RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
October 6, 2005
7:00 p.m.

Richfield Township Trustees
October 6, 2005

The Richfield Township Board of Trustees met for their regular meeting on October 6, 2005 with the following in attendance:

Laurie Peters Gilmore, Trustee Chairperson
David Wyatt, Trustee Vice Chairperson
Shano Cica-Mraz, Trustee
Linda Bowmer, Township Administrator
Laurie Pinney, Zoning Inspector
Dale Canter Richfield Police Chief
Joe Stopak, Richfield Fire Chief

A motion was made by Ms. Gilmore and seconded by Mr. Wyatt to approve the minutes of September 15, 2005. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

A motion was made by Ms. Gilmore and seconded by Mr. Wyatt to approve warrants 11543 to 11582. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

The clerk report was provided by Ms. Pinney, who reported that the Rates and Amounts Resolution must be certified to the Summit County Fiscal Office by November 7.  She & Ms. Bowmer will verify the figures and the resolution will be placed on the next agenda. Ms. Gilmore would like to see the last several years of property valuation calculations.

Mr. Canter provided the police report. In September, there were 922 calls, with 101 (11%) in the township. A breakdown of call reports was provided to the Administrator. The color guard will be raising the colors at the October 9 Cleveland Browns game. Much progress is being made with collective bargaining and the second meeting with the mediator was held October 5. Officer Mike Simmons received an award at the recent Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Conference. The Halloween parade will kick off on October 31 at 6:00 p.m. The FOP recently had a reverse raffle to raise funds for various community events they support and raised over $3000.

Mr. Stopak provided the fire report. In September, there were 91 calls, with 35 ems and 27 fire calls in the village, 9 ems and 16 fire calls in the township and 4 mutual aid calls. Bath & Richfield are trying to come up with a program for a joint fire prevention officer, similar to the DARE officer. There was a collective bargaining agreement meeting today. They are not as close to agreement as the police, but have made substantial progress. The NIMS ( National Incident Management Systems)will be having meetings that village or township staff may attend, and Mr. Stopak will get the dates of those meetings to township officials.

The Board welcomed Donald Vavrus, who is representing Adelphia in the proceedings for bankruptcy and the Time/Warner buyout. Mr. Wyatt may want to look further into whether to waive audit, as other communities have found a benefit to requiring an audit.

The zoning report was provided by Ms. Pinney. Two zoning certificates were issued in September, for decks and a residential addition. Killarney Woods is up for final plat approval at the October 20 Summit County Planning Commission meeting. The township has offered to assist the developer if exemption from the emergency access requirement is requested. Applications for zoning boards were accepted through September 16 and appointments will be made at a future trustee meeting.

The road report was provided by Ms. Gilmore. Crack sealing is done for the year. The last brush chipping of the year will start next week on October 10. It should be noted that the township does not do leaf pickup.

The administration report was provided by Ms. Bowmer. Village of Richfield Mayor Mike Lyons would like to start having joint meetings with Peninsula & Boston Township to foster cooperation between surrounding communities. The first meeting will be held October 18 at 8:30 a.m. Influenza vaccinations will be available on November 4 from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Richfield Senior Center and November 15 from 1:00 to 3:00 at the Richfield Fire Department. The fee will be $25, unless covered by Medicare or another medical plan.

The trustees opened the meeting to Paul & Jim Choma, of 2640 Columbia Road. Jim has been researching the history of the Columbia Road Cemetery. There are many unmarked graves. The University of Akron geophysical & archaeology departments have offered their services to do scans to determine how many bodies are on the property. The equipment is very sensitive and the new cemetery fence may cause problems with accuracy of the readings. There may be graves outside the boundary of the fence, possibly as many as 60-70 graves, although only about 20 are known & marked. The trustees are fine with the research being done at the site, but cannot approve removing the fence, as its installation this past summer involved many hours of road department labor. It may be possible to take out only one or a few sections of fence to allow access.

Mr. Wyatt provided the parks report and welcomed Rising Valley Park Administrator Frank Gindraw to provide an update on the park. Mr. Gindraw announced that the signing over of the Hinckley Township portion of the park to the Cleveland Metroparks would be held on October 25. On October 9, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., there will be a hike and a free breakfast in the park provided by the park board and prepared by the Brecksville Reservation volunteers. The terrain is moderate, so participants should wear boots or sturdy shoes. The Board will meet on November 1 and December 6. The trustees plan on having a joint meeting, possibly on November 1, with the park board to discuss continuation of the board and the future of the park.

A motion was made by Ms. Gilmore and seconded by Mr. Wyatt to go into executive session to discuss acquisition of property. The motion passed with unanimous approval.

A motion was made by Ms. Gilmore at 9:10 p.m. to go out of executive session and adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Wyatt and received unanimous approval of those in attendance.

This page last updated on: 02/25/2006

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