POST Wednesday, May 28, 2025 • Vol. 18 No. 1 • FREE
BRUSH CHIPPING
INSIDE
Cardinal Schools
JUNE 2025
Since 1992
GGeeaauuggaa
NOW!! NOW
June 4 @ 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. The Village of Middlefield Service Department will provide brush chipping services for its residents, excluding commercial and industrial business establishments, on the first Wednesday of each month, from April to October and limited to the following: • FOR – disposal of small amounts of brush and branches that are removed by residents for normal maintenance and upkeep of property. Total amount of brush chipping service time spent at any residence shall be limited to a maximum of fifteen minutes. All remaining materials must be removed from public view within 48 hours after the chipping service date. • FOR – brush and branches less than six inches in diameter, placed at the curb with the butt end placed toward the street and perpendicular to the curb, free of string, wire, rope or material, in piles no higher than 4 feet. • FOR – brush and branches placed at the residents curb no sooner than 3 days prior to chipping service date. Residents placing brush and branches in advance of the 3 days will be required to remove the debris from public view, until 3 days prior to the chipping service date. • FOR – shrubs and roots free of dirt from normal maintenance and upkeep of property. •NOT – for the removal of entire trees by residents or commercial entities. • NOT – for tree stumps or brush from site clearing by residents or lot clearing activities performed by commercial entities. • NOT – for brush or branches brought in from another location. • NOT – for brush and branches placed out for chipping to late, once the chipper has been down the street. Brush and branches will be required to be removed until the next regularly scheduled chipping service date. In major storm related events, the village will determine and announce emergency storm-related brush and branch collection dates and times outside of the regular monthly chipping date.
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Community News from Middlefield, Parkman, Huntsburg and Surrounding Areas
PreSort Std U.S. Postage PAID Middlefield, OH 44062 Permit No. 77
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ANN WISHART/KMG
Cardinal Schools will be auctioning off Jordak Elementary School on Pierce Street in Middlefield Village, along with about 5 acres, May 31.
Proposed Legislation Stymies District Policy Updates By Ann Wishart ann@karlovecmedia.com The Cardinal Schools Board of Education discussion on policy changes highlighted several roadblocks during the May 14 meeting. Legislation pending in the Ohio Senate caused the board to put off making decisions on several topics.
Board member Anita Marlowe summed up the uncertainty in Columbus. “There's so much going on, you can’t tell where things are going to end up,” she said at the end of the meeting, adding the budget has to be on Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk by June 26. Fiscal Officer Terry Armstrong said the legislature is also debat-
ing the amount school districts may carry over, which is between 30% and 50%. “We are under 50%, we can get to 30%. I don’t like doing that artificially,” he said. “We’ll keep monitoring it very closely. A lot of that is taking away local control.” The legislature apparently wants to know how voters think See Policy • Page 6
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Commissioners File Comment In FirstEnergy Rate Case Staff Report Since FirstEnergy is not reconsidering its decision to close its Middlefield line shop and consolidate services in Concord Township, Geauga County Commissioners voted in favor of filing comment in the company’s ongoing case before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio May 13. Per reporting by Signal Akron, FirstEnergy is seeking for the PUCO to increase its base rates, but has faced pushback from the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel on the matter. In the letter, which was provided to the Geauga County Maple Leaf, commissioners urge the
PUCO to adopt a 9.13% return on equity — the minimum recommended by the PUCO — when setting FirstEnergy’s rate of return. The service center in Middlefield is the only FirstEnergy line shop in Geauga and has been maintained there for many years, the letter said. It is a facility that supports and has long supported industrial, residential and commercial customers across the county, it said. This closure will remove the county’s only local staging point for utility response, thus increasing delays during storms and outages, commissioners said in the letter. “Geauga County sits squarely
in Ohio’s snow belt and is routinely subject to extreme … winter weather. Many of our residents and businesses already face persistent power quality issues related to their position within FirstEnergy’s distribution network,” the letter said. “Maintaining an in-county service hub is not a luxury — it is a baseline necessity for timely response and equitable service in a high-risk region.” During his testimony before the PUCO, FirstEnergy President of Ohio Operations Torrence Hinton said dispatching crews from outside the county would negatively impact customer service, the letter said. See FirstEnergy • Page 3
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