Dear Editor and Perry Township residents:

A $6.50 an hour pay increase for the Perry Township part-time hire who mows the roads was approved by our trustees at the May 8 board meeting. This increase raises the pay from $11.50 an hour to $18 an hour. In discussing this trustee Dusty Smith reported that Chris Ford, who mowed the roads last summer, was interested in mowing this summer, but not at what our township wants to pay him.

According to Smith, Ford said that he was making over $21 an hour at the county doing the same thing and he would not consider mowing the township roads for any less than $16 to $18 an hour right now. Smith continued that Ford’s got so much going on that whatever we were paying him was just not worth his time. Trustee Tom Creachbaum declared that they knew this was coming. Creachbaum said that the trustees shouldn’t negotiate and just give Ford the $18 and forget it. Creachbaum wants Mr. Ford to be happy and be on his own and do it.

Among other issues discussed the trustees agreed to:

Get an opinion from Dan Drake, Fayette County prosecuting attorney’s office, about sending a letter to the property owner of the gravel pit. With the recent heavy rains the trustees had complaints about high water on Staunton-Sugar Grove Road caused by flooding from the gravel pit property. It is the property owner’s responsibility to correct the water situation.

Also, the trustees want advise from Drake about sending a letter to a property owner about two limbs from a dead tree, which are lying out on Bonner Road. The trustees had four calls about this situation, one from a school bus driver who just missed hitting them. Creachbaum said that if someone hits the limbs with a car they will know about it. The property owner needs to trim the tree and get the limbs out of the road.

The board noted that with the recent weather a lot of limbs were down in the cemeteries and Hap Smith, fiscal officer, reported that one tree in Cochran Cemetery might be totally dead. The trustees agreed to get information about tree trimming and removal companies. Trustee Dusty Smith made a motion, which was passed unanimously, to give the part-time cemetery worker discretion as to when to remove decorations rather than posting the sign that had been approved at last month’s meeting. Smith said he did not want to put up anymore signs at the cemeteries and that people don’t look at them.

Janet Anderson

Perry Township resident