Austintown trustees appoint chairman

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

Township trustees began their first meeting of the year by appointing newest board member, Jim Davis, as chairman for 2011.

Davis, who was elected in November 2009, took over chairman duties — previously held by Trustee David Ditzler — at Monday night’s regular meeting. Trustee Lisa Oles was appointed vice chairwoman for 2011.

The trustees also set their regular meeting schedule for 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at Austintown Township Hall on Ohltown Road.

During the meeting, Joyce Gottron, park supervisor, said Christmas-tree recycling will continue through Jan. 31.

Gottron said township residents can drop off their trees between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Austintown Township Park on Kirk Road. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will then load the trees and take them to Portage Lake for disposal, she said.

“ODNR hauls the trees to Portage Lake where they bundle them and tie them off with cement blocks,” she said. “They sink them, and it provides a habitat for fish.”

Gottron said Austintown previously chipped the trees, but the new program is more time- and cost-effective. Though she didn’t have figures on how much the township spent on chipping, Gottron said it would take two or three employees two full work days to chip more than 500 trees.

“Environmentally, this method is more sound,” she said.

Gottron said other communities participating in the ODNR program include Berlin, Canfield, Milton, Ellsworth, Goshen, Green, Jackson, Springfield, Poland and Smith townships as well as Struthers and Lowellville.