Welcome to Suffield Township

Suffield Township Board of Trustees meetings are some of the better attended meetings in the county.  A typical crowd is usually ten to twelve residents.  Tonight the number swelled to fifteen as the trustees held their monthly "bill paying meeting".  Of course they signed checks to pay bills, but they also discussed several items of concern.  

Trustee Tom Calcei spoke on the Fire Department's Open House held this past Sunday, saying it was a rousing success with about 500 attendees and great weather.  He also mentioned that the ambulance that was scheduled for warranty repainting had to be rescheduled and will not be done for several more weeks, but in the meantime the ambulance is still here in the township and available for calls.  Calcei also spoke about the Portage County Budget Commission's meetings on finding a fair and equitable manner to distribute "Local Government Funds" to all the political subdivisions.  Calcei motioned, and trustee Jeff Eldreth seconded, a resolution asking the county budget commission accept the township's plan for distributing the local government funds.  The resolution passed 3-0.

Jeff Eldreth wanted to remind everyone that the township LEAF DUMP is now open at 558 Etter Road.  He also wanted to remind everyone that no one should go there after sundown.  There is also caution tape placed on the Etter Road property which is posted to show an area where leaves should not be dumped.  Eldreth also said he would have the Road Department look into a complaint of a view obstruction on Martin Road at Randolph Road.

Two residents who live on Martin Road at Garner Drive attended the meeting to complain about the excessive amount of light the the streetlight in front of their home casts.  David Vartenuk said he has already been in contact with Dana Heffner at First Energy and they have a received a shield to reduce the amount of light and hope to install it sometime this or next week.   

Trustee Chairman David Vartenuk called upon Adam Bey to report on zoning issues.  There were no new problems, but the old ones were being worked on.  Some progress is being made on the derelict property on Carriage House Lane, the old Copeland's Landing property is a little better, but still a mess, the lawns at the corner of Waterloo Road and Inglewood Drive and the property at 81 Bolender Road still need mowed.  Nothing new to be reported on the cleanup of the old Monarch-Teledyne property. 

The trustees meet again on Tuesday October 24th at 7:00 AM.  The Zoning Commission meets on Wednesday October 11th at 7:00 PM, and the Board of Zoning Appeals has two hearings coming up, but no dates have been set for either.

This was the first of the new morning meetings for the Suffield Township Board of Trustees.  At the July 25th meeting the trustees voted to change their regularly scheduled second meeting of each month, which will still be held on the fourth Tuesday as usual, but it will be held at 7:00 AM instead of 8:00 PM.  The meeting on Tuesday September 26th was the first morning meeting under this new format. 

The three residents who showed up the watch government in action were treated to reports by the three department heads.  Fire Chief Robert Rasnick asked that the trustees acknowledge the resignation of firefighter Jason Purkey from the Fire Department.  Purkey is a full-time firefighter in Richfield and had his work schedule changed there and does not have the time to participate here.   The trustees voted to accept his resignation.  Rasnick said that the new radio upgrades recently installed have improved communications immensely.  He also said that one of the ambulances will be out to service for about three weeks for repairs.  During this time he asked for permission to spent $100 per day to rent an ambulance from Superior Sales.  The trustees agreed to his request.  Chief Rasnick said that the Fire Department's Annual Open House will be Sunday October 8th from 11:00 AM until 3:00 PM.

Trustee Tom Calcei said that the Portage County townships and the Portage County cities and villages are still working an a compromise to distribute about $3.5 million in Local Government Funds beginning in 2018.  When they adopt a formula for the distribution, it will stand for the next ten years.  For this reason, Calcei wants to make sure the townships get as much of the pie as possible.  The trustees voted to accept a bid from Elegant Christmas Tree Lighting for $1,800 to decorate the Town Hall and Administration Building this holiday season.

Adam Bey gave the Zoning Inspectors report.  He said that the had issued several miscellaneous permits and arbitrated several neighbor disputes.  There was nothing new on the Carriage House situation.

Road Superintendent Scott McBroom gave a report on what the Road Department was doing recently.  They have been busy with patching, which is nearly done for the season, replacing several culverts, and painting stop bars.  They also took down some trees and limbs along Martin Road to improve visibility near Etter Road.  Trustee Jeff Eldreth said that he wanted to talk with McBroom about possibly hiring someone next spring to work as "summer help" from April until about September.  He cited the need to have a fourth person available for flagging when necessary.  He suggested that with a fourth employee the issue of using Road Department employees to do mowing in the cemeteries could be revisited.  Eldreth also asked that Sunday October 29th be Trick or Treat Day in Suffield. The trustees agreed and set the times as 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM.

After some discussion, the trustees voted 2-1 to rent the Administration Building to Lauren Luli for $650 per month.  She plans to use the space as a real estate office.  Luli will not have access to the walk-in safe, will pay the building's utilities, will maintain the lighted flag pole and will not have a sign in front of the building.  The agreement with Luli will be for one year, beginning in January 2018.  The trustee meetings will move to the Community Room at the Fire House and the Zoning Inspector will move his operations to the Fire House as well.  More on this later.

Advertise yourself, your business or where you work by sending us your business card.  We will put it in the section above on the title bar that is entitled "Business Cards".  There is no cost to you, and the card will remain there until you ask that it be taken down, or when you ask us to replace an old card with a new, more up-to-date card.  You can e-mail the card to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or snail mail it to Jeff Childers, 229 Waterloo Road, Suffield, Ohio 44260. 

After taking the summer off, the Suffield Township Historical Society's Speak Series returned tonight, Monday September 18th, as Dan Duma and Matt Moulton, gave a presentation on last spring's sensational relief effort by local farmers to help fellow farmers in southwestern Kansas.  These Kansas and Oklahoma farmers had been plagued by wild fires that had destroyed many farms and burned about 700,000 acres of grasslands.  The crowd of about 60 sat mesmerized as Duma and Moulton told of the high levels of emotion that played out during the daunting three day trip.  Thirty-seven trucks from the Suffield area, loaded with hay, made the trip.  Duma said that there were lots to flat tires and two accidents on the trip.  What some didn't realize was that the original trip on March 22nd was just the first of two trips to Kansas.  A second trip took place about a month later, and this trip involved about 50 trucks.  Some of the drivers stayed in Kansas for up to two weeks helping to restore fence lines.

Gino Calcei, creator of the Speaker Series, said that he hoped someone would memorialize the event as an important part of Suffield's history by creating a notebook for the Historical Society to include an explanation of why the trip was made, the names of the participants and photos.  All residents can be proud of  these men, and women, that undertook this important rescue mission.     

Joseph M. Smerglia, one of the longest serving members of the Suffield Township Zoning Commission, passed away September 7th at the Ahuja Medical Center in Cleveland.  He was appointed to the Zoning Commission on January 10, 1974 and served many years as the chairman until he retired from the commission at the end of 2000.    

He was born April 30, 1932 in Akron to the late Leo and Maria (Miceli) Smerglia and graduated from Case Institute of Technology. He was an environmental engineer for Goodyear.

Joseph Smerglia was the beloved husband of Janet (nee Chambers) Smerglia; loving father of daughters Lisa (Scott) Moyer of Stow, Cathy (Paul) Mowrer of Lahaina, HI, and Carol (Doug) Downing of Sneads Ferry, NC; son, Joel (Tracey Smith) Smerglia of Mogadore; treasured grandfather of Brian, Michelle, Kyle, Ian, Ross, Cameron, Amanda (Jeffrey), Alex, and Brendan; dear sisters-in-law, Eula (Leo), Mary Fran (Jimmy), and Carolyn (Van) Carter; cherished uncle to many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by brothers and sisters: Tony, Sammy, Rose Koller, Charles, Mary Malzan, Leo, Billy, Jeanette, Angie Patterson, Annie Kaschewski, and Jimmy.

Calling hours will be held 2-4 & 6-8 PM Friday, September 22nd at Bissler & Sons Funeral Home in Kent. Celebration of Life will be held at Faith United Methodist Church in Brimfield on Sunday, September 24 at 1:00 PM, with dinner to follow.

Memorial contributions may be made to Faith United Methodist Church of Brimfield, 1235 Tallmadge Road, Kent, OH 44240 or ChildFund International 2821 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, VA 23294.