8/9/2012 - West Side Leader
     

Copley Township trustees have approved funds for repairs to a cul-de-sac damaged when a sinkhole appeared in the road.

At the Aug. 1 meeting, trustees approved an $18,000 purchase order to Perrin Asphalt for the repair of Sara Lane. Service Director Mark Mitchell said the repair would require opening the entire 20-year-old cul-de-sac to locate and correct the problem. Mitchell said it likely was a settling problem since issues with the sewer have been ruled out.

Also during the meeting, residents of Misty Lane took the first step toward getting sidewalks when resident Kevin Slaven presented trustees with a sidewalk petition signed by the homeowners.

Trustees will review the petition and schedule a public hearing. Trustees also agreed to request an estimate of costs for the project from the Summit County Engineer’s Office.

The sidewalk construction will be funded by the homeowners, trustees said. Property owners can pay the cost up front or choose to have the cost placed on their property tax bill.

Slaven said several families with young children have moved into the neighborhood, making sidewalks more desirable. Slaven said the homeowners would like sidewalks from Ridgecrest to the Creekside development.

Trustees also authorized Fiscal Officer Janice Marshall to sign an agreement that adds the city of Barberton to the township’s joint dispatch arrangement with Norton. Fire Chief Michael Benson showed trustees a rendering of the new dispatch set-up — four stations working 24 hours a day and a manager’s station. The dispatch center will move from Copley to a Norton facility, Benson said. Equipment and furnishings are being funded by a State of Ohio Local Government Innovation Fund loan, Benson said.

Trustee Helen Humphrys also broached the subject of acquiring land off Magdalyn Drive so the township could remedy an ongoing drainage issue. Humphrys said the township is prohibited from cleaning blocked ditches on private property. The cost of clearing the ditch may be prohibitive for the property owners, so she suggested the property owners give the portion of their property causing the problem to the township. If the township owned the property, it could clear the ditches and fix the flooding problem, trustees said.

Property owners in the township must clear drainage ditches at their own cost, or the township can make a ditch petition that would allow the township to clean the ditches and place the cost of the cleanup on the property owners’ tax duplicates, trustees said.

In other business, the board:

• approved a five-year agreement with the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office for direct indictment services at a cost of $9,000 per year beginning Oct. 21. The contract can be terminated with 30 days’ notice, Marshall said;

• accepted a job description for dispatch manager and an amended job description for fire captain. Both descriptions had been posted for 14 days with no comment, Marshall said;

• approved a $50,000 purchase order to Goldman and Rosen for legal services through the end of 2012;

• approved renewing the independent contractor agreement with Lydia Wochna for fire prevention and safety instruction. Wochna, as Firefighter Lydia, works with students in the Copley-Fairlawn City and Revere Local school districts. The contract is for $19.13 per hour, not to exceed $5,739 in any 12-month period;

• approved an expenditure of up to $15,000 for employee costs incurred during Heritage Day. Marshall said trustees earlier approved $5,000, but with the addition of a parade, she expected the costs to increase;

• approved fire department training;

• gave permission for the annual United Way luncheon on Oct. 4;

• approved a purchase order to Dynamerican for annual storm line cleaning to comply with Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The purchase order is for expenditures not to exceed $20,000;

• approved a $9,376 purchase order to CDW for equipment, software and maintenance services to combine a storage server with a file server and allow the township to eliminate one server;

• approved the purchase of four mobile and two fixed radio signal repeaters from B & C Communications for a total of $19,211, including installation. The repeaters will be purchased with funds remaining from a radio tower grant. One repeater will be placed at Copley High School to improve radio transmission in the building;

• approved the rehiring of Kristin Latham as a dispatcher; and

• approved the purchase of three computers and warranties for use in police cruisers at a cost of $5,825 from Brite Computers.

The board’s next meeting will take place Aug. 15 at 6 p.m. in the Copley Township offices, 1540 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road.

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