At the Jan. 22 Pleasant Township Board of Trustees meeting, it was announced that old plans to fix a potentially dangerous drop-off on Old Harrisburg Road are slowly heating up. The board first has to approve the blueprint from the Frank County Engineer’s Office.
"The county has been so busy, we had to wait to do this," said Chairman Keith Goldhardt.
In July of 2007, the Pleasant Township Road Department noticed the wall between the guardrail and the 9-foot drop-off has started crumbling into the ditch.
"Lord knows when the wall was installed, but this is too big a project for the township to do," said Road Superintendent Jeff Karn.
Water erosion and time are said to be the causes for the shape of the wall, but since the residents are not in any danger, the plans to fix the damages, or build a new stone wall, have been pushed back.
"In all fairness to the Franklin County engineer’s, they service the other 17 townships and their own areas," said Goldhardt. "They do an excellent job of helping us. When we need heavier equipment to handle something, they come to our aid."
It is not a question of if the county will help mend the broken wall, but when, said Goldhardt.
He also stated that he was not sure if the residents even knew about the wall condition or the 9-foot drop-off.
"With the way the road goes, on (State Route) 62, you can only see the guardrail. You can’t see that it’s eroding."
The estimated spending for the project runs about $20,000.
"If it doesn’t get fixed, the road is going to fall out, which will cost a lot more," said Karn.
Goldhardt said if something else were to happen to it, the county engineers would come out and fix it, but for now, it is cabled up.
Karn stated that he does not know when the engineers would approve their recommendation for wall approval and start with the reconstruction.
"Whenever they get around to it," he said. "It’s not a small job and it’s too big for the township to do."
In other news
The township may be getting a new server after a crash that threatened important information.
"It wasn’t too pleasant around here when the computer service went out," said Vice Chairman Dale Worthington.
He was referring to the main server at the township’s fire station that fizzled out last week. Since the incident, the station has been using a "very old" server and at the township meeting, Chief Jay Noojin requested his desire to purchase a new system.
"This needed to be done," said Noojin. "We can’t take a chance of it crashing again."
The server not only stores the fire and medical runs the station takes daily, it also serves as a set of eyes for the State of Ohio.
"They know what all the fire departments are doing," said Goldhardt.
So now, the state can keep track of all the expenditures, e-mails and the goings on at stations throughout Ohio. Coming soon, the station and the board will have to store their e-mails for a few years.
"All of the e-mail concerning township or official government business will have to be stored to keep it as public record," Goldhardt said. "They are getting really nitty-gritty on it."
Noojin hopes that in addition to the new server, by Netwave, they get an all-site backup.
"In case, God forbid, something happens to this station and our computers are damaged, I’ll be able to go to Jackson Township and get on their computer, type in my password and get all of Pleasant Township’s information back. That’s what our goal is."
The latest dual-drive server will cost approximately $2,000.
"It’s just the cost of doing business," said Goldhardt. "It sounds expensive, but it’s not really when you consider what it does."
