1 1 TRUSTEES MEETING 2 JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 3 * * * 4 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 5 * * * 6 DATE OF MEETING: Tuesday, January 6, 2004 Beginning at 6:52 o'clock p.m. 7 8 PLACE OF MEETING: One Business Parkway Drive Dayton, Ohio 45427 9 10 TRUSTEE BOARD: Brice Sims Angela Jones 11 Allen Elijah Jerry Walker, Clerk 12 13 ALSO PRESENT: Robert Bradley 14 * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 MR. SIMS: We'd like to call the 2 meeting to order. 3 (Thereupon, the pledge of allegiance 4 was recited.) 5 MR. WALKER: Roll call. Mr. Walker, 6 present. Trustee Angela? 7 MS. JONES: Present. 8 MR. WALKER: Brice Sims? 9 MR. SIMS: Present. 10 MR. WALKER: Allen? 11 MR. ELIJAH: Present. 12 MR. WALKER: Bradley? 13 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 14 MR. SIMS: Approve the minutes for 15 the meetings held December 16, 2003 and January 16 1, 2004. 17 MR. ELIJAH: I move for the approval 18 of the minutes for December 16 and the special 19 meeting held January 1. 20 MS. JONES: I second the motion. 21 MR. WALKER: Ready for the vote? 22 Angela Jones? 23 MS. JONES: Yes. 24 MR. WALKER: Brice Sims? 25 MR. SIMS: Yes. 3 1 MR. WALKER: Allen Elijah? 2 MR. ELIJAH: Yes. 3 MR. SIMS: Clerk's business, 4 communication, other business. 5 MR. WALKER: I don't have any at 6 this time. 7 MR. SIMS: I would like to say that 8 we was here at a swearing-in ceremony on the 1st. 9 You don't know our new clerk. His name is Jerry 10 Walker. Get familiar with him because he's 11 outstanding and anything you need, he will pretty 12 sure -- he can help you. So this is our new 13 clerk for Jefferson Township. Old business? New 14 business? MCSO captain for Jefferson Township, 15 Captain Copher. Is that how you pronounce it? 16 CAPTAIN COPHER: Copher. 17 MR. SIMS: This will be our new 18 captain of Jefferson Township. Captain Turner is 19 retiring. And we'd like to know about your 20 retirement party before you retire. Would you 21 like to have something to say, Captain Copher? 22 CAPTAIN COPHER: I'm looking forward 23 to it. I hate to see Charlie go. I kind of 24 followed him when he left special investigations 25 and went up there, so I'm following him down 4 1 here. 2 MR. SIMS: We welcome you in our 3 staff meetings, and we'll be doing everything we 4 can to try to follow up with Captain Turner and 5 other -- 6 MR. ELIJAH: I would just like to 7 thank Captain Turner for all of his support for 8 the township citizenry and for the township 9 leadership. I mean, I think you've come in and 10 done a wonderful job. I don't hear of any 11 instances where we have needed police support and 12 it hasn't been there. So I would like to, for 13 the record, wish our heartfelt and sincere 14 appreciation for all you've done for the 15 township. 16 CAPTAIN TURNER: I totally enjoyed 17 working for Jefferson Township. I'm going to 18 miss everybody. 19 MR. ELIJAH: We're not going to let 20 you get that far away. If we have to build a 21 golf course around here -- I know you want to 22 play some golf. 23 MR. SIMS: Still, we would like to 24 know your retirement party so we can be there. I 25 know you're going to have a lot of food. 5 1 Presentation by Byron Boggs, grant received by 2 township fire department. Byron Boggs is the 3 captain of station, what, 63? 4 MR. BOGGS: 61. 5 MR. SIMS: I'm sorry. 61. 6 MR. BOGGS: Okay. A little history 7 here. Starting last year the federal government 8 started a grant program assistance for a 9 firefighters' grant and Jefferson -- well, 10 actually year before last was the first year we 11 applied. We were turned down. The second year 12 we applied in the 2002 grant cycle we were 13 awarded a grant. That particular grant amounted 14 to $98,000. 88,200 was federal and ten percent 15 match of $8800 from the township. 16 This grant was applied to purchasing 17 new self-contained breathing apparatus for the 18 firefighters. The ones we had have about a three 19 year or more life span on them and they would 20 have to be totally replaced, so to upgrade those 21 would have been spending good money after bad, so 22 to speak. Purchased new turnout gear for the 23 firefighters' safety and repairing valves and so 24 forth on the fire pumps to get those back up to 25 proper operating condition. One hundred percent 6 1 of this grant cycle money has been spent on these 2 items and probably some additional funds on 3 that -- well, I know some additional funds having 4 gone into it also. 5 We applied again this year for a 6 grant cycle. Some of the departments that 7 receive grants -- first, you have to focus on 8 some priorities. A little bit of a history here. 9 Demonstrate a financial need. That wasn't overly 10 difficult. And have some clear proposal that 11 provide good cost benefits. And one of the 12 things that we have planned with the fire gear 13 last year is we had made a grant proposal to the 14 state fire marshal for 50 percent of the fire 15 gear and to the federal government for the other 16 50 percent, and the state fire marshal ran out of 17 money before they got to us so we got zero from 18 them last year. 19 Just a little bit of -- there's five 20 different years -- actually, I guess five years 21 now that we can apply for the grant. The grant 22 has to be in one year. We can't apply in five 23 areas. There is one there for fire prevention. 24 You can see a very small percent of the grant 25 does actually award in that -- most of the grants 7 1 are awarded in the firefighters operation. 2 That's the easiest area to get the money. 3 Firefighting vehicles limited to ten 4 percent of the grant money, so that is a very 5 competitive area so you stand to lose your 6 application for that year applying in it but a 7 few of them are doing it and they've been very 8 successful. 9 MR. ELIJAH: Just a quick question 10 before you leave this slide. Is there a 11 representation of the funds that were spent? 12 MR. BOGGS: Correct. 13 MR. ELIJAH: Grants awarded? 14 MR. BOGGS: In 2002. This isn't 15 grant money that's just for volunteer 16 departments. It can also be for career -- 17 Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus or combination 18 departments, a lot of the smaller communities, 19 Miami Township, Moraine and so forth. I'll give 20 you some idea of the dollars that were funded. 21 Volunteer departments -- actually, this country 22 is protected -- 72 percent of this country is 23 protected by volunteer fire departments, 24 including Jefferson Township. 25 Your bigger cities is where the 8 1 other 27, 28 percent come into -- so a lot of -- 2 a lot of the volunteers in this area, as you can 3 see, have received some money to help their 4 departments. 5 MR. ELIJAH: One point three 6 billion? 7 MR. BOGGS: Uh-huh. This was 8 requested funding. The rural areas are doing 9 fairly well against the urban areas and suburban. 10 As you can see, urban areas are -- their average 11 request was in the 145,000 range and we were 12 awarded 2 -- 298,000, so we were right in there 13 with the rural areas. 14 Breakdown due to the expensive 15 vehicles. The firefighting vehicle had to be the 16 highest award, but there's a very few -- very 17 limited number of these awards handed out. Most 18 of them fall in this firefighters operations and 19 safety area as you can tell here even in 2003. 20 This is by and large -- the greatest number of 21 awards are being granted in that area. Average 22 request per program this year was 71,000. Last 23 year was 63. 24 Comparison of application types 25 received. You can see a lot of the volunteer 9 1 departments are receiving a good share of the 2 funds. They're just not limited to them by any 3 means. Just trying to give you a little 4 breakdown here so that you can see that money's 5 being spread pretty much across the country. In 6 the urban areas, suburban areas and the rural 7 areas there are requests. The request cannot 8 exceed $750,000. There are -- I think the 9 largest request I seen was about 400,000 and the 10 smallest was $15. 11 A volunteer department somewhere -- 12 when I was talking to one of the adjusters or one 13 of the evaluators, rather, for the claims, and 14 they requested a hose thread adapter to go on 15 their engine, $15, they couldn't afford to buy 16 it. In 2003 Jefferson Township was awarded -- 17 has just received an award for $63,700. This is 18 the current year. Of that 63,700, $57,330 is 19 from the federal grant and $6,370 is our township 20 matching funds. 21 The breakdown on this would be for 22 20 more sets of turnout gear, coats and pants, at 23 $1200 per unit; boots, 20 pairs; gloves, 40 24 pairs; some more self-contained breathing 25 apparatus that -- we had hoped to get that 10 1 program changed around a little bit and improved 2 some more -- and some air cylinders for the new 3 air masks that we have on order, and this total 4 amount -- this is the breakdown in each of the 5 areas as was awarded to us this year. That was a 6 nice Christmas present that came just about 7 Christmastime and just wanted you all to be aware 8 of this grant. We have another grant pending for 9 $97,000, but I don't think it will pass. 10 However, we can reapply in March. 11 MR. SIMS: In March? 12 MR. BOGGS: For that one. And it 13 would go back into this grant cycle for next 14 year, and that's for improving our communication 15 system. Okay. 16 MS. JONES: I need to say that Byron 17 has been very diligent on grants. A couple years 18 ago Byron had -- even in years before all he did 19 was just stayed on computer research grants that 20 we might apply for. And even though he would put 21 all that work into it, and along with the fire 22 department, they would be turned down. And he 23 said, we're just going to keep on trying. And 24 because of them doing that, a lot of -- we're now 25 starting to receive grants that other people have 11 1 been receiving, and so I do appreciate the job 2 that the fire department has done. They have 3 done a wonderful job with that with people 4 telling you no over and over again and still 5 going after it, so I thank them for their hard 6 work for that. 7 MR. SIMS: That's a hard job, the 8 grants and everything, with his expertise. 9 Chief, could you come up in front for a minute? 10 I'd like for you to say a few things about the 11 Blazer we got. Could you do that for us? 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. Miami 13 Valley gave us a 1998 Blazer -- it's white and 14 has about 97,000 miles on it -- for one dollar. 15 So we do have that. We haven't decided what 16 we're going to do with it yet. Right now it's in 17 the shop being checked making sure everything's 18 okay with it. And that's about it. 19 MR. SIMS: Okay. Thank you. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Miami Valley 21 who? 22 MR. SIMS: Hospital. Annual 23 township mileage certification, 43.68 miles. We 24 need signatures for that, don't we, Robert? 25 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 12 1 MR. ELIJAH: What that is saying 2 also is that the township maintains 43.68 miles 3 of road under the responsibility of the township. 4 MR. SIMS: Transportation committee 5 designation, MVRPC. We usually have a trustee on 6 that committee and usually we use probably 7 Mr. Bradley. Can we have a motion to make one as 8 trustee? Can we have Allen Elijah? 9 MR. ELIJAH: I would move to have 10 Brice Sims represent the township on the -- 11 MS. JONES: I second that. 12 MR. ELIJAH: It's a very important 13 committee. Also move. 14 MS. JONES: I second the motion. 15 MR. WALKER: Ready for vote? 16 MS. JONES: Yes. 17 MR. WALKER: Brice Sims? 18 MR. SIMS: Yes. 19 MR. WALKER: And Allen Elijah? 20 MR. ELIJAH: I vote yes. Brice will 21 have to vote for himself. 22 MS. JONES: And just for the record, 23 Robert Bradley will be the alternate. 24 MR. SIMS: The use of Charles 25 Richardson Park July 10. Ernestine Smith lives 13 1 in the Ridgewood Heights area. Robert, could 2 you -- 3 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. Miss Smith 4 called last month to request the use of the park 5 for a July 10 family reunion. And this is our 6 policy, for the board -- for their approval and 7 I'll notify Mrs. Smith pending the outcome of 8 your action. 9 MR. SIMS: We don't need a motion on 10 it, do we? 11 MR. BRADLEY: I would suggest yes. 12 MR. ELIJAH: Relative to the 13 township's liability, when these sorts of events 14 are hosted, do we buy insurance or do we require 15 that the person requesting the park buy the 16 insurance to cover township exposure or how does 17 that work? 18 MR. BRADLEY: As part of our annual 19 insurance coverage, our part -- Charles 20 Richardson and Blairwood are covered for events 21 sponsored by the township. That's why we go 22 through the process of having me contact the 23 board. Yes, we are covered under the insurance, 24 the same policy that covers us for Jefferson 25 Township Days. 14 1 MS. JONES: Also, they sign into an 2 agreement with conditions and an understanding 3 how it's to be left and all that stuff. They do 4 also sign an agreement. 5 MR. ELIJAH: So there's a contract? 6 MS. JONES: Uh-huh. I make a motion 7 that Ernestine Smith is able to use Charles 8 Richardson Park on July 10 -- 9 MR. ELIJAH: I second. 10 MS. JONES: -- for the purpose of 11 her family reunion. 12 MR. WALKER: Ready for the vote? 13 Angela? 14 MS. JONES: Yes. 15 MR. WALKER: Brice Sims? 16 MR. SIMS: Yes. 17 MR. WALKER: Allen Elijah? 18 MR. ELIJAH: Yes. 19 MR. SIMS: Resolution for 20 consideration: Resident 04-01, traveling and 21 education. Mr. Bradley. 22 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. Actually, it's 23 the establishing expense policy for 2004 as 24 required by the Ohio Revised Code. Expenditures 25 made by the trustees and/or officials of the 15 1 township should be confrontized (phonetic) by 2 some policies indicating what the limits should 3 be spent on. Resolution 04-01 does that as it 4 relates to park and cab fare and meals, hotel, 5 business, mileage and educational conferences. 6 MR. SIMS: So we need a motion. 7 MS. JONES: I make a motion on 8 resolution 04-01, establishing an expenditure 9 policy for the year 2004. There's a motion on 10 the table. 11 MR. ELIJAH: I will second. 12 MR. WALKER: Ready for the vote? 13 Brice Sims? 14 MR. SIMS: Yes. 15 MR. WALKER: Angela Jones? 16 MS. JONES: Yes. 17 MR. WALKER: Allen Elijah? 18 MR. ELIJAH: I vote yes. 19 MR. SIMS: Trustees' report. 20 Mr. Elijah. 21 MR. ELIJAH: I have a summary of 22 activities to report on for the citizens. There 23 have been a number of operational and 24 organizational planning discussions held here at 25 the township over the past several days. One of 16 1 the new initiatives that has come out of that is 2 that we have revised the township's business 3 hours. We will be open from eight to five daily 4 and we will be closed one hour for lunch from 5 twelve to one and that will be for the 6 administrative offices. 7 Okay. There will be other 8 operational -- administrative operational 9 activities looked at, and we'll be reporting on 10 those as we progress. There have also been 11 strategic planning discussions held between the 12 trustees, and there are a number of new community 13 initiatives that are our topics of discussion. 14 We'll report in greater detail on those as we 15 progress through February and March of this year. 16 We want to use the first quarter of 17 the year for planning discussion and then setting 18 direction from that point forward. Just wanted 19 to inform everybody that I will be going to 20 Washington, D.C., next week and look to touch 21 base with members of our congressional delegation 22 up there on behalf of township initiatives while 23 I'm in D.C. and will report those activities as 24 they go forward as well. 25 Just an aside on that, I wear two 17 1 hats. I work in the Paul Laurence Dunbar 2 neighborhood area. I happen to be going to D.C. 3 under that flag, so they happen to be picking up 4 my expenses. But I can't see being able to take 5 off one hat while I'm in D.C. I mean, you can 6 talk about more than one thing. There will be 7 some cost sharing and cost savings as a result of 8 those activities as well. 9 Next, I would like to report that 10 some of the trustees will be attending the winter 11 conference. The Ohio Township Association will 12 be having a winter conference in Columbus the 13 latter part of this month, and we'll be attending 14 that as well to stay abreast of current township 15 activities, legislative impacts and also network 16 and learn some best practices from other 17 townships throughout the state. There's nothing 18 new that we think about doing that hadn't already 19 been done by somebody. It's just a matter of 20 finding out things that have been tried and 21 trying to model some of the those things and 22 bring those back to the township for us to look 23 at as well. 24 The last thing I'd like to indicate 25 is that we have held some discussions with 18 1 members of the school board in order to see if we 2 can't do some collaborative planning and lend 3 some support to our respective activities and 4 efforts in the township. So that one's brand 5 new. We just started that one, and we'll report 6 on that one as we go forward. That's all I have. 7 MR. SIMS: Mrs. Jones. 8 MS. JONES: No. Just to reference 9 to the things that Mr. Elijah has said. There's 10 a lot of new things that we're looking at, and 11 we're talking new avenues. It's going to take us 12 a little while. And we're just asking for the 13 community to be patient and, hopefully, all these 14 things will be for the better. We're working 15 really hard at it. 16 I think we've been up at this office 17 a lot within the last month just throwing out 18 ideas and things that we know have been concerns 19 and regards to the citizens, things they'd like 20 to see happen and changes, and we're trying to 21 implement some of those things but it's going to 22 take us a minute to make that happen, so I'm just 23 asking that you be patient with us and, 24 hopefully, you'll see the things that the 25 community has been wanting to happen in the 19 1 process. That's it. 2 MR. SIMS: I'd like to say all the 3 years I've been a trustee -- I've been a trustee 4 a long time -- I'm more excited now than I've 5 ever been in my life. But Angela and Elijah are 6 working hard together to put a lot of things 7 together. We meet often and want this township 8 to be a better place to live with services and 9 everything else. When I say that, I'd like to 10 just emphasize something. I've never been in 11 meetings that it is all for the township. I'm 12 being honest with you. There's usually a lot of 13 bull, if you know what I mean. I can't say that 14 word. But since Elijah and Angela -- we've been 15 doing such a job. You just don't know. 16 We're talking about going out and 17 getting grants, talking about meeting with some 18 of the people in the township with property. 19 We're doing a lot of stuff right now and I'm very 20 excited about it, and I'd just like to say after 21 this year you're going to see a lot of changes, 22 I'm talking about a whole lot of changes. 23 And so I'm very -- I'm up here every 24 day. That's unusual because trustee's a 25 part-time job. I can't wait to get up here at 20 1 8:00 o'clock some days. Sometimes I meet you 2 going to work and I'm coming up here at 8:00. 3 There's going to be a lot of things change up 4 here. As we change things, we're going to let 5 you know what we do. So that is a concern that 6 we have right now. We're not keeping no secret. 7 We're going to let you know everything we're 8 doing and that's the important thing. You pay 9 taxes. You need to know what we're doing. All 10 right. Risk management activities for December. 11 Mr. Bradley. 12 MR. BRADLEY: On the agenda there 13 were no risk management activities for December. 14 MR. SIMS: Approval of financial 15 report, preceding month. Can we get that motion? 16 MR. ELIJAH: I move for the approval 17 of financial reports for December. 18 MR. SIMS: Second. 19 MS. JONES: I make a motion that we 20 table the report until the next meeting. 21 MR. ELIJAH: I rescind my motion. 22 MR. SIMS: Okay. We need a motion, 23 Jerry. 24 MS. JONES: We need a vote. 25 MR. WALKER: Angela? 21 1 MS. JONES: Yes. 2 MR. WALKER: Brice? 3 MR. SIMS: Yes. 4 MR. ELIJAH: So moved. 5 MR. SIMS: Comments by citizens. 6 Try to go three minutes. But if you have a lot 7 to say, we'll go more than that. 8 MR. ELIJAH: But if you have a lot 9 to say, we'll go three minutes. 10 MR. SIMS: Mary Ann Scott, 7624 11 Glenn Drive, trash collection and, I guess, 12 negotiate with the utilities. Could you get up 13 and say -- 14 MS. SCOTT: Yes. I'd like to know 15 if in the future any thought will be given to 16 maybe partnership with another -- other cities or 17 townships to alleviate the problem -- cost of 18 trash pickup. You know, every year since I've 19 been out here we started off -- and I think it 20 was like $30 a quarter. Now it's up to $54. And 21 I see where some of the townships are 22 partnershipping with other townships to alleviate 23 that cost for the residents. 24 MS. JONES: I'll answer that. That 25 is one of the things that we have -- we've been 22 1 writing out priorities and lists of things that 2 we're going to be looking at and that is one of 3 the things. However, we had looked at that a 4 couple years ago with the trash consortium and 5 that's been in place for a while. You cannot 6 join in the trash consortium at this time. You 7 have to be in that when the whole process of that 8 began, but that is something that we have on our 9 list that we are looking at that again and we are 10 researching some things. 11 There's a lot of things that you 12 consider with that because then you're talking 13 about additional staff, so there's a lot of 14 things that we have to also consider when we do 15 that. There would need to be an additional staff 16 person to do that. There was some problems with 17 that before, but with the trash consortium we 18 weren't part of the initial process of doing that 19 and so we did not get in on that. They brought 20 it back to us again. The cost was different and 21 now we're looking at it again. It's been an 22 issue that I think one of the trustees had 23 brought up and said they would like us to 24 consider reviewing that again. 25 Okay. On the second item the same 23 1 thing applies. I know that they're just in the 2 process -- the townships are just in the process 3 of negotiating the utility costs, so there would 4 be an ongoing process right now if the township 5 would get on board or at least find out about it. 6 MR. ELIJAH: When you say utility 7 cost -- 8 MS. SCOTT: I'm talking about other 9 than Dayton Power & Light. I know that they are 10 negotiating with other utility companies like 11 going together with several communities so they 12 can bring down the cost of the electricity. 13 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. Bradley, you know 14 anything about that? 15 MR. BRADLEY: There's the regulation 16 also which jurisdiction can -- if they sort of, 17 like she indicated, form a consortium, do a 18 direct billing for a specific -- I think it's 19 electrical service. 20 MS. SCOTT: With the Ohio Public 21 Utility Commission, and I think that Moraine's in 22 this -- one of them that's in this. 23 MR. ELIJAH: Let us at least 24 investigate that and report back to you what we 25 find. 24 1 MR. SIMS: Is that all, Mary? 2 MS. SCOTT: That's all. 3 MR. SIMS: We got Grant Powell. 4 Could you get up and tell me your address? Could 5 you get up? Talking about housing. 6 MR. POWELL: Yeah. I'm here, as a 7 matter of fact, along with Michael Peterson 8 representing the Peterson Group. I just want to 9 recall for you and the individuals attending this 10 evening, we had a presentation to you a couple 11 months ago in November related to like a housing 12 initiative that we had hoped to work with the 13 township on developing new housing starts and 14 bringing more attention to the potential for new 15 residents in the township area which would be a 16 good thing, both from a tax base standpoint and 17 residents and children for the school as well. 18 We're in a -- at a point where we're 19 hoping to get some feedback from the township 20 trustees on their level of interest and support 21 in a general way. In fact, we made a proposal 22 that included four separate items. One, first I 23 asked for general support and concept of a 24 private public partnership moving towards greater 25 housing starts. A second related the possibility 25 1 of offering a tiered tax abatement incentive for 2 new residents as a way to incentivize (phonetic) 3 those who are in the process of considering 4 building to consider Jefferson Township as a 5 prime location. 6 We had also as a third item on that 7 proposal asked about your co -- financial 8 cosponsorship of a major homearama source that we 9 had projected to occur in the fall of this year. 10 And then the last had to do with the possibility 11 of accessing adjacent land to the Glenna Park 12 development, assuming the success of that event 13 and the ability to expand the housing starts on 14 adjacent land that the township may control. 15 My point tonight is to see if you 16 thought that the decision making process would be 17 forthcoming in the next meeting or so because 18 we're in the process of trying to move on that, 19 as a matter of fact, and gain other financial 20 cosponsors to help with this event that we still 21 have the possibility of planning and executing 22 for the fall. So I wanted to just kind of 23 reiterate where we were. The first and foremost, 24 though, is just the general support because it's 25 tough to go to potential cosponsors without the 26 1 assurance and without the confirmation that the 2 township is, indeed -- type of effort of this 3 specific event. 4 Wanted to just touch base again with 5 you on that and see if you had come to any 6 particular junctures where you needed more 7 information or clarification on any of the issues 8 that may have risen among yourselves after our 9 presentation and just kind of get some general 10 feedback from you. 11 MR. SIMS: Okay. Thanks. That is 12 still on our table. We haven't made no decisions 13 on that. We're going to be talking about it 14 probably within a couple weeks, and that's 15 something that we have to talk about and analyze 16 and strategize. I want you to know that we 17 understand. You made your proposal. We was all 18 here. But it's the idea that we are trying to 19 put some things together for ourselves. All 20 right. So we can't make a decision if it's still 21 on the table. Actually, we haven't even really 22 got involved. We know what you did in 23 presentation. I know Mr. Peterson. 24 What we're trying to do is do all we 25 can to have housing out here. That's progress. 27 1 But there's some other things we need to discuss 2 as trustees. And so when we make that decision, 3 we'll definitely call Mr. Peterson. We would put 4 you on the schedule for our meeting and 5 everything, but we just haven't -- it's still on 6 the table. Okay. 7 MR. POWELL: Okay. Good enough. 8 MR. SIMS: Betty Green. 9 MR. ELIJAH: If I may comment? 10 MR. SIMS: Okay. 11 MR. ELIJAH: I would like to say 12 that I've had further discussions with Mike 13 Peterson to better clarify for myself the nature 14 of the project and to understand the components 15 of it and I had -- I had a leviation one day 16 talking to him and really got an understanding of 17 how the project was being put together. I am 18 fully supportive of the housing development that 19 the Peterson Group has undertaken. I'm also 20 fully supportive of bringing in additional 21 housing into the township. I think as we grow, 22 the number of homes that we have in the township, 23 we will grow our tax base and create a better 24 community to live in with a community of 25 neighbors. 28 1 So I think that's one of the primary 2 objectives that we've set as trustees for the 3 township. In terms of whether or not a final 4 decision will be made, we've had discussions 5 about the project. All we need to work out from 6 my perspective would be the mechanics, and there 7 may be some other points that we need to 8 negotiate. I realize the schedule is slipping as 9 we talk, which increases the urgency. We want to 10 do something that makes sense because once you 11 put it there, it's there. It's not going 12 anywhere. 13 MR. POWELL: Right. You realize 14 there's four separate proposals that you may be 15 voting on individually? The first and foremost 16 is the overall support of this type of effort, 17 and that's not necessarily financial support. 18 That is we, in concept, believe in this type of 19 activity endeavour. 20 MR. ELIJAH: You're saying the four 21 would be the four that you just outlined? 22 MR. POWELL: That's right. 23 MR. SIMS: John Cors, school 24 district. 25 MR. CORS: I keep saying we need a 29 1 school district map. I obtained one from the 2 board of elections. You can get those for two 3 and a half. And it shows clearly the area up 4 here along Third Street is not in the school 5 district that you're trying to develop. That's 6 one point. I think we need that map so you can 7 talk to the school district. You can get them at 8 the board of elections for 2.50. 9 MR. ELIJAH: Are you going to let us 10 have that one? 11 MR. CORS: Yeah. 12 MR. ELIJAH: We'll get one. 13 MR. SIMS: You can have yours. 14 MR. CORS: Now, another thing I 15 wanted -- 16 MR. ELIJAH: What was your point 17 with that though, John? 18 MR. CORS: Well, my point is that 19 when you make these decisions, housing, business, 20 whatever, you need to take into consideration the 21 school district because the way it is now, all 22 this development up there, they're not getting 23 any benefits as far as taxes. 24 MR. ELIJAH: That would be one facet 25 of it. The other benefit would be the community 30 1 and us folks that live here. 2 MR. CORS: That's another thing. 3 Since the gentleman here talked -- I used to live 4 in Mad River Township. The revenue from housing 5 does not pay for the cost of services, so housing 6 is not going to work alone. We need to attract 7 business. And in the past I think the board has 8 opposed things that would attract business like 9 892, and I think the board -- two or three new 10 members need to change their attitude toward some 11 of these things that attract business. You can't 12 support the business without the people. 13 MR. ELIJAH: Which comes first? 14 MR. CORS: They both come together. 15 But when you oppose a major item that would lead 16 to development, it's pretty obvious what's going 17 to happen. 18 Third thing, I've mentioned once 19 before about coyotes in the township. They're 20 worse than ever. There's going to be an accident 21 someday. Now, somewhere in the states there's 22 three coyotes that attacked a hunter. 23 Fortunately, he had a gun. 24 MR. ELIJAH: It wasn't in southwest 25 Ohio? 31 1 MR. CORS: I don't know. And 2 someone had five of them in his front yard a 3 couple years ago. So I think there's going to be 4 an accident. We need to think about that, 5 Captain. 6 MR. ELIJAH: Is there anything we 7 can do about that? 8 MR. BRADLEY: There's nothing we can 9 do that I'm aware of. 10 MR. SIMS: What did you say, 11 Captain? 12 CAPTAIN TURNER: I think the parks, 13 the recreation, I think they handle that. They 14 handle the control of the coyotes and all kind of 15 stuff. I think the best thing to do is contact 16 them. 17 MR. ELIJAH: The thing is we don't 18 want citizens running around with guns shooting 19 at -- John. 20 MR. CORS: Last spring I lost a lamb 21 and a goat to coyotes, and they came out and I 22 filled out a form to try and get reimbursement. 23 On the form there was a section, what I was going 24 to do to control them. So I don't think they're 25 active in controlling them. 32 1 MR. SIMS: Betty Green, 1212 2 Infirmary. 3 MS. GREEN: Have you sold the 4 property across the street and also the lot 5 across from the park? Has this deal been closed? 6 MR. SIMS: Do you want to stand up, 7 Sister Green? 8 MS. GREEN: Yes. This has been on 9 the board for some time and I'd like to know, has 10 it been closed, the property across from the park 11 and also this property that sits across here? 12 When I say closed, do we have the monies? 13 MR. BRADLEY: Neither of the two 14 deals have been consummated, so we haven't 15 received any payment for the property across the 16 street. And the deal that we have was pending on 17 federal guidelines that would speak to senior 18 housing. As I understand it, the guidelines did 19 not change. So as a result of December 31, their 20 option expired. 21 MS. GREEN: Okay. As a citizen and 22 resident of Infirmary Road, I do not want to see 23 senior citizen property go up across from the 24 park. I think that's high scaled property, and I 25 think there should be homes put there and not 33 1 apartments. Another thing I didn't put on -- I'd 2 like to see something down here for senior 3 citizens like an exercise program or something 4 like that. Everybody else has one and we don't 5 have anything for senior citizens. 6 Also, I'd like to be able to reach 7 Anita. A lot of times if I call down here and 8 you're not here, I can't get ahold of anybody. 9 There's nothing on that phone that tells me how 10 to get ahold of Anita and I know she's here. So 11 you need to check your phone. That's it. 12 MR. SIMS: Barb Harris, CDC. 13 Barbara. 14 MS. HARRIS: I was just -- I don't 15 know if our acting chairperson has notified the 16 township of the meeting coming up Saturday, so 17 I'm here like a follow-up to let you aware that 18 we had anticipated on holding our meeting here 19 Saturday, January 10, at 10:00 o'clock, and this 20 is our monthly meeting and this is all due to 21 that we cannot use the cable station because of 22 the electricity. So I'm here to make sure that 23 you were told or that you are aware of it. 24 MS. JONES: What I would ask is that 25 you do the same as the other organizations. If 34 1 you would contact the office so there's no 2 problem with that. You just schedule in your 3 dates and make sure there's no conflict of 4 anybody else doing that. So if you would do 5 that, then there's no problem. 6 MS. HARRIS: I'm hoping that my 7 chairperson did do that. I'm not sure. I'm here 8 at his request to do a follow-up. 9 MS. JONES: We wouldn't know. So if 10 you would call the office and make sure that it's 11 on the calendar and make sure that it's not going 12 to be a conflict with nobody else's meeting. 13 MS. HARRIS: Okay. I'm having the 14 same problem that Mrs. Green's having when I 15 call. So is there anybody else? Can I call 16 Bradley? 17 MS. JONES: Feel free to call 18 Mr. Bradley when you can't get anybody else. 19 MR. SIMS: Willa Bronston, 841 20 Creekside, Drexel housing. 21 MS. BRONSTON: It has been drawn to 22 my attention that they are surveying an 23 acquisition of properties in the Drexel 24 neighborhood for building of homes, and I would 25 like to be on record as saying that at this time 35 1 due to last year's odyssey that we experienced 2 with Perma-Fix it would be like building on love 3 canal. And the reason I say that is because 4 there are many health issues in that area. It is 5 unclear to me whether they are directly related 6 or not. 7 But there are agencies and medical 8 personnel that are looking into it that are 9 trying to figure out ways to alleviate some of 10 the problems that the residents that are in that 11 area are experiencing. So I think it is 12 important that the trustees, with their new 13 vision, take into consideration before allowing 14 any building to take place in the community 15 that's already diminished by health issues -- to 16 take a good look at it, a close look at it. 17 MR. SIMS: By the way, that was one 18 of our discussions at one of our meetings, too. 19 So we will be looking at that. 20 MS. BRONSTON: And here, again, it's 21 one of those things. This gentleman's talking 22 about a map. Let's pinpoint what's where and 23 talk about the kids and talk about district and 24 all of those things. And it all kind of works 25 together, so I don't know how to recommend -- I 36 1 guess I don't know what the process is of getting 2 information or things to the trustees outside of 3 a meeting so -- I also have a question about how 4 the meetings are held. You're saying that you're 5 meeting. What is it, the Ohio Revised Code that 6 controls that? 7 MR. SIMS: We're not making no 8 decisions. We're just meeting. We make 9 decisions right here. We're just meeting on 10 different things. We definitely don't make a 11 decision when we meet. We discuss it, different 12 things that we need to go over like personnel and 13 other things. 14 MS. JONES: Does allow you to have 15 workshops. It allows you to be able to list and 16 prioritize. We're talking about priorities and 17 things we would like to work on or look at. What 18 the Sunshine Law says is that you cannot act. 19 You cannot make decisions on anything that needs 20 to be made in public sessions, but you are 21 allowed to have workshops. You are allowed to 22 discuss maybe some concerns as long as you don't 23 act on any of that. Otherwise, all of the public 24 meetings we will be having all the time saying 25 that what we need to look at -- and we're talking 37 1 about personnel issues. Of course, you can't do 2 personnel issues at public meetings. There is 3 some latitude where we can at least throw things 4 out or talk about maybe some visions and things 5 and then we can act on any of those things in 6 public session. 7 MS. BRONSTON: So short of putting 8 all of you on my push buttons on my home phone, 9 do you believe if a citizen has a concern that 10 they put it in writing to you so you can talk 11 about it or is this the best form to come here? 12 MR. SIMS: Either way. You can put 13 it in writing or come here. We are open. 14 MR. ELIJAH: That's one of the 15 beauties of township government. The government 16 is not so big that you don't know who to talk to. 17 You see me up and down the street. I drive by 18 your house every time I get ready to leave the 19 little plat. It's not so structured that we 20 can't talk to one another. 21 MS. BRONSTON: Calling or writing. 22 I guess what I'm saying is in order to get a 23 response, a real response -- because if I come 24 here now and you don't know what I was going to 25 say, then do I come back next time to get a 38 1 response if you don't know today or -- I guess 2 that's basically what I'm asking, how that goes. 3 MR. SIMS: What you're asking was 4 some things we have been discussing. We're 5 talking the Drexel area. We know we got problems 6 in the Drexel area. We know all about that. 7 We've been discussing it, but we haven't been 8 coming up with nothing yet. But we are 9 discussing that and I'm pretty sure that will be 10 on our top priority list. 11 MS. BRONSTON: Well, my question for 12 an initial is then will there be additional 13 housing placed in Drexel while there are these 14 health issues and while the company is still in 15 the process of cleaning up its act -- which they 16 haven't fully done that. 17 MR. SIMS: We haven't got into that. 18 We are going to get directly into that. 19 Mr. Bradley. 20 MR. BRADLEY: We sold the property 21 to Mr. Valentine. 22 MR. ELIJAH: How many parcels did 23 they purchase? 24 MR. BRADLEY: I think 48. 25 MR. ELIJAH: Can I also ask -- what 39 1 is -- can we have some of the discussion in the 2 back -- one meeting at a time, please, just to be 3 courteous. What is their plan and what is the 4 schedule for activities? You mentioned you saw 5 someone surveying. 6 MS. BRONSTON: The residents are 7 seeing people surveying and they're clearing and 8 doing different things on properties that are 9 basically next to rental properties and some 10 just -- I don't know. I'm reporting to you what 11 was asked of me. 12 MR. ELIJAH: Okay. Robert, can you 13 speak on what Miller is doing? 14 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. They bought 40 15 some parcels. They'll start the construction 16 late March, early April in areas that they've 17 purchased. 18 MR. ELIJAH: Of this year, March? 19 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: They bought 20 the property from? 21 MR. BRADLEY: Individual owners 22 around the township itself. We had talked about 23 parcels -- our banning properties that have not 24 had taxes paid on them in years and some 25 owners -- 40 1 MR. ELIJAH: Have environmental 2 impact studies been done? 3 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 4 MR. ELIJAH: I'm hearing yes. I'm 5 hearing no. 6 MS. BRONSTON: According to the EPA, 7 no comprehensive environmental impact study has 8 been done. 9 MR. BRADLEY: If you'd like, after 10 the meeting we can have you view the report. 11 MS. JONES: What I'd like to do is 12 that -- there are a lot of -- I'm asking 13 permission to speak. 14 MR. SIMS: Okay. 15 MS. JONES: I'm understanding what 16 you are talking about being able to do and I, for 17 one, don't think there is a form simply because 18 it's a three minute speaking session and I'd like 19 to be able to have the information and for us to 20 be able to sit and be able to talk about that 21 even if it means to talk about maybe we need to 22 get another survey done again or, you know, 23 whatever. I don't think this form is a good 24 form. And I was trying to ask you in the 25 beginning -- I mean, answer you and how you can 41 1 do that is you can call the office. You know, we 2 can set up meetings. One time before what we did 3 was people will call and schedule a meeting. 4 We'd come up. 5 Historically, a while back ago what 6 I did, if you wanted to meet and talk with me, I 7 would be here at 5:00 which would allow two hours 8 before the meeting would start. But any time you 9 can call and schedule somebody, preferably not on 10 a night that we're here. If there's information 11 that you want us to have before we get together, 12 you would know what it is. We would provide what 13 we have and we can sit down and have a lengthy 14 discussion. I think that would be a better form. 15 MS. BRONSTON: Right. And I think 16 it should be a form where we can all talk 17 about -- and so I really don't know -- however -- 18 a one-on-one. I really just want to be on record 19 personally objecting for this going forward when 20 there hasn't been any comprehensive 21 environmental -- 22 MS. JONES: That would be fine, and 23 I don't think there's any problem with what you 24 want on record. As you can see, these are the 25 things that we have, these are the things that we 42 1 don't have. So even if you can give a call and 2 say I want to see the studies that have been 3 done, I want to see whatever it is your question 4 is and we can get together and we can talk about 5 it. And then if you would like to come back to 6 the next meeting and share the information, 7 that's perfectly fine. I just think this isn't 8 the form. I think it would be too lengthy of a 9 conversation. 10 We don't know how -- do you have 11 that information for me? We need to talk about 12 how we can do all of that. You're welcome to 13 call. I think we all would be able to come up 14 and meet and talk with whoever needs a 15 discussion. We can show you or Robert can show 16 you what is up here at the office. Also, you can 17 bring the information if you have information 18 saying that this isn't done. We can clearly 19 communicate together on what is happening on 20 this. Call and we can come whenever it's 21 convenient for everybody, that's if the board 22 agrees. 23 MR. SIMS: It's no problem. 24 Mr. McGuire wants to talk about CDC and the 25 Powell Group. 43 1 MR. MCGUIRE: Yeah. Mr. Powell just 2 mentioned the -- I just wanted to know, would the 3 CDC have an opportunity to look at that project 4 to be a part of it? 5 MR. BRADLEY: I think that would be 6 up to Mr. Peterson. 7 MR. ELIJAH: May I respond? I would 8 love to see the CDC play a role in this and any 9 other future developments in the township. They 10 have some work to do from what I've been able to 11 discern and we won't talk about history being any 12 indicator of the future, but we do look to work 13 with an organization that is set and ready to 14 handle administrative activities and develop a 15 budget and fiduciary responsibilities that goes 16 with what is required to get developments done. 17 The trustees, I'm sure, are willing to support 18 that effort but we have to -- you have to come 19 with something that we can use. 20 MR. MCGUIRE: Okay. And also to 21 piggyback on Miss Bronson's issue on Perma-Fix in 22 that area. I'd like to see a copy of that 23 impact -- environmental impact study because our 24 work -- the CRDCW, we worked on that VX issue. 25 There was never an environmental impact study we 44 1 were asking for, and that should touch on some of 2 the chemicals that they're dealing with now 3 because most of those chemicals -- we have a list 4 of them -- impact the area of a square mile. We 5 would be interested in that impact -- 6 environmental impact report. 7 MR. SIMS: All right. That's it. 8 MS. HARRIS: May I interject? 9 MR. SIMS: Pardon me, Miss Harris. 10 MS. HARRIS: Is it okay if I 11 interject a little of what Mr. McGuire mentioned 12 about being involved with the Peterson -- 13 MR. SIMS: We don't mind you saying 14 a few things. 15 MS. HARRIS: I just wanted to say 16 yes, the CDC would like to work on any of the 17 projects that's going on, the environmental 18 studies and the Peterson project. The beginning 19 of this year we are doing elections, so we will 20 be changing officers and putting in new officers. 21 Our paperwork is pretty well lined up. Any 22 papers you'd like to see or minutes of past 23 activities that we've done, we do have that 24 available for you. So it's not so much as not 25 being ready. We are. It's having bodies. 45 1 Hopefully, we'll have that this year. 2 MR. SIMS: All right. Thank you, 3 Miss Harris. 4 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. President, I vote 5 for adjournment. Is there a second? 6 MR. SIMS: All right. We will 7 adjourn and go into executive session to really 8 discuss personnel matters, and we'll be doing 9 that and we just want to let you know we'll be in 10 our office discussing. I'd like to say one 11 thing. I wish everybody a prosperous New Year 12 and continue to come to the meetings and work 13 with the trustees because we've got a lot of work 14 to do -- all these nice questions people asking 15 us. 16 We try to get on top of everything, 17 and I'd like for you and Willa -- I think we have 18 got an environmental report from the Drexel area 19 and Mr. Bradley can probably share that with you. 20 I'd like to say another thing, too. I'm just so 21 happy to have our new captain here. I know he's 22 going to do a lot for us. We don't want you to 23 be invisible. Just come up here and talk to us 24 sometime. 25 (Thereupon, the meeting was 46 1 concluded at 7:57 o'clock p.m.) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 47 1 STATE OF OHIO ) 2 COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY ) SS: CERTIFICATE 3 I, Stacey L. Kimmel, a Notary Public 4 within and for the State of Ohio, duly 5 commissioned and qualified, 6 DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the above-named 7 meeting was reduced to writing by me 8 stenographically in the presence of the parties 9 and thereafter reduced to typewriting. 10 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a 11 relative or Attorney of either party nor in any 12 manner interested in the event of this action. 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 14 my hand and seal of office at Dayton, Ohio, on 15 this _ _ _ day of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, 2004. 16 17 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STACEY L. KIMMEL 18 NOTARY PUBLIC, STATE OF OHIO My commission expires 6-11-2006 19 20 21 22 23 24 25