Village of Hiram

General Wesley Clark, a retired four-star Army general, spoke March 22 at Hiram College’s Kennedy Center. He was also an adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, and chief of staff for George W. Bush. It was a symposium in which current events were discussed, including the war in Ukraine.

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Based on community need and current income, the Village of Hiram decided to lay off a police officer.

“It’s affecting, obviously, public safety,” Mayor Lou Bertrand said. “I believe one way that that can be cured is the infusion of the local government funds that have been reduced by the state from 3.9 percent to about 1.2 percent.”

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A planning and zoning meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 at Village Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

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A Recreation and Park Board and Beautification Commission meeting will be held at noon Monday, April 3 at Village Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

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There will be a police pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at the Kennedy Center.

“Everybody is invited to support our police department,” Bertrand said. “They certainly need it.”

Admission is free, but donations to the police department will be accepted.

Hiram Township

Hiram Township passed this year’s annual resolution to do approximately 10 miles of road chip and seal.

“The county engineer has to set up the bids for it, and then we’ll choose from the bids who to go with,” township Chair Jack Groselle said. 

The chip and seal will likely be done in August.

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The township passed its 2023 appropriation budget.

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The township sold the little building across the street from its offices on state Route 82 for $4,242.42.

“It’s a house on a sled that was there when we started the park we had there,” Groselle said, “but we just didn’t need it anymore.”

Windham Township

Windham Township Chair Rich Gano, who doubles as the township’s fire chief, applied for an Ohio State Fire Marshals equipment grant for $15,000. Gano also applied for a grant from Firehouse Subs for a John Deere utility vehicle with a pump sprayer on the back, a water tank and a place to put a back border to transport people.

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The township is looking into eliminating the 500-foot mark for notification on variances and limit it only to adjoining property owners.

“Right now,” Gano said, “if you’re seeking a variance, you’d have to get the addresses and names of all neighbors adjoining your property plus within 500 feet.”

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The township is trying to sell an old cemetery fence, having listed it on govdeals.com, a platform for selling and buying government equipment.

Said Gano, “The fence may be valuable to somebody.”

Mantua Township

Mantua Township has received the final draft of the Mantua Township Flood Study and will hold a special meeting soon to plan on ways to move forward with the recommendations of the study.

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Cemetery cleanup and preparations are underway for the annual Memorial Day event at Westlawn Cemetery at 3199 state Rte. 82. The event will take place at 10 a.m. Monday, May 29. More information will be coming.

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The Spring Fling Easter Egg Hunt will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 8 at the Mantua Township Center School Annex at 11741 Mantua Center Rd. There will also be games, a Bounce House and more. Parents are asked to bring a basket for the little ones. The event is for children ages 12 and under. Admission is free.

Village of Mantua

The Village of Mantua passed a resolution to have an engineering firm do a bid pack to pave 4th Street.

“We’re trying to decide if we want to go with the mill-and-fill method or the recycle method,” Mayor Linda Clark said. “With the mill-and-fill method, they grind down the street and put new asphalt down. With the recycle method, they grind up the asphalt that’s there, it gets put into their machine, they put additives to it, and then it gets relaid. The recycle method is usually less expensive.”

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A $3.85 million road levy will be up for renewal at the end of the year. A first reading on it was done at the last village council meeting.

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The village is working on its 2024 budget and will hold a workshop on it at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 12 at Mantua Village Hall at 4650 W. High St.

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The Village of Mantua Police Department and Christ Lutheran Church will hold an Easter Egg Hunt with prizes from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 1 at the church, located at 10827 Main St. There will also be games (with more prizes!) and food. The Easter Bunny may be there, too. The event is for children ages 4-15. Admission is free.

Garrettsville

The annual Adult Easter Egg Hunt will take place Friday, March 31 at Slim & Jumbo’s at 8101 Main St. The event is one of several fundraisers for this summer’s Garrettsville Summerfest. Registration will begin at 6 p.m., and the egg hunt will start at 7 p.m. The fee is $25 per person, which includes pizza and a beverage.

“The egg hunt will be outside, most likely in a grassy area at the corner of High and Main streets,” event organizer Aaron King said. “We’ll fill the eggs with tickets. When the egg hunt is over, the people will open the eggs up, and on the tickets they’ll have a designated number we’ll give them at registration. Then we’ll have a huge Chinese auction in which they can win prizes with their tickets.”