MINUTES

Nimishillen Township Board of Trustees

December 27, 2007

On Thursday, December 27, 2007, the Board of Trustees of Nimishillen Township met in regular session at 7:00 P.M. at the Nimishillen Township Hall located at 4422 Maplegrove NE with the following members present: Trustee President Lisa R. Shafer, Trustee Vice President Michael L. Lynch, Trustee Allen E. Gress, Assistant Fiscal Officer Matilda Kinsley and Township Attorney Jeff Jakmides. Fiscal Officer Barry Evans was absent from tonight’s meeting.

Trustee Shafer called the meeting to order and led the staff and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

INVOCATION: Trustee Lynch gave the invocation.

OATH OF OFFICE:

Trustee Shafer explained Attorney Jim Mathews swore in Trustee Allen Gress after tonight’s special meeting. Trustee Gress’ term runs from 1/01/08 to 12/31/2012.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 7:05 PM to discuss personnel issues seconded by Trustee Shafer. Roll call voting: Lynch – yes, Shafer – yes and Gress – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-438

TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 7:48 PM seconded by Trustee Gress. Roll call voting: Lynch – yes, Gress – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-439

FIRE DEPARTMENT: (Fire Chief Rich Peterson)

Resignation – Chris Blake: Chief Peterson asked the Board for a Resolution to accept Firefighter / Paramedic / Investigator Chris Blake’s resignation. Trustee Shafer read the letter of resignation. (Copy attached)

TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO ACCEPT THE RESIGNATION OF CHRIS BLAKE effective December 16, 2007 seconded by Trustee Lynch. Roll call voting: Gress – yes, Lynch – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-440

Training fire: The training fire was once again cancelled due to weather. After talking to the property owner, the Chief was informed the building would be demolished.

Position Paper by Trustee Gress: Trustee Gress read a report he prepared regarding the Bresson Report, which is a written report on the budgetary analysis of the township’s dispatch operation written by former Nimishillen Township Clerk, Christy Bresson. (Copy of Trustee Gress’ Position Paper attached)

Gress said as a trustee, he does not endorse the report nor does he reject it. He said his role is to see that a member of our community gets a fair hearing and suggested a series of meetings be set up. Gress said he feels the report deserves careful review and asked Chief Peterson to give this report some thought and said he would be in touch with him.

December 27, 2007 Trustees Minutes (Cont.)

Trustee Shafer said as a member of the Board, before any meeting could move forward, Board action would be needed. Shafer asked for a motion, if any, to propose this plan and a meeting take place.

Trustee Lynch said he read the entire report prepared by Bresson and investigated it and said he feels it does need attention but said there needs to be time to review it and go from there. Lynch said he in no way would support making decisions based on the report alone.

After further discussion, TRUSTEE SHAFER PROPOSED A MOTION BE PUT ON THE TABLE TO NOT ACCEPT OR IMPLEMENT THE RECONCILIATION PLAN as proposed by Trustee Gress seconded by Trustee Lynch. Roll call voting: Shafer – yes, Lynch – yes and Gress – no. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-441

After more discussion, Trustee Shafer suggested Trustee Gress put personal differences aside and urged him to get involved with the fire department and spend some time with Chief Peterson, find out what they do and have all his concerns / questions answered.

Trustee Lynch said the day he no longer trusts the Chief, he would ask for his resignation and until that time, he will stand behind him. Gress said that is not the issue and said the Chief is a great firefighter and runs a great department.

ROAD DEPARTMENT: (Interim Road Superintendent Jamie May)

Road Report: TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO ACCEPT THE WRITTEN ROAD REPORT FOR 12/27/07 AS SUBMITTED seconded by Trustee Gress. Roll call voting: Lynch – yes, Gress – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-442 (Copy attached)

Speed study request from Stark County Engineers: After discussion, neither Jamie nor the Board had any suggestions for one township roadway section to be included in the free 2008 Speed Zone Study. Roads suggested by residents had already been submitted to the SCE for a speed study. All trustees are to email Sharon with suggestions by 2:00 tomorrow. The deadline for submittal to SCE is December 31, 2007.

ZONING DEPARTMENT: (Keith Lasure, Zoning Inspector)

Zoning Report: TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO ACCEPT THE WRITTEN ZONING REPORT FOR 12/27/07 AS SUBMITTED seconded by Trustee Gress. Roll call voting: Lynch – yes, Gress – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-443 (Copy attached)

8:00 PM - EXCUSE STUDENTS:

Trustee Shafer dismissed the Louisville High School Government Class students, and the elected officials signed their papers.

EPA REPORT: (Keith Lasure)

Keith Lasure reported he talked to Nick Hammer at the Stark County Health Department. There are a lot of septic system problems in the township (between 15 – 30). Lasure reported some will be taken to court and others will be replaced. Keith will keep the Board informed.

December 27, 2007 Trustees Minutes (Cont.)

CONCERNS OF FISCAL OFFICER: (Barry Evans)

Resolution to stale date check #5457: Due to Barry’s absence at tonight’s meeting, Assistant Fiscal Officer, Tillie Kinsley, asked the Board for a Resolution to stale date check #5457, which has been outstanding since April.

TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO STALE DATE CHECK #5457 IN THE AMOUNT OF $272.50 payable to Aultcomp 100 seconded by Trustee Lynch. Roll call voting: Gress – yes, Lynch – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-444

CONCERNS OF CITIZENS:

Terri Huckels of 8730 Easton:

Ø Spoke on electing Trustee President at the Organizational Meeting on 1-10-08 stating all three trustees are equal and talked about other township concerns such as employee benefits.

CONCERNS OF TRUSTEES: (Lisa R. Shafer, Michael L. Lynch & Allen E. Gress)

Applications for Zoning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals: Trustee Shafer said Floyd Fernandez is the only person who applied for the open seat on the BZA. After discussion, the Board agreed to reappoint Mr. Fernandez.

TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO REAPPOINT FLOYD FERNANDEZ TO THE BZA FOR ANOTHER FIVE-YEAR TERM 1/1/08 thru 12/31/2012, seconded by Trustee Lynch. Roll call voting: Gress – yes, Lynch – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-445

Trustee Shafer reported no applications were received for the open seat on the ZC. The Board agreed to have Sharon re-advertise. Shafer said there’s already an alternate so the ZC Board is covered in that respect.

Set date and time for Organizational Meeting: After discussion, TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO SET THE 2008 ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING ON 1/10/08 @ 6:30 PM preceding the regular trustees meeting at 7 seconded by Trustee Lynch. Roll call voting: Gress – yes, Lynch – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-446

NEW BUSINESS:

Year-end reviews for Sharon Shaub and Keith Lasure: After discussion, the Board agreed to do evaluations for Sharon and Keith at the regular trustees meeting on January 10, 2008.

Policy for substance abuse: After discussion, the Board agreed the policy should be added to all future employee handbooks. Trustee Shafer will review the policy and report on it at the January 10^th meeting.

Employee health insurance contributions for 2008: The Board asked Sharon to call Randy Ecrement and ask him if he could attend the next meeting on January 10^th and meet at 6:00 PM before the organizational and regular meetings for the purpose of looking over other health insurance policies and discuss insurance quotes.

December 27, 2007 Trustees Minutes (Cont.)

Job description for road superintendent: Trustee Gress reported he did some research on this and said the job description was passed last April. The Stark County Prosecutor had looked it over and suggested changes / additions. However, it was never adopted and put in the employee handbook.

The Board asked Sharon to make copies for them and also for Jeff Jakmides and Tracy Laslo and place it on the January 10^th agenda for further review and discussion.

APPROVE MINUTES:

TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO APPROVE THE WRITTEN MINUTES AS SUBMITTED FOR DECEMBER 13, 2007 seconded by Trustee Lynch. Roll call voting: Gress – yes, Lynch – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-447

APPROVE PURCHASE ORDERS, FINANCIAL REPORT AND PAY BILLS:

TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO APPROVE ALL PURCHASE ORDERS, FINANCIAL REPORT AND PAY BILLS IN THE AMOUNT OF $100,969.42 seconded by Trustee Gress. Roll call voting: Lynch – yes, Gress –yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-448

SIGN CHECKS AND ADJOURN:

TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO SIGN CHECKS AND ADJOURN AT 8:30 PM seconded by Trustee Gress. Roll call voting: Lynch – yes, Gress – yes and Shafer – yes. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-449

______ABSENT________________ __________________________________

ATTEST: Barry Evans Lisa R. Shafer, President

Fiscal Officer

____________________________ __________________________________

ATTEST: Matilda Kinsley Michael L. Lynch, Vice President

Assistant Fiscal Officer

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Allen E. Gress, Trustee