BUCYRUS—On Tuesday evening, a meeting was held in the Youth Building at the Crawford County Fairgrounds between the Crawford County Commissioners and representatives of the Ohio Township Association.
This meeting was called by the Crawford County Township Association to discuss issues happening within the county.
The first topic for discussion came from Liberty Township was the waterline on Stetzer road going out to Stephanie Drive. The question asked was that for anybody who accepts water, does the city expect them to annex.
Doug Weisenauer, one of the county commissioners, said, “No. We have the final say in the annexation, and I don’t agree with that. It has to be contiguous to the city limits and they are waiving that.”
Jamie Sherk, a Liberty Township trustee, asked Weisenauer when the township trustees would be included in the waterline project. “We still haven’t had anyone come to a meeting, nobody said anything to us.”
“Makeever and Crall both came to the trustees meeting a couple of years ago, and nothing has changed since then,” Weisenauer said.
Sherk stated that it’s been a one-sided conversation being that the township trustees haven’t been told anything in two years and surveying has been done. “We have people come and ask us questions and we have to look at them and tell them that we don’t know, and we are the ones that are running their township. So, if we don’t get involved with what is going on, how are we supposed to be able to explain it?”
Weisenauer stated that he has nothing to do with the waterline going in on Stetzer road, so there is not much that he knows to be able to help the township out.
The next topic for discussion at the meeting was the landfill, which is owned by the county and managed by Rumpke. One of the things in question with the landfill was the new, heavy trucks that Rumpke uses that are reportedly tearing up some roads.
The trucks are legally allowed to carry 100,000 pounds, and at the meeting, an individual said that he has knowledge of the trucks carrying over 100,000 which is illegal without a permit.
Another one of the issues discussed was the out-of-county trash that comes in, and whether or not that could be done away with. Weisenauer said that if the landfill were to rely on only Crawford County trash, the landfill could not afford to stay in operation.
A question asked was if there are any plans for after the landfill is full, to which Weisenauer said that that decision is currently being discussed, but that the county estimates that there is enough real estate in the area to keep the landfill going for another one hundred years. The state auditor is currently doing a performance audit on it that should be done soon to provide answers.
Another topic of discussion of the night was that there is a definite lack of communication between the townships and the county commissioners, and it was proposed that there be a few meetings held every year where township trustees and the county commissioners meet and discuss things going on to open communication back up.
One of the last topics for discussion was why properties are given extensions on back taxes. In Sulphur Springs, there are properties that theoretically should be torn down due to the state of them, one of them being the old post office on the corner of St. Rte. 98 and Ridgeton Annapolis Road. The structure was left uninhabitable after a fire back in November of 2017.
“We have been to the health department and we have been to the prosecuting attorney. We were dead right to get that property through auction last time until they were given another extension,” Sherk said.
The Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department and the township trustees have received multiple calls over the years of people who are concerned about the structure and any potential things that could go wrong, such as it collapsing and falling onto 98 or Ridgeton and potentially causing serious injury.
“Why can’t we get the health department out there? The septic system was supposed to be pumped and inspected so he could hook his above ground tank to it. He was told that he could go ahead and do it, yet it has never been pumped,” Sherk said.
Weisenauer said that that property comes up at the land bank meeting every month as they are trying to get it but are unable to.
It was stated that under the Ohio Revised Code, it is spelled out how they could potentially get the property, but that the county prosecutor doesn’t want to do that.
It was also brought up that there is a property on Route 19 that individuals have spent $3,500 to clean the property up, but the next day another individual hauls more trash in and dumps it there. The people trying to get the place cleaned up tried going through the health department. The only way they could get the guy would be to get someone to take their case or hire a private attorney, but at that point, the property isn’t worth the money they would be spending to go to court.
It was also stated that there are kids involved, but they can’t get the health department to go out and check on them and their wellbeing.
“Isn’t there something in place, I’ve been told, that if our legal representative can’t cover us, then the county has to pay for a representative to support your township,” Sherk questioned. “If Crall can’t handle it, then we need to hire another attorney. What do we do if he won’t or can’t handle it? The county is supposed to provide us with legal representation.”
There are several houses in situations like this across the townships in the county.
The question was raised as to why the county prosecutor, Matthew Crall, doesn’t want to move forward against those properties, to which it was stated that Crall said he is not in the business of taking people’s homes.
The discussion on the matter ended there.
At the end of the meeting, Mike Taylor, a sales consultant from Enzo’s Cleaning Solutions, LLC in Sandusky brought several different sanitation products that townships can purchase using CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funding.