Northfield Village Council Meeting 2-12 (VIDEO) Nick Latona Retires, Discussions with Swensons and more

By Julie D’Aloiso

The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

A video of the entire meeting is located at the bottom of this page.

Red Cross Looking for Donations

Ally Varley spoke before council about the urgent need for blood donors. American Red Cross is working with a shortage currently. The American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society are working together to help get more donors to give blood to save lives. They say that they accept donations of all blood types, and cancer patients are always in need of donations. So please consider being a donor.

Discussions with Swensons

Mayor Nehez mentioned in the council meeting that the village is talking with Swensons now. He will let everyone know when he gets more information from them.
On February 10th, we broke the news that Macedonia had backed out of their plans to come to Macedonia. See related story.

Fire Department, Chief Jason Buss Report

Nick Latona honored

Nick has served the Village of Northfield since August 25^th, 2004. Nick retired as of 2-12-2020. He has also been a resident of the community for many years.  He was part of helping the department grow and change as the community evolved.  We thank him for his dedication and service to the community and wish him the very best in his future endeavors!

Nick was overcome with emotion when he said: “Thank you Northfield Village for letting me be a part of this family. It’s hard to leave. I am always with you. Be safe. Thank you.”

Fire Department Activity Report

• A detailed copy of any fire department activity is available upon request.
• NVFD ended 2019 with 844 Incidents (81% EMS 19% Fire, 4% Increase over 2018)
• Call Statistics – As February 12th, 2020 responded to a total of 87 incidents in 2020 (-23% under last year at this time). Of NVFD’s total responses, 69 (79%) of those incidents were EMS related and 18 (21%) incidents were FIRE related.
• Mutual Aid Report – In 2020, NVFD provided mutual aid for 5 incidents, provided automatic aid 2 times, and received mutual aid for 2 incidents and automatic aid for 0 (Total MA received in 2013 was 13, 2014 was 15, 2015 was 22, 2016 was 28, 2017 was 26, 2018 was 29, 2019 was 26)

• NVFD’s Average Response Time from time of call till time on scene is 3:27
• MGM & NVRC Stats – NVFD responded to 20 medical / 0 fire incidents at MGM/NPRT and 3 medical / 0 fire incidents at NVRC in 2020 Fire Inspector / Prevention Report (February 12, 2020)
• 7 Annual Fire Inspections have been completed
• 0 Hood/Duct/Alarm/Sprinkler Tests have been completed
• 8 Standby Events at MGM
• 2017 OFC Radio Compliance Test Due at MGM on 7/2019

Department News / Upcoming Events

Fire Station Remodel – Project continues to move forward.  At least 16 general contractors have picked up bid packages as of today.  This morning we had a pre bid meeting at the fire station and over 40 people representing trades and contractors were in attendance. The bids will be opened on Monday, February 24^th after 4PM.

Engineer, Rich Wasosky’s Report      

• Subject: Houghton Road Reconstruction and S.R. 8 Traffic Signals Improvements Project
  Comment: The traffic signal installations at S.R. 8 and Houghton Road and S.R. 8 and Maple Avenue are complete, except for the overhead mast arm mounted street signs. Both intersections have been turned on and the equipment has been operating well. The crosswalks and stop bars painting has been completed. The traffic signal poles and signals at the Fire Station were completed last week, except for the detector for the Fire Station Drive. The signal will not be turned on until the detector is installed. Hopefully this will be before the end of the month.
  I had to send significantly more paperwork to the NEORSD in order for them to process our grant for $106,510.00. I hope to receive the money by mid March.
• Subject: Dollar General Final Plans
  Comment: Summit Soil and Water has approved the plans, and the Design Engineer delivered the final corrected plans to the Village Service Department today. I will review the final set and sign the cover sheet so that the Developer can obtain the Village Zoning Certificate.
• Subject: 2019 NEORSD Compliance Forms
  Comment: I mailed a copy of the Village’s 2019 Compliance Forms to NEORSD this week.
• Subject: Village of Northfield Phase II Dry Weather Screening
  Comment: Summit County Public Health screened 26 sites in the Village in 2019 and found 0 nuisances. The Village is in good shape.
• Subject: Memorandum of Agreement between Summit County Public Health and the Village
  Comment: The Memorandum of Agreement for 2020 needs to be signed by the Mayor. Summit County Public Health does the Dry Weather screenings for the Village at no cost to the Village. NEORSD picks up their fees. This is a very good program that we have been participating in over the past decade, and we should continue doing so.
• Subject: U.S. Census Bureau Map
  Comment: I reviewed the Census Bureau map for 2020. The map boundaries and callouts were correct. I sent back the completed verification form this week.

Councilperson Renell Noack talked about a new event this year. There will be an Adult Easter Egg Hunt on April 3rd at 7pm. Tickets will be $20 for residents, $25 for non residents in advance. At the door the cost is $25 for residents and $30 for non residents. The location has not been finalized as of yet. The Traditional Easter Egg Hunt will be on April 4th. The Easter Bunny will be making his rounds on the fire truck and then will “hop” over to Smith Park at 4:00 for the actual hunting of the eggs.
Renell also mentioned that there will be a work-session on the 26th at 7:00 pm before the regular council meeting to discuss paper work received from Northfield Center regarding the police department.
Councilperson Gary Vojtush asked that ordinance 2020-05 pertaining to holidays for full-time employees be tabled. In a work-session before the council meeting there were some discussions about changes that are needed. The ordinance was already at its second reading. Once the wording is approved he would like to see a new ordinance in it’s place with a new number. This will give people time to give input into the new legislation.

If you look at the agenda (link is at the top of this page) you will see some of the wording that needs changing.