To amend sections 5543.01, 5555.02, 5571.02, 5571.08, and 5571.12 and to enact sections 5541.05, 5553.045, and 5571.20 of the Revised Code to provide for the vacation upon petition of a township of certain township roads that are not used by and maintained for the public and to permit a board of county commissioners and a board of township trustees to place a graveled or unimproved county or township road on nonmaintained status.

Section 1. That sections 5543.01, 5555.02, 5571.02, 5571.08, and 5571.12 be amended and sections 5541.05, 5553.045, and 5571.20 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 5541.05.  A board of county commissioners by resolution may place a graveled or unimproved county road under its jurisdiction or any portion of such a road on nonmaintained status. Upon adoption of such a resolution, the board is not required to cause the road to be dragged at any time, or to cut, destroy, or remove any brush, weeds, briers, bushes, or thistles upon or along the road, or to remove snow from the road, or to maintain or repair the road in any manner. The board, in its discretion, may cause any of these actions to be performed on or to a road that it has placed on nonmaintained status.

A board may adopt a resolution under this section only if the board finds that placing the road on nonmaintained status will not unduly adversely affect the flow of motor vehicle traffic on that road or on any other road located in the immediate vicinity of that road as evidenced by the overall use of the road during the preceding twenty-one years.

A board may terminate the nonmaintained status of a county road by adopting a resolution to that effect. If the owner of land adjoining a road that has been placed on nonmaintained status requests the board to terminate the nonmaintained status of the road, the board, in its resolution that terminates that nonmaintained status, may require the owner to pay the costs of upgrading the road to locally adopted county standards.

Sec. 5543.01.  (A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, the county engineer shall have general charge of the following:

(1) Construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, and repair of all bridges and highways within the engineer's county, under the jurisdiction of the board of county commissioners, except for those county roads the board places on nonmaintained status pursuant to section 5541.05 of the Revised Code;

(2) Construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, or improvement of roads by boards of township trustees under sections 5571.01, 5571.06, 5571.07, 5571.15, 5573.01 to 5573.15, and 5575.02 to 5575.09 of the Revised Code;

(3) Construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, or improvement of the roads of a road district under section 5573.21 of the Revised Code.

(B) For any particular project, after notifying the county engineer, the board of township trustees of a township that has adopted a limited home rule government under Chapter 504. of the Revised Code may hire an independent professional engineer to be in charge of those activities listed in division (A)(2) of this section. The county engineer shall review all of the independent professional engineer's plans for improvements and provide the board of township trustees with comments on those plans within ten working days after receiving them. The county engineer shall monitor all plans for improvements in order to maintain compliance with existing construction standards and thoroughfare plans, and coordinate construction timelines within the county.

(C) The county engineer may not perform any duties in connection with the repair, maintenance, or dragging of roads by boards of township trustees, except that, upon the request of any board of township trustees, the county engineer shall inspect any road designated by it and advise as to the best methods of repairing, maintaining, or dragging that road.

Sec. 5553.045. (A) As used in this section, "road" means a road, or portion of a road, which is not used to calculate distributions of the auto registration distribution fund under division (E) of section 4501.04 of the Revised Code and, thus, is not a road or portion of a road certified by the board of township trustees to the director of transportation in accordance with that division as mileage in the township used by and maintained for the public.

(B) A board of township trustees may petition the board of county commissioners to vacate a township road or a portion of a township road by passing a resolution that requests the vacation of the road or portion and includes a description of the general route and termini of the road or portion. The township clerk shall file a copy of the resolution with the board of county commissioners and certify another copy to the county engineer. Within thirty days of the receipt of that copy of the resolution, the engineer shall issue to the board of county commissioners a written report similar in content to reports required under section 5553.06 of the Revised Code. The failure of the engineer to provide this report does not affect the actions required under this section and does not invalidate the vacation of a road or portion of a road under this section.

(C) Upon receipt of the copy of the township's resolution, the board of county commissioners shall set a date for a public hearing on the vacation of the road or portion of the road that is not more than forty-five days after the date that the resolution is filed with the board. The clerk of the board shall notify by regular mail the landowners abutting the road or portion of the road proposed to be vacated. That notice shall be sent at least twenty days before the board's public hearing, shall state that the board of township trustees has filed a resolution requesting the vacation of the specified road or portion of the road under this section, and shall inform the landowners of the time and place of the public hearing on this issue. The notice shall be mailed to the addresses of the abutting landowners as they appear on the county auditor's current tax list or the county treasurer's mailing list. Failure of the delivery of this notice to any abutting landowner does not invalidate the vacation of a road or a portion of a road under this section.

(D) After the public hearing, if the board of county commissioners determines that the vacation of the road or portion of the road would be for the public convenience or welfare, it shall adopt a resolution by a majority vote declaring the road or portion to be vacated and file a certified copy of the resolution with the petitioner board of township trustees, the county recorder, and the county engineer.

If the board of county commissioners fails to vote on the issue of vacating the road or portion of the board within sixty days after the township's resolution is filed with it, the road or portion of the road specified in the resolution shall be deemed to be vacated, and the petitioner board of township trustees shall adopt another resolution describing the road or portion of the road that has been vacated and explaining this vacation is by action of this section. The board of township trustees shall file a certified copy of that resolution with the board of county commissioners, the county recorder, and the county engineer.

Sec. 5555.02.  The board of county commissioners may construct a public road by laying out and building a new road, or by improving, reconstructing, or repairing any existing public road or part thereof of an existing public road by grading, paving, widening, altering, straightening, vacating, changing the direction, draining, dragging, graveling, macadamizing, resurfacing, applying dust preventives, or by otherwise improving the same, and, where an established road has been relocated, the board may construct and maintain such connecting roads between the old and new locations as will provide reasonable access thereto. The board also may place a county road on nonmaintained status pursuant to section 5541.05 of the Revised Code. The board may purchase or lease, erect, and maintain automatic traffic signals at such intersections of public highways outside municipal corporations as are necessary for the protection of the public traveling upon such those highways. Automatic traffic signals shall not be placed at intersections of public highways on the state highway system unless the board first obtains the approval of the director of transportation.

This section does not apply to roads or highways on the state highway system, except such portions as the board constructs under plans and specifications approved by the director and under his the director's supervision and inspection.

Sec. 5571.02.  The board of township trustees shall have control of the township roads of its township and, except for those township roads the board places on nonmaintained status pursuant to section 5571.20 of the Revised Code, shall keep them in good repair. The board of township trustees may, with the approval of the board of county commissioners or the director of transportation, may maintain or repair a county road, or intercounty highway, or state highway within the limits of its township.

In the maintenance and repair of roads, the board of township trustees may proceed in any of the following methods:

(A) It may designate one of its number to have charge of the maintenance and repair of roads within the township.

(B) It may divide the township into three road districts, in which event each trustee shall have charge of the maintenance and repair of roads within one of such those districts.

(C) It may appoint some competent person, not a member of the board of township trustees, to have charge of maintenance and repair of roads within the township, who shall be known as "township highway superintendent" and shall serve at the pleasure of the board of township trustees.

The method to be followed in each township shall be determined by the board of township trustees by resolution entered on its records.

Sec. 5571.08.  The Except as provided in section 5571.20 of the Revised Code, the board of township trustees shall cause all the township roads within the township to be kept free from obstruction by snow. The cost and expense thereof shall be paid from the road funds of the township or from the funds allocated to the township by section 5735.27 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 5571.12.  The Except as provided in section 5571.20 of the Revised Code, the board of township trustees shall cause the graveled and unimproved public roads of the township to be dragged. At the beginning of each fiscal half year, the board, before making any other appropriations from the township road fund, shall appropriate and set aside a sum sufficient to meet the expense of dragging the graveled and unimproved public roads of the township during the ensuing six months. Such That sum shall not be used for any purpose other than that for which it was appropriated.

The board shall from time to time shall designate the roads to be dragged and furnish suitable road drags, hones, scrapers, or other tools, which shall be paid for out of the road fund. The work of dragging the graveled and unimproved public roads of the township, or of any road district thereof of the township, shall be done under the supervision of one of the township trustees or the township highway superintendent designated to have charge of the maintenance and repair of roads as provided in section 5571.02 of the Revised Code. Such That trustee or superintendent shall employ the necessary labor and teams at a price to be fixed by the board. Bills for dragging shall be paid from the dragging fund upon the order of the board.

Sec. 5571.20.  A board of township trustees by resolution may place a graveled or unimproved township road under its jurisdiction or any portion of such a road on nonmaintained status. Upon adoption of such a resolution, the board is not required to cause the road to be dragged at any time, or to cut, destroy, or remove any brush, weeds, briers, bushes, or thistles upon or along the road, or to remove snow from the road, or to maintain or repair the road in any manner. The board, in its discretion, may cause any of these actions to be performed on or to a road that it has placed on nonmaintained status.

A board may adopt a resolution under this section only if the board finds that placing the road on nonmaintained status will not unduly adversely affect the flow of motor vehicle traffic on that road or on any other road located in the immediate vicinity of that road as evidenced by the overall use of the road during the preceding twenty-one years.

A board may terminate the nonmaintained status of a township road by adopting a resolution to that effect. If the owner of land adjoining a road that has been placed on nonmaintained status requests the board to terminate the nonmaintained status of the road, the board, in its resolution that terminates that nonmaintained status, may require the owner to pay the costs of upgrading the road to locally adopted township standards.

Section 2. That existing sections 5543.01, 5555.02, 5571.02, 5571.08, and 5571.12 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.