GOSHEN TOWNSHIP — A portion of Duck Creek Road will be repaved next year thanks to a nearly $200,000 grant.

Fiscal Officer Michele Barratt announced that Goshen Township had been selected to receive a $196,090 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) during the board of trustees meeting Tuesday.

Trustee Chair Shawn Mesler said that the grant would be used for paving on the section of Duck Creek Road from state Route 165 to Pine Lake Road, and was one of three paving projects selected to receive funding by the Mahoning County commissioners.

“It had to go through a couple of hearings with the [Mahoning County] commissioners and they were gracious enough to pick our project. There were six projects submitted to them, and they picked three, ours being one of them. So I’d just like to show our appreciation for that,” Mesler said.

Mesler said that the project would go to bid at the end of the year around December, and that work on the project was tentatively slated to begin next summer. The trustees also voted unanimously to approve a proposal from Thomas Fok & Associates Incorporated to provide engineering services for the project at a cost of $16,000.

Barratt commended Mesler’s efforts in researching and applying for grant funding for the township, helping to secure four grants from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) over the last three years. She said that those OPWC grants had saved the township more than $200,000.

Police Chief John Calko announced that the township had also been awarded the Justice Assistance Grant that he had applied for last year to help cover the costs of purchasing five new portable radios for $9,092.85. He explained that the award had been delayed by the federal government shutdown and that the new radios will replace three units that were incompatible with the Multi-Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS) radio network the department had upgraded to, and add two new units to bring the department’s total to 15 units. With a total purchase price of $13,188.95 that will make the township’s out of pocket cost for the new radios $4,096.10.

The trustees also discussed the possibilities for future grant funding, and if they wanted to submit any roads for traffic counts ahead of a potential application for OPWC funding in 2027.

Mesler said that he had spoken with Road Foreman Adam Corll about what areas are most in need of attention and that he felt they should submit South Smith Goshen Road. The section of Stratton Road between Middletown and Calla roads, and North Seacrist Road were also mentioned as potential candidates for paving projects but the trustees ultimately agreed unanimously to move forward with submitting South Smith Goshen Road for traffic counts.

Other financial matters discussed included a potential supplemental insurance program for dental coverage for police officers. Calko said that he had received requests from multiple officers for the department to begin offering an optional insurance supplemental for dental coverage like the one currently available for vision coverage. Calko said that he had spoken with Colonial Life about a potential plan that would come with dental and life insurance as well as disability programs, which would be paid directly by officers that opt in at no cost to the township. The trustees said they would review the plan for further discussion in their next meeting.

Other matters included the appointment of Trustee John Bricker as the township’s Designated Administrative Manager and Trustee Teresa Stratton as Designated Incident Response Lead to complete the implementation of the township’s formal cybersecurity plan in accordance with Ohio House Bill 96 ahead of the June 30 deadline.

During his report Calko announced that the department would be holding a traffic enforcement blitz sometime “in the next few months,” but declined to provide specific dates for the blitz.

The board of trustees will meet next at 6 p.m. on July 14.