The Board of Deerfield Township Trustees met in regular session on Monday July 8th, 2024 6:00 pm,at the Deerfield Town Hall with Trustees Charles “Ed” Dean, Laura Lindberg and Tiffany Havens present. Tiffany opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Budget Meetinq:

• Tiffany announced that for the year of 2025 the general fund budget will be $114,952.
• Motor vehicle license tax fund $7,025.
• Gasoline fund tax $150,000.
• Road and bridge fund $82,200.
• Cemetery fund $8,000.

                               Fire fund $432,277.

• Permissive licensing tax fund $28,050.

                                General bond fund $15,528.

• Private purpose trust $5.00 interest.
• Ed made a motion to accept the budget for 2025 Laura seconded and Tiffany said yes, the roll call vote was unanimous.
• Ed made a motion to accept the June 10 ,2024 meeting minutes Laura seconded and Tiffany said yes. The roll call vote was unanimous. 
• Laura made a motion to accept the minutes from June 24th 2024 Ed seconded and Tiffany said yes. The roll call vote was unanimous.

            Ed made a motion to accept the meeting minutes from the special meeting June                                      .      29th 2024 Laura seconded and Tiffany said yes. The roll call vote was unanimous.

Public Commentarv:

• Stephanie Krouse asked about having a local girl scout meeting at the townhall. Tiffany made a motion that pending the scheduling the girl scout troop could meet at the townhall once a month on a Tuesday. Laura seconded and Ed said yes. The roll call vote was unanimous.

Communications:

• Received the example from the prosecutor for the signs to be posted in regards to parking in the Hartzel cemetery.
• Matt Kelly Portage County Auditor would like to set up a meeting to go over tax assessments and increases throughout Portage County. Tentatively scheduling for August 12th at 5pm.
• Ed shared communication from the Auditor of the State about Fraud Reporting and Training required by the state.
• Tiffany shared a complaint from Carl Meyers regarding sexual harassment multiple times on township property.
• Ed made the motion to start an investigation Laura seconded and Tiffany abstained from voting. Ed and Laura said yes to the roll call and Tiffany abstained.
• Ed stated that he was at the post office picking up the Chief Dean’s mail when the Postmaster stopped him and asked if he would sign for the certified letter for the trustees.  Ed stated he contacted the prosecutor to ask for guidance because he has never come across this before, and was advised to launch an investigation right away. Ed then stated with that being said we have to hire an investigator. Trustees can do investigations legally but Ed stated that he wasn’t going to do it and didn’t think they wanted to do it and Tiffany wouldn’t be allowed. Ed stated they would have to hire someone and the prosecutors suggestions were an investigative attorney, detective from Portage County Sheriffs department, a retired investigator with an extensive background in investigations.

              Laura stated she didn’t know any retired police officers.

• Ed stated that this wasn’t suggested by the Portage County Prosecutors office; there was a Retired Career Police Officer with many years of investigation background and is willing to investigate for no charge. Prosecutors office states that they have worked with him multiple times and he is very thorough in his investigations.
• Laura stated she was going to call the prosecutor’s office to check into the investigator.

                   Ed stated to Laura that the investigation needed to be started immediately. What are we                                                                                                                                                                                                                  .       going to do? They won’t give you suggestions or tell you who to hire. We need to move

                   forward with this immediately.

• Laura stated that she was going to call and talk to them tomorrow, this was the first she was finding out about it.
• Ed asked so what is our step right now?
• Laura stated that she was going to call and talk to them tomorrow.
• Ed asked so what is our immediate step right now then?
• Tiffany stated well right now I can tell you that I will excuse myself from being involved with any voting for the road department and from being on the premises until the investigation has been resolved.
• Ed stated that if we don’t choose tonight we do have to have a meeting to announce who we do choose that is public record that’s all i’m saying.
• Laura asked what are the other options?
• Ed said to call the sheriffs office and ask for a detective, or an attorney.
• Laura said she would rather have a sheriffs deputy do the investigation.
• Ed stated that it was fine with him if the sheriff would allow one to do it, we would have to go through the channels for that.
• Someone asked who we were investigating?
• Tiffany answered me.

               Ed stated I am ok with moving forward with hiring a detective from the sheriffs office to do                            .      this investigation.

      Tiffany stated and I honestly don’t know what my rights are to even vote on that            .    because I haven’t spoken with the legal council either so.

• Someone spoke up and asked what happens if the sheriffs office tells you to pound salt then who are you reaching out to?
• Laura answered well an attorney can do it as well  Same person asked yes, but who?
• Laura stated yeah well since I just found out about it right now I haven’t had the chance to call any attorneys or any deputies.
• Brian Kelderhouse suggested having a special meeting set up for next week.  Ed agreed we will have to move forward.
• Gary Leifheit asked if the sheriff department would charge for that service?

• Crowd: Yes!
• John Girscht said $40-$55 an hour probably
• Ed said they will do it because it’s an elected official in the township. The prosecutor said that the sheriffs office has done investigations in the past. He said that’s not saying the sheriffs office will do it , but they have in the past. They will ask for a fee but would have to check with the sheriffs department.
• Tiffany asked would you like to call for a meeting at a specified time and date?

               Ed said he was fine with that, he just didn’t want to not do something right now, so we               .         know what we are doing that’s all.

• Ed asked Laura how long she needed.
• Laura responded she would call in the morning.
• Tiffany stated that these accusations have to be taken seriously so there will have to be an investigation.
• Tracey questioned if there was a motion for Laura to call the sheriffs office.
• Someone in the crowd asked if the retired police officer was good and free, why not give him a call?

      Ed said in all fairness these 2 are just now finding out about this, they did just find out about it. The only reason I knew prior to them was I picked up the mail from the post office and the postmaster informed me of a certified letter for the trustees you have to sign for. And he would want a little bit of time to think about it if it was him.

• Laura said yes I just had it dropped on me just now,but I will call the sheriffs department in the morning at the business office.

          A discussion occurred about having a special meeting to discuss the investigation. Advanced public notifications and town hall scheduling conflicts were discussed. Ed stated that he couldn’t see why it couldn’t wait until our next scheduled meeting July 22nd to make a decision as to how the investigation was to proceed.

• Tiffany wrote a letter to the owner of the property with the tall grass behind the dollar store. Tiffany made a motion for all trustees to sign and send the letter to the owners of the property Ed seconded and Laura said yes. The roll call vote was unanimous.

Road Department:

Ed made a motion to approve the application for the Bandy Rd. and Fewtown Rd.

project Laura seconded Tiffany abstained from voting. Ed and Laura said yes to the roll call and Tiffany abstained.

Ed made a motion to buy additional 24″ pipe for $477 to complete the project on Fewtown Rd. Laura seconded Tiffany abstained. Roll call Laura and Ed said yes and Tiffany abstained.

Ed made a motion to purchase one additional load of 411 gravel Laura seconded Tiffany abstained. Roll call Laura and Ed said yes to the roll call and Tiffany abstained.

• Roadside mowing to continue.
• Ed made a motion for K&D trucking to fix the sending units and get the truck on the road again Laura seconded, Tiffany abstained. Laura and Ed said yes to the roll call and

Tiffany abstained.

 John Girscht has offered to help with the chase truck for roadside mowing for free.Ed said this would be ok since he was an FD employee and would be covered under our insurance.

Buildings & Grounds:

• The little white building at Deerfield cemetery needs to be scraped and painted. Ed picked up the trail cams and they will be installed this week.

Fire Department:

Month of June 41- Calls, 21- medical, 8- fire, 7- service, 5- motor vehicle accidents 191 calls to date.

Chief Dean announced with all new EMR and employees the department provided mutual aid 11 times and only received mutual aid twice.

Chief Dean announced the resignation of Clarence and Barb Simpson He stated that they didn’t have the time anymore and they wanted to thank the trustees and the FD.

Tiffany asked Chief Dean if he had a copy of the resignation to present.

Chief Dean stated that he didn’t have it with him but agreed to provide a copy for the trustees.

Oil changed in squad 14

Tiffany announced a public hearing that was to take place today was postponed until the next meeting July 22nd related to failed service of notification to the involved party.

Tiffany asked Chief Dean about deactivation of members for inactivity. Chief Dean confirms and explains that 8 members of the department did not meet criteria for the 7% of calls and two shifts of availability and that their stats were low. He sent letters to these members asking them to meet with him prior to the 24th and that they were sent out twice by certified mail and also by regular mail. He explained that there were three members who resigned, three that never replied, and one that met with them and learned about getting into good standing. Tiffany asked Chief Dean to confirm that one of these affected members was Lindsay Davis, and he confirmed. Tiffany states that it is not in our best interest to deactivate a member who is involved in an investigation. Chief Dean asked Tiffany if she had contacted our attorney about this and Tiffany confirmed that she had discussed this issue with Attorney Beck.

Tiffany made a motion to keep Lindsey Davis active while she is involved in a pending investigation and revisit her status after the investigation was complete. Laura seconded and Ed voted no. Roll call Laura yes, Ed no, Tiffany Yes.

Ed asked if Lindsay Davis had even bothered contacting the chief to get a meeting. Lindsay Davis answered from the audience that she made attempts to meet with Chief Dean but he wasn’t available. Ed asked Lindsay if she was available and willing to work hours. Lindsay answered that she would not until the completion of the investigation because nothing was currently being done.

New Business

• Ed Brought up reservations for the town hall to be made via phone with confirmation. Calendar on the website doesn’t reflect all dates town hall is booked or available.
• There was discussion about the schedule to rent the town hall being overlapped due to people emailing. Tiffany suggested stating reservations to be made by phone only and Tracey and Nancy both agreed.

Public Commentary:

John asked for the prosecuting attorney to have Tiffany to step down while she was being investigated.

Ed explained that’s not how the process works.

Tiffany told John she appreciated his concern.

John has also stated that the township will go broke if they handle the investigation the same as the investigation going on in the Fire Department.

An Audience member spoke up and asked what is a hearing going to do? It’s only going to be people yelling back and forth and you two doing whatever the hell you want to do.

Tiffany stated the hearing is going to be run by an attorney.

John argues that one of the persons under investigation is suspended from the fire department and thinks Tiffany should be suspended also. He thinks it’s crooked. Bobbi Williams asked the trustees to review the SOP’S and SOG’S Tiffany suggested that a group be formed to go over the gaps in the procedures.Bobbie also inquired about the process of FD members requesting funds for training and who was responsible for approving the funds. Bobbie stated that the rules were not being evenly applied. Tiffany and Chief Dean briefly discuss the creation of a committee to review the fire department’s policy and procedure manual and agree to table the topic until our next meeting.

A question was asked about the status of the fire department addition. Ed responded that 4 companies have copies of the blueprints to bid the job. Once they have the bid the blueprints still have to be sent to the county for approval.

 Ed asked the community for additional bids.

Tiffany Announced the second meeting on July 22 at 6pm.

August 12th at 5pm with Matt Kelly about property assessments.

Tiffany made a motion to adjourn the meeting and pay bills Laura seconded, Ed said yes and the roll callvote was unanimous