Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
January 27, 2026
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman Diane Belden on Tuesday, January 27, at 6:00 p.m. in the conference room of the administration building.
In attendance were: Diane Belden, Quintin Smith, Chris Cellier, Shelly Garcia, John Gangway, Kevin Johnson, Dorthy Baker, William Baker, Kevin Gibbons, Randy Riedmaier, Jack Madison, Greg Strayer, Bart Erwin, Robert Garcia, David Belden, Ann Rumpf, Jean Hartline and Scott Hines.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Quintin Smith made a motion to approve the January 13, 2026, Board of Trustees regular meeting minutes as presented, as well as the January 19, 2026 Special Meeting minutes. Chris Cellier seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Chris Cellier made a motion to approve and pay the bills, including payroll, in the amount of $59,334.05. Quintin Smith seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Correspondence
The Police Dept. received a donation from the Jack Family Living Trust. Chief Gangway stated that he will be in contact with the family to see if there is a particular purchase the family would like to see this donation used for.
The Ohio Dept. of Commerce, Division of Liquor Control, sent a notice to the township that West Harbor Developers has applied for a liquor permit from previous owners Calimira LLC. Some members of the audience questioned if this was a new liquor license and if it is for the same location or if this was for the new restaurant that is supposedly being built? Chris Cellier stated that we have until February 15, 2026 to respond to this notice and he asks that we table this until the next meeting so he has a chance to look into it a bit further to get a better understanding as to what this is actually for. All trustees agreed.
The Catawba Island Township Zoning Commission sent a notice to the trustees that they met on January 21, 2026 to review proposed text amendments addressing fence and referendum requirements and recommend to the trustees’ approval of these amendments. The trustees will hold a public meeting on February 24, 2026 at 5:15pm before the regular trustees meeting to address this.
Catawba Island Club submitted a request to use the community hall and parking lot for six weekends this year. They usually request five weekends but added a weekend this year for the USA’s 250th Celebration. The trustees usually charge a total of $1,300 for the five weekends.
There was discussion regarding how much to charge the CIC for the rental of these weekends. Quintin Smith asked how much the normal rate is. Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia stated that the normal hall rental rate is $300/day for the entire hall, and $50/day for the front half only. Jack Madison stated that he would go back to the CIC and see if they needed all of these dates and get back to the trustees. Trustees agreed to hold off on this request.
Fiscal
Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia presented the trustees with the ODOT 2025 Township Highway System Mileage Certification. This states that the total mileage of public roads the township was responsible for maintaining was 12.705. This has not changed from the previous year. All trustees signed the certification and the Fiscal Officer will submit to ODOT.
Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia presented to the trustees the Annual Appropriation Resolution for the Fiscal Year 2026.
Chris Cellier made a motion to adopt the Annual Appropriation Resolution for the Fiscal Year 2026 as presented by the Fiscal Officer in the amount of $8,477,575.46. Quintin Smith seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Maintenance
Supervisor Kevin Johnson stated that Lake Erie Tree Service and Barnes have both submitted bids for the compost grinding. Lake Erie Tree Service was for $22,500 and Barnes was for $41,000. Trustees asked Kevin why there was such a big difference in the two bids. Kevin stated that he thought it was because Barnes needed to contract other companies to haul away the material.
Quintin Smith made a motion to approve the bid from Lake Erie Tree Service as presented for the grinding/removal of the brush and compost piles in the amount of $22,500. Chris Cellier seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Kevin stated that his one-ton truck is going in for a new windshield and at that time he will get a quote to replace the leaf springs as they too are bad. He will advise once he gets this quote.
Kevin stated that we placed a salt order before all the snow came and due to the shortage, it was not delivered. He was told he will get some this week. He stated that his crew had some salt still but not much and hopes that the salt delivery will come soon.
Diane brought up the 2026 Road Review Tours with the Ottawa Co. Engineers Office. They are requesting that one trustee and the road supervisor participate with scheduling a date and time they can meet with the county for this. Diane asked Kevin if he wanted a certain date or time, and he stated for Diane to go ahead and schedule and let him know when it will be. Diane will take care of scheduling this.
Diane brought up Catawba clean-up days. She stated that she has secured with Republic Services spring and fall clean-up dates for 2026. Spring dates will be April 24th & 25th, and fall dates are September 25th & 26th.
Fire
Nothing to report at this time.
Police
Nothing to report at this time.
Park
Jack Madison asked if anyone had applied for the park board position to replace Vicki? Shelly Garcia stated that one person had called with interest and was going to turn in her application. Diane Belden stated that the position is being advertised.
Jack stated that the next parks board meeting is February 18, 2026 but he will be out of town. He was advised to put out a notice if they need to change that date and advertise the new date once they decide.
Jack stated that the grant they applied for has closed and Jannah Wilson will have the group look at them and hope to have something to present at the next meeting on February 10, 2026.
New Business
Quintin Smith stated during his campaigning he met with the OCTA board regarding the possibility of them coming out with a route to service residents in Catawba Island/Marblehead area. He stated at the time he was told it wasn’t practical. He spoke to them recently and stated there is potentially a grant that may help with this and was told that they will conduct a feasibility study to see if it may be a possibility. He stated it would have to be a floating route as when they get calls, they would have to prioritize calls first. He also stated that he feels this service is underutilized as it is only $4/trip for seniors with 24-hour notice to take them where they need to go.
Quintin also met with Barb Osterling and Ann Rumpf who he is working with on forming a volunteer committee to look into additional uses for the community hall. They are looking at updating the interior to be able to hold movie nights for seniors as well as other uses. Quintin stated he is working on the projector part and they are working on the décor part, but there are still many questions that need answers before any of this takes place.
Chris Cellier stated that there are openings on both zoning boards and the park board. He encourages community members to apply.
Diane Belden brought up the Volunteer Fire Department stipends that they receive for calls and training. We currently pay each firefighter $20/per for each run and training they attend. Diane stated that she forgot to address this during the reorganization meeting on January 13, 2026. Diane stated she would like to increase this stipend to $22/per call or training.
Diane Belden made a motion to increase the stipend to $22/per call and training for the Volunteer Fire Dept. Quintin Smith seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Jack Madison asked if this was enough? Other members of the audience had the same question as well. A discussion took place and Quintin Smith stated that he will look into other townships and what they pay for stipends as it is his department. The increase was approved, but trustees agreed to look further into it in the future.
Diane brought up the fact that the office manager, Mary Jane, will be off for about 2-3 months. Diane stated that she spoke with both Chief Gangway and Fiscal Officer Garcia and both have agreed to step in and provide coverage for the office during this time. Diane stated that she too would be willing to come in and help when needed.
Quintin Smith asked if this would be a good time to look into someone who might be able to provide additional tasks for the township as he feels there are a lot of administrative, technical skills that the township doesn’t have a person for. Trustees agreed it would be better to discuss this at a later date.
Chris Cellier made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Quintin Smith seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 7:04 p.m.
The next meeting will be Tuesday February 10, 2026 at 9:00 a.m.
___________________________ _____________________________
Diane Belden, Chairman Shelly Garcia, Fiscal Officer