Trustees request speed limit change

by Dan Holland

Aug. 3 township trustees meeting

Richfield Township Board of Trustees passed a resolution to request from the Ohio Department of Transportation to change the speed limit on Boston Road in the township’s jurisdiction from 55 mph to 35 mph. The action was deemed necessary to match a posted speed limit of 35 mph on the north side of the road that sits in Cuyahoga County.

Township Administrator Mindy Lott, with assistance from Tim Boley of the Summit County Engineer’s Office, put together legislation to send to the ODOT District 4 director for approval.

“They put a section in the Ohio Revised Code some time ago to address a lot of areas that are just like this so that jurisdictions can either decide to accept one of the already established speed limits, or they have to agree on a new speed limit and put in a request on both,” Lott told The Richfield Times. “So, we just want to match what is already established. It’s something we were unaware we were able to do until this issue came up.”

Safety forces contract

Trustee Vice-Chair Don Laubacher shared recent discussions he had with Richfield Village officials regarding a proposed three-year safety forces contract for the township. Under the proposal, the township would agree to a 6% increase in 2024 over the current year’s cost of $609,505 for fire/EMS and $791,876 for police, with 3% increases in 2025 and 2026.

Laubacher explained that a three-year safety forces contract with the village with annual increases of 4% will expire at the end of 2023. A three-year replacement fire/EMS township levy is expected to appear on the ballot next year. The 2.85-mill levy expires in 2023 with collection continuing through 2024.

“I appeared at the Village Finance Committee meeting on [July 31], and they were good with 6-3-3,” said Laubacher.

Laubacher said he agreed to the increases due to the superior safety services the township has received over the years and the difficulty safety forces have experienced in hiring and retaining police and fire personnel.

New township website

Lott announced that the township’s new website would be up and running on Aug. 7.

“It’s a lot more user friendly; it’s easier to read and find information,” Lott said by phone. “One of the nice features is the archived documents. People normally would have had to put in a records request for old agendas and resolutions, but now they can find documents going back to 2001 right on the website without having to put in a request form.”

Other features include electronic applications for filing zoning applications and road opening permits, she added. The site also includes an email notifications tab on which residents can sign up to receive emergency alerts, meeting agendas and minutes and community events information.

Updates

Lott updated the trustees about ongoing road resurfacing work in the Glencairn Forest subdivision. Work this year includes asphalt resurfacing and concrete work for 1.74 miles of roadway as part of a multi-year project that will eventually include all 4.6 miles in the development. The total bid for this year’s work, being performed by Barbicas Construction, came in at $605,277.

“What we’ve been told by the contractor is that they have to finish up the concrete work first, and then come in with the asphalt crew and finish the rest of the asphalt work,” said Larry Fulton of the Summit County Engineer’s Office, who joined the meeting via livestream. “We’ll continue to lean on them to make sure they finish that up.”

Lott also told trustees that new township road signs, featuring the new township logo, are expected to arrive soon. ∞