08-5-15

The next Township Trustees meetings are May 13, May 27, June 10, and June 24 @8pm in the Administrative Offices, 1273 SR 43.

Zoning Commission May 7, 2008 @ 7pm at 1273 SR43-Admin. Offices.

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Below is your Township Roster for 2008

Lori Calcei, Suffield Township Fiscal Officer 628-5683
James Albertoni, Zoning Inspector 628-2311
Lois Seese, Zoning Secretary 628-1173
Suffield Township Trustees
Dave Vartenuk, Chmn.  628-3497 – Fire Department
Ron Mishler, V.Chmn. 628-5598 - Zoning
Dave Polen 628-4507 - Roads

Mark Frisone BZA Chmn.
Larry Schrader, Zoning Commission Chmn.

Fire Chief, Bob Rasnick 330-628-9240

below for Township  S and tidbits from the Minutes.

    Ohio Bluebird Society www.obsbluebirds.com

http://health.yahoo.com -- a great resource

A resident inquired about Suffield Township’s status in the aggregation purchasing of energy and my reply may be of interest to others, so I am including it in this month’s posting. - RM

3:07am Thursday May 8, 2008

Dear Resident,

Almost a decade ago, there was a County wide election over the aggregation which was approved by the voters to enter into a pool of consumers with the County Commissioners negotiating and signing contracts for the Portage County Residents.

An opt-out clause was included in the late 1990's Ohio Legislation that created the energy aggregation reform that permitted a Resident to sign simple paperwork to not participate in the pool and choose their own arrangement and supplier.

I can't say with any certainty as to who we have for suppliers at this time, nor can I supply any details beyond what I've shared with you.

I attended some meetings related to the beginning of the aggregation concept and there were two things that puzzled me at the time. The first was that the Real Estate owned by the electric companies wasn't to be taxed at as high a property tax rate and that a Resident could join a group like the Ohio Farm Bureau (I am a member.) and other organizational groups' aggregate pool. Such aggregate pools had no geographic connection with the local supply infrastructure.

It seemed that the perception had evolved to think of electricity as a commodity like oats and soybeans that could be traded on the futures market. The difficulty with applying that to electricity is that electricity can't be transferred over great distances due to electron friction in the grid that reduces the electron flow. It is sort of like a long long garden hose that loses pressure.

Companies like ENRON would buy up the capacity of generating plants and sell the capacity on the open market. A Wall Street Journal article described how ENRON would do comic things like not answer their phones when California users wanted to place an order during a heat wave. Near the end of the day ENRON would pick up the phones and sell electricity at exaggerated prices to users desperate for electricity in the next time frame.

Hopefully, our Country is now protected from such shenanigans.

www.nopecinfo.org is a good website that describes the basics of how our aggregation works. I copied the red highlighted paragraphs below to get you curious. Suffield Township is a NOPEC member. The NOPEC office is on SR82 (E. Aurora Road) in Macedonia just east of the intersection of SR82 & SR91 in a little white house on the north side of the road.

“The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, or NOPEC, is made up of 126 member communities, large and small, spread across eight Northeast Ohio counties. Voters in each of these communities approved the formation of NOPEC in November, 2000, by passing ordinances that authorized their local government to aggregate all utility customers within the community.

The concept of NOPEC is a simple one. By banding together into one large buying group, the communities gain leverage in the deregulated marketplace. The individual utility customers NOPEC represents enjoy the advantages of bulk buying power, professional expertise, and consumer advocacy on their behalf. With more than 600,000 potential customers, NOPEC is the largest public aggregation in the United States.”

Given the way that a market economy works, there are times that an opt-out Resident can get a lower price for the electric or natural gas and at other times a higher price.

I suggest that for details beyond the www.nopecinfo.org website and NOPEC itself, you contact our County Commissioners, Chris Smeiles, Chuck Keiper, and Maureen Frederick.

Yours truly,

Ron Mishler, Suffield Township Trustee

Chris Craycroft of the Portage Park District attended the April 22 meeting and spoke on the efforts of the Park District in forming hike and bike trails connecting Portage County with the Akron and Cleveland Park systems. She also discussed her knowledge of ODNR acquiring Wingfoot Lake and how the Portage Park District mandate for preserving natural vistas could be mixed with the need for family recreation and ball fields. Park District funding and revenue shortfalls were also discussed

Jim Bierlair of the Portage County Soil and Water Conservation District came to speak on behalf of the Portage County Health District. He is also a member of the Health Department Board. Jim outlined the problems and duties of the Health District.

The Portage County Regional Planning Commission also has been approaching the Townships about meeting the shortfalls in their budgets.

The slower economy has put much of the County government in a difficult budget situation and they are seeking help in meeting their shortages.

County Auditor Janet Esposito says a one mil Suffield levy would provide $146,714 for public services.

As such, a 2mil replacement levy will generate $293,428 a year and a 2.5mil levy would generate $366,785 a year toward a new Fire House and all other Safety purposes. The Trustees are thinking of placing the levy on the August ballot. Placing a Fire Levy on the August special election will cost the Township downwards of $4,000.

The Portage County Health Department is considering a .2mil levy for the November ballot. The alternative is to bill the Townships about $1.80 per capita which would establish a greater outflow of money from the Suffield Community of 6,383 residents living at 2,411 addresses. .2mil is $29,343 in Suffield and per capita is about $11, 489, so Suffield would be better off to vote YES on the Portage Health Levy which hasn't been passed since 1955.

The Field Local School District is placing a 7.3 mil ($.0073)renewal levy on the November ballot.

Over the years, former Suffield F.O. Paul Young and I had several laughs at how mil is spelled in various publications, mil or mill. I prefer mil(3 letters) because it reminds me that a mil, being 1/10^th of a cent, is 3 decimal places to the right. The Health Department levy of .2 or 2/10 mil would be .0002 in the calculations.

A 2mil Suffield Fire levy would be .002 and a 2.5mil Suffield Fire levy would be .0025 when entered into the calculator.

So a good question for “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” would be, “If the Suffield Fire Levy of 2 mils generates $293,428, what is the property valuation in Suffield Township?” One of the possible options is to telephone a buddy, Portage County Auditor Janet Esposito, and just ask. Mathematically, I wonder if your calculator has enough room for the answer? I had to use the calculator on my computer's START > Accessories > Calculator option.

A new $39,438.50 GMC one-ton dump truck was bought and a $9,000 P.O. issued for a snow plow and salt spreader accessories. Since then, design issues have been discovered and the Trustees may have to buy a lighter duty plow and forget the salt spreader. The old 1990 Ford one-ton just gave out. $2,500 to repair the transmission on the rusted body and swiss cheese bed was the tipping point on the replacement decision. The road levy is up in 2009 and I remember taking a picture of the badly rusted 1990 Ford about 5 years ago to show how frugally the Board of Trustees manages the budget.

As a Trustee studies the budget and breaks down the word budget, the meaning is clear “Bud get” a new one-ton.

February 25 the Suffield Trustees and about 10 Suffield residents attended State Representative Steve Dyer's Town Hall meeting in Brimfield. The Suffield Trustees asked Rep. Dyer about Stormwater management, Issue 2, and the status of the Division of Wildlife acquiring Wingfoot Lake.

Suffield Zoning Commission member, John Yeargin, in above pic with glasses, asked Dyer about the Castle Laws relating to a homeowner protecting loved ones with a gun during a robbery. Dyer said he supported the concept.

There was considerable discussion about the outdoor woodburners and the EPA regulations that are being written.

Rep. Dyer said that he planned to have a Town Meeting in Suffield.

The above picture, l-r, Skip Welling of Ravenna, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, and myself. Mr. Fisher is the Director of the Ohio Department of Economic Development.

Monday I left the above Lt. Gov. Fisher gathering in Rootstown and drove to St. Rep. Dyer's Townhall meeting in Springfield Township.

On the way home, I stopped at the 224/Canton Road Speedway for gas and the cashier was fussing about a customer giving him 12 Kennedy half dollars, “No one is going to want these for change, what am I going to do with them!”

I told him that I'd take them and gave him a tattered Jackson, one Democrat swapped for another. The half dollars were mostly 1964 dates, a few up to 1968. They were treasured Kennedy memories and they were silver, it was a surprise to have them in hand.

Someone had to feel a lot of economic pain at the pump to decide to part with those half dollars. It certainly was a difficult and emotional moment for the gasoline customer to part with them, one of those tip of the iceberg ancedotes as to the depth of the suffering people are experiencing.

I'm sure your mind will explore the possibilities of who the customer was. An Elder budgeting between gas and medicine. A Parent spending a Grandparent's gift to provide for a young family. A thief spending stolen coins in support of the drug lifestyle.

The above set me to remembering in 1982 when the Gilchrist Road General Tire Warehouse that I worked at closed. Within a few years, 4 of my co-workers killed themselves and a fifth tried. Seeing that gave me a sorrowful understanding of the importance of a job to personal self-esteem and a family's structure.

The last time that I saw one of them was at the ballfield on the SW corner of Howe/Mogadore Roads. He was at the pay phone trying to ring up a customer. After the closing, he had gotten one of those junk jobs running around in his Cadillac selling something for a pittance plus commission. He had bought the Caddy with rectangular headlights when he was making Rubber Shop wages, “When I saw those rectangular headlights, I just had to have it. Those headlights look so cool.” A short time later, he used a drug overdose to call it quits.

Gov. Strickland's & Lt. Gov. Fisher's economic stimulus plan for Ohio has lofty goals and is needed.

The County Clothing Center at 3377 SR 59 Ravenna had a fund raiser at the Kent American Legion.

The above 2 pics are of Suffield BZA Chairman Mark Frisone serving as MC for The County Clothing Center fund raiser.

A Suffield resident bought the above desk, titled “Nesting Instincts” for a wee bit over $400. This writer bought 2 desks at $50 apiece, showing that a price range is provided to enable all income levels to feel philanthropic. The entry ticket was $25 which included a really good meal. Auctioneer Jerry Cross provided a lot of entertainment as he pulled the bidding ahead. About $30,000 was raised.

Mark also hosts a Thanksgiving morning breakfast that is out of this world and the money goes for social needs in Portage County.

Both events are held at the Kent American Legion at 1945 Mogadore Road Kent, OH next to Land O' Lakes.

It has always struck me that the American Legion shares its 1945 address numbers with the year WW2 ended.

The above quilt went for just over or under $1000. I can never tell where the auctioneer is at and at times unknowingly bid against myself.

The Clothing Center would deliver the desk you purchased for an extra donation.

The desks came from a Kent State Dorm that had been razed. Local artists and artisans were asked to provide the desks with flair and pizazz.

Dental Care

My now retired Dentist once told me of how he viewed the news. As you might expect, it had to do with teeth, only a Dentist would think of this.

Dr. Slife based his idea on the fact that dental care was something people could put off until they had money or pain. He believed that if they had good teeth, they were prospering and if their teeth were poor, they were having financial strain and postponing a trip to the Dentist. Well, you know, that made sense to me.

Fast forwarding to the last U.S. Senate election, former Senator Mike DeWine came to the Suffield Fire Department about some turnout gear that he helped us get. It was a nice nice gathering. However, I told his aide that he wasn't going to be re-elected. Surprised at that, she of course asked why. I went on to explain that I was on a delivery route to Cleveland factories and warehouses and that on my route were many attractive young women who were letting their teeth and smiles deteriorate.

Now a winsome smile is an important thing for a young lady, any lady. When you see these great outgoing kids letting their beauty slide, you know they are not financially well off. They are most often poorly paid in temporary jobs without any benefits. The temporary service takes a considerable percentage of their wages, the company they are serving gets their products handled, and the kids are left with meager lives and bad teeth.

I went on to say that dental clue was a tip that folks are a lot worse off than unemployment statistics report, check out this link,

Labor Market Information , and that folks may not be inclined to vote for a Republican Senator. Well, Mr. DeWine lost to Sherrod Brown.

Bad dental health seems to be an indicator of not fully participating in a prosperous society. That is a pity because poor dental health has been discovered to be a factor in heart disease and strokes because of gum disease somehow affecting the mitral valve in the heart, causing congestive heart failure and exponentially higher medical & social costs.

I wonder how an accountant would work the numbers to compare dental and medical services provided?

Our Oldest Daughter suggests a healthful filling recipe:

Mix together a can of each of these. Do not drain any of the cans. 1. Diced tomatoes 2. Black beans 3. White corn 4. Veg-All 5. Progressive Minestrone Soup

She tells me to carry an apple and a bagel on my job, apples hold up and bagels are edible even if squashed. She thinks I need to eat smarter.

Mary Lohr called to say that she used Hunt's Roasted Tomatoes instead of the diced tomatoes to add more flavor. Mrs Trustee picked up on Mary's suggestion and used Hunt's Garlic Roasted Tomatoes from the Hartville Giant Eagle.

The New Fire House is still on the Drawing Board
The Fire Department and the Suffield Board of Trustees have been studying building a new Fire House at an estimated cost of $2++ million.
The existing 1971 Fire Station may be torn down or added to.
The new structure will be a Fire House because today's volunteers eat and sleep there 24/7.
New mandates for EPA, ADA, and OSHA have rendered the existing building noncompliant. Also, male-female issues require separate showers and sleeping arrangements.
It has been discussed to include a Community Center along with Trustees - Clerk's Offices within footprint of the building. This Trustee wonders about long term parking issues and worries about footprints and fingerprints reaching beyond the Fire Department budget and into the General Fund.
The Fire Chief has placed information on a Township Website and you can click to that from this link - www.suffieldtownshipohio.com

Trustee Mishler attended 2 roadside vegetation management classes in Columbus and like James Bond is now licensed to kill, weeds that is. He is secretly hoping that when his license arrives, its number will end with 007. One month later, dang, it came in at 011, that close.

There is a lot a talk about available water and acquifers. The below link is interesting.

www.nonevadawatergrab.com

There is a www. for any everything and every anything Department:

Zoning Happens in Other Communities Too -

Food, Yard, & Garden  info from the Ohio State Department of Agriculture
What kind of bug is this?
Is this an annual or a perennial?
When is the last frost here?
Click this link: www.ohioline.osu.edu
or put it into your Favorites.

An election year thought:

“What is the use of lying when the truth, well distributed, serves the same purpose.” - W.E. Forster as read in Never be Lied to Again by David Lieberman.

There has been a recent fuss about plagiarism and misused quotes. I remember long ago reading that John F. Kennedy's, “Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your Country.” actually was from an earlier statement by someone else. Hmmm, who'd a thunk it?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that no one has an original thought, its all been thought of before.

Thomas C. Foster wrote How to Read Literature Like a Professor and claimed that all stories and plots can be found in the Bible, Shakespeare, and Mythology. Everything considered modern is just a rehashing. He pretty much advised, don't worry about it, just write.

Singer John Prine in his song “Hello in There” sang that all the news just repeats itself. “We lost Davey in the Korean War, I still don't know what for, don't matter anymore.” Prine is great, he sings about people and stories we've all known, i.e., “Sam Stone,” “There's a hole in Daddy's arm, where all the money goes....” Now if a guy wrote a tune, “There's a Golf Course hole in Suffield, where all the money goes....”, would John Prine be miffed? Probably, because it wasn't what was said, but how closely it was said. Campaigns and coffee shop philosophy have different standards as truth is sought.

The Beastie Boys

I like the title and beat of their song, “Fight for Your Right”. They are singing about the right to PARTY PARTY. Listening to it gets me stirred up to change the thought to the right to Political Party. I don't think those Islamic extremists would let anyone party party or pursue the many entertainments popular today. I think The Beastie Boys should rewrite the “Fight for Your Right” lyrics to become an Anthem of the times like the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” was to another.

Before they rewrite it, I think they should go to a Library and stand in the Literature aisle near Shakespeare's works and then wander over to the Science section to look around at what Western Civilization has created in addition to Democracy. Then rewrite the song in terms of fight for your right to think, learn, express, create, and earn. It might be tempting to dwell on US politics, but the song should be greater than that.

After all, it was only in March '08 that Cubans were allowed to have cell phones and those Asian folks who ship us toothpaste with anti-freeze in it really don't have the same Internet we do.

This year I met Christian Gents from Romania and Egypt who came here for Religious Freedom.

I'm sure that Paul Revere and William Dawes thought, “No Sleep till Freedom.”

To paraphrase an old saying of Politics, “If when young, you don't fight for the right to party, you have no heart. If when older, you don't fight for the right to family, community, values, traditions, Democracy, you have no brain.”

Spring is Here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leaving Strickland's with ice cream.