AUSTINTOWN — Township trustees approved a resolution Monday that could allow them to be reimbursed in the future for a $500,000 stormwater project.

Austintown is part of the ABC Water District, along with Canfield and Boardman townships, but unlike residents of the other two townships, Austintown residents do not pay a fee to the district. That means that no projects get done in Austintown by the district.

The resolution the trustees passed states that if Austintown ever begins paying into the district, the township will be reimbursed for the cost of replacing three culverts that trustee Robert Santos said is estimated to cost a combined $500,000. Right now, the township must find a way to cover that cost in the road department budget.

“What this will do is if today, tomorrow, 10 years from now, the ABC Water District initiates a fee, the township would get reimbursed for these three projects. This is not a motion to initiate anything, it’s just a motion saying if the district ever does initiate a fee down the line, we can bill them for reimbursement,” Santos said.

Santos said he will try every other solution before enacting a fee on residents, which he said is estimated to be $37 a year. This fee would only be able to be used by the district for stormwater projects. The district, not the township, would decide to enact the fee, Santos said, but it would have to host public hearings first.

The three collapsed culverts that need to be replaced are on Pinebrook Court, Fitch Boulevard and Wyndcliff Circle. Santos said they are creating large sinkholes.

“It never should have gotten to this point,” Santos said. “I personally feel the township failed. Not us — we’re newly elected — but we have to take responsibility for even past individuals. It’s our job now to fix it. I, as a member of the ABC Water District, definitely do not want to have another fee implemented. I’m doing everything I can to make sure we don’t go that route at all, but this is just an option. I would rather have restricted funds than go for a road levy.”

Santos said there are a lot of stormwater issues the township should address and said he is open to hearing suggestions from residents about how to fund them without “dipping into people’s pockets.”

All three trustees approved the motion on Monday. The ABC Water District meets today at 2 p.m. at the Boardman Township administration building, where it also will have to approve this motion for potential reimbursement before it goes into effect.

POLICING THE INTERSTATES

Also on Monday, trustees discussed a motion that would allow Austintown police officers to patrol the interstates — a decision the trustees are able to make because of the passage of a state law last year.

House Bill 206 permits townships with at least 5,000 residents to make arrests, enforce laws and issue traffic citations on interstates that have an entrance and exit ramp in their township. Township trustees have to first grant their police departments this power.

In the Mahoning Valley, this applies to the townships of Austintown, Canfield, Springfield, Boardman, Beaver, Hubbard, Newton, Liberty and Weathersfield.

Santos said Lt. Mark Skowron has been working on an initiative for township police officers to patrol the interstate with a focus on certain crimes. Skowron said Jason Murzda and Brad McFadden, both canine officers, were also instrumental.

“His focus isn’t on writing speeding tickets,” Santos said about Skowron. “God knows we can do that on New Road, Turner Road, all that stuff. His focus is the thousands upon thousands of vehicles every hour that travel. With that, the drugs that are going through and the human trafficking that is actually going through our town. He wants to put a stop to that. I completely support that whole-heartedly.”

Santos asked that a motion be added to the agenda on Monday, but the trustees ultimately tabled the item to get the proper wording.

Police Chief Robert Gavalier emphasized that township police officers would not be going on the interstate just to enforce speeding. He said Ohio State Highway Patrol already does that, and noted that the No. 1 complaint he gets from residents is about speeding, so he does not want to take the focus off the township.

The law states that the fines collected by township officers on the interstate would go to the county treasury to be used for highway maintenance and repair, not the township.

Trustee Monica Deavers asked how this would affect the neighborhoods in the township.

Gavalier said he will not put his officers on the interstate if it takes them out of the township or causes overtime, but only if there are extra officers on the schedule. He also said the township has applied for a grant, which he is hopeful it will get, that would pay for officers’ overtime for this initiative. The grant is specifically for drug and human trafficking.

“We’re between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We’re between New York City and Chicago. It’s a major interchange down there,” Gavalier said. “There’s a lot of stuff going in and out of there and sometimes we don’t concentrate down there because we’re busy in other areas in the township.”

This motion would allow officers to have probable cause to stop people for traffic violations on the interstate, then investigate for instances of drugs or human trafficking, Gavalier said. He said his officers’ focus will not be on writing tickets, but putting a stop to human and drug trafficking. He also noted that the county prosecutors took a look at this and are on board, as long as it is approved by the trustees.

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