December 27, 2018

Pledge

President Michael Parker called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mr. Parker, welcomed the people in the audience to the Trustee meeting, he said that he understood there were people present that wanted to discuss the proposed wind farm. He said in order to maintain order, he was allowing thirty (30) minutes for open discussion of the purposed wind farm and each person would have five (5) minutes to express their pros or cons concerning the purposed wind farm. After thirty (30) minutes the open discussion concerning the wind farm will end, and the regular Trustee meeting will resume. All persons’ present are welcome to stay for the entire meeting if they should so desire.

Roll Call:

Roll call indicated that Trustees Michael Parker, James Stewart, and Scott Leber were present, also present was Fiscal Officer and Zoning Inspector Phillip David, Road Superintendent David Kelley was absent.

Minutes

There were no minutes to approve.

Guests

There were twenty-four (24) guests present at the meeting to discuss the purposed wind farm that begins in Oxford and Groton Townships in Erie County and continues across Huron and Seneca Counties to the west. Roger Hunker, Representative from Apex Clean Energy, was present at the meeting to answer questions from the audience.  Mr. Parker presented a paper to the audience explaining the siting process and then the Trustees took questions and concerns. Some of the concerns expressed by the audience were;

1. That the wind mills would degrade their property values
2. That the wind mills would be unsightly and noisy
3. That the wind mills would obstruct migratory paths used by wildlife
4. That the wind mills could kill eagles and other birds of prey without any form of reciprocity.

When Mr. Hunker was questioned by the audience if there was a finalized map showing the location of the proposed wind mills, Mr. Hunker said it hadn’t been finalized yet, and probably wouldn’t be until after the application for the wind farm was approved by the Ohio Siting Board. There was discussion about the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program. The audience was informed that when the question of the Pilot Program Vs Regular Real-estate Tax payments was put to a vote, Mr. Leber and Mr. Parker abstained from voting, Mr. Stewart voted in favor of the Pilot Program. Once again it was noted that even though a payment preference was passed on to the County Commissioners, they would have the final say as to how the revenue was received.

The audience was informed that Township and County officials were working to schedule a combined meeting of officials at the Groton Township fire station. This would put all levels of local government together, so they could educate the public and address the concerns that the residents may have.

Zoning Report:

Mr. David reported that he had received a lot split application from Hartung Surveyors for property on Ransom Road owned by Kenny Chill.

Road Superintendent:

Mr. Kelley was absent.

Trustees:

Mr. Leber said he had talked to Mark Brown concerning the problems he was having receiving emails from the Township. After some discussion, Mr. David said that the OTARMA computer expert had that had just been to the Township, had went thru the system and didn’t find any viruses in it. Mr. David said he would go search thru the system again and if he couldn’t find out why Mr. Leber’s emails were being returned, he would call in someone to go thru the system again.

Mr. Parker reported that Dan Fredrick would be at the January 17^th meeting to discuss progress on the new storage building project.

Mr. Stewart reported that he had attended the Annual Meeting with The County Engineer. He noted that “new road project estimates” for 2019 had to be submitted to the County Engineer for his review by March 15, 2019.

Mr. Stewart said he had talked with Hermes Parker Concrete about purchasing the processed stone fill needed to bring the subfloor level up to where it should be in relation to the Delematre Road. He said the cost estimate for the stone, hauling, packing and leveling was Forty-five hundred dollars ($4500.00). He stressed that purchasing the fill this year would spread the building cost over several years, keeping it under the annual cost ceiling for a government project before it had to be put out to open bidding. After some discussion, Mr. Leber moved to approve the purchase of the stone and the work estimate, Mr. Stewart seconded the motion. Roll was called, with all present voting yes; motion carried.

Fiscal Officer Mr. David reported that he was working on “Temporary Appropriations for 2019” and he would have them ready for the first meeting in January.

Communications: Communications were reviewed.

Old Business

The storage building construction project was discussed earlier in the meeting.

New Business:

Mr. Parker noted that he had registered to go to the Annual Ohio Township Conference in Columbus. After some discussion, Mr. Leber moved to pay mileage and expenses occurred for anyone attending the Township Conference, Mr. Stewart second the motion. Roll was called, with all present voting yes; motion carried.

Mr. Leber moved to pay the bills in the amount of $20,885.97, Mr. Stewart seconded the motion. Roll was called, with all present voting yes; motion carried.

No further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Approved:

Phillip M. David, Fiscal Officer                           Michael G. Parker, President

Back to Meeting Minutes List