Corridor seeking to join register

Brookfield, other Route 7 communities working with state preservation office

BROOKFIELD -- Township officials soon will receive information from the Ohio Historic Preservation Office about including historic homes and businesses around the state Route 7 center green on the National Register of Historic Places online database.

Trustee Gary Lees said at the December trustees meeting he received a letter -- as did the Brookfield Historical Society -- from Mary Beth Hirsch, education and support services for the Ohio Historic Preservation Office in Columbus, about properties around the township center green and to get information on those buildings.

Lees said once all the data on the homes and other buildings is gathered, information will be given to the historic preservation office.

"Once we can get this on a national database, this can help us locally to promote and showcase these historic sites along the Route 7 corridor," he said.

At a recent meeting, trustees from different communities along Route 7 discussed historic homes and buildings in their communities.

Hartford Trustee Chairwoman Rebecca Whitman said the township has a historic home at the center with antique clocks, and Hubbard Township Trustee Fred Hanley spoke of a historic market off Chestnut Ridge Road.

"We want to see what we can do to get these homes registered with the historic preservation office. It will be great to have these sites and homes recognized on a state mapping system and database," Lees said.

Lees and Beth Carmichael, director of the Trumbull Tourism Bureau, are working on a Zoom meeting with representatives of historical societies along Route 7 on ways to promote and showcase historical sites. They will look at specifically which buildings to highlight.

In other business at the trustees meeting, Trustee Chairman Dan Suttles said some in the community have expressed concern about the rising number of coronavirus cases in the recent weeks.

Plans are to continue to hold trustees meetings remotely via Zoom at a cost of $56 per meeting.

In other action, trustees:

• Hired James Kalaman as a full-time patrolman effective Jan. 1 and Alexis Walent as a part-time firefighter / emergency medical technician / paramedic;

• Approved replacing flooring in the front reception office and the carpet in a police sergeant's office at township administration building;

• Approved submitting an application to participate in the Ohio Public Works Commission grant program for the Syme Street project for 2021. Lees said the township will seek $149,861 for the Lower Masury area;

• Set the year-end meeting 6 p.m. Dec. 28.