Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
June 10, 2025
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman William Rofkar on Tuesday, June 10th, at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of the administration building.
In attendance were: Diane Belden, William Rofkar, Matt Montowski, Shelly Garcia, Kevin Johnson, Lisa Murphy, Mary Jane Porozynski, Kevin Gibbons, Dorthy Baker, William Baker, Chris Cellier, Kim Mulholland, Bryan Baugh, Ann T. Rumpf, Jack Madison, Scott Hines, Craig Graham and Dan Barlow.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Diane Belden made a motion to approve the May 27, 2025 Board of Trustees regular meeting minutes as presented. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve and pay the bills, including payroll, in the amount of $79,727.84, which included a payment to Republic Services in the amount of $8,552.08 for the spring clean-up. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Correspondence
Received literature from Perry ProTech regarding various printing services that they offer.
OPERS sent the township a packet regarding their 2025 Election that will be taking place and advised employees how to become a candidate or how to vote in the upcoming election. This information was placed in the lobby for employees to read up on and also will be in the Fiscal Officers office for review.
Letter received from Michael O’Donnell thanking the trustees for their consideration and action to deny the zoning request that was voted on at the May 19th special Zoning Hearing.
Request from Steven Lovitt for permission to close the road from Gem Beach Marina to the Marine Store from 9:45am on Friday July 4, 2025 for approx. 30 mins. This will be for the 4th of July Parade that has taken place there for the past 22 year. All trustees agreed to this.
Colony Club Condo Assoc. has rented the community hall on June 21 for their meeting. They are asking the trustees if the Colony Club ACC could also use the hall that same day for a few hours as an extension of the prior meeting (without additional charge). The trustees all agreed to this request.
Diane Belden stated that a group of Catawba residents are planning a fundraiser for Hazel Brown and would like to use the pickleball courts to hold a tournament. This will be held on July 22 (rain date of July 23). Trustees all agreed that they can put up signs stating that there will be a tournament being held listing the dates and times in order to reserve the courts, and allow for participants to sign up.
Fiscal
Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia provided the May 2025 financial reports and bank reconciliations. There were no questions or concerns.
Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia was contacted by Emanual Pahoulis who was the representative from Charles E. Harris & Assoc. that completed the township audit in April. He stated that he is working on the final approval, but was notified by the State Auditor’s Office to an inquiry regarding the manner in which the CIT Board of Trustees conducts it meetings and following correct policy and procedures. He stated that a letter is required to be signed by all trustees and the fiscal officer stating there is no knowledge of fraudulent activity regarding the handling of the meetings, minutes, or executive sessions. This letter was signed by all trustees and the fiscal officer and email to Emanuel so that the township audit can be completed by the deadline of June 30, 2025.
Maintenance
Kevin Johnson stated that he received bids back from The Kreimes Co. for road (pot hole) repair and asphalt sealing and striping.
The bid for the road repair that includes Cemetery Rd., Muggy Rd., Gem Beach Trench and Sand Rd. is a total of $39,630.00.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve the road repair proposal as presented by The Kreimes Co. in the amount of $39,630.00. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
The bid for the asphalt sealing and striping from The Kreimes Co. includes the Community Hall, Administration Building, Old Fire Station, Cemetery, Museum and Recycling Area is a total of $10,992.00.
Diane Belden made a motion to approve the proposal for asphalt sealing and striping as presented by The Kreimes Co. in the amount of $10,992.00. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Kevin Johnson stated they will begin to start turning off the security lights due to the mayflies.
Diane Belden thanked the Maintenance Department for their help in getting the free library book box ready for the dedication ceremony this past Saturday. It looked very nice.
Fire
Chief Kevin Gibbons reported there were a total of 14 calls. 7 were fire (3 cancelled calls) and 7 for EMS.
The CIC Fireworks will be July 5, 2025.
The golf cart parade will be July 4, 2025
All township AED’s were serviced last week.
Parks
Jack Madison reported that the walk through with Black Swap will be on Sunday June 15, 2025 at 9:30am. This will be to ensure that all protected properties are in compliance.
Matt Montowski brought up the grant money that the parks board had been awarded and that there was no second to the motion that was brought up at this past meeting to use the money towards a parking lot at Cedar Meadows. The parks board has suggested the trustees do not accept this grant for the parking lot, and allow them to apply the money towards next years grant application. All trustees agreed.
Police
Diane Belden presented the police department information for Chief Gangway as he was called out on a call.
Officer Hale has passed his six-month probation period and Chief Gangway is asking that his rate of pay be increased the extra $2/hour.
Diane Belden made a motion to take Officer Hale off of probation and increase his pay by $2/hour. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Chief Gangway would like to send Officer Danklefsen to pistol school this fall. He is not sure of the exact cost but will get the information to the trustees once he has it. All trustees agreed that any type of schooling is beneficial for the officers, and he can go ahead and sign the officer up for the class.
Chief Gangway submitted a quote from Bound Tree Medical for six “officer down” kits for each police car. These are 8×10 bags that can be used for any traumatic event. The quote for the six kits is $645.84, but Chief Gangway stating that he will be offsetting this cost with a donation of $450 that was donated in memory of former part time officer Todd Holcomb by his widow.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve the quote by Bound Tree Medical for the six “officer down” kits as presented, and not to exceed $700 to account for shipping costs. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
New Business
Diane Belden stated that the Free Library Box dedication that took place this past Saturday went very well, and was well attended.
Matt Montowski gave the May zoning report. There were a total of 6 permits issues and 6 variances for a total of $1,728.85 collected.
Matt Montowski stated that the file cabinets in the Zoning/Administration office are full. More room is needed to store files. He contacted the company that supplied the current cabinets about 15 years ago, but they have since sold the rights to another company. Patterson-Pope provided a quote to get a file cabinet similar to what we currently have. They provided a quote in the amount of $8,858.24. They are specialized file cabinets and this cost includes the cabinet itself, freight, and delivery and installation.
Matt Montowski made a motion to purchase the file cabinet from Patterson-Pope as presented in the amount of $8,858.24. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
William Baker asked the trustees if they would be willing to reach out the Mr. Market regarding filling in the ditch running from the Catawba Inn to the Miller Ferry as traffic is increasing. The trustees stated that they have already met with him a few years ago regarding this and they cannot require him to make changes. They stated that now that the county has a new engineer, maybe he can bring this up to him in the fall after the busy season is over.
Kim Molholland asked if possibly a sign or light could be put up over by Rudder’s as the pedestrian traffic is bad crossing 53 at that area. Since it is a State Highway, the trustees can only make suggestions to them. Dorthy Baker stated that a traffic study was recently conducted in that area.
Matt Montowski made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:51 a.m.
The next meeting will be Tuesday June 24, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.
___________________________ _____________________________
Willaim Rofkar, Chairman Shelly Garcia, Fiscal Officer