Nelson Twp. – Township officials present at the second Nelson Township trustee meeting of the month were Fiscal Officer John David Finney; Trustees Kevin Cihan, Anne Mae VanDerHoeven, and Joe Leonard; and Zoning Inspector Jackie Kable.
After the meeting was called to order by Leonard, Finney informed the trustees that he had not finished transcribing the minutes of the previous meeting yet. He then presented the trustees with bills & wages to be paid, represented by transactions 24463-24475. The fund status report shows a total account balance of just north of $302,000.
Zoning Inspector Jackie Kable walked the trustees through her zoning report. In it she recounted the phone calls and requests she has received over the last couple of weeks. Among them was a complaint about improper dumping in a pond on Reynolds Road. Kable reported that she also noticed discrepancies with the new Amish school currently under construction. Based on property lines the school is being constructed 15 feet into the required gap between the property lines. VanDerHoeven, who was zoning inspector at the time the plans were approved, acknowledged that this issue was the result of not looking over the plans close enough when they were resubmitted a year after being approved. Discussion also revealed that the property lines of the involved parcels were altered within the Amish community, but not officially with Portage County. After a lengthy discussion of how the issue occurred, and how to prevent it in the future, the trustees instructed Kable to request the property owner file for a variance to officially fix the record.
The trustees reviewed the road supervisor Chuck Vanek’s report, but did not see anything in it about work performed on Nicholson Road. Cihan provided the other trustees copies of a draft job description for the road supervisor position. Leonard asked to go into executive session to discuss the job description and some employee performance issues. Finney informed the trustees that they did not/could not go into executive session to discuss a job description. They decided to review the draft on their own and discuss it at a future meeting.
Cihan reported that he had met with a contractor about LED lighting upgrades at township properties. He is looking to get more quotes, as he would prefer to have at least two contactors to choose from.
VanDerHoeven mentioned that she had reported the overflowing Planet Earth bin to the company that provides them in hopes that they would be emptied prior to Nelson’s community clean-up that weekend.
Leonard reported that the ballfield at Pixley Park is in rough shape, but that there is not a lot he can do until it dries up a bit. He also publicly thanked Doll Lumber.
The meeting was adjourned shortly after.
