Windham Township – Windham Township Trustees met for their regularly scheduled meeting recently with all trustees and fiscal officer in attendance. The trustees are Chairperson Danny Burns, Rich Gano and Brian Miller. The fiscal officer is Jayme Neikirk.
The meeting was called to order and the pledge of Allegiance was said.
They approved the minutes from the June meeting along with the expenditures.
A resident had a concern about EMS service and was told he was at the wrong meeting and needed to attend the fire board meeting at the fire station. The trustees no longer handle fire and EMS issues since they went to a joint district therefore all questions and issues that have to do with fire and EMS need to be addressed with the WVFD Joint Fire District Board.
Another resident was in attendance to find out about the status of a section of Gotham Road that’s on the map but technically not there, also known as a “paper” road. The resident wanted to make sure it was just on a non-maintenance status rather than a vacated road. After a search through township records and court records, it was determined that the road wasn’t officially claimed either way. Therefore, the trustees voted to put the road on a non-maintenance status, giving the resident enough frontage to create two parcels as he had planned to do. Non-maintenance status means that it won’t be maintained nor will the township receive any gasoline tax dollars for it. They haven’t claimed the mileage on this “paper” road in a longtime, therefore tax dollars have not been received for it.
Miller reported that the road crew had been busy cutting back weeds and had to repair the cutter in order to finish the job. They also placed a culvert on Gotham Road and have done ditching. This brought up the township’s new policy on culvert placing. The policy states that the township will install the culvert for free, but the property owner is responsible for the purchase of the culvert and any dirt/stone needed for the placement of the culvert. Anything longer than 100 feet will require a French drain as well. It is highly recommended that prior to buying a culvert, to contact the trustees to make sure you’re purchasing the right size. A previous report had stated that there was a $5 per foot fee for placement, this was an error– the labor to install a culvert is free and there is not a $5/foot charge.
A discussion was held regarding a resident that installed a culvert without checking with township. If a resident puts in a culvert and interrupts the natural flow of water they can be held liable for any property damage it causes upstream or down and it can be removed by the township. Trustees will check with prosecutor on how to address the issue.
Miller reported that he made the state aware of dead trees along SR 303 in the township.
In cemetery news, Gano reported that they appreciate the top soil that was recently donated. This will help with making a few more grave sites. There are still some dead trees that need to come down in the cemetery, but other than that it looks good. A question was brought up on the “bathrooms” at the cemetery. Burns reported that the floors were quite bad and needed replacement. They will get estimates before making any purchases for flooring.
In Zoning, there were no permits issued for the month of June. Inspector Joe Pinti reported that they would need to get a culvert installed at 8394 Gotham Road to have access to the property as it is scheduled for demolition on or around August 1, 2018. He also reported that 9107 SR 82 and 10164 SR 82 are in the system. Pinti also reported that there were a few issues with high grass and junk cars that he addressed as well. Pinti found an unsecured residence and is tracking down the owner. He also stated that he would try to get another owner’s permission to walk his potential hazardous property, with the goal of getting it cleaned-up.
Fire District Report — Chief Gano reported that for the first time in two years they had to call Community Ambulance to cover one call due to only one medic being available.
Lastly, they assigned a file cabinet at the town hall for storing zoning records, rather than the inspector keeping them at his house.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.
