DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10,
2003
NEWS RELEASE
The Board of Defiance County Commissioners
met at 8:30 a.m. in the Conference
Room of the Board of Commissioners, 500 Court Street, Defiance, Ohio 43512 on Monday, February 10, 2003. The meeting was called to order by Thomas
Kime, Chairman. Present were Thomas L. Kime,
Commissioner; Otto L. Nicely, Commissioner; Richard L. Cromwell, Commissioner;
Becky Wagner, Operations Manager; Alison Grimes, Clerk and Joan Brown, Deputy Clerk. Sherry
Carnahan and Deb Bloomfield, Deputy Clerks, attended the 1:30 p.m. meeting.
8:30 a.m. Russ Herman, County Chief Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney, met with the Board to review several documents which had
been sent to his office for review and approval. The
majority of documents recently sent to his office have been reviewed and
approved; only one or two documents still await his review.
9:00 a.m. General Session – Commissioners signed
various resolutions, approved a variety of travel requests, reviewed the day’s
agenda and agenda items, discussed upcoming meetings and the calendar of events.
10:00 a.m. Gaylon Davis,
County Engineer,
met with the Commissioners to present his weekly update. He
submitted copies of information he had sent to the various Mayor and the
Township Trustees in Defiance County relative to the distribution of the Governor’s
proposed gas tax. Distribution of the
funds will be heavily impacted if the full tax is not passed. If passed, a two cent increase will be added
in 2004, four cents in 2005 and six cents in 2006.
He also informed the Board that he and Warren Schlatter will
be attending the Ohio County Engineer’s Association Conference in Columbus
Tuesday, February 11 through Thursday, February 13.
Commissioners let Gaylon know that the Airport Board still
wishes to utilize the underground fuel storage tank located on the premises.
10:40 a.m. Tim Houck,
County Landfill Manager, scheduled for an 11:00
a.m. meeting, was requested by the Board to come in a little
earlier. He also brought June Crosser,
his new Assistant Manager, to the meeting.
He met with the Commissioners at this time to review information on
various Landfill projects.
Tim noted that the Solid Waste District Management Plan was
approved.
1:30 p.m. Ken Keller, First Insurance and
Investments, met with the Board for a county insurance services update. Sherry
Carnahan and Deb Bloomfield,
Deputy Clerks, also attended this meeting. Ken reviewed the financial results of the
last 12-month period, number of employees insured, number of claims, total
claim amounts, etcetera.
Tom then asked Ken about HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability
and Privacy Act). Until otherwise
informed, plans of less than $5,000,000 did not qualify to comply with the act,
which includes Defiance County. Information pertinent to Defiance
County employees will be compiled
and distributed. Also, a meeting will be
set up with Ken, the Auditor’s office, the Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
and Becky, to review HIPPA information.
2:30 p.m. Mark
Hopper and Julie Fowler, Public Safety Services, Doug Engel, Sheriff’s
Department, and Chief Wilkins, City of Defiance, met with the Commissioners
regarding the purchase of nine automatic external defibrillators. $18,450.00 from the Emergency Medical
Services, Rural Access, has been awarded to Defiance
County for purchase of these
units. 45 people are required to be
trained on the proper use of these units.
The group submitted a schedule of
training dates for various areas of the county.
A grant of $20,500 is also forthcoming from a DOJ grant (Department of
Justice) which will add 10 more units.
This will allow the placement of an AED in all law enforcement vehicles
in Defiance County. It will also provide additional capabilities
for various fire departments (Ney-Washington, Farmer) to better serve the
residents of Defiance County. The
units will be distributed as follows:
Hicksville
Police Department 2
Defiance
County Sheriff’s Office 3
Defiance
Police Department 2
Ney/Washington
Fire Department 1
Farmer Fire
Department 1
Funding for the units listed above will come from the EMS
Rural Access Grant. Funding for the
following units will com from the DOJ grant:
Defiance
County Sheriff’s Office 7
Defiance
Police Department 2
Sherwood
Police Department 1
3:15 p.m. Mike Boff, Soil and Water Conservation
District Technician, met with the Board for an update on the Platter Creek
Project. Located in Mark, Hicksville,
Delaware, Farmer and Milford
Townships, the main ditch covers
13,043 acres and the lateral ditch covers 2,459 acres.
Mike met with the Commissioners today to inform them that,
after due notice and public hearing, the District Supervisors for the Defiance
Soil and Water Conservation District certify that the construction of the
Platter Creek Project
#95-4 will improve water management and development in the
watershed area and that the proposed cost will be less than the benefits in the
area by promoting the economical, industrial, and social development of the
watershed area. The Commissioners
agreed and passed a motion to that effect.
After completion, the ditch will be placed on Ditch Maintenance.
Today’s meeting adjourned at 3:37
p.m.
Approved for news release: _____________________________
Thomas
L. Kime, Commissioner