Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
February 22, 2011
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman Matt Montowski on Tuesday, February 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the conference room.
In attendance were Matt Montowski, William Rofkar, Gary Mortus, Karen Shaw,
John Gangway, Dan Barlow, Meredith Beck, John Smothers, Joe Bires, and Jack DeVore.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all followed by a moment of silence for our troops.
The minutes were read from the February 8 meeting of the Board of Township Trustees. Gary Mortus made a motion to approve the February 8 meeting minutes as received. William Rofkar seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
William Rofkar made a motion to approve and pay the bills, including the last payroll, in the amount of $47,412.31. Gary Mortus seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Correspondence
The following correspondence was received by the township and read:
A letter from a resident inquiring about the township repairing the roads and expressing concern about her driveway receding one fourth inch. She would like the township to address the problem when they repair Karwood Drive.
A letter from Agnes Kocour expressing she would like to sell back to the township a lot of eight graves she purchased in 1994.
A letter from the Soil and Water Conservation District regarding a 10% discount for townships, villages and cities on the sale of a variety of trees. A tree order form was enclosed with a deadline of Friday, April 1, 2011.
A First Report of Injury from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation regarding a township employee.
Parks Board
Parks Board member John Smothers stated the Parks Board would like to have one designated township maintenance employee to assist the Board with approximately 40 hours of mowing in the fall each year and a few hours in June at the Cedar Meadow Preserve. He said he would prefer the work to be kept in house because the mowing needs to be done accurately. John Smothers stated farming the work out would require additional oversight.
Parks Board member Meredith Beck said they have had a management plan for five years and they need to reevaluate what they have done. She said it would be helpful going forward to know who would be helping them in the future.
Dan Barlow suggested Ted Day. The Trustees agreed Ted Day would be available to assist the Park Board with their mowing needs.
John Smothers said the Parks Board would also like to expand to five voting members. The Township Trustees said they would be happy to appoint a couple more members to the Parks Board if the three current members of the Board had recommendations.
Fire and Safety
Fire Chief John Gangway reported Engine 224 has a leak on the top of the fuel tank. He said it is currently at Transmissions Unlimited and they think they know what the problem is. If they find it is related to a previous repair they made the cost may be adjusted and there should not be a large expenditure.
John Gangway also stated Truck 230 was repaired at Port Clinton Ford and is running well.
Maintenance
Maintenance Supervisor Dan Barlow presented four quotes for the new Maintenance building heating system: Jones Electrical and Heating, $8,800; Firelands Mechanical, $8,990; Ohler & Holzhauer, $13,702.53; and Lakecraft, $6,707. Dan Barlow said he received the Lakecraft quote late in the day and he had not had time to look into why their bid was so much lower than the others and was not sure if was comparable. He said he would like to talk with Lakcraft first to confirm their bid was for the same type of heating system before recommending the lowest bid. Dan Barlow said he would get back to the Trustees at the next meeting.
Dan Barlow also suggested a process to level the sidewalks around the Administration building, especially the sidewalk in back leading to the conference room. He is going to get back with a concrete leveling vendor in April when the weather warms up. He said they utilize a process to pump concrete under the sidewalks to level the sidewalks up rather than tearing them out and starting over. Dan Barlow said he has seen this process work at other locations and would like to get an estimate.
Zoning
Matt Montowski said Zoning Inspector Walter Wehenkel reviewed the 2010 Variances that were issued by the Board of Zoning Appeals and noticed that some applicants did not come back in to pull the proper permits after the Variance was processed. He said Walter Wehenkel wrote the individuals letters and included estimates for the proper permits and fees to be paid.
Matt Montowski stated Walter Wehenkel rewrote the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting format and received approval from Ottawa County Prosecutor Mark Mulligan.
Matt Montowski stated the Zoning Commission would not be meeting in February. He stated the Board of Zoning Appeals will be meeting in March.
Other Business
Jack DeVore thanked the Trustees for the letter provided to him by the Catawba Island Township Police regarding details of the road stripping situation last fall.
Gary Mortus expressed his thanks to the Maintenance crew for the excellent job they do keeping the roads cleared during the winter months. He said compared to other roads he has traveled recently Catawba Island Township roads are excellent.
Gary Mortus said he met with Kevin Joyce, Executive Director of The Black Swamp Conservancy and John Frye, Co-Executor of the Paul Rofkar property located on north Catawba. He said the 61 acre parcel is for sale and Black Swamp is going to look at any alternatives we may have for grant funding to purchase the property. Gary Mortus said he told the two gentlemen the township could be interested if we were able to secure funding for the parcel. Gary Mortus stated it would be an on going process.
William Rofkar said he drafted and sent a letter to the Ottawa County Engineer regarding the road stripping last fall as he mentioned he would do at the last Trustee meeting.
Matt Montowski said there are new FEMA flood zone maps available at Regional Planning located at the Ottawa County Courthouse. He said over 600 properties were affected by the flood zone revision and a lot of properties that were previously in the 500 year flood zone will now be in a 100 year flood zone.
Matt Montowski discussed the requirements for a new filing cabinet system for the Zoning office. Gary Mortus made a motion to spend up to $4,500 on a new filing system for Zoning utilizing the Ohio State Purchasing Contract through Central Business Group. William Rofkar seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Matt Montowski thanked William Rofkar for his hours of labor donated installing the new phone system between the Fire Station, Maintenance, Police and Administration buildings. Matt Montowski stated the township purchased supplies for the project from an outside vendor.
Karen Shaw said Sally Williams of the Ottawa County Historical Society would like to use the front of the Community Hall on March 2 for a Historical Society meeting. Sally Williams asked if the fee could be waived as in the past. The Trustees agreed to waive the fee for the Historical Society meeting.
Karen Shaw stated the township employee named in the First Report of Injury from the Bureau of Worker’s Compensation said he would like to withdraw the claim and will send a letter to the BWC expressing his request.
Karen Shaw said the laptop and printer required for the Maintenance department would cost closer to $900 instead of $700 as the motion was made for at the last meeting. The Trustees agreed to the additional cost.
Gary Mortus said he and Karen Shaw met with Kim Szyperski of Staples Advantage. He stated the township is now set up with StaplesLink and our prices will be those contracted through Staples and the State Cooperative Puchasing Program.
The Trustees agreed to extend the consulting services of Fiscal Officer Dave Robinstine two additional eight hour days.
Gary Mortus made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p.m. William Rofkar seconded the motion. All voted aye. Meeting adjourned.
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Matt Montowski, Chairman Karen Shaw, Fiscal Officer
ks