Windham Twp. – Windham Township Trustees met for a “special” meeting as the regularly scheduled meeting date was moved to accommodate the trustees attending the state-wide township meetings in Columbus. The trustees approved the January minutes, expenditures and the permanent appropriations of $805,299 for 2020.
Bill Isler Sr. and Bill Isler Jr. from Islerscaping presented their 2020 bid for maintaining the township green area. There was a cost increase for mowing. It went up $11/ mowing. The increase in rates was to cover insurance costs. This is the first rate increase in many years. The trustees voted unanimously to approve the bid.
Trustee Brian Miller addressed lighting issues on the greens. He received an estimate from JC Electric. The township will seek out at least one more before making a decision.
In roads, Miller reported that they pretreated the roads with salt before the evening’s storm hits. Trustee Rich Gano said he had received complaints on road conditions on Martin Luther King Day. After looking at them, he took a truck out and salted them. A discussion was held about the catch basin and water issues in the heights area. Miller said the one catch basin is the county’s and as long as property owners don’t dam up the water or block the basin there was really nothing they could do. The area needs to have a water flow/ stagnant water study.
Trustee Danny Burns said there are no grants out there for the cemetery roads. So, they’d have to come up with another idea on funding roads in the new cemetery. They discussed fixing the current fence there as well. Gano said, when it dries out, he will grade more at the current cemetery and set pins for more graves. A discussion on indigent burials was held. The state will give them $11,000 per year to cover the township’s cost. Windham has a policy in place for indigent burials and it falls within the state funding. If we don’t use all the funds for them, the state will redistribute the funds to other townships that need more funding. Miller reported that Lynnea St. John and some students are interested in cleaning and preserving old tombstones in the cemetery. The trustees agreed that they could do that, as long as they didn’t damage any of the stones. St. John also wanted to see if there was any historical material in the town hall that belonged to the historical society. It was decided she could look around and anything taken would need to be documented. A trustee would also have to be present while she’s looking through stuff.
In zoning, Joe Pinti reported that the Firtik property will be divided and the barn that sits on the property will be caught between the two lots, so it will be torn down. They had a public zoning meeting for a variance on the Byler property on Stanley Road. At the variance meeting, the public seemed to agree that the subdividing the farm land was good, as it would control erosion and run off. The property owners at 8771 State Route 82 applied for a permit for an addition.
In other zoning news, the trustees talked about amending their zoning code and clarifying commercial vehicles parking in residential areas. The trustees then voted to add Elizabeth Derthick to the Board of Zoning appeals (BZA) and removed Tricia Kendrick. Kendrick was removed due to no response on whether she was still interested in serving on the BZA. The wedding barn issue is still an ongoing discussion, since there was no information given at the state meetings on it. The trustees will continue to work on the issue.
In fire district news, Gano reported he had four new candidates, and had some concerns over the senior housing project.
In new business, Gano asked about the NOPEC grant. Fiscal Officer Jayme Neikirk stated that they should apply for it and if they didn’t use it, they could put it in escrow for a year. All grant monies must be used for energy conservation projects. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.
