Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
April 8, 2025
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman William Rofkar on Tuesday, April 8, at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of the administration building.
In attendance were: Diane Belden, William Rofkar, Matt Montowski, Shelly Garcia, John Gangway, Kevin Johnson, Lisa Murphy, Mary Jane Porozynski, Jack Madison, Dan Barlow, Dorthy Baker, William Baker, Art Costillo, Bryan Baugh, Chris Cellier, and Ann Rumpf.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve the March 25, 2025 Board of Trustees regular meeting minutes as presented, and also the minutes from the Zoning Hearing that took place prior to the Trustee Meeting that day. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Diane Belden made a motion to approve and pay the bills, including payroll, in the amount of $174,290.80. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. These bills included a payment of $42,720.00 to Atlantic Emergency Services for turn out gear for the Fire Department and $34,500.00 to the City of Port Clinton for 2024 EMS overages.
Correspondence
An email was received on behalf of Laura White from Project Noelle requesting to advertise her charity event on the Township Administration sign. The event will take place on June 21 & 22. She has advertised on the sign in the past and the trustees had no issue allowing it again this year.
Email from Jamey Emmert from ODNR Division of Wildlife was received regarding Lake Erie Birding Trail signage. She stated that Cedar Meadow Preserve is site #60 on the trail and she would like to replace or install new signage there. She requests the name of the person she needs to reach out to in order to facilitate this project. They will be installing the new signs in April. Matt Montowski stated that he forwarded this information to Maintenance Supervisor Kevin Johnson, and gave Jamey his contact information.
Zoning Inspector, Todd Bickley, submitted a Public Hearing Notice for a proposed zoning map amendment. The hearing will be held at 7:00 pm on April 23, 2025 at the Township Administration Building. It is regarding rezoning of land located in Lot 5, Section 3 of Catawba Island Township. The applicant, Mastercraft Development, INC is requesting a zoning change from an R-1 Residential District to an R-3 Residential District.
Fiscal
Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia provided the March 2025 financial reports and bank reconciliations. There were no questions or concerns.
She presented to the trustees a resolution that is needed to authorize participation in the ODOT salt program for contract year 2025-2026. They are doing things slightly different this year from years past. In the past, we would give the amount the township needed for the winter. Now they allow it to be broken down to amount needed for summer/fall and then amount needed in winter. Kevin stated that we could take some for the summer, but he will have to figure out that amount and then determine what would be needed for winter. William Rofkar requested that Kevin get the numbers that he wants, and bring this back up at the next meeting so we can attach the numbers along with the participation request.
Maintenance
Kevin Johnson stated that they are currently working on a damaged catch basis at Gem Beach. They hope to have it fixed soon.
Kevin also stated that they have noticed at the marina they are getting people locking up their trailers to the light poles, sometimes for days. He is suggesting that they get signs to put up stating there is no trailer parking and violators will be towed at owner’s expense. All trustees agreed that this is needed.
Police
Chief Gangway stated that he is working on trade in price for police firearms and will provide more information when these numbers come in.
The police department is also in need of a new shredder to replace the old one they have. Cost for a new one is about $270.00. Trustees agreed this is a necessary purchase.
HB315 is now effective and aims to help law enforcement agencies recoup the rising costs associated with processing public records requests for body-worn and dash camera footage. It now allows the agencies to charge up to $75/hour for the time spent retrieving, downloading, and producing the video for public records request, with a cap of $750 per request. Chief Gangway stated that they are not required to do this, and it really isn’t a huge issue for Catawba Island Township as they do not have that many requests for this information. He suggests at this point to hold off and if it becomes an issue we can revisit this topic at that time. Trustees agreed.
New Business
Diane Belden gave the March 2025 Fire Run totals. There were a total of 7 runs (4 Fire and 3 EMS).
She also gave the 1st quarter numbers of run volume and response time. In January there were 47 calls, February had 26 and March was 53. This is a total of 126 for the first quarter of 2025. Last year at this time there were 99 total runs. The average response time was 9 minutes and 54 seconds. There was one run that was over 20 minutes and that was for an ice rescue and the other two units were out on cardiac arrest calls.
Matt Montowski brought up that they were in the process of cleaning out the back closet at the administration building as it is full of old, used electronics. This is old equipment that is usually donated to Goodwill. All of the hard drives are taken out of the computers and destroyed before they are donated. There are various other items and an inventory has been taken. They include old printers, battery backups, keyboards, radios, CD players, etc…
Matt Montowski made a motion to donate the old electronics to Goodwill. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
William Rofkar stated that VASU Communications came out and fixed the issues with the sirens on Muggy Road. He stated that he had been trying to get Cleveland Communications out to fix them with no luck. He found VASU and they came and got them working. He also stated that he requested VASU to provide a maintenance and battery back up quote. Everything is up and running now.
Lisa Murphy brought up meeting times. She stated there has been much discussion about the times on Facebook. William Rofkar stated that the meeting times for the year have already been approved at the reorganization meeting, but stated that it can be looked at again at the next reorganization meeting.
Dorthy Baker asked if there has been any movement on signage for the Cedar Meadows entrance. Jack Madison stated that Brad is taking care of it. Dorthy stated that Brad has been taking care of it for a very long time, 2 ½ years. She is questioning what is taking so long. Jack stated that they have a park board meeting coming up and they should look into this issue at this time.
Lisa Murphy asked if there has been anything done regarding the Miller Ferry putting sidewalks down 53 to alleviate people walking in the roads and blocking traffic. William Rofkar stated the Miller Ferry is not required to do this, and the township cannot force them to. He also stated that if the road is blocked, we have a police department that monitors that situation.
Matt Montowski made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:48 a.m.
The next meeting will be Tuesday April 22, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.
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Willaim Rofkar, Chairman Shelly Garcia, Fiscal Officer