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Franklin Township trustees met Tuesday to welcome Jack Amolsch, a Shaker Heights Boy Scout who has targeted Franklin Township for his Eagle Scout project. Designing and implementing a community-minded project is a requirement for becoming an Eagle Scout, which is a lifetime designation.

Brimfield trustees met Wednesday to approve adding new firefighter/paramedic to the township’s fire department roster. While employees have been hired as others moved on or retired, this will be the first time in 11 years that the township has actually added an employee.

Windham Village Council met Tuesday to address a slew of issues, including setting rental rates for the village community center. Anyone who wants to rent the village community center for parties, banquets or other events should expect to pay a $200 refundable security deposit.

Faced with the imminent resignation of Waterloo schools superintendent Shawn Braman, the school board is putting together an interview committee that involves leaders from each of the two communities it serves.

Garrettsville Village Council met in an emergency session Wednesday to approve a $741,222 bid from Woodford Excavating for the village’s South Street water main replacement project.

Thank you to the Ravenna School District teachers for making the hard choices; support staff for doing the hard work; administrative officials for making the hard decisions, and the school board members for representing the hardest hit in our community. As many other districts are now returning to in-person learning, it boggles the mind to realize that we in the RSD have had in-person learning since both before and after the Thanksgiving Covid spike.

It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t smooth and it certainly wasn’t anything like we’ve experienced before, but somehow, some way, the Ohio High School Athletic Association is still batting 1.000 on completed sports seasons this school year after whiffing on two of three last year.

Rates are rising for homeowners who take advantage of curbside recycling on a voluntary basis. The Portage County Solid Waste Management District started raising rates a few years ago, when the recycling market went from black to red.

When a homeowner’s wastewater system goes bad, the cost is substantial. When a city’s wastewater system needs attention, the price tag is huge. That’s the case in Aurora, which on Monday awarded an $8.5 million contract to Chardon’s Cold Harbor Building Co. to upgrade the city’s central wastewater treatment plant. The facility’s current tank is undersized and unable to handle the amount of sludge that needs to be processed.

Streetsboro residents may soon be paying more for water service. Residents already face annual 2% rate hikes meant to cover administrative costs. That amount may be changing to 3%, with the additional amount slated to cover projects such as line replacement and extension.

Paris Township will hold its spring cleanup from 8 a.m. to noon on May 1 at the township community center on Newton Falls Road. The cleanup is limited to Paris Township residents only, and participants must show ID or proof of residency.

The Ravenna Board of Education met in a brief session Monday, addressing key personnel issues. The board approved a one-year contract for Susan Huth, who will serve the district as Director of Teaching and Learning from Aug. 1, 2021, until July 31, 2022.

The Southeast Board of Education on Monday accepted the retirement of intermediate school teacher Valerie Kotlar, effective Sept. 1. Kotlar has been with the district for 16 years. The board also noted the retirement of band director Joni Stoll, who has served the district for 20 years. Stoll’s retirement is effective June 1.

Aurora High School students will soon be tapping away on new computers. The district’s school board on Monday agreed to lease 27 new iMac computers for the Mac Lab. The computers will cost $25,470 per year for three years, with a $1 buyout.

A Southeast student was alone in the basement with her boyfriend when she died. Prosecutors say he killed her.

When Deerfield resident Haley DeYoung, 20, thinks about Kaylee Freitag, she thinks of the color yellow. She remembers hours, days and years just hanging out and doing what teenaged girls do: visiting a nearby pond, coloring, listening to music, watching movies and going to Eastwood Mall.

Garrettsville Village Council scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. April 14 to address legislation aimed at residents who dump their items on the curb. “We’ve had a rash of people putting a lot of junk out on the curb,” Council President Tom Hardesty said. “Furniture, mattresses that kind of stuff. Right now we’re at a loss as to how we inflict compliance on this. We want to assess a fine right away. We’ll probably end up putting it on their taxes if they don’t comply.”

Finance Director Todd Bragg’s days at the Portage County Administrative Building are numbered as county commissioners placed him on administrative leave in a surprise finale of their March 11 meeting. Bragg has until Monday to submit his resignation or be fired. Commissioners Vicki Kline and Tony Badalamenti supported Bragg’s termination. Commission President Sabrina Christian-Bennett disagreed and distanced herself from their action. The decision came suddenly and took place in front of a nearly empty room. The commissioners went into executive […]

Portage County officials have raised concerns about key parts of the sheriff’s sweeping budget reforms, which call for a spending increase of $2.9 million over three years to cover raises, new hires, facilities repairs and new equipment.

Meeting with county commissioners for the first time since taking office two months ago, Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski and Chief Deputy Ralph Spidalieri laid out a proposal to expand their fleet so that every deputy has a vehicle.

The health department partnered with the center to make the Covid-19 vaccine more accessible to the predominantly Black community the center serves The Portage County health department vaccinated about 42 people against Covid-19 at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna Township Tuesday, making the vaccine more accessible to the predominantly Black community in that area. “I want to make sure people of color get their shots,” said Frank Hairston of the Portage County NAACP. “I want to make sure people in […]