22-03-2025
What's new for 2025 in Tuscarawas Township? Natural gas aggregation request, brine systems
Editor's note: The Canton Repository is asking leaders in every Stark County township, village and city to share some highlights of what they have planned in 2025 for their communities. We will present these community highlights to you throughout the next few months.
TUSCARAWAS TWP. – Residents in Tuscarawas Township have three issues on the May election ballot to consider and will see a new way of handling ice on township roads this winter.
Here is what's planned for 2025 in the township of roughly 5,800 residents:
Voters will decide on the May 6 election ballot whether trustees should create an aggregation program for natural gas.
If voters approve Issue 13 to create the bulk-buying program, trustees will work with a broker to search for the best natural gas rates on behalf of program participants. Trustees hope the combined purchasing power will help them negotiate better rates and terms with natural gas suppliers.
The township already operates an aggregation program for electricity.
'After seeing the increase in rates for the township's electric aggregate, we felt that the residents may also benefit from a natural gas aggregate,' Trustee Molly Marthey said. 'This is an optional program just like the electric. Residents can choose to participate or shop around for their own rates.'
Trustees are asking voters to renew two property tax levies in May.
Issue 10 seeks to renew the five-year, 1.5-mill road levy that generates $221,000 a year for township road operations. If approved, the owner of a home valued at $100,000 home would continue to pay $30.39 a year. The township maintains 51 miles of road.
Issue 11 seeks to renew the five-year, 1-mill fire levy that generates $127,000 for fire services, which is provided through contracts with North Lawrence and Brewster. If approved, the owner of a $100,000 home would continue to pay $17.19 a year.
The township's two primary salt trucks will be equipped with tailgate-mounted brine systems that are expected to help prevent ice from accumulating on township streets while also reducing the amount of chloride that filters into nearby waterways.
Township officials said the brine system wets the salt before it reaches the spreader, which will make the salt melt faster and allow the township to use less.
An H2Ohio Rivers Chloride Reduction grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will cover the roughly $16,000 cost of the brine systems and the road and air temperature sensors for both salt trucks.
Trustee Marthey will share highlights of the township's 215-year history with Tuslaw Local students this year.
Marthey, who was elected in 2021, has been working with residents on a presentation that showcases the township, which was established in 1810, as well as includes some history about Lawrence Township and Stark County. The presentation will feature information about the early settlers, how townships were determined, how the Tuslaw Local School District got its name and the significance of historical figures such as President William McKinley, Revolutionary War Gen. John Stark and Stark's wife, Elizabeth 'Molly' Page Stark.
She expects to present the information to all Tuslaw fourth graders this spring and possibly to freshmen and sophomores in the fall.
Marthey is creating the presentation as her culmination project for the Ohio Township Association's Leadership Academy 2.0.
The township is looking to add chip-and-seal to Kenyon Avenue and Moffit Road SW this summer as part of its annual road maintenance program.
The Ohio Department of Transportation's planned roundabout at state Route 172 and Alabama Avenue isn't expected to begin construction until spring 2027. The agency has said the estimated $2.35 million project is intended to reduce traffic speeds and prevent severe crashes at the intersection, which saw 16 crashes from 2021 through September 2024.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tuscarawas Township to use brine for ice control, seek gas aggregation
