MADISON TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES WORKSHOP

 

September 13, 2011 at 6:00 PM

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Bill Brotzman with the following people present: Mr. Wayman, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Advey, Chief Del Calzo, Township Solicitor, Ron Graham, Mrs. Gerred-Ditchcreek.

Mr. Klco dispersed the Zoning report for the Board

Chief Del Calzo stated that they are still looking at which radios will be purchased for the radio upgrade later this year. He stated that the purchase will take place sometime in October or November and the money, in upwards of $70,000-$80,000 has already been appropriated for this purchase.

Chief Del Calzo stated that there are a few items he will be discussing at the regular meeting and noted that one of them is the issue of the daytime burglaries that have been occurring. He stated that he recently heard that this is a nationwide problem and noted that the problem lies with the cost of gold being so high. He noted that they have cases where the burglars passed over guns and cameras and other expensive items out in the open to get to the jewelry. Mrs. Gerred-Ditchcreek stated she just read about the recent burglary in Mentor. The Chief added that a big problem lies in that the companies that buy the gold are not held to the same rules that pawn shops are, in that, the person bringing in the gold doesn’t have to show identification and the company can just hold on to the gold for a few days and then melt it down which causes a real hindrance to the police departments.

Chief Del Calzo stated that over the past month, and particularly this weekend, the sheriff is talking about how the townships are going to have to pay for police protection. He added that today he received a fax from the Township Association requesting information from several Township police departments regarding staffing and costs. He noted that 45 years ago today, September 13, 1966 our Township formed this police district that we have today. He noted that this Township has been accused of being a little backward and an agrarian community but he notes that they were 45 years ahead of the rest of the County and that’s something to say for this community.

Chief Del Calzo stated that he was also going to ask to hire a part time officer this evening, Officer Dan Radigan, he worked full time for the Township for a number of years and left to go work for Mentor full time and is currently a detective there. Officer Radigan has expressed an interest to work part time here in Madison as well, and the Chief feels it would be a good hire for the Township.

Mrs. Gerred-Ditchcreek stated she will be giving a financial update at the regular meeting.

Mr. Advey stated that the RRCAA lease on 49 park st building is a clarification of the effective date and null and void the previous contract and notes that we will be covering their insurance here and they will be paying us a monthly payment to offset the cost.

Mr. Advey informed the Board that he spoke with John Matriacardi, Matrix Engineering, regarding the project at Township Park. John Matriacardi informed Mr. Advey that he is waiting for the offshore lease to come through, then the Township will receive it and after it’s passed by the Board it will go to the Governor for a signature. There have been delays due to the monitoring that Matrix wanted to do because of the issues with the North Perry Village Marina. John is still hopeful that we can get this completed this year because we cannot build in the winter or spring and that would take us into July before getting it started.

Mr. Advey received a call from Annette Howard of Gilson’s Gardens, who are tied into the Nursery Growers Association, and are considering having field day next year at Stanton Park as well as at Rabbit Run grounds, if need be. They would be in on Monday August 13th and Tuesday August 14th and they wouldn’t need any buildings. He said they would use four acres for displays and two acres for parking.

Mr. Advey discussed the Bathgate/N Watling Way and the Orkney storm water OPWC project. The bids were opened last week and the Round 23 bid, which is Bathgate/n watling way, came in at $118,528.50 over the engineer’s estimate, which is what the funding was based on. Mr. Advey noted that he is setting up a meeting with himself, Terry Gerred-Ditchcreek, and Tim Miller from Stormwater Management to discuss if Stormwater can come up with this money so the Township doesn’t have to put more in it. He explained that part of the reason for the price increase is the size and depth of the sewer and the wetness of the ground. The Orkney sewer bid came in around $14,000.00 under construction costs, this is Round 24 and you cannot take Round 24 money and put it in Round 23. Mr. Advey stated that he anticipates some residents at the meeting to discuss flooding this evening, and went on to note that if there are calls of flooding, the majority of them will be regarding the Ryan Homes and the others are turning out to be in the areas that have a gravity feed into Arcola Creek, and no back fill devices were installed so the water goes back into the house, which is not the Township’s issue. He stated he had a meeting with fellow administrators and found that they are having the same issues with flooding. The development by Quail Hollow is having flooding issues as well. Mr. Brotzman stated that most of those houses should have been built on slabs. Mr. Advey noted that the garage is below grade, he added that he asked Bob Hayden how much it would cost to fix this. He said it would cost $3,200.00 to do the housing portion and another $3,500.00 to do the outside.  Mr. Wayman stated a lady on Falkirk that has been dealing with the flooding is going to have her garage blocked because she was done with the flooding. Mr. Advey stated that the storm sewer trunk lines that are being put in will help but it’s not going to eliminate that heavy influx of water from these 75 or 100 year storms. Mr. Advey stated that the Township is moving forward with the two storm sewer projects, as well as Red Bird which will be a major help with the flooding. Mr. Brotzman asked if we have the funding for this project, Mr. Advey stated that we do have the funding for the Round 23, 24, and 25 except on Round 23 we’re short just under $120,000.00 because the bids came in higher and are within the ten percent limit. He stated that Red Bird hasn’t been bid on yet, and that the design has just been completed. The Bathgate/N Watling Way project has to be completed before doing the Orkney project.

Mr. Advey informed the Board that he is still continuing to receive, periodically, letters of interested parties wanting to buy out our cell tower leases and that we are not hurting for money and they are not offering near the amount of what they are worth.

Mr. Advey informed the Board that the neglected parties are finally showing progress. He stated the Miller house is gone, he added that he spoke with Chief Lutz today who told him that the Arcola bar owners have obtained a couple of prices to have it raised. The property on Chapman is having a financing issue with the bank, but the property issues are moving forward. He noted that Harpersfield is having the same issues in their area as well. Mr. Advey thanked Chief Lutz for taking hold of this issue, the Board joked that the Chief had joked that he was going to send the Township a bill. Mr. Advey added that he had already told Chief Lutz he would take him to lunch.

Mr. Advey stated that the cemetery computer crashed and he now has a new computer. Mr. Advey noted that the big problem is that the cemetery program is very outdated and they have found one software company that will take all of our existing data but noted that it will cost around $5,000-$7,000. He noted that although the money is there in the cemetery funds, that money is being depleted. He noted that it is very important to get this data into a more current version, as the amount of data in this program is endless.

Mr. Advey discussed the KLA Risk Consulting report from the August 9th visit. He stated that they had three recommendations and that they were categorized by seriousness of nature. He stated that there is nothing too major and that this is suggested, not required recommendations. Mr. Advey gave a copy for the Board to review.

Mr. Advey discussed the upcoming time capsule burial. He stated that Cindi put together a list of items to put in the time capsule, which everyone received a copy of.

Mrs. Gerred-Ditchcreek asked if this will be done on the 27th, Mr. Advey stated that they are trying to. He added that he has to get with Paul to discuss the design of the display for it. He noted that it doesn’t have to be closed in a public session. Mrs. Gerred-Ditchcreek asked if there were going to be refreshments; Mr. Advey stated that there could be.

Mr. Brotzman stated that a resident asked him to put in a sidewalk on Green Road from Chapel to Rt20 so residents can get up to the evil empire to shop. He stated that it would be a County project.

With no further business to come before the Board, Mr. Brotzman adjourned the Workshop Meeting at 6:38 p.m.

William A Brotzman, Chairman                 Terry Gerred-Ditchcreek, Fiscal Officer