NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 1-13-2026

Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.  Those in attendance were Fire Chief, Craig Knox; Assistant Fire Chief, Jake Lutz; Larken Slack, Derek Dozer and Randy Elson; Township Trustees and Paula Frank, Fiscal Officer.  Also in attendance were Township residents:  Brandon Stackhouse, Kim Smith, Isabella VanWey, Michele VanWey, and Sam Lantz.

Meeting was called to order by Trustee Dozer at 6:00 pm.

Pledge to the flag was led by Derek Dozer.

****Fiscal Officer swore in re-elected Trustees, Slack and Elson for their 2026-2030 term****

Agenda:  approved.  

Minutes:  approved.

Public Participation:  Kim Smith is in attendance on behalf of the Zack Smith Foundation.  They would like to apply for a temporary liquor permit for the Casino Night on March 28, 2026.  There will be two deputies on duty at the expense of the Foundation.  This is their 6th year for this event and they have never had any issues due to alcohol being on premises.  Derek made a motion to sign the permit.  Larken seconded the motion.  Motion Carried.

Isabella VanWey is applying for the OTA Scholarship and she needed to attend a Township meeting.  She needs two signatures at the end of the meeting.

Fire Department Business:   

• There were 121 dispatched calls in December – 79 Muskingum County and 42 Perry County.  They finished the year at 1,589 calls which is 34 more calls than 2024.

• They had 182 simultaneous calls that had to be covered by mutual aide.  62 of those were in Newton Twp. and 119 were in their mutual aide coverage areas.

• There were 2 call-offs in December which left 1 un-covered 12-hour shift.

• Jake and Craig are attending a Teams meeting on Friday with other MECC Chiefs and their medical director to be part of a pilot program for pre-hospital blood.  Having blood in the Medics for patients that require it.

• Training division started an EMT class and they have 13 students.  They are also teaching a MEDIC refresher class off-site this week.

• They were able to order 10 bullet proof vests with a grant received from CSX Railroad.

• The County Commissioners have agreed to waive all fines and fees on the stairwell addition. Jason, the building inspector, did not submit anything to the state yet.  So as soon as Pat Kelly finishes plans, they can get the application filed and get that started.  Jason said he will probably have to deny the plans based on building code and then the department would appeal that to the board of revisions.

• Craig asked to discuss the department wage increases / lack of increase for some.  The Advanced EMT’s received nothing, but all other received increases. Discussion followed about the differences in the care levels.  The biggest difference in an A-EMT and a Medic is the time in school.  This lack of increase currently effects two employees who work several shifts per month.  Craig stated that he did aim high on his wage requests due to some spots coming available and needing to fill those spaces – a higher wage will be more inviting for recruitment. Derek asked if anyone complains about what they are paid here and Craig said he has not received any complaints.  Derek made a motion to make adjustments to the 2026 wages as follows:

• FF $16.00

• EMT $17.50

• A-EMT $18.50

• Medic $19.50.

Randy seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

Derek stated that he would like to have department members fill out a survey in regard to the leadership on the department.  The FO will mail the survey to the members and they need to return those to Derek’s home address.  He handed out the survey to Craig and Jake for review and asked for their feedback prior to it being sent out.

Larken asked if the chiefs had any process of reviewing the department employees.  Craig stated that they are currently working on a review for employees on an annual basis.

Larken asked how the clock-in and clock-out process is working out since they can clock in and out via cell phone now.

Assistant Chief:  Jake did not have anything to present.

Road Report:

• Freightliner went down due to emissions def fluid.  Got it back and it broke again.

• They have used about half of the road salt already this winter.

• Worked on filling holes on Bush.  The quarry is running low on 57’s so that is creating an issue with getting holes filled on other roads.

• He has not graded Ford Road because it will be a muddy mess.

• Larken is hoping to get to Workman tomorrow, in front of Stewarts, to get holes filled in.  

• Jason has a few trees on Workman and Payne to take down.  There is still a tree on Stine with a branch that needs taken care of but they will need to hire that one out.

• Sam and Jason did road sign inventory the end of the year.

• Jason found out that the trailer they have isn’t large enough to handle the weight they thought it could.  He would like to upgrade that to a trailer with air brakes.  He has a mechanic that can add the air to the truck now, it would be $500.  They have $5000 in the old trailer and they have painted it, put new tires on it, etc.  Jason thinks they can get $5000 out of it.

Old Business:  

• None.

New Business:  

• Larken has someone that can save the township money on health insurance.  He asked if we would like him to come in.  Derek said we can review it and not waste the guy’s time by having him come to a meeting.

Trustees Reports:  

Elson –

• Workman, Lower Kroft and Slack – needs holes filled.

• Bridge marker on Stine needs fixed.  The sign is laying down in the grass.  The post is still there.

Dozer – 

• Jarret Snyder – Dona Drive – water department was messing around on their property in their ditch and he wanted to make sure it was not the township.  It was Jason.

• Craig Sykes – Ford Road.  Sherry Scott also complained about the snow removal.

• Nate Adkins – wants to bid on cemeteries.  Derek told him those would be opened in February

• Rachel Barnes – snow on Workman

• Brenda on East Darlington – snow removal

• Good job Jason and Sam on snow removal

Slack – 

• None.

Fiscal Officer Report:

• Distributed Grassroots Clippings

• The Solar panel company has reached out to see if there is any interest in pursuing panels for the fire department property.  The board agreed that now is not a good time.

• Preliminary report has been returned regarding the 2023 / 2024 audit and a few things to note are the use of Then and Now Purchase Orders.  Please contact the FO prior to making any purchases to be sure there is a PO open for the vendor you wish to do business with, in an effort to reduce the need for the Then and Now Purchase Orders. 

• FO asked Derek if there has ever been any board certification on use of Super Blanket Certificates / Blanket Certificates.  Derek is not aware of anything.  He did not utilize them when he was FO.

• FO presented indigent burial pay requests from Farus Funeral Home and Delong, Baker & Lanning Funeral homes for two township residents who have passed away with no means of paying for burial expenses.  The residents are Helen Naomi Gates and William Floyd Westfall Jr.  Each funeral home is asking $1,000.00 to cover cremation costs.  These costs are refundable through the State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.  Derek agreed to go ahead and pay for these as long as we can reimbursed.

• FO informed board of a public hearing for CDBG Grant Opportunities coming up on January 29th at 10 am in the Commissioners Conference Room.

Trustee Dozer 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.

The next monthly meeting will be held on February 10, 2026 at 6:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 7:49 pm.