Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
November 25, 2025
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman William Rofkar on Tuesday, November 25, 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, John Gangway, Lisa Murphy, Chris Cellier, Dan Barlow, Robert Garcia, Randy Riedmaier, Michael Hablitzel, Dorthy Baker, William Baker, Quintin Smith, Jack Madison, David Belden and Louie Wargo.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Diane Belden made a motion to approve the November 11, 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 $105,741.47 which included payment of $39,630.00 to The Kreimes Co. for asphalt repair. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Correspondence
Kathleen Druckenmiller requested use of the administration building parking lot on Nov. 26th & 27th. The trustees had no issue with this request.
A resident notified the trustees that the light is out at the entrance of Peachton Dr. Chief Gangway stated that he has already reported it weeks ago, but will again.
Nicole Armstrong, president of Catawba Point Association submitted a donation on behalf of the association for their appreciation for the hard work and dedication by the CIT Police Department.
Vicki Wheatley with the Parks Board stated that they obtained a quote from Kriemes Co. for repair of the tennis courts at Heigel Park. This was for asphalt overlay, acrylic resurfacer, color and striping in an amount of $74.500. Vicki completed a grant application for the Ottawa County Park District Grant and recommended to the township trustees to accept the proposal for project completion and apply for the Ottawa County Park District Grant. She turned in a resolution for this along with the grant application. The deadline for this grant application is January 9, 2026. They are requesting $50,000 to apply to this cost. They will revisit the topic once it is decided if, and how much grant money has been awarded for this project.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve Resolution #11252025 to apply for this grant. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Tina Molar with the Engineer’s Office notified the township that they will be hosting a course on snow and ice removal. This will be presented by ODOT’s LTAP group. Kevin Johnson stated that he will get with that office to advise who from the township will be attending.
Notice from Ottawa Regional Planning Commission stating that on November 18, 2025 they voted to recommend approval of the rezoning case initiated by H.T. Properties to rezone property from “A” Residential Low Density to “C-4” Recreational Commercial. The applicant is requesting to rezone approximately 20.71 acres located near Midway Marina. The current land use plan identifies the area of the proposal for Recreational-Commercial/High Density Residential, and as such the request does align with the land use plan.
Notice from CIT Zoning Commission stating that on November 19, 2025 they met to review the rezoning request regarding case# 737779 submitted by H.T. Properties. This is for the same 20.71 acres of land that the Ottawa Regional Planning Commission recommended for approval on November 18, 2025. The Zoning Commission voted to recommend to the Trustees approval of this request.
Public Hearing Notice. The CIT Trustees will hold a public hearing concerning a proposed zoning map amendment to the CIT Zoning Resolution. This will be held on December 9, 2025 at 10:30am at the Township Administration Building. This is in reference to a rezoning request from H.T. Properties to rezone 20.71 acres of land from “A” Residential Low Density to “C-4” Recreational.
Ann T. Rumpf submitted a letter regarding the proposed zoning change for the Midway Marina property. She is requesting that the trustees consider attaching a condition that condos cannot be built on this site in the future.
A Notice of Protest and Hearing Request in Relation to the Petitions for a Township Zoning Referendum was received on November 4, 2025 by the Ottawa Co. Board of Elections. The Board of Elections has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for this matter on December 12, 2025 at 9:00am at the Ottawa County Common Pleas Court, Courtroom #1.
Police
Chief Gangway stated that the wiring upgrades for the administration building will begin December 9th. He stated that nothing will change with the current service. Once up and running they will look at updating the phone systems.
Chief Gangway stated that Hylant is still working on the template for the Cyber-Security issue that must be in place by July 1, 2026.
Diane Belden asked if everything was in place with Officer Danklefsen and Officer Hale as they are both coming up on their one-year anniversary with the township. Chief Gangway stated that Officer Danklefsen’s anniversary was November 4, 2025 and Officer Hale’s will be December 10, 2025 and they both passed their probationary period. Chief also stated that Officer Troike just had his five-year anniversary.
Fire
Louie Wargo was here to speak on behalf of the Fire Department. He stated that they are ready to advertise for bids for the SCBA Air Packs. They are looking to seek bids for 23 Full Units, and due to cost they must go to a competitive bid process for this. He stated that the Fire Dept. wrote up a bid and are ready to advertise and move forward with this process.
William Rofkar stated they need to make sure they are written properly to prevent any illegal purchasing down the road. Louie stated that he understood this and he believed they were written correctly, but would be open to running it through the County Prosecutors Office. Fire Chief Gibbons would like to have this done by the first of the year to avoid any price increases. Louie stated that they will work with Diane to get this ready and get the process started.
Diane Belden asked if there needed to be a motion for this. William Rofkar stated that they needed to get the specs together first, then bring back the bids for approval once received.
Louie stated that they have a new applicant (David Crawford) that has passed his background check and is ready for board approval.
Diane Belden made a motion to approve David Crawford as a new member of the Vol. Fire Dept. with a one-year probation period. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Louie stated that the primer replacement on Engine 221 is complete and the engine is back up and running. This was regarding the emergency repair from a month or so ago.
The new fire engine is now considered “on-line” and the fire department has been getting weekly updates on the progress. It is estimated to be complete by the end of the year, or beginning of next year.
Louie stated that a week ago he came across a grant from the State Fire Marshal’s Office and he wanted to apply for this grant to purchase battery powered hydraulic rescue tools (Jaws of Life). The cost of this is around $46,000. He stated that he met with Matt Montowski, Vicki Wheatley and Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia to fill out basic grant information and they should know by the end of the year if they are awarded the grant.
Parks
Matt Montowski stated at the last trustee meeting, the Park District of Ottawa Co. submitted a letter to the trustees stating that they applied for a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission, Clean Ohio Conservation Fund. They plan on using this grant to purchases approximately 16.3 acres of land on Catawba. They gave the parcel number of this land, but no address. Matt asked Quintin Smith (who was in the audience) if he would like to address this. Quintin stated that it is part of his property where he tried to grow vineyards, but decided to sell it to the parks district. Quintin Smith stated that there is still 5 acres that he kept to grow apricots. Matt stated that he wanted the board to acknowledge that they have received the letter and the owner was Quinn Stock Farms as they weren’t sure who it was at the last meeting.
New Business
Diane Belden stated that prior to the last trustee meeting, they had a brief meeting for the Fire Department Dependent Fund Board and they have that taken care of for the upcoming year.
Matt Montowski stated that the Zoning Office received a letter from the US Army CORPS of Engineers regarding work being done at Midway Marina and asked the Fiscal Officer to read the letter. The letter was to authorize work for “after the fact” removal of many docks and steel piles. They are also approving proposed removal of additional docks and steel piles that Midway Marina has submitted proper permits for. They ask the trustees to review and comment on the applicant’s submittal.
William Baker asked if they were looking to add any width to the piers. William Rofkar stated that they only know of the work that was listed in the letter that was read. Matt Montowski stated that Mr. Baker is welcome to have a copy of the letter.
The trustees agree that this will be a good upgrade to the marina by taking out the old and replacing with new. William Rofkar stated that it will make things safer as well.
The trustees will have the zoning inspector respond to them advising to please apply for state and local permits prior to the start of future work.
Dan Barlow asked if there was an amount yet for the cost of replacing the Fire Dept. SCBA. William Rofkar explained that it needs to go to bid first and follow a process required by ORC. Once they get the bids, they will be submitted via sealed bid to the trustees.
Lisa Murphy asked about changing the meeting times for next year since the re-organization meeting is held at the end of the year and there will be two new trustees for next year. It was explained that the re-organization meeting won’t be held until the first meeting of the new year since the board is changing.
Diane Belden made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:52 a.m.
The next meeting will be Tuesday December 9, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. with a zoning hearing to follow at 10:30 a.m.
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Willaim Rofkar, Chairman Shelly Garcia, Fiscal Officer