Trustees approve waste hauling and recycling addendum

Oct. 1 township trustees meeting

by Dan Holland

Richfield Township trustees approved the 2027 Rumpke contract addendum. The township is currently in the second and final extension year of a five-year contract with Rumpke for waste hauling services in conjunction with Richfield Village. The contract with Rumpke – a semiautomated collection program in which the company provides recycling containers – will expire at the end of 2027.

The contract rate in 2027 will increase from $18.76 to $19.60 per household.

“This contract is one example of the things we share with Richfield Village that helps both of us by giving us more clout and leverage in the negotiating process,” Trustee Chair Don Laubacher told The Richfield Times.

Hiring of legal representation approved

Trustees approved a motion to hire Terry Vincent of Roetzel & Andress law firm to represent Richfield Township under Internal Revenue Service Form 2848 Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representation, and Township Administrator Mindy Lott and/or Fiscal Officer Laurie Pinney to represent Richfield Township under Internal Revenue Service Form 8821 Tax Information Authorization.

During the meeting, Pinney said an IRS examination for the 2024 tax year could possibly be related to an error in 2025 on the township’s W-2 forms. Vik Sandhu served as township fiscal officer from April 1, 2024, through Oct. 31, 2025.

Laubacher told The Richfield Times via email that the IRS selected the township’s employment tax return – Form 941 – for examination for the period ending Dec. 31, 2024. The letter does not give a specific reason for the selection.

He added that the township had initially received incorrect 2024 W-2 forms that were subsequently corrected.

According to Laubacher, the township switched accounting systems at the request of Vik Sandhu when he was the fiscal officer. They switched back to the original system after Sandhu resigned.

The stone in front of the Liberty Tree says: “Dedicated by Richfield Township in honor of the 250th Anniversary of American Independence 1776-2026.

“This examination may be routine and simply a request for information, but I thought it prudent to have representation for two reasons: First, Vik is no longer with us, and we no longer use ADP,” he noted. “Second, the IRS is typically more sensitive to payroll tax issues than to other tax issues.”

Liberty Tree planting ceremony

Prior to the trustees meeting, a Liberty Tree planting ceremony was held in front of the Township Administration and Service Department building in commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary. A “Liberty” Elm, planted adjacent to the entrance drive, includes a ground plaque that reads “Dedicated by Richfield Township in honor of the 250th Anniversary of American Independence 1776-2026.”

“Today, the trustees of Richfield Township are planting a Liberty Elm, reminding us that pursuing and protecting liberty are our goals today and will be for all centuries that it takes this elm to grow, and well beyond,” Laubacher read during the ceremony.

“The original Liberty Tree in Boston meant so much to the founding of the country, and there were lessons in that tree that we should never forget; making sure that liberty and the freedoms we have remain intact,” Laubacher told The Richfield Times. “So, this planting is just a reminder to all of us of just how important those tenets are, and we wanted to have it in a prominent place with a nice plaque, so that when we’re all gone, the tree will survive on, and what it represents will live on.”

In other business, trustees approved:

  • Hiring Rick Kovak as a seasonal on-call employee at the rate of $28 per hour starting Nov. 23, with a minimum of 12 hours per pay period available during the on-call snow-plowing season from Dec. 1 through April.
  • Increasing the pay rate for Denise DuBois by $1 per hour to a total of $28 per hour, effective with the Oct. 16 pay date, and changing her title to zoning administrator.
  • Accepting an in-kind donation in an amount not to exceed $160 from Richfield Joint Recreation District for tickets to the Oct. 22 comedy show.
  • Payment of $5,375 to EnviroScience from the OEPA Grant fund as a then-and-now certificate.