January 2025
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 1-14-2025
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. 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: Sam Lantz, Shane Stephenson, Brandon Stackhouse, Kim Smith, and Bob Matthews.
Meeting was called to order by Trustee Elson at 6:00 pm.
Pledge to the flag was led by Randy Elson.
Agenda: approved.
Minutes: approved.
Public Participation: Kim Smith is attending on behalf of the Zack Smith Foundation. This is the 5th year for the Casino Night on March 29, 2025. She is asking for permission to serve alcohol at the event. Derek made a motion to allow alcohol for the event. Randy seconded the motion. Motion passed. Randy signed the approval form for Kim.
Bob Matthews runs Dirt Bags Fast Pitch Softball. They are having a comedy night on March 15th, in the gym and cafeteria and he is also attending the meeting asking to serve alcohol during the event. This is a fundraiser to send 3 teams to the World Series in Florida. Derek made a motion to allow alcohol to be served. Larken seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Derek asked Mr. Matthews if all persons who are practicing in the gym tonight have signed a liability waiver. He was not sure if they all had. Derek said as long as every single person down there playing has previously signed a liability waiver, then all was good. Craig said with the youth leagues, if they have their own insurance they just have the league sign the waiver. But the group in the gym right now is not a school team.
Fire Department Business:
· There were 122 dispatched calls in December. 84 in Muskingum and 38 in Perry County. They ended the year with 1555 calls, which is 258 more than in 2023.
· There were 200 calls for service that had to be handled by other departments all of which were because they were on other calls at the time. 76 of those calls were in Newton Township.
· There were 8 un-covered shifts in December, 6 were due to call-offs.
· All equipment purchased with the Straker Grant and the Energy Co-op Grant is all in. The training on the equipment is on January 25th.
· VFIS – premium upgrade. The previous cost per year was $2,536. They are now covering the difference between the maximum they are allowed to make if they are injured vs. what Worker’s Comp with pay the injured worker. In order to do that, the premium will increase by $1500 per year. The new amount will be $4,005 per year as long as that is ok with the board. They all agreed that was fine.
· FF -1 course is finishing up. EMT course is ongoing and an instructor’s course starts January 25th.
· They have applied for 3 grants - ODNR Grant, Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office Grant and Firehouse Subs grant. Most of that grant money would be used for radio equipment, PPE, and other firefighting equipment items. Larken asked how much the grants are for but Craig did not have a total for those.
· Awards banquet is this Saturday the 18th. Maria Comacho is a new hire that will be sworn in that night.
· Devin Deaver is being promoted to the rank of lieutenant and Wes Kelly is being promoted the rank of Captain.
· David Lovejoy has asked to transfer from a fire department employee to a contract instructor position.
· Larken asked if they have ordered the new pickup yet. Craig said he has not. There is only one dealership that honors the state bid pricing but historically Dutro has also honored the state bid pricing. Craig is going to contact their fleet manager to discuss.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report:
· Jason said that we will need to place a larger salt order this upcoming year due to all the snow we have had already this year.
· Truck 4 – the F-550 – bearings have gone out on it and he had to get that fixed.
· The culvert has been installed on Greenhouse in conjunction with the water line installation.
Old Business: Larken got another call about the school bus parking on Mona Drive during lunch. He was able to drive down at the time and he says that two cars can still pass while the bus is parked there. Derek and Randy said if she calls again to let her know that the board is ok with it.
Derek asked if Jason ever heard back regarding the maintenance on the backhoe and Jason said yes that he is ok to do it since he is ordering everything direct from them to do the maintenance.
New Business: Larken said they need another day to finish clearing the trees on Slack Road. Randy asked if they were still going to take trees off Opera just off Bagley and Larken said they were.
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—none.
Slack— none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· Presented the ODOT 2025 mileage certification for signature
· 2024 books have been officially closed
· Fiscal Officer passed out health insurance information provided by Tom Montgomery, showing plans that are significantly lower than what we currently pay. We have Anthem and this information is for Aetna.
Trustee Elson made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Dozer seconded the motion. Motion carried.
All bills presented were deemed to be valid expenditures and were to be paid as presented.
The next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:03 p.m.
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