Mantua Twp. – At a recent meeting, Township Fiscal Officer Susan Skrovan noted that CARES Act funds must be used by 12/31/20, necessitating the need to have another meeting prior to the end of the year in order that invoices for applicable products and services could be gathered and checks issued prior to year’s end.
Trustee Matt Benner noted that Roger from Roger’s Refrigeration Services has been in the Administration Building to ascertain how to maintain a constant temperature in the building. He made minor repairs, but recommended another company to determine whether it’s more cost-effective to repair the boiler or plan to update the heating system.
In his report, Zoning Inspector Rich Gano shared details of a resident seeking special consideration in having a parcel split. The resident would like trustees to consider waiving the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) fees or changing the township’s requirements in order for them to split the parcel in such a way as to take advantage of Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) credit. The CAUV program denotes that 10 or more acres be devoted exclusively to agricultural use. In order to split the property in that manner, the resident could apply for a variance to make the smaller parcel a flag lot, which would require an additional fee from the resident. After some discussion, trustees asked for additional information on this matter so that a decision could be made at their year-end meeting.
In similar news, Gano and the trustees discussed the need to fill several positions on the Zoning and BZA Boards. Trustees noted the lack of volunteers for positions of this sort, although participants are paid to attend these meetings. The group discussed the need to find out what surrounding municipalities typically pay for these services so that Mantua Township Trustees can adjust their pay scale as they see fit in order to help the township in soliciting applicants for these important township jobs.
In other news, Trustee Jason Carlton reported on behalf of the Mantua-Shalersville Fire District that one of the department’s rescue squads would be out of service due to damage it received from a passing motorist during the last winter storm. Carlton also shared that the MSFD team should be commended on their handling of the triple fatality that resulted from a “terrible chain of events” on Peck Road that took place on December 20th.
Next, Trustee John Festa noted that the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) would once again be awarding communities $1,500 in grants to fund community activities. Festa noted that he would bring the grant application to the year-end meeting for trustees consideration. Moving ahead, Trustee Matt Benner asked the group to entertain providing the township’s full-time employees with a clothing allowance in lieu of paying a cleaning company to maintain employees work clothing. After some discussion about the potential cost savings, Trustees agreed to provide full-time employees with an annual allowance of $550 for work clothing to be purchased from two pre-approved sources. The Fiscal Officer will track the purchases throughout the year. Lastly, trustees approved a bid for $100 in payment for the stainless steel scrap from the Township’s Annex.
Trustees will hold a special meeting in December in order to successfully close out 2020. The meeting will take place on Monday, December 28th at 7 pm. In addition, the first regular meeting of 2021 will take place on Thursday, January 14th at 7 pm. For details on how to connect to these online meetings, visit mantuatownshipohio.gov.
