Documenters: Ravenna Township Trustees meeting for Feb. 17, 2026

There was a brief delay to the start of the Ravenna Township Trustee regular meeting on Feb. 17 as some technical items in the trustee’s meeting room were worked through. After monitors were reconfigured, Trustee Hank Gibson-Lampley called the meeting to order. 

In attendance were Gibson-Lampley, Trustee Vince Coia, Trustee Kristi Blazek-Hack, Fiscal Officer Gail Pittman, Assistant Fiscal Officer Jon Summers, Fire Chief Abbie Buday, Zoning Inspector Lori Rotondo and Road Superintendent Ray Taylor.

After welcoming guests, Gibson-Lampley asked for an approval of the minutes from the special meeting held on Feb. 11. Coia and Blazek-Hack voted to approve the minutes, while Gibson-Lampley abstained.

Next, a motion was made to approve payroll warrants in the amount of $58,946.44 and additional payments totalling $43,904.57. Both payment needs were approved under unanimous consent.

Moving into the reports from trustees, Gibson-Lampley said he had been in contact with Allen Drain to look at the grease trap. He also wanted them to look into the backflow issue, but decided that they should wait to hear from the city first.

He also stated that he spoke with the attorney regarding the Westwood Village property. The attorney believes there is a possibility that the township will be able to be at least partly reimbursed for their work at that location.

Coia shared an update on a $2 million neighborhood grant. The hope is that it will pay for about two-thirds of the hookups to the sewer lines in the allotted area. He also said he has been working on the township dinner, which will be held in August. Space has been reserved at the Elks and a caterer has been procured.

Coia stated he is still working on the needs for the flagpole. He is reaching out to another company regarding the work that needs to be done and hopes they can use the initial report for their estimate.

Gibson-Lampley next invited firefighter Jimmy Crevar to speak. He was there to show the trustees the intubation device that the department currently uses. Crevar said it’s a good device, but the manufacturer has discontinued it and replacement parts could no longer be acquired. Buday shared that she would be asking for funding for a replacement later in the meeting.

Buday next said that the department recently received a refund check in the amount of $2,745.60 for payroll software that was not used. She also reported that the department was not awarded a grant from the State Fire Marshal’s Office. 

“I asked, and apparently we were just good enough to not qualify for it,” Buday said.

Resident Chris Untrauer then addressed those in attendance. She was representing the Veteran’s Grave Marker Project and wanted to provide an update on their efforts. They have covered 16 cemeteries in Portage County, as well as one in Geauga and Summit. To date, they have identified 130 markers that need to be or have been placed. She offered special thanks to Taylor for his help and announced a fundraiser being planned for May 2.  

“We applaud your effort and we’ll do whatever we can to support you,” Gibson-Lampley said.

Taylor next provided his report. He recently attended a county-wide meeting on stormwater, which he found educational. He came out of it with some resources that he would like to put on the township website for residents to access. He also asked for a resolution to maintain the agreement with the Portage County engineering office for issuing right-of-way work permits. The resolution was read and approved without comment.

Eagle Eye Roofing will be out on the 26th to look at the roof of the township building, which has holes, cracks and pilling, all leading to leaks, Taylor said. He also obtained a quote of $4,630.60 for repairs for their excavator. Nearly $1,000 of that comes from transportation costs, because the township does not have a trailer capable of hauling the equipment to the shop. Taylor had spoken with other townships to see if something could be borrowed, but no one had a trailer of the needed size. After some discussion, Taylor is going to look at rental options and see what the city might have.

In the past two weeks, he reported, there have been two burials and one cremation interment at Grandview Cemetery. Looking ahead, in the next two weeks, the garage door will be repaired and the trimming of trees will begin.

To start her zoning report, Rotondo said she recently found out that there are 104 businesses in the township and 4,380 housing units. She then announced she had sent a letter to the township building’s neighbor regarding their connection to the storm drain. 

Rotondo shared that she issued permits for two new Ryan Homes being built, sent a violation letter to 6220 Wall St. for an unlicensed vehicle, and that an appeal was filed by the owner of 6766 Peck concerning the fence variance request.

The next zoning commission meeting will be held on March 4.

Pittman took a moment to express concerns over court costs that the township was paying in zoning cases. She believes that the costs should have been paid by the defendants and that attorney action/inaction was the root cause. Rotondo did not disagree. After some discussion, Coia agreed to raise the issue with the prosecutor’s office.

Buday then asked for permission to attend two training events. The first is a free L105 event in Trumbull County and the second is an officer development series training in Worthington at a cost of $125. Both requests were approved. She also let the trustees know that she was asked by the Head Start school on Chestnut to read to students as part of the “Read Across America” program.

The fire department was approved unanimously to purchase new intubation scopes from King Video Scopes at a cost of $4,007.50. The trustees also provided approval to have their turnout washer serviced. 

The next agenda item was for new business. Coia said he would be attending the Portage County Township Association dinner on the 21st and the prosecutor's dinner at the Kent State University Hotel on the 25th.

Blazek-Hack and Coia both attended a conference in Columbus where the governor spoke. The big question coming out of the conference was around property tax changes and how much that will end up leading to increased sales and income taxes.

Coia asked Taylor how many headstones had been run over by mowers. Three and one bench, Taylor remarked, and some discussion was then had as to how to avoid those issues this year. Coia also asked Taylor if the standing water outside of the mausoleum might be contributing to the water coming up inside of the structure. Taylor said he would take a look.

Pittman then requested an executive session to discuss employment matters.

At 8:27 p.m., the regular meeting was suspended.