Concord Township Trustees approved the election and organization assignments for 2016 at their January 5 meeting. Trustee Don Pence was appointed Chairman with Trustee Bill Whidden serving as Vice-Chair for 2016. The trustees also established the 2016 meeting day and time as the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 10:00 a.m. in the Concord Township Building.

Additional reappointments include Representative to Miami County Council Whidden with Pence serving as the alternate, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, Pence, with Whidden serving as the alternate, Debris Management, Trustee Tom Mercer with Road Superintendent Neil Rhoades serving as the alternate, Stormwater II Mercer, with Rhoades serving as alternate.

The trustees approved the mileage reimbursement rate for township employees at the current IRS approved rate of .54 per mile. They also approved a blanket approval for the township to reimburse seminar and conference expenses for township trustees and authorized personnel.

Also approved was the continuation of Ohio Township Association Group Life, Dental and Vision Insurance for all elected and full-time employees.

Rhoades reported that several township residents reported standing water on Forrest Hill. Brent and Nicole Toney of Forrest Hill asked that the township investigate standing water problems at their residence on South Forrest Hill. According to Brent Toney, they have a five-acre lot and in the time they have owned the property, the entire five acres has been under water several times.

At one point, water invaded the crawl space under the residence. The home, which is over 100 years old, is surrounded by water when the area experiences heavy rains. Runoff from the 60 surrounding acres flows onto the property. According to Toney, the culverts in the area are undersized and are insufficient to hand the runoff. He also said that the properties surrounding theirs have leveled the ditches and there is no natural runoff. Rhoades, who had looked at the location, will contact the County Engineer's Office to determine what can be done and who is responsible for addressing the water issue.

In old business, the trustees evaluated the reworked township web page and conducted a public evaluation of the design in relation to the redesign request. The trustees hope to launch the new site soon, which will use software that automatically reconfigures the site to each user's monitor so that no curser adjustments are necessary to view the entire site. One of the goals was to make the most pertinent information readily available to visitors.

The next meeting of the Concord Township Trustees is scheduled for January 19, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. in the township building.