DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2003

NEWS RELEASE

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met 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, March 24, 2003. The meeting was called to order by Thomas Kime, Chairman. Present were Commissioners Thomas L. Kime, Otto L. Nicely and Richard L. Cromwell. Also present were Becky Wagner, Operations Manager; Alison Grimes, Clerk, and Joan Brown, Deputy Clerk.

8:30 a.m. Russ Herman, County Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, met with the Board to review the status of various documents pending his review/approval. Several documents still require his review/approval, but should be completed this week.

9:00 a.m. General Session – Commissioners approved and signed various resolutions 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.

10:00 a.m. Amy Murphy, Family and Children First Council Director, met with the Board for an update of her department. A State site review is scheduled for August 5 and 6 of this year regarding the Help Me Grow Program. A Family Support Specialist will be employed and based at the Family and Children First Council facility. The State Auditors will begin the audit of the facility on April 1. The Family and Children First Council, through the Wellness Program, will be sponsoring a Girl Scout Family Safety day on April 5 at the Family and Children First facility. During their last council meeting on March 11 the revised by-laws were approved and committees were beginning to form. Amy asked if the County would continue to act as fiscal agent for the Council and the Board agreed. Amy will contact Russ Herman, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, to request that he create a contract.

10:30 a.m. Rick Edmonds, Good Samaritan Superintendent, met with the Board for a brief update. He is running out of space and submitted a request for the Commissioners to approve a lease between Good Samaritan and Rex Shreve for office space for two of his staff. The office space is located at 1931 East Second Street, Defiance. Commissioners agreed to sign the documents, once they are returned from the Prosecutor’s office.

11:00 a.m. Merlin Butler, Poggemeyer Design Group, presented data to the Board regarding assessments on various properties.

1:30 p.m. Susan Jackson, Interim Job and Family Services Director, met with the Board to present a departmental update. She passed out information concerning the Job and Family Services Annual Training Conference. It will be held in April and if any of the Commissioners are interested in attending any of the meetings, Susan will handle the registrations.

Funding for her department is in good shape and Job & Family Services is well within their budget. Ms. Jackson also noted that she has begun employee evaluations.

The Board also discussed the outsource office. Once a month, Job and Family Service personnel travel to Hicksville where they hold office hours to answer questions and assist families in that area in filling out necessary paperwork. However, not all information can be obtained and/or completed in Hicksville. People requiring assistance must still travel to Defiance to the Job and Family Services office for an interview. Also, food stamp information must be directly inputted on a computer in their office.

2:30 p.m. Mark Hopper and Julie Fowler, Public Safety Services, plus Defiance Fire Chief Wilkins, Ney Fire Chief Weber and Captain Doug Engel from the Sheriff’s Department, were scheduled to meet with the Board to discuss the FY02 DOJ Equipment Purchase Review. However, due to a conflict with several of the above-noted persons, the meeting will be rescheduled for another date.

Today’s meeting adjourned at 3:05 p.m.

Approved for news release: _____________________________

Thomas L. Kime, Commissioner