Pickleball players front and center at trustees meeting

by Sheldon Ocker

July 8 township trustees meeting

For the second consecutive month, pickleball enthusiasts lobbied Bath Township trustees to upgrade and expand facilities at Bath Community Park.

This time, the group included recent high school graduates from Akron who visit the township to play on its courts. One pickleball player told of an evening session that was interrupted by darkness when the courtside lights went dark, but games continued for awhile as participants used their cell phone flashlights to avoid total darkness.

Another member of the group, which included three men beyond their teens, talked about an informal tournament that is not scheduled to end until midnight.

Said trustee Sharon Troike, “I think our park closes at dusk,” indicating that such a tournament would be required to end before dark.

Interim Parks Director Caine Collins added, “Lights are cut off at 10, but we are experiencing electrical problems with our lights, so half of them aren’t working right now.”

One member of the group presented trustees with a two-week preliminary usage study purporting to show how many people use the pickleball/tennis courts and when they are used.

The study recorded court usage from June 24 through July 7, dividing days into various time increments. During 20 of these intervals no tennis players used the courts, but 279 pickleball players did. Overall, pickleball players outnumbered tennis players more than 10 to one.

The group plans to continue its study through August.

Trustees already plan to resurface the courts and depending on funding, intend to expand the number of courts.

Trustee Sean Gaffney talked about “getting it done the right way,” and said, “It may take a little longer to get it done; it’s just about money.”

New police equipment

Township Administrator/Police Chief Vito Sinopoli announced that squad cars will include first-aid apparatuses and antidotes in drug overdose incidents.

“We’re outfitting cruisers with kind of a tear-away bag that will have Narcan in it and many of the medical supplies that they [officers] need: clotting agents, bandages and so forth,” Sinopoli said.

Bath Fire and police took part in the annual Safety Town program, Sinopoli telling trustees there were more than 150 youthful participants and 200 volunteers.

Detective Dan Lance, who started on the Bath police force in 1985, is retiring.

“We hope that Det. Lance expresses an interest in coming back in a part-time capacity,” said Sinopoli.

Too many blazes

Fire Chief Rob Campbell said there have been an unusual number of structural fires in Bath.

“I figured out that since St. Patrick’s Day we’ve had six structure fires in the township, which is an extraordinarily high amount,” he said. “I’m hoping we’re beyond that for some time to come.”    

Campbell announced that two communities are joining Bath in building a fire training facility.

According to Campbell, Fairlawn, Copley and Bath began talking in the spring of constructing a structure to use for firefighter training. That agreement has been realized. Fairlawn donated land at the intersection of Ridgewood Road and Cleveland-Massillon Road, and each community will supply a shipping container to be used as an edifice.

Campbell said funding would be provided through grants and private donations.

Improved phone service

Zoning Inspector Bill Funk said that Spectrum Enterprises will provide material and labor to update phone service for the public and administrators in town hall. Calls to 911 are handled by a different phone system that does not need an update. ∞