Windham Twp. – Windham Township Trustees met for their regularly-scheduled meeting with all pertinent parties in attendance. Guest Deborah Blewitt, administrator for Windham Village was there to ask the township if they could help pay a portion of the rent for the Windham branch of the Portage County District Library (PCDL) at the Renaissance Family Center (RFC).
Currently, the village pays 70% of the rent for Windham branch of the PCDL. Blewitt said, the village really can’t afford to continue to pay it, as the rent continues to go up. The village has a space the library could use that would be free. They have made an offer to the PCDL and haven’t had a reply as of yet. Trustee Danny Burns asked, why the library doesn’t want to move? Blewitt said, she is not sure if they do or don’t want to move as they haven’t heard back from the library on the issue. According to Blewitt, the village approached the library in February offering them the space. The village is currently paying $2,659.53 per quarter towards the library’s rent. The township trustees took the request under advisement, no decision was made.
In roads, Brian Miller reported they have been doing ditching along Colton, Wadsworth and Gotham Roads. A collapsed culvert was replaced on Gotham as well. The township received a call from the land bank requesting access to one of their properties for lawn mowing purposes. They will put in a culvert so the landbank can access the property to mow. The trustees said the resident on one side of a landbank property had some interest in purchasing it. According to the land bank rules, the property must remain in landbank ownership for three years before anyone can purchase it.
Burns asked if the crew was able to get the townhall power washed? After looking at it, it was determined it hadn’t been done yet. He also stated that they would need to do something with the brick chimney on the town hall. Brian stated that he knew a man who might be able to do it. The trustees told him to have the man come look at it.
In cemetery news, Rich Gano reported that they are still waiting on it to dry out so he can do the grating work, drainage work and layout more graves in section F of the cemetery. Miller asked Gano if he had the list of footers to be poured for headstones. Gano replied he had. A discussion was held about Memorial Day. The trustees said, they would hold off making a decision on that. They would prefer to have it, if possible.
Senate Bill 310 addresses extra expenses townships, municipalities and fire districts may have incurred during the pandemic. Each entity must pass a resolution in order to be eligible for any of those monies. The monies must be spent because of COVID-19. Some examples were: COVID testing, PPE, payroll increases due to increasing staff etc. The trustees voted, unanimously, yes on the resolution, just in case they might meet the criteria.
In zoning, Joe Pinti reported that five permits were written for the month of April. Two of the permits were for new houses, one for an addition, another for an addition on a deck and lastly there was one for an accessory building. Pinti is still working on getting the property demolished on 9107 State Route 82. The paperwork is in order for it and he will be given updates on it by the land bank every 30 days on its status. Pinti asked what he should do about the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting they cancelled. Gano said other townships are still conducting them. After some discussion, they decided they’d reschedule the cancelled one. Pinti also asked about how the updates to the zoning were going. He said there are some things going on that should be addressed ASAP in the code. He reported that Martin Horner is hauling in more junk on his property. Trustees said to send him a letter, as he is in violation of the zoning code.
In fire news, Chief Rich Gano reported that things were running smoothly. He reported they had one Saturday where they only had 1 medic and had to use Hiram. He also reported that the squad has been returned to the station. He will send it to John Sedensky to see if he can figure out what’s wrong with it.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
