Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Special Meeting
September 29, 2026
A special meeting of the Board of Trustees was called to order by Chairman Diane Belden on Tuesday, September 29, at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of the administration building.
In attendance were: Diane Belden, Chris Cellier, Quintin Smith, Shelly Garcia, Dorthy Baker, William Baker, Genna Blakley, Frank Carchedi, Kathy Wanemacher, Zsolt Veress, Craig McCoy, and Lisa Murphy.
The pledge of allegiance was recited by all.
The purpose of the meeting was to consider and act on the following matters:
- A resolution to authorize the Township to apply for a grant through the Ohio Public Works Commission’s Clean Ohio Conservation fund, and using donated land value as the local match.
- A resolution to authorize the Township to apply for a grant through the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund, and use the donated land value as the local match.
- Any other matters related to these grant applications.
- Discussion of potential hiring of outside council for zoning and other township related issues.
This meeting was open to the public and was advertised on the CIT website, the CIT Facebook page, and displayed on the bulletin board in the administration building lobby.
The meeting was turned over to Trustee Smith. He explained the process in which the trustees were looking into regarding the purchase of the Bolte property, and the grant application resolutions. Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia read both of the resolutions
The trustees would like to apply for both grants just incase one is turned down.
Quintin also explained that these applications are not binding incase the trustees decide not to follow through with this process.
Chris Cellier asked if both of these resolutions have been approved by the prosecutor. Quintin stated they were.
Quintin Smith made a motion to approve the resolution for the Clean Ohio Grant Fund. Chris Cellier seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
A roll call vote was conducted:
Diane Belden: aye, Chris Cellier: aye, Quintin Smith: aye
Quintin Smith made a motion to approve the grant application for the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund. Chris Cellier seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
A roll call vote was conducted.
Diane Belden: aye, Chris Cellier: aye, Quintin Smith: aye
Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia completed a Certification of Local Funds that is required to certify that the Township shall utilize donated land value as the required local matching funds component for the Cedar Meadow Preserve Expansion project.
The fiscal officer will send the signed resolutions and completed certificate to Neal Hess at the Conservation Realty Group who the township has retained to help in this grant application process.
Frank Carchedi asked if the trustees knew the timeline in which all of this would be taking place.
Quintin stated that one application is due Oct. 9th and the other is Oct. 30th. And from there is takes approximately 6 months for approval.
The meeting was then turned over to Trustee Cellier regarding the township looking into hiring Brosius, Johnson & Griggs, Attorneys at Law to represent the township in legal matter such as zoning and other such matters that may be referred.
Diane Belden asked if there would be someone to monitor or manage this process as it could become costly if various township employees were contacting this firm and being charged for each contact. Chris stated that he will discuss with them to see what they feel would work best.
Chris stated in the resolution it states there is a “not to exceed” amount, but that could be adjusted if needed.
Quintin also had a few questions and stated that he would like to look into a few things before making a decision.
The trustees agreed to bring this resolution back up at the next meeting once they have had a chance to go over everything and get answers to some of the questions presented.
Quintin Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Diane Belden seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:58 a.m.
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Diane Belden (Chairman) Shelly Garcia (Fiscal Officer)