The Windham Township Board of Trustees convened for its monthly meeting last Thursday evening at Windham’s Town Hall. Most of the discussion centered around creation of The Portage Disaster Relief Fund.
“Right before the incident happened, we established a partnership and formalized the Portage County disaster relief fund,” Portage County Emergency Management Agency Director Ryan Shackelford said. “That was out of lessons learned from the Dayton area when they went through their F4 tornado and an active shooter incident back-to-back, so we took those lessons learned and implemented them. We were hoping not to go live that fast, but I am happy we had the tool in the toolbox.”
Joining Schackelford in attendance was Janice Simmons-Mortimer, Executive Director of the Portage Foundation, a community foundation, which partnered with the EMA to create the Portage Disaster Relief Fund.
“The idea is that this partnership is for the mid and long-term,” Simmons-Mortimer noted. “What happens to folks down the road is that we wanted to have a place where folks could turn to as an official donation site because when disasters happen, Go Fund Me pages get set-up and you never know where that money is going to go. We wanted people to know that when a disaster happens in Portage County, you can trust that the EMA Portage Foundation will be the place to go for that disaster and that recovery.”
According to Simmons-Mortimer, the fund had already received $7,100 in donations as of Thursday evening. She added that at the end of the month, the Foundation would convene a meeting with township residents, the EMA, and the Board of Trustees to discuss the framework for how much money will be available in preparation for an upcoming disaster.
“We want to be as helpful as we can but also want to create a framework and a process to make it clear and transparent,” she said.
Shackelford said that as of now, there were 35 homes that were impacted by the F1 tornado and the PDRF’s primary focus was on identifying uninsured losses or other damages that could be attributed to the tornado.
Board Chairman and Fire Department contact Dan Burns asked Shackelford if the White House had allocated any funds for tornado relief, and he replied that the White House had just done so for Logan County.
“The State of Ohio has its own state disaster relief fund, and it is up to the Governor’s discretion with that and what he wants to do with that,” he said. “Even though this does not meet the criteria, he can open it up for other avenues as he sees fit.”
The PDRF will still collect donations until the end of May and Shackelford said further details can be found at www.portagefoundation.org.
Trustee and Road Contact Brian Miller updated the attendees on the state of the roads. He noted that despite all of the damage done in the tornado’s wake, the roads were quickly cleaned up and State Route 82 was re-opened at 10:30 the next morning.
“I do not know how much work was done by the rest of our crews but we just worked, endlessly to get life back in order,” Miller added. “It was a community effort. As far as the roads, they are back to normal so all of ours have been cleared of debris.”
Miller suggested that that a study needed to be conducted about State Route 82, where another motor vehicle accident just took place. According to him there have been eight accidents in that area since last October. He noted that the road had a soapy texture to it, probably because the recent roadwork that had been performed did not include a true overlay of asphalt.
Miller also said that the saga of the Windham truck was nearing its conclusion, as Fairway Ford had finished the repairs and was sending it back to the Township. According to Fiscal Officer Casey Timmons, Thursday marked the seventh day that the Township had been waiting for the truck to be delivered.
Burns proposed to the Board that they sell the truck back to Fairway Ford and use the funds to replace the other truck, which still had a good motor but required maintenance every month.
Burns said that the old cemetery on Parkman Road was damaged by the tornado as a few big trees fell and damaged the fence but did not break any of the headstones. He said that the inmates helped clean up most of the damage but they still needed to move the trees.
“We will bust some of the dirt off of the stump because we cannot move it and then try to push it back to the back of the woods but if not then we will have somebody with a machine come get it because we cannot pick it up with our stuff,” he noted.
Burns also made a motion to the Board to purchase a new rear discharge mower from Hartville Hardware to avoid blowing grass onto headstones and people’s graves.
The motion carried and the Board would try and purchase a John Deere rear discharge mower for $12,369.87.
Burns provided an update on the zoning code on behalf of Trustee and Cemetery contact Rich Gano, who was not in attendance, but sent an email saying that the Windham Township Zoning Commission was currently abiding by the 2015 codd even though a 2019 code existed. Gano’s email stated that he would encourage the Windham Township Zoning Commission to start adhering to the 2019 code but for now, they would still go by the 2015 code.
Zoning Inspector Jake Sweet said he issued no permits in April but was working on one for this month for a resident who wanted to build a porch. He added that he signed an affidavit relating to the property on State Route 303 and was awaiting further word later in the month.
Burns asked Ryan McClean, a member of the WTZC, if there had been further discussion about the proposal to decrease the frontage of substandard lots from 200 feet to 150 feet and he replied that the WTZC would meet later that evening to discuss the matter.
Burns said that the Windham Fire Department was covering most of its shifts but still needed a new ambulance. He said he explored the possibility of creating a levy to pay for the ambulance but acknowledged that because new ambulances were delivered after 18 months to two years, the current price would inflate by the time they could purchase a new one.
“The fire district does not have the money and with the taxes they get, it will never happen so I do not know what will happen down the road with that issue but it will become an issue soon,” he said.
Timmons then brought up the issue of the Board renewing its road salt contract with its consortium and the Board approved a motion to purchase 75 tons of salt. She also confirmed with the Board to renewal of its insurance policy with the Ellerhorst Russell Insurance Agency.
The Board of Trustees will reconvene on June 6 at Windham Town Hall at 6 p.m.
