The Rootstown Township trustees met on June 9, 2026, for their regular meeting. In attendance at Rootstown Township Hall were trustees Joe Paulus, Dave McIntyre and Brett Housley. Also attending were Fiscal Officer Linda Hankins, Fire Chief Charles Palmer, Service Director Bill Hahn, Zoning Administrative Assistant Jordan Michael and Trustees Administrative Assistant Julie Gonzales.
The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. Following the pledge and the approval of the minutes of the May meeting, Paulus introduced John Fassnacht, president of the Rootstown Historical Society. Fassnacht said he was there to “provide special accolades for people in the room who have been at their jobs 10 years or longer.” The attention was one of the society's efforts to recognize 25 township residents as part of the America 250 celebration. Those who received recognition included Hahn, Michael and Palmer (on behalf of the entire fire department). Also recognized was resident Bill Morgan. McIntyre added to the accolades for Morgan, saying “he doesn’t half do anything. This guy is a community servant through and through.”
Palmer then kicked off the community reports. The bulk of his report centered on a request for approval for two expenditures. The first was in the amount of $65,969 for the purchase of a power cot for the ambulance. The second was for $205,587 for a new chassis for that same ambulance. Hankins said that money could come from the JEDD fund and be paid back by the department over time. Palmer said that while the cot could be purchased and installed now, the chassis would not be ready for 1.5 to 2 years, but this approval could get that process started. The trustees approved both requests.
Palmer also requested approval to spend $7,604 to repair the elevator in the fire station. He said that there was $14,023 remaining in the township bond fund that could be used to pay for this and suggested that the remaining funds be used to build a wall in the kitchen. The trustees unanimously approved the purchase.
The lights on the exterior of the fire station are all now installed and functioning, Palmer said. They are currently displaying red, white and blue colors, but can be changed based on the holiday or season. The downside to them, he said, was that they showcase some of the issues in the siding. Palmer said he was having those looked at but had no repair or replacement plans yet.
Hahn then provided a service report. His first item was a request for approval to pay Morgan $4,600 for electric work. This was money he believed that could be paid out of the NOPEC fund. The request was approved by the trustees.
He then discussed his desire to put new signs at the cemetery entrances to display the rules clearly.
“We are not changing the rules,” Hahn said. “We just need to start enforcing them.”
The trustees approved the provided rules and regulations list.
Hahn said he would start removing improperly placed items in 30 days. When asked what he would do with things like shepherd's hooks, he said he will photograph each item he removes and store things like the hooks in the shed for “maybe 90 days.”
The only other service item was an update that the pickleball courts were ready to be paved and the scheduling of that would happen soon.
For zoning, Michael said they had issued 10 permits since the last meeting. The one that brought the most discussion was a home set for demolition. He said this was one that the trustees had sent to the land bank to tear down and asked if the trustees would be willing to waive the demolition fee in this case. That was agreed.
Michael next advised that he had received a revised CRA from the county commissioners and wanted authorization to send the markups to Chad Murdock to review. There was then a longer discussion on what the changes could entail and if the trustees should offer direction of intent to Murdock or allow him to review first. It was ultimately decided that he should review and provide feedback as a next step.
There was also a discussion on the proposed new language to the facilities usage agreement. Particularly, the discussion centered around the language for trash disposal. It was ultimately decided that “bag” or “can” might be too specific or limiting, and the language will be changed to refer to “disposing of your trash.” Michael is also planning to post the rules with a map to disposal areas inside of the park pavilion.
The Zoning Commission will next meet on June 23 for a public review of zoning amendments 006 and 007.
A fiscal report was offered up by Hankins. She started by asking for approvals for the May bank reconciliation and financials. Approval was provided with no questions.
Hankins next reported that they were about 50% complete with the 2024/2025 state audit and there were some initial findings she wanted to share. She said that deposits needed to be made in a more timely manner and that auditors had some concerns over the lack of specificity in the language regarding raises. Instead of offering motions as percentages, the auditors have suggested that they include direct dollar amounts.
A budget meeting is going to be added to the July 14 regular trustee meeting agenda and Hankins will reach out to department heads prior to that for individual budget discussions.
Hankins then led a discussion on insurance options that the township could pursue for employee health insurance. She presented two options: an HSA and an HRA. The trustees discussed both options, considering pros like what the final cost to the township would be and cons, which could include employees walking away with money left on their insurance cards.
Hankins said that the township was currently “70% over on our projected yearly spend for insurance, and if we don’t make a change, we could be over budget by $30,000 at the end of the year.”
McIntyre questioned which plan would be easier to manage. He also asked if they should look into taking legal action against the previous third-party insurance administrator to see if there are funds remaining on those plans.
Housley questioned if any of the options should be looked at as “salary,” if they could be taken with an employee when they leave. Paulus questioned what each account could and could not be used for. Hankins reminded everyone that there were IRS designations involved and there may not be the flexibility in either plan that they wanted. It was eventually decided to pursue an HRA D213 enhanced plan. The trustees asked that it be made as retroactive as possible.
With no old business or community comments, the trustees moved to go into executive session for the discussion of compensation.