Special Meeting
On Sunday, November
18, 2007, the Board of Trustees of Nimishillen Township met in special session
at 6:00 P.M. at the Nimishillen Township Hall located at 4422
Trustee Shafer called the
special meeting to order and led the staff and audience in the pledge of
allegiance.
Invocation: Trustee Lynch gave the invocation.
Fiscal Officer Situation: Trustee Gress said a decision regarding the
appointment of the fiscal officer must be made by the November 20th
trustees meeting. Tillie Kinsley was
appointed as Deputy Fiscal Officer for thirty days. Gress said there are two options to
consider. The first option is to
re-appoint Tillie Kinsley and the second option is to find out if Barry Evans
would be interested in starting his role early.
Trustee Shafer said she feels
Barry Evans should be appointed and take over as fiscal officer. She feels he can gain some knowledge and
learn the procedures. Shafer said Barry has
a background in finance and feels it would not be a problem for him to take
over as fiscal officer early. She stated
she feels to have him on board is crucial as we move into a new year, and it
would give him a head start on the process.
Trustee Lynch said he met
with Barry Evans and spent a couple hours talking to him. Lynch said Barry has a background in finance,
seems to be a team player and seems to be doing this because he is concerned
about the township and is the type of man the Board is looking for. However,
there are some concerns from Mrs. Kinsley and Mr. Evans about the end-of-year
reports. Lynch said past Fiscal Officer,
Carlene Harmon, indicated she would be available to help Barry anytime he would
need her and Barry said he would be willing to come on board early. Lynch said if Mr. Evans is brought on board
now, he’d see how it would go and how much help he might need from Mrs.
Harmon. Lynch said if, in thirty days,
Mr. Evans is calling her all the time, compensation would be offered to her and
she would be brought on as a consultant and be paid a stipend.
TRUSTEE LYNCH MOTIONED TO APPOINT BARRY EVANS AS FISCAL
OFFICER effective as soon as he can be sworn in,
not to be later than November 24, 2007 seconded by Trustee Shafer.
Before roll call voting,
Trustee Gress said he has not talked to Mr. Evans. He said he doesn’t know if Barry has had any
finance in governmental affairs, be it township or whatever. Gress said it’s his understanding the
year-end reports are crucial and often difficult and that’s why the law says
the new in-coming person takes office the end of March. He indicated that Tillie has never done end
of the year work and that Mr. Evans would not be familiar with our system. Tillie would be teaching Barry the ropes and
both of them would be learning the system.
With that said, Gress said he feels it would be beneficial to appoint
Tillie to finish Carlene’s term and if she needs help, she could then call
Carlene as was just suggested Barry could do.
Trustee Shafer said there’s a
motion on the table and the Board needs to deal with the hand that has been
dealt to them stating Carlene resigned due to moving out of the township and
many things have transpired
with that. Mrs. Shafer said no matter
which way you look at it, Barry Evans is the fiscal officer whether he starts
now or in March. She said she hopes
Tillie will be of assistance as she has done year end reports with Carlene and
it’s her understanding that most of the budget has already been set (according
to Tillie) so most of it is somewhat already in the stages.
Trustee Lynch said Tillie
indicated she took this job as a part-time job and does not want to work 40
hours a week stating that Carlene is available if needed. Barry will see how much help he might need
and he is the union financial officer so he might catch on quickly.
Trustee Shafer said November
23rd, 2007 is exactly thirty days from the date Carlene resigned and
said the motion still stands.
Roll call voting: Trustee Lynch – YES, Trustee Shafer – YES and
Trustee Gress – YES. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-407
Bookkeeping Procedure Change for 2008: Trustee Gress said what this entails is that he is
suggesting at this time having the dispatch center account separate from fire
funds. He said the fiscal officer needs
lead time to do this, which will give the fiscal officer six weeks or so before
the new year begins. He said the
ambulance and emergency service is already separated from the fire so it seems
only natural that the dispatch funds are kept separately, too.
Trustee Lynch suggested this
should be tabled since a new fiscal officer is coming on board and should be
involved.
Trustee Shafer said she sees
no need to separate the fire funds stating we have a written legal opinion from
the Stark County Prosecutor and State Auditor stating the way the funds are set
up is accurate and nothing illegal is taking place. (Prosecutor’s legal opinion attached)
After more discussion, this
became a dead issue.
Request from CBNT (Citizens for a
Monthly Scheduled Work Sessions: Trustee Gress said because of the Sunshine Law, he
would like to have set monthly work sessions so the Board could talk and
discuss township business. After
discussion, it was decided regular scheduled work sessions would not be
necessary because discussions should be held at regular trustees meetings and
if there’s a particular item, then a work session could be set as needed.
Dates for Work Session with
St. Joe’s Project: Trustee Lynch gave an update stating this is a major problem.
Trustee Lynch explained the
system that will be built to control the water problem would be maintained by
the city because it will all be on city land.
This will benefit the township without the township having to maintain
it.
The proposal is piping Knob
with 24” pipe, run it across the back property line of St. Joe’s and to build a
retention pond to catch the water and then the water would run out of the
retention pond to catch basins and then run down into the Fairhope Ditch, which
would be ideal. This would solve the
problems on Knob, Noel and
Trustee Lynch said the receiving
person of water just has to deal with it.
If the water comes to you, it’s your problem – it doesn’t matter where
it comes from as long as it’s not altered.
Attorney Jakmides said sometimes it’s just not a township matter.
The Board agreed to move forward
with this project.
Holderman Project:
Trustee Lynch reported the Stark County Commissioners told Gary Conner this
project is a go – he received the funds from the commissioners to do it. The township will provide the pipe and they
(the county) will do the work. The
county will need 564’ of 15” pipe, 260’ of 12” pipe and three catch
basins. Lynch said we have the majority
of the pipe in inventory. The cost of
the project will not exceed $5,000.00.
Tillie Kinsley said we should
have something in writing from the commissioners stating what our part is and
what our funding will be. She will call
the commissioners office tomorrow and ask them to prepare an agreement to
hopefully have by Tuesday, November 20th.
Trustee Gress said the
Holderman project and the St. Joe’s project are problems that have existed for
many years.
Other Business:
Trustee Gress suggested employee evaluations for department heads should be
ready by the 2nd meeting in December, which is December 27th,
2007. The Board agreed.
Executive Session: TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO
ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION WITH ATTORNEY JAKMIDES AT 7:05 PM to discuss union contract negotiations, legal
expenses regarding Babik litigation and personnel issues seconded by Trustee
Lynch. Roll call voting: Trustee Gress – YES, Trustee Lynch – YES and
Trustee Shafer – YES. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-409
TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO RETURN FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION AT
7:44 PM seconded by Trustee Shafer. Roll call voting: Trustee Gress – YES, Trustee Shafer – YES and
Trustee Lynch – YES. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-410
Adjourn:
TRUSTEE GRESS MOTIONED TO ADJOURN AT 7:45 PM
seconded by Trustee Shafer. Roll call
voting: Trustee Gress – YES, Trustee
Shafer – YES and Trustee Lynch – YES. MOTION CARRIED. RES#07-411
_________________________________ __________________________________
ATTEST:
Matilda Kinsley Lisa
R. Shafer, President
Deputy Fiscal Officer
__________________________________
Michael L. Lynch, Vice President
__________________________________
Allen
E. Gress, Trustee