Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
May 27, 2025
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman William Rofkar on Tuesday, May 27, at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of the administration building.
In attendance were: Diane Belden, William Rofkar, Matt Montowski, John Gangway, Kevin Johnson, Lisa Murphy, Mary Jane Porozynski, Kim Mulholland, Kimberly Schuler-Schaffer, Marti Redmond, Chuck Redmond, Ann T. Rumpf, Bryan Baugh and Flint Heidlebaugh.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve the May 13, 2025 Board of Trustees regular meeting minutes as presented. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve the May 19, 2025 Zoning Hearing Meeting Minutes as amended as there was a name left out of the original minutes. Diane Belden seconded the motion. Matt and Diane voted aye, and William Rofkar abstained from voting. Motion carried.
Diane Belden made a motion to approve and pay the bills, including payroll, in the amount of $128,219.65. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. This includes payment of $48,241.00 to Hylant Administrative Services for the township insurance.
Correspondence
Letter received from John Keefe regarding safety measures needed on the bike/walkway path along RT 53. He is asking the trustees to collaborate with the parks district and ODOT to reduce the speed limit on RT 53 to 40 MPH during the summer months as he has seen several near collisions. He stated that with the continued development of the area, traffic issues will only increase.
A letter was received (no name attached to letter) regarding the Gem Beach area where E. Basin Dr. dead ends stating that there are residents of Gem Beach using this area as their own personal driveway and it is causing safety issues. They would like to see a guard rail installed to protect the residents. The trustees stated that this is private property and they have no control over that. The trustees stated they would need to contact the police department and make a report if they feel someone is trespassing.
A lady from Down’s On The Farm, a nonprofit organization in Castalia asked if the township would be able to donate some mulch for their animal sanctuary. She stated that they would like about 2-3 truck loads if possible. William Rofkar stated that we have plenty and as long as they are bringing their own equipment to haul it, there shouldn’t be an issue. Trustees agreed.
Permit #25-060 was received from the Ottawa Co. Engineers Office regarding a driveway permit at 2790 Sand Rd. Matt Hollis applied and was granted the permit.
The 2025 Township/City/Village Tire Recycling Event will be Friday, June 27 from 7am-9:30am at the Ottawa Co. Fairgrounds. Registration is required. This is not a public event and is only for tires found along the roadside or generated by the service of public fleet vehicles.
Letter from Robert Cachat stating his opposition regarding the rezoning request that was presented and denied already for the Jon Kriegel (Mastercraft Development, Inc.).
Email received from Linda Huber regarding the 250th Celebration “History/Mystery Tour”. It is a self-drive tour around the county to see/visit selected sites of interest. They are asking each township/village or city to designate one site in their area that they would want visitors to see as they drive about. They are planning on having this ready to launch by fist quarter 2026 and is asking the township for some information to help them with this event.
Matt Montowski suggested the Catawba Island Museum be part of this event and asked that Mary Jane follow up with the information that is being requested.
Email from David Barth regarding the Call to Duty Salute Cemetery Permission Request. A presentation was given back in April regarding the planning for the America 250th Anniversary celebration that is scheduled for 2026. The project called for a special marker to be created and placed at cemeteries throughout Ottawa County where veterans are interned. The committee is requesting permission to place a marker in Catawba Island Cemetery for this event.
Matt Montowski asked Supervisor Kevin Johnson if there was a certain place we could put this marker. Kevin stated that it could go by the Veteran’s Memorial. Diane Belden stated that she has been in contact with David Barth and that she would follow up with him once the meeting was held to advise what the trustee’s decide. All trustees agreed to the marker and Diane will get back with David Barth.
Maintenance
Supervisor Kevin Johnson stated that he is still working on getting with Kreimes Co. to get road repairs completed.
William Rofkar commended the maintenance department and how good they had the cemetery looking over this past weekend.
Police
Chief Gangway stated that he had nothing for the board this week. He did say that this weekend was very busy but the department had no issues.
Matt Montowski brought up the fact that Valley Ford is closing and they usually do the oil changes for the department police cars but from here out, the maintenance department will now be doing them in house. Chief Gangway pointed out that some of the newer cars will have to go over to Tri-Motors as they are not very user friendly.
New Business
Diane Belden stated that the Free Library Box will have the dedication ceremony on June 7th at 10:00am. They are dedicating the box to our Catawba First Responders and Veterans. All are welcome.
Matt Montowski stated that per the Ohio Township Association, we can now advertise our legal notices on our website and one social media post. We currently listed in the local paper which becomes very costly. If we switch to go to this new method, it would be very cumbersome as there would be a number of things that would need to be developed in order to proceed with this. William Rofkar and Diane Belden stated that they would both be in favor of this. Matt stated that we would need to make a Facebook page, and would look into seeing how to get this accomplished.
Matt Montowski brought up the ongoing issue of the grant money and the parks board and how they (the parks board) made a motion at their last meeting to advise the trustees to deny the grant money altogether. Matt stated that he didn’t want to make a motion to deny on this just yet as he didn’t have the meeting minutes, but will come back to it at the next meeting.
Flint Heidlebaugh stated that he has looked over the township financials for 2023 and 2024 and has also spoke to Jenifer Widmer at the county and per the reports he was given, it shows that Catawba Island Township has had a significant increase of money coming in each year. He asked the trustee’s if they have thought about what they want to see done with this money long term? William asked if he was asking about investing? Flint stated that since the income is growing, what is the plan on what you are going to use it for? Matt stated that if you go to Ohio Checkbook.com, it will show you exactly what bills we pay and how much is being spent. He also stated that Catawba is working on paying for the new fire truck that is over $1 million and other township equipment will be replaced in the near future (the leaf vac machine and backhoe were specifically named) and these are very costly pieces of equipment. Matt stated that Catawba is fortunate to be able to have what we do as many townships are laying people off because they don’t have the funds that we do. William stated that there are several projects on the back burner that will be coming up that will be costly and will need to utilize the money that we have saved up. There is a five-year plan for our roads with the county and also the repaving of the basketball and tennis courts. He stated there is also money in the reserve for the paving of Rockledge/Sand Road and we don’t know the total cost at this time but many other townships need to take out loans/grans or increase taxes to accomplish this, and we are fortunate to not have to do that.
Montowski made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 a.m.
The next meeting will be Tuesday June 10, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.
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Willaim Rofkar, Chairman Shelly Garcia, Fiscal Officer