March 2025
NEWTON TOWNSHIP MINUTES 3-11-2025
Newton Township Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, March 11, 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: Brandon Stackhouse and Sam Lantz; and County Commissioner, Drake Prouty.
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: Commission Prouty was in attendance to discuss the Boyd property located in Ironspot. The prosecutor sent over a resolution that will need passed and mailed to Mr. Boyd. The concern was funding on cleaning up this property. The Commissioners have passed a resolution commiting $50,000.00 for clean up to include cleaning up the house once it is condemned and taken down. The EPA is aware that the County / Township will not let this lie. Mr. Prouty does not feel that emergency personnel should have to deal with situations such as this.
Mr. Prouty asked Mr. Knox if he had what he needed to continue from a Fire Chief’s standpoint. Craig said he doesn’t have a resolution to condemn the house. They will need to inspect the house further and then go from there.
Fire Department Business:
· There were 123 dispatched calls in February – 81 in Muskingum County and 41 in Perry County for a total of 232 for the year.
· There were 4 uncovered 12-hour shifts due to call offs.
· They started using Aladtec’s timekeeping software to track hours worked by the firefighters. The price is only $500 more per year and the paper timesheets have gone away. Craig can see it daily to track who is working and when they are clocking in and out. Derek asked if there was any geofencing attached to that and Craig said no. They will need to use a computer in the building to clock in and out. It is working out very well.
· The department is taking part in a pilot program with the County, as stated earlier this year. The software for that will place them at the hospital or at the station. There is one in each medic. They are going to put them in the rescue and the ladder trucks.
· Medic 1082 is at Dutro’s needing a power control module and wiring harness at a price of $5000.
· The department received the State Fire Marshal Grant - $15,000.00 for turn out gear.
· There was a leak in the cafeteria roof. They found a cut in the membrane in the roof. The metal on the building had slashed the roof. The metal siding that was attached a few years ago is damaging the roof. Craig is going to ask the company that is repairing the soffit if they can tie the membrane into it and fix it.
· The fire association received another $4,000 from the Legion. They have used that to update some tools in the station.
· Craig is out of town March 30 – April 4th. Allen will be on medical leave but Jake will be available during the time he will be gone.
· The new pickup and bed and plow have all been ordered.
Assistant Chief: none.
Road Report:
· They have worked on Workman, Ford, Dilts, and Lower Kroft.
· Most of the holes on Porter Run, Bush Run and Butcherknife have been filled.
· They will go on Payne and Leffler next.
· They need a fuel pump for the F-550 and it should be in tomorrow. The fuel filters have been replaced.
· Jason and Randy discussed the water department needing to fix Thompson Run and Rebecca Drive. There is damage on Moxadarla from either the gas company or the water department.
Old Business: Tuff Stotts – Workman Road – has the camper with the mud driveway. Randy contacted him twice about adding some stone because he is tearing up the road with the mud. Larken asked what can be done if they don’t clean up their driveway. Derek said call the Sheriff’s department and see if they can do anything about it. Jason said we have driveway permits but nobody ever fills them out.
New Business:
Trustees Reports:
Elson—none.
Dozer—none.
Slack— none.
Fiscal Officer Report:
· Distributed Grassroots Clippings
· FO presented additional information on the Aetna dental plans available and wanted to get approval prior to signing the group up for that coverage. It would cost $539.10 per month for the 5 covered employees / elected officials. Resolution 03/2025 was presented if this is agreeable with the board.
· FO presented a letter prepared by the Prosecutor’s Office to be mailed to Robert Boyd regarding property located on Fourth Street in Ironspot, directing Mr. Boyd to clear the public road right of way of vehicles within 30 days from the date of the letter (March 11, 2025).
· The Fiscal Officer’s old HP laptop was given to Trustee Dozer to use to keep the Township website up to date.
Trustee Dozer made a motion to pay bills. Trustee Slack 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, April 8, 2025 at 6:00 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
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