December 2024
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 12-10-2024
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. Those in attendance were Craig Knox, Fire Chief; Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer. Also in attendance were Township residents: Brandon Stackhouse, and Sam Lantz.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Slack at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Larken Slack.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: approved.
Public Participation: none.
Fire Department Business: There were 122 dispatched calls in November; 97 in Muskingum County and 25 Perry County. This makes the total for the year 1,442. They are 271 calls ahead of 223.
There were 3 uncovered 12 hour shifts in November, two were because of call-offs.
Paumier has sent their recommendations for an EMS billing increase based off of Medicare standards for 2025:
· Basic Life Support (BLS): $751.42
· Advanced Life Support (ALS): $958.38
· Advanced Life Support 2 (ALS2): $1133.70
· Transport Service Mileage: $27.69 / mile
Trustees passed Resolution 10/2024 accepting these increases.
The fire department is doing a pilot program for the County on using mobile data terminals in the trucks to communicate with dispatch. They have ordered the equipment and are working on license fees. The County will pay the license fees while it is getting set up. The City and County are on this system already. They can get gate codes, etc. for patients that may have gates or door codes. Craig is chairing the committee for radio upgrades for the County. They are updating the equipment so that radio transmitters can communicate with dispatch. Law enforcement can send assistance if fire / ems are in trouble. Some of the cost for that equipment was covered by a grant received by the fire department.
The Fire Levy – per the Board of Elections, there is no primary in 2025. Therefore, anyone that wants a levy on the ballot will have to pay for a special election. The cost in the 5 precincts of Newton Township is $94,984.41. If more items are added to the ballot, the department would share the cost with whoever else is putting something on the ballot. Craig said we have to pass 2 resolutions prior to February and we have to pay 65% of the fee up front. The Board of Elections suggested to go ahead and pass the resolution and if it comes down to it, they can back out. The Village of Dresden may have to run an election for Mayor since theirs passed away, but Craig isn’t sure. The last resort is to run it in November but if it fails, they are out of that money come 2026. Craig said they may have to work on the wording and reconsider how much they need to ask for on a levy. He would like to go ahead and pass the resolutions and see what happens with any other issues that may be added to a primary election. He does not want to even consider it, if no other measures are added. The County still does not have the new valuations as they have not been certified by the State yet.
FF 1 class finishes Dec. 22nd.
The defibrillator quotes – 2 Life Pack CR 2 Defibrillator are $4,668 for two. Craig said they have the old wall cabinets so they won’t need those. They have an 8-year warranty and the batteries last 4 years. The department has a service agreement with Stryker that covers batteries, but he has to check to see if these would be covered under that agreement. Derek made a motion to purchase these and Randy seconded. Motion carried.
The facia and soffit on the building – Craig has quotes from two companies. AM Roofing & Siding was $15,762.50. Highpoint Exteriors from Millersburg and their quote was $13,705.00. Craig would like to go with Highpoint. He has experience with them and they do very good work. They are Amish contractors and are very clean. There was some discussion on the work to be done between Craig and Larken. Larken wanted to make sure the soffit was capped so water couldn’t get in behind it. Randy made a motion to go with Highpoint and Randy seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The Fire Department had a family Christmas dinner and had about 60 people in attendance. They gave gifts to the kids and had games and crafts.
Chas Cosgrave has resigned from the fire department as he does not have the time to commit.
Wes Kelly will be promoted to the rank of Captain. Wes’s Lt. position is open and there have been two applicants. Paul Stewart and Devin Deaver.
Changes to scheduling starting in 2025. They have created a three - 24 / 48 hour Kelly day position. That position’s schedule would be for 2496 hours per year and Craig made sure that did not make anyone full-time. The Prosecutor’s office said the department sets overtime, so they can consider that position as part-time. Barry Israel has put in for the Kelly Day position and Paul Stewart has expressed interest. If those are not filled internally, they will offer to outside candidates.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report:
· FD drains – Jason has run 1000 gallons through the drains and they cannot find where they are leading to. Jason thinks they need to put in new catch basins and new lines. Craig asked him to figure in the price of a new culvert.
· They have been working on Slack and have cleared out a lot of trees.
· He is going go start ordering oil for the mini hoe. It will be a major overhaul to change the oil. Derek asked Jason if he was 100% sure that if he does the maintenance on the hoe, would it be covered by any type of warranty, if it blows up. Jason said he will check with Southeastern to make sure they don’t void the warranty if he changes it himself.
· They have been doing maintenance of equipment and he has found a new cinder supply. He asked if he should get more. Derek told him to go ahead because they won’t go bad. Derek said he could get 300 – 500 ton.
· He has ordered some new lights for the hoe so they can see at night.
· He replaced the batteries on the solar stop signs on Thompson Run.
· Jason has been getting calls from homeowners that their driveways are washing out when it rains. Trustees agreed that is not our responsibility.
Old Business: Grantcliff Road – More discussion on the amount that Newton actually owes for this paving. Springfield’s FO sent over additional information. This is tabled again until the Trustees can discuss further with Springfield Township Trustees.
New Business: Larken got permission from property owner at Opera and Bagley to remove some trees. He spoke with Martin Smith on Butcherknife and asked about removing some trees on their property.
Jason asked about Shaw Road – Shelly said they could pave the first part of April as long as the water line is completed by then.
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—none.
Slack— none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· FO presented a new agreement for Madison Township in Perry County. Mr. White asked if we could get on a January to December contract instead of the July to July schedule we currently have.
· FO asked the Trustees if they agree to pay the road department employees a Christmas bonus of $150. If so, checks are in the bills for tonight.
· Derek is planning to attend the OTA conference in 2025.
Trustee Slack made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Elson seconded the motion. Motion carried.
All bills presented were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.
Close of year meeting will be held on Thursday, December 26, 2024 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 12-26-2024
The Newton Township Trustees met to close out business for the year 2024, close the books for same, and organize for 2025. Those in attendance were; Randy Elson, Derek Dozer, and Larken Slack, Township Trustees; Fire Chief, Craig Knox; and Fiscal Officer, Paula Frank.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by chairperson, Larken Slack.
There was no public participation or other business to open.
Fiscal Officer had requested the following to be updated/closed for the year:
*O.T.A. Conference is scheduled for 2025, at the Columbus Convention Center. Refer to the Grassroots Clippings from December for additional details.
*Trustee to chair the township meetings for the year 2025 was agreed to be covered by Trustee Elson.
Budgets were submitted for Fire and EMS for 2025 by Chief Craig Knox. Mr. Knox pointed out the item in the budget for fire department employee sick time accrual at the rate of 0.06 hours per one hour worked, in accordance with ORC 124.38. Derek suggested that Craig contact Mark Zanghi to see if we would be required to follow this. More digging and it was found that our department does not have to follow ORC 124.
*The following wages were discussed and raises were made accordingly;
All three Trustees will make $1,174.00 per month and the Fiscal Officer will make $2,054.75 per month, as outlined in the 2025 Compensation Charts supplied by the Ohio Township Association.
Jason Taylor currently is making $23.50 /hour, he will make $24.50/ hour in 2025.
Sam Lantz currently is making $20.00 / hour, he will make $20.00/ hour in 2025.
Diana Latier; fire department custodian is currently receiving $475.00 per month with a cap of 30 hours / month unless otherwise approved. Latier will make $500.00 per month in 2025. Latier is expected to work a minimum of 6 hours each given week, unless extenuating circumstances prohibit it. She should come in on the same day each week, as per Trustees request, and she needs to get her timesheets in on time each month.
Jeff Swingle; part-time Road Maintenance, is currently being paid $17.00 and will be paid $18.00 / hour in 2025.
The Township will pay the Kimpel family $400 per year to maintain Goshen cemetery.
The Trustees agreed to bid out cemetery mowing again in 2026, as the current contract goes through 2025.
Craig Knox; Fire Chief receives $1050.00 per month currently. Knox will receive $1200.00 per month in 2025.
Hourly wages for Fire Department personnel are currently at: FF = $15.00, EMT = $16.50, Medic = $18.00, FF/A-EMT $17.50. Wages will increase to FF = $15.25, EMT = $16.75, Medic = $18.75, FF/A-EMT $18.00. These wages will take effect January 5, 2025.
Motion made by Trustee Elson and seconded by Trustee Dozer to give those raises as noted above. Motion carried.
*All elected officials will continue to receive a $70.00 cell phone allowance per month.
*A resolution, No. 11/2024 was presented for temporary appropriations for 2025, to be presented to the Muskingum County Auditor.
*All township meetings will continue to be held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month with the following dates put in place. January 14; February 11; March 11; April 8; May 13, June 10, July 8, August 12, September 9, October 14, November 11 and December 9, 2025, with closing of the books to occur on December 26, 2025. All meetings will begin at 6:00 pm in the township meeting room. Any variance from this will be posted on the “Marquee” in front of the fire department, on the front door, on the Township’s website, and/or will be noted in the local newspaper.
All books were noted to be in order and will be closed.
The next regular meeting of the board will be held on January 14, 2025 in the township meeting room at 6:00 pm at the fire department.
Meeting adjourned at 7:02 pm.
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