Documenters: Mantua Village Council meeting for Sept. 16, 2025

The Mantua Village Council held their September meeting on Tuesday the 16th at 6 p.m. in the Village Council Chambers. In attendance were Mayor Tammy Meyer, Fiscal Officer Maryann Fabian, Police Chief Joseph Urso, President of Council Steve Thorn, Council Member Dave Sluka, Council Member Denise DiLellio, Council Member Chris Novotny, Council Member Kevin Maloney and Solicitor Bill Mason. Council Member Dawn King arrived later during the meeting. 

The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was offered. Following the pledge, a roll call was taken. Meyer noted that it was known that King would be arriving late to the meeting.

The first order of business of the council was to hear a report from Tia Rutledge from Portage County Water Resources. She provided an update on the current project in the village to replace the water mains. At the time of the meeting, the schedule had slipped by 34% from its original target date. Meyer expressed concerns that the project would be done in time for the roads to be completed and paved in time for the winter season. The concern was that if they were not, plows could be broken or not effective, which would create dangerous conditions.

Rutledge shared that they understood the concern and were working on a contingency plan, although there could be additional costs involved. At the end of her report, she promised to keep council apprised of their progress.

Meyer then offered the mayor’s report. She stated that she was able to attend the second meeting for EMA planning, which was important because participation in the program is contingent on attendance. She and Urso also attended two webinars focused on cybersecurity protocols, which will need to be implemented in order to stay compliant with recently passed state legislation.  

She next provided an update on the Mats Road bridge. ODNR has secured the funds for its removal, contingent on the village having complete ownership. Meyer visited the Portage County records offices and can confirm that the bridge belongs to the village. While ODNR will pay for its removal, the village has to manage the project. This could result in some initial funds being spent by the village upfront to get the project started, but they hope that those will be able to be reimbursed.

Meyer spent some time this week with Crestwood students as they cleaned up downtown and painted the windows. She stated that she asked the postmaster if the students could paint the windows of the post office. The response was that they could with a condition. That condition being the postmaster gets the contact information for their school advisor so they can send over some pizzas.

In preparing for the previous week’s Potato Stomp, it was discovered that not all of the necessary permits were in place. A decision was made at the moment to allow the event to continue and Meyer asked for retroactive approval of the needed special event form. Approval was granted unanimously.

Meyer next asked the council if they would like to take possession of an outdoor bookbox (with a value of $289). She had been contacted earlier by the State Farm Insurance office in Garrettsville who were donating the boxes to area communities. Although the community will need to fill the box, the council accepted the donation.

Fabien joined Meyer in discussing recent conversations they had with Integrity Energy. The company was interested in becoming the village’s electric supply aggregator. The current contract the village operates under expires in 2027. This new contract would pick up there and would contain a discount of $0.16. It was stated that this would not affect residents and that future discussion on residential options would need to come next. Council approved entering into this contract. King arrived at 6:22 p.m. and participated in the vote.

That concluded the business of the mayor’s report and Fabien offered the monthly financial reports. The village received the second installment of the property tax payments, which were $74,003.04. This helped boost revenue for the year to 78.4%. Meanwhile, spending in the village is at 62.1% of projects. With no questions, these reports were approved by unanimous voice vote.

Also approved were the minutes of the Aug. 19 council meeting and Sept. 10 budget workshop.

The next item on the agenda was the presentation of committee reports. King spoke for the Parks and DMRC. The Parks board has spoken with ODNR regarding the recent trail closure due to erosion. ODNR understands the issue. Corrective action can not be taken until the structure near the trailhead, which is currently leased through the end of the fall, is cleaned out. At that point, the potential dismantling of the structure and an adjustment to the trail can be made at the same time. This work led to an increase in the 2026 parks budget.

The grant for an accessible swing at the park has been submitted. The cost of the swing will be $1,900. A resident has stepped forward and offered to pay for the swing if the grant does not come through. 

The work on the pickleball court continues on schedule.

Work is also currently underway to increase community engagement with the DMRC as some members are looking to step away.

Thorne did not have a report from the Fire Board. He did state that the Planning Commission is working on a comprehensive growth plan. 

The Processes Committee will be meeting on Oct. 6 to discuss changes to the employee handbook, according to Maloney’s report. He also said that the Landmarks Commission did not meet in September, but that he was approached by resident Nick Eller, who had several copies of the “old walking tour brochure he wanted the committee to have.”

DiLellio spoke for the Service Committee. The chip and seal work on the roads has been completed. They are now waiting for the yellow lines to be drawn. She also invited everyone to take a look at “how impeccable” the bridge looks. Praise was given to a 12-student team who cleaned it up.

Sluka spoke for the Safety Committee. He said he decided to investigate how the village “had gotten the reputation as a speed trap.” He found that the police department has made 646 stops since the start of the year, but only issued 74 citations. He said this meant 11% of the people stopped were cited. After discussion with Urso, Sluka understood that the decision to give a citation was up to the officer’s discretion and then wondered if there should be additional guidance given. He also said that the traffic cameras are pending and a representative from Hiram would be coming in to share their knowledge.

Meyer said that the Records Commission had their twice yearly meeting to “see what needs to be destroyed.” They decided to spend $1,200 to sponsor a community shredding day in the spring. 

The last report came from Fabien. She offered a look at finances through the Treasury board. The total interest the village has earned through 2025 is $42,000. For a full 12 months, the interest accrued was $66,686. That is from a combination of accounts at STAR and Middlefield banks. STAR offers a higher interest rate, and Fabien said the village should consider moving more money into that account, but was concerned how that would affect the relationship with Middlefield.

Urso offered an update on the police department. He has received a liquor application for the Wine and Chocolate Walk, which is scheduled to take place on Oct. 11. On the 17th of this month, he will be spending some time at the primary school performing safety demos. On the 24th of September, Crestwood will be holding their bonfire. They are changing up some of the activities associated with that this year and so there will not need to be a closure of any roads.

He has five candidates for the SRO position, which he has forwarded on to the schools for consideration. In terms of personnel, he also discussed the hiring process for the dispatch position and the resignation of Marty Toukonen.

Meyer gave the Village Administrator report for the month. Meyer, Rachel Ryan and Hugh Holly all attended the OPWC meeting regarding the grant application. The village is currently 14th in that process, but hope that some of the top 10 drop out so that they can move up. She said this is for the chip and seal of the roads.

During the period for citizen’s comment one resident, who did not give their name, spoke about his history with the Mats Road Bridge and wondered if a backhoe couldn’t be floated out into the river to remove some of the downed trees and improve the waterflow.

There were two pieces of legislation before the council. 2025-29 received a second reading. This would create a designated outdoor refreshment area in the village. 2025-32, which would permit fund appropriating for operating efforts in 2026, had a first reading. 

During the reading of 2025-32, the fire department contract was brought up. Fire Chief Matt Roosa had offered to pay an amount of $55,500 for services for the coming year. There was an indication that this needed to be accepted very soon or he would need to look elsewhere. Sluka wondered if there was an opportunity to negotiate with the fire chief. Maloney felt that this was a final offer. Novotny asked that if the offer was not accepted, would it mean having to get rid of dispatch? This was something that the council in general felt would need to be decided by voters.

Meyer said that the current contract expires at the end of December, so there is some urgency by the fire chief to get this done. Urso said, “yes, I know I have a personal vested interest in this, and I know it’s really expensive, but if we do away with it, we will never get it back.”

After continued discussion, much of it around having to make a decision at that moment, as well as to the benefits of maintaining the contract for another year versus letting it go, King said, “I really feel over a barrel about this.” Sluka felt that if Roosa would go elsewhere, he would pay a higher cost, so he wondered why the village could not ask for a higher amount, as under the current proposal, they would be operating with a loss.

A proposal was made for Mason to draft legislation that would continue the contract for $55,500, plus the village’s portion of the AT&T bill for another year, with the opportunity to dissolve the contract with a 90-day notice. Sluka, DiLellio, Novotny, Maloney and Thorn voted yes. King dissented.

The meeting was then adjourned so council could move into executive session to talk about complaints levied against public employees.