Trustees approve expenditure of federal funds

by Dan Holland

Nov. 3 township trustees meeting

Richfield Township Trustees authorized expenditures from American Rescue Plan Act funds received in 2021-2022, which totaled $262,296.

A resolution authorized the township to utilize the federal funds to update and upgrade the township website, digitize zoning department records and purchase a back-up generator for the township administrative and service building.

Township Administrator Mindy Lott said that Revize will provide an updated website at a cost not to exceed $12,500. Lott said the website design company has done work for several area municipalities, including Bath.

“We would be looking at one of their pre-designed layouts to save on the cost,” said Lott. “A large portion of the cost is migrating our documents onto a search feature with all of our resolutions and meeting agendas going back to 2001.”

Added options will include a redesigned township logo and an emergency email notification feature on the site. Additional costs will include $2,000 for annual site maintenance and $500 for the notification system.

Avalon Document Services will provide digital scanning of township zoning records at a cost of $12,870. Comdoc will provide DocuWare Software for the initial setup for $3,720. The software, which allows up to four users, will have an annual maintenance cost of $3,120.

Lott said that representatives from Avalon demonstrated a sample scan of their digitizing process to her and Township Zoning Inspector Patricia Ryan.

“We were really impressed with the software,” said Lott. “It has a lot of ways that the record can be manipulated. … It also allows the use of fillable forms, which will be very useful on the new website.”

“It’s nice in how it can be used between departments,” added Ryan. “When I take in an application fee, I’ll write a receipt, make a copy with the check and then put a copy in the file; then I scan it and put it in a digital file. With this system, we can share all of that, which is a huge time saver and a lot easier. For road opening permits, we can put those in the files as well.”

Lott added that the site would allow for online credit card payments for road opening and zoning application permit fees.

With the federal funds, Broadview Heating & Air Conditioning will install a whole building generator at a cost not to exceed $43,648. Funds in the amount of $5,897 escrowed in the NOPEC account will be applied to the purchase cost, said Lott.

Trustee Chairperson Janet Jankura said the combined expenditures would leave approximately $175,000 in the township ARPA fund. She said remaining funds could be used for road projects or could be applied to current levies to provide a tax reduction to township residents.

The ARPA funds need to be obligated by the end of 2024 and expended by the end of 2026. The trustees approved a $20,000 expenditure from the funds in May to purchase a brush chipper from the Richfield Joint Recreation District.

Parks

Following discussions with Don Stray, manager for the Cleveland Metroparks’ Hinckley Reservation, Trustee Don Laubacher reported that although the Metroparks have allowed the south ball field at Rising Valley Park to return to its natural state, there are no current plans to do so with the north ball field, which still sees heavy recreational usage.

The township gifted the 45-acre park to the Cleveland Metroparks in Fall 2021.

Roads

Lott reported that the Newton Road Culvert project, expected to start in November, would have a section of the road closed until about Dec. 15.

Seasonal worker

In other action, the trustees passed a motion to hire Rick Kovak as a seasonal, on-call employee with the service department at a rate of $24 per hour to join the winter snowplowing crew.

Announcements

Laubacher noted that the Winter Wonders event would take place Dec. 3 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Lodge at Richfield Heritage Preserve. ∞