 due date. A final copy will be provided to the Trustees before the next regular meeting and will be available to the public during regular business hours.

The Zoning report was provided by Ms. Pinney. The BZA has set a special meeting for January 31, 7:00 p.m. for the continued review of a proposed FedEx package delivery facility in the Light Industrial-Office District. The next regular Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for February 10, 6:30 and the BZA February 21, 7:00 p.m., with a filing deadline of February 7. Ms. Pinney is also planning on providing monthly/ytd zoning reports in a spreadsheet format and the Trustees should let her know if there is specific information they would like to see on the reports.

The Road report was provided by Ms. Gilmore, who asked that the news agencies provide information to the public to request that private snowplowers not push snow onto public rights-of-way or onto other private property. All snow removed from driveways and parking areas on private property must remain on the property. The township road crew has worked hard during the recent bad weather to keep the streets passable and safe and their efforts are hampered by the additional snow that has been left on the roads from snowplowing on private property.

Ms. Bowmer provided the administration report. Jonathan Baker, the new township road employee, will be starting work on Monday, January 24. Representative Brian Williams has sent a letter of response to the Trustees letter opposing SB18, which has not been signed as of this date. The Richfield Chamber of Commerce luncheon on February 2 will feature Village of Richfield Mayor Mike Lyons, who will be giving the state of the Village address. The Chamber luncheon on March 2 will feature the State of the Township address by the Trustees. TASC has sent o notice regarding the February 2nd dinner meeting and township representatives should notify Ms. Bowmer if they plan to attend. The Recycle Ohio grant program will have funds available this year. The township participated jointly with the Village of Richfield in the program last year.

In New Business, the Secretary of the Rising Valley Park Board has notified the township that the Board has requested an additional $1000 for maintenance expenses this year. The amount given last year by each township was $6000. Mr. Wyatt brought up the topic of issuing remote controls to certain area residents for using the new RVP gate that had been discussed at an earlier park meeting. He did not think it would be a good idea to provide through access to a limited number of residents and Ms. Gilmore concurred. Tom Johnson, former Administrator of the RVP Board, met with the technician who is working on the on the gate installation. The technician reported that the gate will not cycle more than 100 times per day, using the solar powered battery charger. The safety service personnel will have to sound their sirens to open the gate, so the park board may consider obtaining remotes for the emergency vehicles. A motion was made by Mr. Wyatt and seconded by Ms. Cica-Mraz to authorize the Rising Valley Park Board to receive $7000 for park maintenance for 2005. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

Ms. Gilmore opened the topic of the police contract negotiations. The township had received a letter from Mayor Lyons regarding the village council decision to stay at the offer of $420,000 for police services for 2005. The Board discussed the budgets and spending on police services for Bath and Copley Townships and how the numbers compare to the Village of Richfield figures. A motion was made by Ms. Cica-Mraz and seconded by Mr. Wyatt to reluctantly offer to split the difference between the last offer made by the township in the amount of $394,000 and the current proposal made by the Village in the amount of $420,000 to come up with a counter offer of $407,000. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

Announcements

The February 2, 2005 Trustees meeting will be held as scheduled, with arrangements being made to have minutes taken, since Ms. Pinney and Ms. Bowmer will be in Columbus at the Ohio Township Association meeting. The RVP Snowbird Festival will be held on February 6, with a makeup date of February 13, if there is no snow. Alltel has announced that it is now offering DSL service in an extended area within Richfield.

Citizens Forum

Bobbie Beshara questioned how the Trustees will notify Village Council members of the police contract proposal. Ms. Bowmer will notify by letter.

Motion was made at 8:38 p.m. by Ms. Gilmore to adjourn; seconded by Ms. Cica-Mraz and received unanimous approval.

This page last updated on: 02/25/2006

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