The Windham Township’s monthly Board of Trustees meeting last Thursday evening at Windham Town Hall was attended by Portage County Treasure John Kennedy, who spoke about options regarding loans and property tax increases.
Kennedy talked about the Portage GrowLink program that distributes low-cost loans to Portage County homeowners and small business owners who need help for energy efficient improvements, job creation/retention and operating expenses.
“I think Portage GrowLink is a good deal,” he said. “We have a program through our office and we work with two banks, Hometown Bank and Portage Community Bank, and we get a 1 to 3% below market interest rate, which is a good deal.”
He also mentioned that the federal government was expected to lower interest rates following the outcome of the election. Once the election was over, he said he expected interest rates to be cut by at least a .25% margin.
“Money will be cheaper come January of 2025,” he said. “I am an optimist but I do think money is going to be more accessible come early 2025, which means now you are going to take another 1 to 3% off of that loan interest rate that is coming down a little bit more, which will be even more appetizing.”
Portage GrowLink allows residents to borrow money at a discounted rate for up to five years. According to Kennedy, Portage County has made up to $1,000,000 in loans available.
Kennedy said that one way to deal with the property tax increases was through the Homestead Exemption Act, an Ohio constitutional amendment that helps reduce property taxes for lower income senior citizens. The program is currently available to homeowners with a fixed income of no greater than $38,6000 but Kennedy said that the ceiling could be raised because of inflation and the increases in property taxes.
Kennedy acknowledged he did not know how the extra money would be used by the county once the property tax increases take effect.
He concluded his time by also recommending that residents join the Ohio Farm Bureau, a membership of rural residents and farmers dedicated to improving their community and strengthening their chosen vocation.
“I can’t say enough things about this group,” he noted. “Talk about being a strong advocate down in Columbus, these folks are experts at it. The current agricultural use value did not just happen, that came as a result of active farmers getting involved and standing up and saying no, we are not going to pay market value for this property.”
New Windham resident Angel Burrus asked the Board if she would be allowed to put a No Trespassing sign on her property. She and her family have just moved into a house on Silica Sand Road, the last house in the township.
According to Burrus, there is a private road next to her property that connects directly to the Drinking Bridge, which is accessible to ongoing to traffic unless it was closed off. She was told that she was within her rights to close off the road.
The Board also said she was allowed to put a No Trespassing sign up and advised her to not concern herself with maintaining the grass in that vicinity as it would most likely encourage trespassers to come onto her land.
“We have put road closure signs up there, things get stolen a lot up there at that site,” Trustee and Road contact Brian Miller said. “My recommendation is to call Braceville Township and they can respond to any of the issues you might have.”
Zoning Inspector Jake Sweet was not present at the meeting but sent an email to the Board with his latest report. He said that he had received word from the Zoning Commission that he had issued two permits that were not in compliance with zoning regulations resolution.
Each permit that had been flagged involved residents building their houses behind their garages. Sweet said in his email that he notified the homeowners of the oversight but nothing more could be done because it had been more than 30 days since each permit was issued.
His report also stated that he visited a resident on Wolf Road to investigate a complaint about a neighbor’s fence being too close to his property. He also took action on a resident’s complaint about a neighbor’s non-working car being parked in the street and said the resident moved the car into their garage.
Sweet also noted that he had reached out to the Portage County Land Bank about the status of the grant for Property 303 and had not received a response yet.
Brian Miller said that the township performed ditching on Frazier Road and also installed a culvert at the Old Hopkins Farm. He added that the township also did more ditching on Horn Road.
He added that he also reached out to Bill Dvorak, Vice President of The Shelly Company, Ohio’s leading limestone, asphalt and concrete paving company, about the upcoming work needed for the Geauga Highway and was told that they hoped to begin on Sep. 17.
Miller also said that the township had received updated signs from the State of Ohio, he and fiscal officer Casey Timmons were working on determining where to place them.
His final piece of news was that the township had been contacted by Jeff Derthick, Freedom Township’s Board of Trustees Vice Chairman, about participating in a joint project on Hewins Road for public works.
“Depending on the matching costs, we cannot exceed $20,000 to do our part,” he said. “If we go for matching, we will try to get at least 70%.”
According to Board Chairman and Fire contact Dan Burns, a truck pulled into the cemetery recently and accidentally ripped the electric line down.
“There is a wire that is across the road way up top on the telephone pole there is a wire that we own with all of the PVC pipes,” he said. “Somehow something that big hit the one and ripped it down across the road, broke our stuff off and is now lying across the ground.”
Vice Chairman and Cemetery contact Rich Gano was also not present at the meeting but sent an email to provide further updates about the cemetery. His email said that he reached out to the Portage County Engineer’s Office to find out when Parkman Road was scheduled for paving because he was informed that traffic was beginning to pick up on Hopkins Road due to cars avoiding Parkman Road. Gano’s email said that that he was told paving Parkman Road was a high priority.
Burns reported that the Windham Fire Department had received 487 calls to date, including 58 EMS calls, five fire calls, 32 EMS runs into the Village, 20 EMS runs into the township, 1 EMS run on the Turnpike, five EMS mutual aids had been given and one EMS mutual aid had been received this year.
In new business, Burns said that the board planned to spend the required allotment of the NOPEC Grant on installing LED lighting at Town Hall.
According to Board of Zoning Appeals Chairman Todd Phillips, the installation of LED lighting would cut electrical costs anywhere from 30-50% and the Board would not have to worry about replacing the lights for at least 10 years.
The Board of Trustees will reconvene on Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. at Windham Town Hall.
