Hiram Twp. – At the last meeting, trustees heard from residents Brian Tayerle, Ryan Dustman and John Osborn. They attended in order to volunteer their services to improve the baseball field at Hiram Rapids. Since no teams have used the field for some time, the infield became overgrown with sod and was in need of some TLC in order for area children to use it. That Friday, the group used a sod cutter to uncover the infield, hauling it away afterward. Saturday morning found volunteers using rakes and a lot of elbow grease to spread the 40 tons of ball field clay donated by Brugmann Sand & Gravel, and by Saturday afternoon, the project was complete.
In other news, Fiscal Officer Diane Rodhe noted that she’s looking into moving the township’s bank accounts in order to avoid excessive fees at the current banking institution. She noted that transactions and volume will be reviewed in order for new financial institutions to determine what fees may be applicable; she’ll keep Trustees advised. She noted that 2020 Financial Reports are complete; residents may visit hiramtownship.org to view them.
In other news, it was noted that emergency sirens had not been sounding on schedule. Assistant Chief Jason Groselle noted that since the change to Portage County Dispatch services, the sirens haven’t yet been synced to the new computer system. He noted that until the systems are synched, both he and Chief Bill Byers have the capability to sound the alert to notify residents, should weather or other conditions merit it.
In old business, new rules for subdivisions were introduced at the recent Township Association meeting. Portage County Regional Planning Commission will share those changes with trustees after review. In other news, trustees are looking into the cost of digitizing township records in order to make them more accessible to residents and township officials.
Lastly, it was noted that the annual Portage County Solid Waste tire collection would not be taking place in 2021, which raised a discussion about where funding for programs of this sort have been utilized. Trustee Chairman Jack Groselle shared his plan to contact County Commissioners on this matter.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 13th at 7 pm in the Township Hall.
