AUSTINTOWN — Township trustees heard an update Monday from police Chief Robert Gavalier regarding a speed study the police department conducted on Fitch Boulevard and Norquest Boulevard in late May.

The study was conducted after residents of the streets complained of speeding at a trustees meeting in May.

According to an analysis pamphlet provided by Gavalier, the department installed a Jamar Black Cat II Plus radar at 130 Fitch Blvd. near the Austintown Plaza shopping center, and tracked the traffic habits of 18,417 vehicles in the area from May 24 through May 28.

The device not only provided the department with the speeds of each vehicle that drove down the street, but what type of vehicle it was as well. The majority of vehicles were considered light trucks and vans, 9,465 of which triggered the radar during the study. Passenger cars were the second most common at 6,825 and only 48 of the vehicles were labeled as multi-unit trucks, or semi trucks, which was the least common.

“It’s heavily traveled traffic down there,” Gavalier said. “You have commercial businesses with people going in and out of the plaza.”

The speed limit in the area is 25 mph, but the radar allowed an enforcement tolerance of 5 mph, meaning only cars going over 30 mph would be registered as speeding.

According to the study, the average speed of drivers through that stretch of Fitch Boulevard was 28 mph. Gavalier said the fastest speed registered during the study was 52 mph.

Gavalier said the study could be helpful for the department when determining when to have officers stationed in the area to radar for speeding vehicles.

“The peak time of violation was 4:56 p.m.,” Gavalier said. “So that tells us that if we’re going to have somebody down there running radar, instead of picking out any time of the day, that’s peak violation. So this device helps us with that.”

Gavalier said that since the study, the department has put a speed trailer in the area that shows drivers their speed and flashes lights when they are violating the speed limit. He said after the trailer is taken down, the department will station officers in the area for enforcement.

Gavalier said the results of the other speed study on Norquest Boulevard between Fitch Boulevard and Ohltown Road were very similar to the Fitch Boulevard study. The average speed of drivers on Norquest was 29 mph, with the fasted speed reported being 54 mph. The peak violation time on Norquest was around 6 p.m.

“On Fitch Boulevard, you’ve got buses coming down there and you’ve got tanker trucks coming down there, and sometimes it seems like they’re traveling a lot faster than they really are,” Gavalier said. “But if you look at the data here … The average speed is 28 mph, but we do have some problems, and we do have some problems on Norquest.”

Ed Wilke, a resident of Fitch Boulevard and one of the individuals who had initially brought speeding concerns to the township’s attention, did not expect the results of the study.

“It surprises me to hear that 28 mph is the average speed,” he said. “It seems like if you talk to anyone who lives on those two streets they’ll tell you that something has gone wrong with that study.”

Wilke said that he was not surprised that over 18,000 vehicles traveled the route over the four-day span, and he was not shocked that some vehicles drove over 50 mph through area. He reiterated his desire to have speed bumps installed on certain stretches of Fitch Boulevard to limit speeding.

Gavalier gave Wilke a copy of the study.

DOCKRY RETIRES

Trustees also accepted the retirement letter of Township Administrator Michael Dockry, who is set to finish his time with the township on Saturday.

“Do we have to say yes?” Trustee Robert Santos asked as fiscal officer Laura Wolfe began the roll call for the motion.

Dockry started as a clerk with the township April 1, 1992. He went on to become the township administrator and has worked for the township for decades.

“I definitely want to give him props,” Santos said. “He’s definitely a man who was a wealth of knowledge.”

Trustee Monica Deavers said she will miss the enthusiasm that Dockry shared about the township.

“Mike will be missed by all of us,” Deavers said. “He was very passionate about Austintown, he cared about Austintown.”

Trustee Steve Kent said Dockry always aimed to do what was right for the township.

“I want to thank Mike Dockry for the last three years,” Kent said. “Everytime you went to Mike, he might not have agreed with you, but he gave you his personal opinion, and it was always good, and it was always about the township.”

Mark D’Apolito will be replacing Dockry as the townships administrator and road superintendent. D’Apolito, a native of Boardman, earned his law degree from the University of Toledo, and he worked for five years in the city of Youngstown’s law department and for five years as an assistant prosecutor in the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office.

D’Apolito said he began working with Austintown in May, and he was glad to get to learn about the job from Dockry.

“I am definitely looking forward to working with Mark,” Santos said. “He’s a phenomenal individual, he’s on point, he’s on key. He’s doing a phenomenal job.”