CANFIELD TWP. Road paving funding talk will trail bids

A meeting will be held to discuss septic problems on Messerly Road.
CANFIELD -- Township trustees are waiting to discuss how they will pay for repaving Fairway and McCarty drives until after they open bids for the projects.
Trustees unanimously approved a resolution Monday to seek bids for the project. It was the same resolution Trustee Judy Bayus had voted against last month.
A unanimous vote is needed to approve road improvement projects, unless residents of more than half of the homes on a road sign petitions seeking the projects. Trustee Bill Reese said more than half of the residents of McCarty and Fairway drives have signed petitions seeking the repaving project since Bayus voted against the resolution.
Was opposed
Bayus voted against the resolution because she didn't want trustees to transfer money from the general fund into the road fund to pay for the work. She said she wants the township to pay using its permissive fund, as it has in the past.
On Monday, Bayus voted for the resolution after Reese said trustees wouldn't discuss how they would pay for the projects until after the bids are opened. Trustees would need to vote to accept a bid before work can begin.
Reese said trustees most likely would discuss paying for the project, as well as the petitions, at their meeting in early August.
Septic systems
On Monday, Bayus also said she expects to hold a second meeting with local residents and Mahoning County officials soon to discuss septic system problems around Messerly Road.
The only residents invited to the first meeting, held April 29, were those who lived on Messerly Road. Bayus said residents of other streets in that area will be invited to the second meeting.
Trustees also voted Monday night to seek bids for a 7-foot-tall sign to be installed in front of township hall. The sign will list the dates of township meetings.
Trustees also are seeking applications from residents interested in serving as members of the township board of zoning appeals or as alternates to the township zoning commission. The deadline to apply is the end of this month.