Bainbridge Township Trust-ees took time from a packed meeting agenda to pay tribute to the late resident Ann Myers at the Jan. 26 meeting.The chair…
Bainbridge Township Trust-ees took time from a packed meeting agenda to pay tribute to the late resident Ann Myers at the Jan. 26 meeting.
The chair Myers often sat in at township meetings was reserved with a tasteful cloth cover and white lace, along with a photo of her. Three fresh red roses were added to the display, one from each of the trustees.
“Ann wouldn’t want us to do anything more than have a moment of silence for her,” said Trustee Jeff Markley.
Gil Myers, Ann’s husband, attended the meeting along with other family members. He presented Ann’s customary notebook with questions she had wanted to ask at the meeting. She was a regular participant at meetings and had served on several volunteer committees.
“At our last meeting, I told Ann we would have to cut it short because of The Ohio State University football game playoff,” explained Markley. “I promised her that she could ask her questions at our next
meeting, which is tonight. Because she’s not here to ask them, I asked Gil if he could find her notes.”
Trustee Lorrie Sass Benza accepted the notebook from Gil Myers.
“I promise you we will look at these and address them at another meeting,” she said.
Myers, 76, died Jan. 19 from injuries she received when Thomas Herrick, 78, also of Bainbridge, drove his SUV into the Washington Street Diner, where Myers and several friends were having breakfast. Herrick was parking his vehicle when his foot slipped off the break pedal and onto the gas pedal, according to police reports.
The meeting agenda included reports by all of the department heads for 2014.
In addition, the trustees briefly discussed the request by Fire Chief Brian Phan to add three full-time paramedics to the fire department’s part-time staff. His request is to add one full-time person to each of the three shifts and have them take charge of each shift.
Trustee Chris Horn suggested hiring a consultant, such as the Fire Chief’s Association, to review the department’s needs before making this decision.
“I see that calls have increased about 10 percent in the last four years,” he said. “I’m not sure that warrants the staffing change.”
Markley stated he was in favor of having the chief come to a meeting and answer questions.
“He has said that over the last several years, part-time staffing has become difficult, especially on weekends and holidays,” Markley explained.
Horn agreed to work with Phan to draft a request for proposal to possibly hire a consultant.
Service Director Jim Stanek gave an update on planned additions to the service garage building, which includes adding a lunch and meeting room, more lockers and a wash bay for trucks.
The building expansion is being considered to accommodate merging the parks and road departments. He said the current lunch room will be converted into more office space for the park employees.
Policy guidelines for renters of township facilities were also discussed with no resolution.
“I know we disagree on this one,” Markley said. “We need to draft a policy statement that is mindful of our Centerville Mills demolition plans.”
Benza said she was not in favor of exclusive use contracts.
Members of the township park board asked the trustees to give them guidelines on rentals in time for their February meeting.
Benza urged the board to make decisions on its current land bank of properties, primarily in Chagrin Falls Park.
“We’ll be at the end of our 15-year commitment this year,” Benza said. “We need to have a concrete agreement and set up an actionable calendar. I prefer to not scramble to do this in the summer.”
Markley pointed out the most recent addition to the bank was in 2006, and that the land bank was established to help the Chagrin Falls Park Community Center and its Community Development Corporation.
“Should we still be in the land bank business?” Markley asked.
“We’ve talked about hiring a township administrator in the past,” Benza replied. “It doesn’t work with our part-time board managing these issues.”
She added that before the trustees decide to dispose of the properties, they should look at them to solve infrastructure problems, such as dead end roads.
“Anything that would keep us from having to back out plow trucks would help us,” Stanek added.
Benza also asked the trustees keep tabs on the expenditures it promised the county budget commission in August.
“To keep our levied money, we passed a resolution to make sizable expenditures,” she said. “How are we making sure these funds are being spent? I don’t want to be scrambling in July for our August budget hearing.”
Markley said he would prepare a spreadsheet that would help them track the projects and expenditures.
“We need to spend it intelligently,” he said.
