Catawba Island Township Board of Township Trustees
Meeting Minutes
April 9, 2024
The regular business meeting of the Catawba Island Board of Township Trustees was called to order by Chairman Diane Belden on Tuesday, April 9, at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of the administration building.
In attendance were: Diane Belden, William Rofkar, Matt Montowski, Shelly Garcia, Mary Jane Porozynski, John Gangway, Kevin Johnson, Dan Barlow, Brad Schwan, Jack Madison, Dorothy Baker and William Baker
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Matt Montowski made a motion to approve the March 26, 2024, Board of Trustees regular meeting minutes as presented. William Rofkar seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
William Rofkar made a motion to approve and pay the bills, including the payroll, in the amount of $59,346.94. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Correspondence
A letter from Frank LaRose (Ohio Secretary of State) regarding update needed to the Ohio Municipal, Township and School Board Roster. Update submission is requested by April 16, 2024. Fiscal Officer, Shelly Garcia, stated that she will make these updates by April 16, 2024.
Notice from the Ohio Department of Commerce regarding the Objection to the Renewal of a Retail Liquor Permit. It outlined the process to take if the Township would want to object to any current liquor permit holder requesting renewal. It also gave a cut-off date of May 2, 2024 for such objection. After brief discussion with Trustees and Police Chief Gangway, they decided there is no need for objection to any liquor permit holders in the township. No action required.
A letter from Ohio EPA regarding the 2023 Compost Facility Annual Report. The report indicates that the Township met the requirements of the applicable rules.
An email from Brian Reinhardt regarding Airbnb on Woodland Dr. He states that they live next to the property on Woodland Dr. and they would like to voice their opinion regarding the owner using this property for short term rentals. They state the renters make significant noise late into the evening on both weekdays and weekends. They were told the owner was told he was not allowed to have short term rentals, but it does not seem to deter him.
Matt Montowski stated that they are still working on this and he will be in contact with our legal department next week and will bring it up.
Diane Belden stated that she also receives messages regularly regarding issues like this and she forwards them to Zoning Inspector, Todd Bickley.
Both Matt and William Rofkar agreed that it gets a little confusing as to who is allowed short-term rentals. Some are grandfathered in and in some cases zoning allows it, so residents are instructed to contact the Zoning Inspector with any complaints so he can follow up.
A letter from Jake Market regarding Catawba Dock Reconfiguration. Jake stated that he is looking for a few grant opportunities for “development activities” for improvements on traffic issues and boat line’s own efficiencies at Catawba. He stated that from 2018-2026 they will have invested about $15,000,000.00 in updating and refitting their fleet. He stated that with some government funding help they can get Catawba improvements going much sooner.
Request from David Wonnell to waive community hall rental fees for May 15, 2024 for the use of the hall for the Spring Speaker Series of the Catawba Island Historical Society from 5pm-8pm.
Trustees agree to waive the fee. Mary Jane will contact Dave to let him know.
Request from Louie Wargo asking the Trustees to allow the Fire Department to sponsor a “Ride from School in a Fire Truck” for the 2024 ICS Auction. He stated it was one of the highest selling items at last year’s auction.
Trustees agree to sponsor the event again this year. Diane Belden will contact Louie to let him know.
Request from Fiscal Officer Shelly Garcia. Fiscal Officer Diane Schaefer (Perkins Township) reached out and stated that she would be willing to help Shelly as needed with any Fiscal Officer duties she may not comfortable with or not fully trained on. Her rate is $25/hour and she would be willing to come to the Township or answer questions over the phone if possible.
Shelly stated that the amount of help needed will be minimal and most likely at year end.
Matt Montowski made a motion to allow Shelly to utilize Diane Schaefer on an as needed basis for one year (April 2024 - April 2025) with the amount paid to Diane not to exceed $2,000.00.
William Rofkar seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Shelly Garcia and Mary Jane Porozynski requested the trustees approve the purchase of two office chairs. The current chairs that they are using are very old and one is broken. Cost of these chairs are $99.00 & $112.00.
Trustees approved the purchase of two office chairs from Staples.
Maintenance
Maintenance Supervisor Kevin Johnson said the leaf machine is down and they are in the process of fixing it. He is hoping to get a few calls back this week on parts needed for the repairs.
Kevin Johnson said Ernie Wylie is back mowing seasonally.
Police
Police Chief John Gangway asked if the Board wanted him to staff police coverage for the Spring Clean up at the dumpsters. After brief discussion they stated they did not think extra coverage was needed.
John Gangway asked if the Board would be interested in looking at hiring a part time officer. He stated that this would not replace the full time position, but be in addition to. The trustees state they are very much in favor of this. The starting wage for full-time is $25/hour and Matt Montowski stated that we should start the part time out at that rate as well. The other trustees agreed. Chief Gangway stated that other departments have other fringe options that may sway someone to choose that department over Catawba. William Rofkar stated that he would like to look at these other benefits for some time in the future and asked Chief Gangway to put a list together of things he finds that would be beneficial to implement down the road. John Gangway said that he would be happy to do this.
John Gangway stated that Mary Janes computer is having issues. The storage is almost at capacity. He stated that he also looked into all the other computers and they are all very old, running very old programs.
He suggested that it may be beneficial to bring in an IT company to update our system.
The trustees agreed and John Gangway stated that he would look around and get some pricing.
Parks
Brad Schwan submitted the signed termination contract for the pickleball courts project with Gerold Construction.
Brad Schwan submitted the name and address of the company that will be able to supply the required materials to finish the pickleball courts. This information was given to Shelly Garcia who will follow up with getting a quote for the needed items and then placing the order. Brad stated that the cost for these items will not exceed $1,600.00.
William Rofkar made a motion to approve up to $2,000.00 for materials needed to finish the pickleball courts. Matt Montowski seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Brad Schwan also requested approval to order a plastic, outdoor box to hold the trifold brochures for Cedar Meadows Preserve. The cost would be $31.00. Trustees requested that Mary Jane order this from Staples.
Zoning
Matt Montowski stated they received the monthly zoning report for March and there were a total of 13 permits issued and 3 variances. Total fees collected were $2,225.84. Additionally there are 8 new houses making it a total of 13 for the year.
New Business
Matt Montowski made a motion to add Fire Chief Kevin Gibbons as a signer on the new credit card policy. William Rofkar seconded the motion. All voted aye. Motion carried.
Matt Montowski stated he would like to invite Holly from Equalis Group to the next meeting so she could give a brief presentation of co-op purchasing to see if this is something that could benefit the Township.
William Rofkar gave the dates for the fall clean up. They will be Sept. 27th & 28th.
William Rofkar stated that the county engineers met and the pavement schedule for Norma Dr., Balliette Dr. and Catawba Woods is slated for the end of July possibly beginning of August.
Diane Belden stated that the CIVFD March calls were: 11 EMS calls and 6 Fire runs. There were also 2 gas leaks and 5 lift assists included in that total.
Diane Belden stated that she also received the EMS call summary from Chief Brian Gutman in Port Clinton. January had 39 calls, February had 23 and March had 37 for a total of 99 call for the first quarter. Chief Gutman also stated that he and his staff would like to extend a huge thank you to all responders in Catawba for their assistance in medical response. He is grateful that both agencies are able to work so well together.
William Rofkar made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Matt Montowski seconded the motion.
All voted aye. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m.
___________________________ _____________________________
Diane Belden, Chairman Shelly Garcia, Fiscal Officer