MEETING MINUTE S
Date: June 8th 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Deerfield Township Hall
IN ATTENDANCE
Trustees: Tiffany Havens (Chair), Laura Lindberg, Vaughn Sutcliffe
Fiscal Officer: Tracey Dean
Administrative Assistant: Nancy Cowan
Fire: Chief Day, Capt. Bardelli
Buildings and Grounds: Tim Suderman
CALL TO ORDER
the meeting.
• Tiffany Havens called the meeting to order at 6:00pm; the Pledge of Allegiance began
MEETING MINUTES
• 4/13 Meeting Minutes. Laura made a motion to approve (seconded and passed
unanimously).
• April Financials. Tiffany made a motion to approve the ledger as written (seconded and
passed unanimously).
• May Financials. Laura made a motion to approve (seconded and passed unanimously).
• 5/11 Minutes. Laura made a motion to table (seconded and passed unanimously).
COMMUNICATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Tiffany announced a July 12 Community Chorus concert.
• Verisk (risk management) sent us information, but it doesn’t pertain to us.
GUEST SPEAKER
• Tom (a Deerfield resident) from Team Office Technologies came to the meeting and
shared information and a proposal for Township cybersecurity (maintenance contract,
see attached) at $148 per month. Tiffany made a motion to accept the contract
contingent upon the prosecutor’s approval. The motion was seconded and passed
unanimously.
• Mike Barringer attended to let people know that their new campground on Berlin Lake,
Five O’Clock Sumwear, is open. He shared location, contact info, sites/amenities, and
future plans. Chief Day was given plans and information about access.
• River Kale, an outreach rep for Congressperson Dave Joyce, stopped in to reach out to
the community and offer help.PUBLIC COMMENTARY
• (none)
DEPARTMENT UPDATES
Road Department/Maintenance (Vaughn on behalf of Tim Suderman)
Road Department
• We’re prepping roads for chip and seal, and ditching projects are in progress.
• Roadside mowing will continue and patchwork will take place next week.
Cemeteries
• We had 2 full burials since the last meeting.
• We received several comments about how nice the cemeteries looked on Memorial
Day.
• We’ll let the new stone pack down in the driveways and put down another layer later in
the year.
• We’ll weed-eat again before the end of the month.
Buildings and Grounds
• Crack seal at is completed at the Town Hall parking lot.
• Vaughn mentioned that free 811 Dig Training will be held on July 14th
.
• Engineers put counters on roads and are waiting on count.
• Laura said that Southeast Tractor (Ag) Tire Pickup will be held on June 9th
.
Fire Department (Chief Day)
• Last month we had 42 calls (9 fire and 33 EMS). Our crews and mutual departments
worked well.
• Equipment and Fleet
o Our life pack quote was $10,000 for 5 years (see Stryker quote). Lucas and our
other life pack are too old for service, so we’ll use them until they need to be
replaced.
o The SBCA/air bottle fill station was serviced. Chief recommended that we take it
out of service as it’s too old and unsafe (we can make arrangements somewhere
else). Tiffany made the motion to do so, which was seconded and passed
unanimously.
o The oil filters for the entire fleet. We will do this in house this year to save money.
Vaughn made a motion to move to in house service and apportioned $1,808 for
the materials (seconded and passed unanimously).
o We might need to purchase new front tires for the squad at $700. Tiffany made a
motion to support the purchase at $700, which was seconded and passed
unanimously.
o There was an issue with billing us via email. We resolve it, but there are still 2
outstanding bills, one from 2024.
• Training
o Sonar and water movement classes were good.
o We’re implementing a training request form.
• A new policy (see letter) is being implemented whereby eligible team members must
submit two days of availability each month at least 15 days before the start of the
month. On duty required practices will also be monitored. Those who fail to comply with
these policies are subject to disciplinary action.
• The BLA would like to donate toward a piece of equipment (Turbo for water access) for
the lake but would like to know what dollar amount trustees are able to support. We
agreed to $3,000 at the last meeting. Chief would like to hold off due to price and
efficacy issues.• We’re using a new sheet for scheduling requests; we’ll review it this fall.
• Billing for MVA. Car crashes should not be billed to Deerfield residents, as they are
already paying for services through taxes.
• The State Fire Inspector would like to park his car at the station when not on duty. This will
be at the Chief’s discretion.
• The public is invited to an open house during fire prevention week, most likely to be held
on October 10th. We’re also planning a Santa function in December.
• The trustees thanked the Deerfield Fire Department for the great job with the parade.
Fire Department (Capt. Bardelli)
• We attended parades in neighboring townships.
• The split AC unit has been installed.
• Alicia Bardelli paid $460 for a DEA drug license address change. Tiffany made a motion
to reimburse her (seconded and passed unanimously).
• Brandon Perdock requests reimbursement for lab work (an Ohio fire school requirement)
at Quest on May 27. Vaughn made a motion for the reimbursement, which was
seconded and passed unanimously.
• Alicia said that the Fire Department’s Facebook page is getting kudos.
• We’re taking the fire truck to a festival on June 18 to support Akron Children’s Hospital.
• We raised $2,100 in the boot drive and the breakfast.
OLD BUSINESS
• A planning meeting for the US 250th anniversary will be held on June 10, 6pm at the
Legion.
• Vaugh said that a copy of plans to increase the size of the gazebo were sent to the
building department today for approval. The insurance company will need a new
estimate before the expiration date (original price was $60,000) in order to go after the
person’s (the who did the damage) insurance.
NEW BUSINESS
• Tracey asked for approval to submit the proposed 2027 budget estimate to the Portage
County Auditor’s office. Laura made the motion to approve (seconded and passed
unanimously). We hope to have a carry-over of $100,000 from this year.
• Tiffany made a motion to move forward with a grant she would like to apply for to
support the permanent Hartzell fence (seconded and passed unanimously).
• Nancy inquired about the salt contract; Tracey said yes, it’s signed.
• Laura said that Nancy has been selling a number of cemetery plots.
ADJOURNMENT
Tiffany made a motion to adjourn at about 7:07, which was seconded, and passed
unanimously.
______________________________ ______________________________
Tiffany Havens Vaughn Sutcliffe
Trustee/Chair Trustee
______________________________ ______________________________
Laura Lindberg Tracey Dean
Trustee Fiscal OfficerMinutes respectfully submitted by Cary Wecht
Cary Wecht