The Brimfield Township Board of Trustees held their regular meeting in the trustee chambers at 7 p.m. June 15. In attendance were Chairman Nic Coia, Vice Chairman Kevin Scott, Trustee Sue Fields, Fiscal Officer Jasmine Golden, Police Chief Chris Adkins, Economic Development and Zoning Inspector Michael Hlad, Township Administrator Roy Mosley III and Road Superintendent David Rufener.
The meeting started promptly with a roll call followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment for silent reflection. Coia then invited Adkins to step forward to administer the oath of office to the newest member of the police department: a K9 named Donkey. The two-year old German Shepherd was joined by his handler.
After the short ceremony, the trustees went into executive session to meet with an attorney to discuss “a dispute subject to a court action.” Forty-five minutes later, they returned to resume the regular meeting with no action to be taken out of the executive session.
The first item on the agenda was a review of any announcements. Fields offered the only one, which was that a bluegrass concert will be held at the gazebo on July 2.
Coia then invited Megan Bright from The Village of St. Edward to offer an update on their building progress. Bright shared that The Village recently received an award from the Portage Development Board for their move into the area. While construction continues, the trustees were invited down to see the progress being made.
Next were several housekeeping items. Some adjustments were made to the evening's agenda, the minutes of the June 1 regular meeting were approved, and all purchase orders and warrants were approved as submitted.
The public was then invited to speak. Judy Mothersbaugh alerted the trustees to a rat problem in her neighborhood. She said she had been in contact with Scott regarding the issue but wanted everyone to know and to see what could be done. Camilla Taylor also rose to share her concerns over the rats.
Rob Church used his time to question why the township spent $4,400 for an $800 water heater. He said even if labor costs were factored at double time, he still didn’t think the numbers added up.
Scott said he had been in contact with the Portage County Health District and then would be on the street to investigate the rat issue on June 22.
Adkins offered a report for the police department. They recently had a successful bike rodeo with over 100 people participating. Moving to new business, he said that the department was out of space and has been for maybe 15 years. To rectify this, they are going to make some slight modifications to an interrogation room so that it can double as an office space. He also announced a new department event. It will be a car show organized by several officers. The “Fast and the Furrious Car Cruise-In” will be a fundraiser for the K9 unit. It is set to be held on Aug. 16 at Field High School.
The bulk of Adkins’ time was spent in a discussion on the potential renewal of the township’s contract for Flock cameras. Adkins asked for a one-year renewal for the four cameras in the township. Coia asked what exactly the cameras captured. Adkins said that the intent is the license plate but other areas may be caught up, as well. Scott questioned how often the cameras provide a hit. Adkins responded that it’s hit or miss. He explained that more often than not, they don’t get a match on their cameras but on others in the network of the surrounding communities. He explained though that in order to be connected to and search within other communities, the township has to maintain their own cameras. Coia then asked “if we can reasonably argue that the cameras reduce officer investigative time,” to which Adkins replied “absolutely.”
Adkins also shared that he has the system locked down as tightly as it can be. He said that there is no access to, nor is it used for, immigration or reproductive rights investigations.
Fields inquired about the cost of a one-year contract. Adkins said it was $12,000. After further discussion, the trustees voted to approve the contract extension for one year.
Mosley provided a report for the fire department. The hiring of a new firefighter continues to progress and they are slated to start on July 5. The fire engine is being worked on so that it can enter service quickly. In the meantime, an insurance investigator is reviewing the damage to the broken fire engine.
Mosley continued with the floor, providing an administrative update by first announcing that on Sept. 5, there will be a Touch a Truck event. He then shared with the trustees that there are property tax and JEDD updates currently with their respective legal teams for review. And the POW-MIA event is still in its planning stages.
Additionally the MOU with the Portage County District Library is currently in its final stages of execution, he said. The next step is to transfer utility costs.
Costs were also the subject of the next item in discussion: the rental of the community center. Costs for a one-day rental will be going up $25 dollars to $225 for residents and $325 for non-residents. That includes a refundable $50 deposit. Much of the discussion was around the days that can be rented, if those days can be consecutive and how the space would be cleaned between rentals. Scott volunteered to help with the clean up and transfer, as needed.
Coia spoke about the Kent-Brimfield JEDD. After reading an article about it in The Portager, he said he wanted to speak with Kent to get clarity on several items, including how they are spending their portion of the funds.
Hlad shared an update from zoning and economic development. There is still no movement on the data center discussion, as additional details are needed for the draft resolution currently under review. He also shared that zoning heard from Neil Sackett regarding the comprehensive land use plan updates.
Two public hearings are planned for changes to the zoning laws and a request for conditional use of a space. One will be July 6 and one on July 9.
Hlad said the Zoning Board sent a letter to Wendy’s corporate offices regarding the parking lot behind their restaurant. They also offered a six-month extension of the conditional use permit for Shafer’s Woods.
Rufener said the road department continues to work on mowing and maintenance, including potential repairs on Meloy Road. He met with the county considering next steps for Meloy and the trustees believe he should forgo any additional investigation and move forward with the pip because, as Scott said, “the road’s sinking.”
Rufener said that the repairs needed on Buckeye Boulevard would come to $13,200 for the pipe and concrete work. They are working with the county to film the entire run of pipe to see if there is an additional issue that may be contributing to the issues on the site.
Under new business, the work on 3754 Boydell was discussed. Rufener is currently working on a quote for that project.
Scott then told Rufener that the trustees had received a complaint about the maintenance on Hunters Ridge island. They complained that the township was not taking care of the island and the sign. There was some discussion as to if residents could take responsibility for this area or if that opened up areas of potential liability or a union violation. Coia asked to table the discussion until those areas could be investigated further.
Rufener then shared an update on a number of items that came through the county, including a Howe Road grant. He requested a trustee resolution that would permit the application to the OPWC Grant Round for paving. He also asked for approval for advertising upcoming open bid dates.
For her fiscal report, Golden asked the trustees to authorize the creation of fund 3102. This was at the request of the state auditor.
Golden next put before the board a resolution to make an adjustment to debt services fund 2199 by drawing out money and entering it into fund 3102. She said this was necessary because those funds should “mirror” each other.
The next topic Golden discussed as a mid-year financial snapshot report. At the end of May the township had a $3.7 million total cash balance. The revenue for the year is on target and the expenditures have been coming in under 50%, which she said “is a great benchmark.” The one area operating under a deficit is the EMS fund, which Golden said was anticipated.
Scott then spoke about J&J Plumbing regarding the hot water tank installation. The person he spoke with told him the invoice looked to be highly inflated. A follow-up call found that management would not adjust the invoice, but instead offered a $100 credit. A separate estimate he got found that the job should have been $2,200.
“This really gets under my skin,” Scott said, as he said situations like this can’t continue.
Scott believed that the check to J&J was supposed to be held but had somehow been paid. So there was a discussion as to what controls can be put into place so checks don’t go out without board approval.
Following the discussion on how to improve emergency PO needs, limits for those and including more local businesses as vendors, Coia reopened the floor to the public.
A resident from King Ridge wanted to discuss the wet state of the back of the property. Paul Kessler followed up by saying he also has water issues in the backyard of his home and wanted to see what the progress of the plan was.
The meeting was then adjourned.