CANFIELD TOWNSHIP — Trustees on Friday approved a contract with a towing company as part of the final steps to begin dealing with junk vehicles in the township.

The agreement entered was with SKULLCO LLC d.b.a. Carl’s Towing to provide the removal of any vehicle in the township that the Board of Trustees determines to be a junk motor vehicle.

‘We have multiple properties with 20-plus junk cars,” said Zoning Inspector Traci DeCapua. “Trustees want to clean them up.”

She said a junk vehicle is one considered to be in an apparent inoperable condition. Often the vehicles don’t have a current registration and are an eyesore for the neighborhood.

The agreement with Carl’s Towing sets a towing fee of $240 per vehicle. It also allows for the company to charge incidental costs such as the use of a forklift to be able to move or access the junk vehicle for towing.

DeCapua said, “The Ohio Revised Code allows townships to declare junk vehicles as a nuisance and order their removal. The township must pass a motion to adopt the code and the towing agreement is a required part of it.”

She said trustees plan to deal with the junk car problem beginning in 2025.

Also during Friday’s meeting, Public Works Foreman Bob Burkett reported on a Catawba Drive problem.

“We had questions about an orange barrel and a missing manhole cover on Catawba Drive,” he said. “It was on the sanitary sewer which apparently has a failing structure around the manhole.”

He said the Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer was notified and informed Burkett the road would have to be dug up to make the repairs. It also was noted that not enough people were working to handle the project right away, so it likely will be done in the second week of January, according to Burkett.

“They will likely have to close the road,” he said. “They will need to dig a 6-foot wide opening to make the repairs.”

Burkett also reported a vehicle had entered Township Park and tore up the soccer field. He said the camera at the park was not geared to night time and all it showed was headlights going around in circles. He said it is possible the city’s Flock cameras caught the vehicle on Herbert Road in the same timeframe.

On another park issue, Trustee Marie Cartwright mentioned the AED units at the park that can be used when a person’s heart stops. She said for 2025, any sports teams using the fields need to be trained on how to use the AED.

In other business, trustees:

• Approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District for services provided regarding the township’s stormwater management plan. The cost of the services is based on the township population at 0.375 cents per person, which equated to $3,466.88 for Canfield.

• Heard from Chairman Brian Governor who said one of the 2025 priorities will be the upstairs at Township Hall. It needs ceiling (plaster) repair, document shredding and a new storage shelf system. Governor said, so far, he has been unable to locate anyone who does antique ceiling plaster repairs.

• Set Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. for the reorganizational meeting, followed by the first regular meeting of 2025.