Sec. 5541.05. A board of county commissioners by resolution | 14 |
may place a graveled or unimproved county road under its | 15 |
jurisdiction or any portion of such a road on nonmaintained | 16 |
status. Upon adoption of such a resolution, the board is not | 17 |
required to cause the road to be dragged at any time, or to cut, | 18 |
destroy, or remove any brush, weeds, briers, bushes, or thistles | 19 |
upon or along the road, or to remove snow from the road, or to | 20 |
maintain or repair the road in any manner. The board, in its | 21 |
discretion, may cause any of these actions to be performed on or | 22 |
to a road that it has placed on nonmaintained status. | 23 |
A board may terminate the nonmaintained status of a county | 30 |
road by adopting a resolution to that effect. If the owner of land | 31 |
adjoining a road that has been placed on nonmaintained status | 32 |
requests the board to terminate the nonmaintained status of the | 33 |
road, the board, in its resolution that terminates that | 34 |
nonmaintained status, may require the owner to pay the costs of | 35 |
upgrading the road to locally adopted county standards. | 36 |
(B) For any particular project, after notifying the county | 53 |
engineer, the board of township
trustees of a township that has | 54 |
adopted a limited home rule government under
Chapter 504. of the | 55 |
Revised Code may
hire an independent professional engineer to be | 56 |
in charge of those activities listed in division (A)(2) of this | 57 |
section. The county engineer
shall review all of the
independent | 58 |
professional engineer's plans for improvements and
provide the | 59 |
board of township trustees with comments on those
plans within ten | 60 |
working days after receiving them. The county
engineer shall | 61 |
monitor all plans for improvements in order to
maintain compliance | 62 |
with existing construction standards and
thoroughfare plans, and | 63 |
coordinate construction timelines within
the county. | 64 |
(C) The county engineer may not perform any duties in | 65 |
connection with the
repair,
maintenance, or dragging of roads by | 66 |
boards of township trustees, except
that,
upon the request of any | 67 |
board of township trustees, the
county engineer shall inspect any | 68 |
road designated by it and advise as to
the best
methods of | 69 |
repairing, maintaining, or dragging that road. | 70 |
Sec. 5553.045. (A) As used in this section, "road" means a | 71 |
road, or portion of a road, which is not used to calculate | 72 |
distributions of the auto registration distribution fund under | 73 |
division (E) of section 4501.04 of the Revised Code and, thus, is | 74 |
not a road or portion of a road certified by the board of township | 75 |
trustees to the director of transportation in accordance with that | 76 |
division as mileage in the township used by and maintained for the | 77 |
public. | 78 |
(B) A board of township trustees may petition the board of | 79 |
county commissioners to vacate a township road or a portion of a | 80 |
township road by passing a resolution that requests the vacation | 81 |
of the road or portion and includes a description of the general | 82 |
route and termini of the road or portion. The township clerk shall | 83 |
file a copy of the resolution with the board of county | 84 |
commissioners and certify another copy to the county engineer. | 85 |
Within thirty days of the receipt of that copy of the resolution, | 86 |
the engineer shall issue to the board of county commissioners a | 87 |
written report similar in content to reports required under | 88 |
section 5553.06 of the Revised Code. The failure of the engineer | 89 |
to provide this report does not affect the actions required under | 90 |
this section and does not invalidate the vacation of a road or | 91 |
portion of a road under this section. | 92 |
(C) Upon receipt of the copy of the township's resolution, | 93 |
the board of county commissioners shall set a date for a public | 94 |
hearing on the vacation of the road or portion of the road that is | 95 |
not more than forty-five days after the date that the resolution | 96 |
is filed with the board. The clerk of the board shall notify by | 97 |
regular mail the landowners abutting the road or portion of the | 98 |
road proposed to be vacated. That notice shall be sent at least | 99 |
twenty days before the board's public hearing, shall state that | 100 |
the board of township trustees has filed a resolution requesting | 101 |
the vacation of the specified road or portion of the road under | 102 |
this section, and shall inform the landowners of the time and | 103 |
place of the public hearing on this issue. The notice shall be | 104 |
mailed to the addresses of the abutting landowners as they appear | 105 |
on the county auditor's current tax list or the county treasurer's | 106 |
mailing list. Failure of the delivery of this notice to any | 107 |
abutting landowner does not invalidate the vacation of a road or a | 108 |
portion of a road under this section. | 109 |
(D) After the public hearing, if the board of county | 110 |
commissioners determines that the vacation of the road or portion | 111 |
of the road would be for the public convenience or welfare, it | 112 |
shall adopt a resolution by a majority vote declaring the road or | 113 |
portion to be vacated and file a certified copy of the resolution | 114 |
with the petitioner board of township trustees, the county | 115 |
recorder, and the county engineer. | 116 |
If the board of county commissioners fails to vote on the | 117 |
issue of vacating the road or portion of the board within sixty | 118 |
days after the township's resolution is filed with it, the road or | 119 |
portion of the road specified in the resolution shall be deemed to | 120 |
be vacated, and the petitioner board of township trustees shall | 121 |
adopt another resolution describing the road or portion of the | 122 |
road that has been vacated and explaining this vacation is by | 123 |
action of this section. The board of township trustees shall file | 124 |
a certified copy of that resolution with the board of county | 125 |
commissioners, the county recorder, and the county engineer. | 126 |
Sec. 5555.02. The board of county commissioners may | 127 |
construct a public road by laying out and building a new road, or | 128 |
by improving, reconstructing, or repairing any existing public | 129 |
road or part thereofof an existing public road by grading, | 130 |
paving, widening, altering,
straightening, vacating, changing the | 131 |
direction, draining,
dragging, graveling, macadamizing, | 132 |
resurfacing, applying dust
preventives, or by otherwise improving | 133 |
the same, and, where an
established road has been relocated, the | 134 |
board may construct and
maintain such connecting roads between the | 135 |
old and new locations
as will provide reasonable access thereto. | 136 |
The board also may place a county road on nonmaintained status | 137 |
pursuant to section 5541.05 of the Revised Code. The board may | 138 |
purchase or lease, erect, and maintain automatic traffic signals | 139 |
at such intersections of public highways outside municipal | 140 |
corporations as are necessary for the protection of the public | 141 |
traveling upon suchthose highways. Automatic traffic signals | 142 |
shall
not be placed at intersections of public highways on the | 143 |
state
highway system unless the board first obtains the approval | 144 |
of the
director of transportation. | 145 |
Sec. 5571.02. The board of township trustees shall have | 150 |
control of the township roads of its township and, except for | 151 |
those township roads the board places on nonmaintained status | 152 |
pursuant to section 5571.20 of the Revised Code, shall keep them | 153 |
in good repair. The board of township trustees may, with the | 154 |
approval of the board of county commissioners or the director of | 155 |
transportation, may maintain or repair a county road, or | 156 |
intercounty
highway, or state highway within the limits of its | 157 |
township. | 158 |
Sec. 5571.12. TheExcept as provided in section 5571.20 of | 180 |
the Revised Code, the board of township trustees shall cause the | 181 |
graveled and
unimproved public roads of the township to be | 182 |
dragged. At the beginning of
each fiscal half year, the board, | 183 |
before making any other appropriations from
the township road | 184 |
fund, shall appropriate and set aside a sum sufficient to
meet the | 185 |
expense of dragging the graveled and unimproved public roads of | 186 |
the
township during the ensuing six months. SuchThat sum shall | 187 |
not be used for any
purpose other than that for which it was | 188 |
appropriated. | 189 |
The board shall from time to time shall designate the roads | 190 |
to be dragged and
furnish
suitable road drags, hones, scrapers, or | 191 |
other tools, which shall be paid for
out of the road fund. The | 192 |
work of dragging the graveled and unimproved public
roads of the | 193 |
township, or of any road district thereofof the township, shall | 194 |
be done under
the
supervision of one of the township trustees or | 195 |
the township highway
superintendent designated to have charge of | 196 |
the maintenance and repair of
roads
as provided in section 5571.02 | 197 |
of the Revised Code. SuchThat trustee or
superintendent shall | 198 |
employ the necessary labor and teams at a price to be
fixed by the | 199 |
board. Bills for dragging shall be paid from the dragging fund | 200 |
upon the order of the board. | 201 |
Sec. 5571.20. A board of township trustees by resolution may | 202 |
place a graveled or unimproved township road under its | 203 |
jurisdiction or any portion of such a road on nonmaintained | 204 |
status. Upon adoption of such a resolution, the board is not | 205 |
required to cause the road to be dragged at any time, or to cut, | 206 |
destroy, or remove any brush, weeds, briers, bushes, or thistles | 207 |
upon or along the road, or to remove snow from the road, or to | 208 |
maintain or repair the road in any manner. The board, in its | 209 |
discretion, may cause any of these actions to be performed on or | 210 |
to a road that it has placed on nonmaintained status. | 211 |
A board may terminate the nonmaintained status of a township | 218 |
road by adopting a resolution to that effect. If the owner of land | 219 |
adjoining a road that has been placed on nonmaintained status | 220 |
requests the board to terminate the nonmaintained status of the | 221 |
road, the board, in its resolution that terminates that | 222 |
nonmaintained status, may require the owner to pay the costs of | 223 |
upgrading the road to locally adopted township standards. | 224 |