When the Windham Township Board of Trustees convened last Wednesday evening at Windham’s Town Hall, Portage County Emergency Management Director Ryan Shackelford asked the board to name a trustee to the recently founded Portage Foundation Donation Coordination Team to help develop a rubric on how to distribute relief funds to those affected by the F1 tornado.
“We have discussed how we want to appoint DCT members and that first meeting is really intended to do that,” Shackelford said. “Who else is in the community would be a good representative to sit on this board and distribute this money out to the communities?”
The DCT’s first meeting was scheduled to take place on July 8 and the purpose of that meeting would be to determine who would be members of the DCT. The Board discussed adding two trustees to the DCT but was advised against doing so because if two or more trustees were named to the DCT, that would require them to conduct a public meeting.
“The application does discuss personal finances and talks about what was the loss. To do that in a public setting is very challenging and maybe discouraging because, in my opinion, right now what we received and how delayed the insurance companies are right now, we still do not have a grasp on what the loss is right now,” noted Shackelford.
At the time of the meeting, the Portage Disaster Relief fund will have collected approximately $13,927.00 in donations.
The Board heeded Shackelford’s advice and named Trustee and Cemetery Representative Rich Gano and Fiscal Officer Casey Timmons to the DCT.
In addition to discussing the upcoming DCT meeting, it was noted that residents were still struggling to receive appraisals from their insurance companies. According to Shackelford, there was a disconnect between insurance companies and contractors.
“They put homeowners in the middle of it and then the feud is between the two and there is that middle person that does not understand their policy and there is the contractor perspective that is trying to take advantage and get as much money as you can and the insurance companies are trying to limit the amount of money,” Shackelford said.
Trustee and Road Representative Brian Miller said that the Village helped install a new pipe culvert on Horn Road and partially trimmed the grass but one of the roadside mowers developed a leak.
Miller added that there was some ditching done on Werger Road and asked the Board if they would consider performing a full chip and seal on Bryant Road. According to Miller, Bryant Road is filled with cracks. He said that sealcoating the road would just be a temporary solution. Miller said the reason Bryant Road was in poor shape was because the water was not draining properly.
Gano acknowledged that the Board had only chipped and sealed Bryant Road once in the last 24 years. Timmons said that the Board’s budget for roadwork was $65,882.25 and Miller said he did not want to exceed $40,000 to perform a full chip and seal.
Miller said he would try and get an estimate but conceded it was also very likely that the Township would only be able to perform a chip and seal on one end of Bryant Road.
While discussing the cemetery, the Board talked about the possibility of allowing cemetery sexton Jayme Niekirk to purchase a new computer.
“Jayme’s computer is not loading the UAN Cemetery program, it is taking like 20 minutes in order just to load it so she is asking for permission to get a new computer,” said Timmons.
The Board approved a motion to allow Neikirk to purchase a new computer as long as the cost did not exceed $1,000.
The Board also unanimously approved a motion made by Trustee, Fire Representative and Board Chairman Dan Burns on behalf of a Windham resident to receive two new sites in the old cemetery.
Burns explained that the resident had a relative who was scheduled to be buried in the old cemetery, but they moved the plot to the new cemetery because the designated site was in poor condition. The Windham resident’s relative is still buried in the new cemetery in a site that is not plotted and the resident is comfortable with the arrangement and wanted to also receive a new site in the old cemetery.
Zoning Inspector Jake Sweet said he would issue a permit for a new house to be built near the Gotham Bridge.
The Board then moved onto the continuing saga of decreasing the frontage of substandard lots from 200 to 150 feet and reducing the list of property line variance notifications from 200 feet to adjoining properties only.
Gano presented an email from Chris Meduri, Division Chief of the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office Civil Division, recommending that the Board follow the advice from the Portage County Regional Planning Commission to keep the property line variance at 200 feet.
It was noted the PCRPC could only make recommendations to the board, but the board had no obligation to follow those recommendations.
Gano recommended that the Board heed Meduri’s recommendation and made a motion to keep the property line at 200 feet, but the motion failed.
According to Burns, approving the motion went against the Board’s primary objective.
“In my mind we are doing these things to make it easier for the residents,” he said. “We are making it easier for somebody to build a house and develop a property.”
Burns made a motion to move the property line variance to adjoining properties only and Miller seconded the motion.
“I like giving people more freedom, not taking it away from them,” Miller said. “I don’t like the controlling element. It is too much control.”
While discussing decreasing the frontage of substandard lots from 200 feet to 150 feet, Board of Zoning Appeals Chairman Todd Phillips argued that the PCRPC had not even had a public meeting to discuss the Board’s proposal.
“You guys made a proposal and sent the motion to the Zoning Commission, and they are still yet to act on that,” he said. “There has been no public notice and they are dragging their feet.”
Burns made a motion to officially decrease the frontage and the motion carried unanimously.
Burns once again brought up the Fire Department’s need for a new ambulance. He acknowledged that he had brought up the idea of a levy at a previous meeting, but it was only speculation and no serious conversations had taken place. He added that it was not possible to get a firefighter grant to purchase a new ambulance because those grants did not cover new ambulances.
He said he had also raised the issue of the idea of the levy with the Fire Department and had been discussing it with residents in the community to gauge their reaction. He decided he would raise the issue at the Fire Department’s next meeting.
Miller suggested that the Fire Department explore setting up a large equipment fund that could help pay for the ambulance but Burns said it was not a viable option. Miller then said he would help Burns get in touch with the Portage County Republican Party’s treasurer to discuss how he could get funding for a new ambulance.
Timmons asked Gano if he had made any progress in his search to purchase new tornado sirens for the township and he said he was still looking at all of the options provided to him by Congressman Dave Joyce’s office.
In new business, the Board discussed that the Windham Historical Society had received a grant and wanted to do some work on the greens in the Township and place a new plaque on the stone that sits above the time capsule.
Timmons then told the Board that they needed to figure out what to do with their NOPEC Grant of $9,400. They were required to spend at least $2,097 by Nov. 30 otherwise they would not be eligible for a grant next year. Several ideas were discussed but the Board appeared inclined to use the money to install heating for the Town Hall’s garage.
Timmons brought up the ARPA Grant, which carried a Dec. 31 deadline for the Board to decide on how they wanted to use the money. The Board had previously used the money on capital improvements but no official decision was made on how to spend the money.
The Board’s next meeting will be on Aug. 1 at Windham Town Hall at 6 p.m.
