DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2005

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met in regular session at 8:30 a.m. in the Conference Room of the Board of Defiance County Commissioners, 500 Court Street, Suite A, Defiance, Ohio 43512, on Monday, January 24, 2004. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Otto L. Nicely. Also present were Commissioners Thomas L. Kime and Richard L. Cromwell; Becky Wagner, Administrator; Alison Grimes, Clerk and Joan Brown, Deputy Clerk.

8:30 a.m. Jeff Strausbaugh and Russ Herman, County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, met with the Board. Russ reviewed the documents currently on his list for review noting that he is up-to-date on county paperwork. The Board then entered EXECUTIVE SESSION regarding Purchase of Land (ORC 121.22 (G) (2). EXECUTIVE SESSION ended at 9:01 a.m. with no decisions made – informational only.

9:02 a.m. General Session Commissioners approved and signed various resolutions, contracts and documents, approved several travel requests, reviewed the agenda items and the calendar of events, discussed upcoming meetings and updated information for the calendar of events.

An Early Childhood Development Screening for children from birth to 4 years old will be held at the following locations:

Thursday, March 3 Grace United Methodist Church

121 West High Street

Hicksville

Call for an appointment at: 419.542.7475 (Hicksville Elementary)

Monday, March 7 Zion Lutheran Church

Tuesday, March 8 1801 East Second Street

Defiance

Call for an appointment at: 419.782.2921 (Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center)

The following areas will be checked:

Vision and hearing
Speech and language skills
Small and large muscle movement
Personal/social skills

This FREE screening is sponsored by “Help Me Grow” and associated schools and agencies.

10:00 a.m. Warren Schlatter, County Engineer, met with the Board with his weekly update. He submitted the Engineer’s County Highway Mileage System Annual report for 2005 noting that the County has 328 miles of roadway. By signing the document, the Board approved and certified this mileage. He also scheduled a bid opening for Bridge Materials for Thursday,

February 17 at 9:30 a.m. and reminded the Board that bids will be opened for Crushed Aggregate and Bituminous Materials on Monday, February 14 at 10:00 a.m.

At 10:10 a.m., Warren requested EXECUTIVE SESSION for Collective Bargaining issues (ORC 121.22 (G) (4)). EXECUTIVE SESSION ended at 10:17 a.m. with no decisions made – informational only.

He submitted his Accumulated Revenue Report through 2004 which noted the following:

2003 2004

Permissive Tax: $ 425,155 $ 426,928

Motor Vehicle/License Tax $1,330,483 $1,325,668

Gas Tax: $1,524,662 $1,867,715

Court Fines: $ 23,221 $ 27,069

Warren also informed the Board that he plans to submit a letter of intent to the Ohio Department of Transportation regarding the creation of a bike trail in the City.

10:30 a.m. Deputy Jim Hall, Sheriff’s Office, met with the Board regarding the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program. Sheriff Westrick also attended the meeting. Approximately 250 kids graduated from the D.A.R.E. program last week. Begun in 1990, all fifth-grade students in Defiance County attend these classes to learn the issues concerning drug abuse. This program is financed through grants and donations; if you are interested in donating to this program, please call Deputy Hall at 419.784.3381.

11:00 a.m. Greg Reinhart, Wastewater Operations, presented a brief departmental update to the Board. The group reviewed specific sewer districts and the amount of debt still owed. Also discussed were residential tap fees and whether or not to change the amounts. More information was requested for a question regarding the consolidation of several sub-sewer districts before a decision will be made.

A pipe at Belden’s Wastewater Treatment plant has corroded and broken and is in the process of being repaired/replaced.

11:30 a.m. Tina Hiler, Senior Services Center Director, met briefly with the Board regarding the Nutrition Assessment agreement. Per the agreement, the nurse performing these duties is required to be a licensed nutritionist so the Senior Center contacted the Health Department to see if they had someone who could perform these duties. Tina requested and received approval to go forward in the creation of an agreement with the County Health Department for a

nurse/nutritionist to train Senior Center employees to perform home nutrition assessments. She will submit the completed agreement for the Board’s review.

1:30 p.m. The Commissioners traveled to Williams County for a Four County Joint Solid Waste District meeting. Commissioner Otto Nicely was re-elected as Chairman and Williams County Commissioner Duane Votaw was re-elected as Vice Chairman. The Four County Solid Waste District Board would like to encourage county businesses/facilities in the 4-county area who recycle to contact their county solid waste district coordinators or their commissioners for more information regarding the availability of grants for different projects.

After this meeting Commissioners remained to hold a “Rails to Trails” meeting with Williams County. Defiance County will submit a letter of intent to pursue grant funding to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 12:01 p.m.

Approved for news release: _____________________________

Otto L. Nicely, Commissioner