The Windham Township Board of Trustees needed to come up with a new idea on how to allocate $3,000 from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council grant and decided to apply the money to fixing the Town Hall’s garage furnace last Thursday evening at Windham’s Town Hall.
“I just don’t want to see it given back,” Trustee, Vice Chairman and Cemetery Contact Rich Gano said. “I will make a motion to put it toward the furnace. We should not have a problem because anything that is new and improved with energy, you can use for it.”
Gano informed the Board that their previous plans to use the NOPEC funds for the LED-conversion streetlight project that they had discussed with First Energy Ohio Edison was no longer feasible because of engineering issues and things were not progressing quickly enough.
Fiscal Officer Casey Timmons reminded the Board that it needed to earmark $3,000 of the NOPEC Grant by the end of November. Gano originally suggested that they purchase portable generators, which would come in handy for Windham should it experience another natural disaster. He also proposed that the Board authorize installing more streetlights in some parking lots.
Timmons suggested that the Board use the money to fix the furnace in the Town Hall’s garage and the Board agreed. Gano made a motion that the money be earmarked for furnace repairs, and it carried unanimously.
The Board welcomed new Windham Village Zoning Inspector Sheila Moore, who had just recently been hired and was in the final stages of being formally approved to her new position.
“I want to be here and have a clear line of communication between us and sometimes there is not,” Moore said. “I want to be a solution and not a hindrance to anything that we could accomplish.”
Trustee and Road Contact Brian Miller said that the Township had purchased 50 tons of salt and had stored it in the salt shed. He informed the Board that snowstorms were on the horizon, so the Township had the plows and salt spreaders ready for action at a moment’s notice. He also informed the Board that he had reached out to the State of Ohio about the broken guard rail at the Turnpike Entrance on Bryant Road and it has been repaired.
Miller added that the Township was still replacing all the street signs with new ones and discussed the need to remind residents to be on the lookout for deer crossing streets, as the Township had just recently had to remove two deer carcasses from the road.
“There were two deer and again we had to go out and remove two deer carcasses this week from the tracks, so it is that time where we need to be extra cautious,” he noted. “We have a lot moving through our Township as always so be extra careful.
He also said that the Township finished road siding and had completed a chip & seal project on Bryan Road and removed a tree that had fallen on the road.
Gano said that the cemetery was in good condition as everything was being properly maintained. Burns said that he had filled nine footers in the past week but added that it was becoming more difficult to use the gator in the cemetery as the current landscape made it challenging to get it and out.
Gano reminded the Board about an ongoing issue regarding an indigent burial several months ago when the Township cremated a resident who was living at P&M Estates, a mobile home park. He said that the deceased’s son refused to claim the body, so the Township paid $1,525 to have his body cremated. Now, the deceased’s son has reached out to the Township to inquire about claiming the ashes.
Burns said that the Board had contacted the Portage County Prosecutor’s office for guidance on how to handle this matter.
“I turned his name in to the probate court, so they are going to research his name and get back to me to see if there are probate things out there in the world that we don’t know about,” he noted. “We just don’t know what to do with them.”
He stressed that the Board did not intend to withhold the ashes but wanted to avoid setting a precedent.
Township Zoning Inspector Jake Sweet informed the Board that a public hearing has been scheduled on Nov. 18 with the Board of Zoning Appeals regarding a resident seeking a variance to build a fence 10 feet high on their property on Stanley Road, but the Township’s zoning code provides for only a fence six feet high.
Sweet also updated the Board about the status of Colleen Thompson’s zoning amendment proposing that residents who live on parcels of 10 acres or more have the option to build a second residential dwelling on the property. The Windham Township Zoning Commission has scheduled a public hearing to discuss the matter on Nov. 20.
Miller inquired about a residents’ ongoing dilemma of attempting to transfer property under their name following the death of their grandmother, who had previously owned the property. He said that that the resident was running into issues because of a frontage issue.
“It is my understanding that they are trying to replot the land, not just transfer it,” Sweet replied. “They are trying to do a mylar review and the way they are trying to do it does meet the current frontage. You just have to split it up in a way that has the proper frontage, or you would need a variance grant.”
Burns read an update from Windham’s Fire Chief Nick Bushek, who stated that that the Fire Department had responded to 586 calls for the year, which were mostly ambulance calls. Burns also informed the Board that the Fire Department had received a Public Entities Pool of Ohio Grant of $1,000, which will be used to purchase safety equipment including safety glasses, traffic vests, traffic wands and portable speed bumps.
He added that the Department also received an EMS Grant of $3,5000, to purchase CO monitors, jump bags, airway equipment and back splints.
“He said he wanted to make sure we thanked everyone for their continued support of the Fire Department by passing the renewal levy,” Burns added. “That is all of the money that they get; they get no other money.”
Burns updated the Board about the Department’s search for a new ambulance, which appeared to be nearing a conclusion. The City of Ravenna Fire Department is getting a new ambulance and has offered to sell a used ambulance to Windham. He said that it was a 2015 model and had t over 80,000 miles. He noted that the Department was not sure when the transaction would be completed.
The Board discussed what kind of Christmas gifts to give to the Township workers and decided to purchase $50 gift cards from Windham’s Gas & Food Minimart.
The Board’s final piece of business was to determine who would be attending the annual Ohio Township Association meetings in Columbus at the Greater Columbus Convention Center taking place from Feb. 4 to Feb. 6.
Burns, Gano and Sweet confirmed that they would be attending but Miller was unsure about going because he was concerned about severe snowstorms in Windham during that month and felt he would be needed to supervise the road workers. He decided he would put his name on the list of attendees now but reserve the option to remove his name from participation as the event got closer. Gano also said he would ask other members from the BZA and Zoning Commission if they were interested in attending.
The Board will convene for its next monthly meeting on Dec. 4 at Windham Town Hall.
