Township receives grant for culvert and resurfacing work

by Dan Holland

Aug. 1 township trustees meeting

Richfield Township trustees announced that the township recently received a $176,400 grant for road resurfacing and culvert work on Farnham and Stubbins roads and Hecker Drive to resolve drainage problems.

An application for a similar grant for $154,000 filed in June, 2023, through the Ohio Public Works Commission was denied.

Township Administrator Mindy Lott said the capital improvement grant through the Ohio Small Government Capital Improvements Program would cover regrading and reshaping the existing road, removing flow obstructions, including faulty driveway culverts, establishing consistent ditch grades, constructing new concrete culverts where the existing culverts were removed, and resurfacing Farnham, Stubbins and Hecker roadways with a chip-seal finish. The grant will cover 90% of the cost of the work.

Lott said the township will request bids in December with the hope of awarding the contract in January 2025. Work is expected to commence in spring or summer 2025.

 “It was unexpected and very nice to receive,” Lott said of the grant. “It’s a very flat area of the township that has always had a lot of standing water. The ditches don’t drain properly, so there were safety concerns with mosquitoes. … It will help the road surface to last longer with having the area properly draining.”

She added that the funds will help shore up the road and bridge fund to be able to allocate money to other projects.

Trustees passed a motion authorizing Lott to execute the bid process for the work and designated Lott as CEO and Fiscal Officer Vik Sandhu as CFO for the grant.

Fiscal

Sandhu reported that the township earned $9,200 in interest income in July through its STAR Ohio account. He said he will  move an additional $500,000 into the account to generate additional interest income.

The transfer of funds from the township’s previous checking account into an investment account at Huntington National Bank is currently netting an additional $800 per month, he added. It is expected that the two products combined will generate an additional $3,000 per month.

Trustees also passed a resolution for the township to participate in Ohio Checkbook.

“Residents will be able to see financial reports with Ohio Checkbook online,” explained Sandhu. “Ohio Checkbook will provide more transparency and accountability of our financial transactions.”

He added that Ohio House Bill 491, which is likely to pass, will mandate that local governments use Ohio Checkbook to show all expenditures online.

“It’s a free service, and there is no negative point to using it,” he said.

Sandhu added that the township has fully transferred from the Ohio Township Accounting System to the Uniform Accounting Network System.

Parks

Trustee Chair Don Laubacher reported that Richfield Heritage Preserve received a $150,000 grant from the Ohio State Capital fund that will be used to improve the park entrance drive and make improvements to the Buckeye Trail within the park.

Laubacher commended local Scout Patrick Kalal for building a new park entrance sign at RHP.

He noted that he and Lott met with Cody Beshire of Cleveland Metroparks – the new park manager for Rising Valley Park – to confirm plans of establishing a trail across Oviatt Road that will connect RHP with the Rising Valley Park Trail.

Roads

Lott reported that concrete catch basin and repair work is currently being performed in the Glencairn Forest subdivision. She also noted that the township received a $5,000 reimbursement check from Cleveland Water for resurfacing work performed last year by the township, following an excavation of Turnbury Drive by Cleveland Water to perform water main work.

Five-year projection

Laubacher said he and Sandhu plan on working together to develop a five-year general fund projection for the township.

“Having a general-fund, five-year projection will help us make better spending decisions,” said Laubacher. “Things on my mind are, the next time we do Glencairn paving 15-20 years from now, it would be a lot easier if we had a reserve fund set aside to pay for a large portion of that, so it wouldn’t cause such a budget issue. We’ve also talked for a long time about phasing out the trash-hauling levy.”

“We are ready to go into a land-use plan, and we need to hire a consultant, and there are other things the residents have talked to us about, such as the possibility of reimbursement for recreation center membership fees, but it’s difficult to talk about those things without seeing a five-year projection,” he added.

Announcements

Laubacher noted that a public meeting for presentation of the final Comprehensive Land Use Plan by Richfield Village is tentatively scheduled to take place Sept. 12.

In other business, trustees approved:

• Raising  Zoning Inspector Kendall Jarrett’s pay by $1 per hour to $30 per hour, effective Aug. 9.
• Changing former Zoning Inspector Patricia Ryan’s status from part-time, to on-call as needed.
• A $725 refund to a resident for culvert replacement work. ∞