House Bill 315 affects Ohio township operations

by Laura Bednar

On Jan. 2, Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law House Bill 315, which includes 17 provisions that directly affect Ohio townships. Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Twp.) and Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) introduced the bill at the request of the Ohio Township Association.

OTA Executive Director Heidi M. Frought said in an OTA press release that the changes are not significant, but provide townships the same authority that cities might already have or the flexibility to operate their governments more effectively and inexpensively.

Of the provisions, the most impactful include creating preservation commissions, updating zoning regulations and publishing public notices. 

Hinckley Township Trustee Jack Swedyk said the ease of the digital public notice announcement would be an advantage. 

Townships no longer have to advertise public notices in newspapers, but can instead publish them via the state’s public notice website or the township’s website and social media accounts.

“This approach aligns with modern communication methods and will help manage costs previously associated with media publications,” said Bath Township Trustee Sean Gaffney.

Sagamore Hills Trustee John Zaccardelli agreed, saying the change will save the township money because publishing in a newspaper is expensive.

By creating seven-member preservation commissions, townships are eligible for federal grants from the Ohio History Connection. These grants, according to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, are used to support historic preservation activities.

The Ohio Legislative Service Commission also noted money appropriated under the new bill, $1.5 million in each of the two years year of fiscal year 2024-2025, will be offered as grants to political subdivisions seeking to update zoning regulations. 

“Potentially useful are the funds available to assist in paying for zoning code updates since we are currently redoing our Land Use Plan, which might necessitate changes to our code,” said Richfield Township Trustee Don Laubacher. 

Another $1 million will be appropriated to offset the costs a township incurs for cremating or burying the remains of indigent people. Townships are also now also exempt from going to voters when wanting to build or improve a town hall at a cost that requires competitive bidding. 

Zaccardelli also noted the change in zoning violations, which “allows a township to collect zoning violations as civil penalties, which will be a more efficient way to collect penalties for zoning violations that the current criminal complaints,” he said.

Within the bill is also a provision that affects any government body with a law enforcement department, allowing them to charge up to $75 an hour, with a cap of $750 per public records request, for police body camera footage. Swedyk said he started discussions with Hinckley’s police chief on creating a policy relating to this charge, which he said could recoup expenses spent on the video redaction software that is used to blur faces. 

“The township trustees have had no discussion nor made any decision about this change, but do understand that the production costs of such requests can be time-consuming for township police personnel,” said Zaccardelli. The changes in House Bill 315 go into effect April 3.