"We want to remain neutral in this case." Ken Burnett
Assistant Geauga County Prosecutor Susan Wieland sent Burton Township officials a letter asking them about their part in the litigation involving the Burton Chamber of Commerce and the Village of Burton over ownership of the log cabin on Burton Village square.
However, the township will remain neutral in the case, Trustee Chairman Ken Burnett said at Monday’s regular meeting.
“We want to remain neutral in this case and we would provide no difficulty in the ultimate settlement of the case,” Burnett said.
Fiscal Officer Shelley McDermott said Wieland sent the letter March 27 and trustees wanted to have time to read it and understand it.
“That’s been our contention since day one,” Trustee Jim Dvorak said of the township’s non-role in the situation.
Ownership of the log cabin and its surroundings was in legal limbo following last fall’s filing of a motion in Geauga County Court of Common Pleas.
The Burton Chamber of Commerce filed the Oct. 15 complaint against everyone from one of Burton’s founding fathers, Ephraim Clark, to current village council, township trustees, the Ohio attorney general and several utilities.
The 15-page suit seeks a determination as to who might lay claim to the cabin and sugar bush on the southern part of the historic square.
The suit was triggered when Burton Village Council asked the chamber of commerce to sign a lease, lacking any specifics, for the continued use of the property.
The lease was deemed necessary when the village sought a block grant through the Geauga County Department of Community and Economic Development to build handicapped-accessible restrooms in the log cabin, CED Director Anita Stocker said last fall.
In other news, township trustees will interview the top three candidates for the vacant zoning inspector position 6:30 p.m. May 19. The interviews will last about 15 minutes apiece, Dvorak said.
Trustee Dan Whiting said he would also attend the township’s park committee meeting April 28 at the administrative building.
The park committee will discuss the naming of the township park’s trails after military-based themes and will also discuss colors of trailheads and identification markers, he added.
McDermott said the Geauga Community Improvement Corporation named Great Lakes Growers, a township produce delivery business, as one of three businesses in its 2014 Salute to Local Businesses and Industry.
The May 8 event, in its 44th year, will take place at St. Denis Party Center in Chardon, according to the Geauga CIC website.
The other two businesses in this year’s salute included Sheauga Hardwood Flooring & Paneling, Inc., and Troymill Wood Products, both of Middlefield Township, McDermott said.
