NEWS RELEASE

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2010

 

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, April 26, 2010 in the Conference Room in the Commissioners Office at 500 Court Street, Suite A, Defiance, Ohio 43512.  Chairman James E. Harris, Jr. called the meeting to order.  Also present were Commissioners Thomas L. Kime and Otto L. Nicely, Laura Howell, Administrator, Stephanie Metz, Clerk, and Lanie Miller, Deputy Clerk. 

 

The Commissioners met in General Session and approved and signed various resolutions, contracts and documents.  The Commissioners also reviewed the calendar of events and discussed upcoming meetings.

 

Greg Reinhart, Defiance County Wastewater Operations, met with the Commissioners for an update.  Greg reported the following repairs being done in March: pulled and cleaned EMA pump; installed new grinder pit and pump on Switzer Road; greased and oiled all plants and pump stations; pumped sludge from Auglaize Pines WWTP; installed new spring on check valve at express sewer pump station.

 

Warren Schlatter, Defiance County Engineer, met with the Commissioners for his weekly update.  Warren informed the Board that last week Evansport Road was closed for a culvert replacement.  This week Independence Road south of Banner School Road is closed for a bridge replacement.  Roadside grading work has been done on Independence Road south of Elliott Road, Jewell Road east of S.R. 66 and Trinity Road.  Upcoming roadside grading work is on Carpenter Road between the two intersections of Jewell Road and on Jewell Road west of Domersville Road.  The Crack Sealing contractor began work in Adams Township last week.  The Paving contractor will begin work this week, weather permitting.

 

Julie Voll, Family Children and First Council, met with the Commissioners for an update.  Julie informed the Board that a notice of award has been received for the Justice Assistance Grant.  The five counties of Defiance, Williams, Fulton, Henry and Putnam went together for this approximately $60,000 grant.  The grant is to help structure the wrap around services for each county and provide trainings for the wrap around service providers.  The caseloads for the Help Me Grow program for April 2010 are: 32 at-risk and 46 Part C for a total of 78 cases.  This compares to 46 at-risk and 43 Part C for a total of 89 total cases for April 2009.  The Help Me Grow department recently held early childhood screenings in Hicksville and Defiance for any children between the ages of birth and five years old.  There were 88 children screened in Defiance and 42 children screened in Hicksville.

 

Teresa Johnson and Barb Rohrs, Defiance County OSU Extension Office, met with the Commissioners for their quarterly update.

 

4-H Youth Development:  Teresa made a presentation in January at the Ohio Fair manager’s Conference.  138 youth and adult volunteers received training regarding their specific role as an advisor or 4-H club officer/advisor.  4-H was promoted by the Annual 4-H Mall Show at Northtowne Mall.  Over 81 4-H projects were on display.  This show resulted in eleven new 4-H members.  Fifty young ladies in 2nd-4th grades in NW Ohio attended the Princess Camp where they participated in the following programs: manners and etiquette, royal tea party, how to make a tutu and your inner beauty. 

 

Family and Consumer Science:  Two parenting classes with ten participants were offered for healthy eating, feeding children and managing a budget.  A contract was signed with CCNO to offer parenting classes at their facility six times in 2010 for 15 men and 15 women for a three day session.  18 people attended the Take Charge of your Diabetes program in March.  Barb recently presented Health Benefits of Chocolate and Understanding Food Labels programs.  A grant to continue the Family Nutrition Program was submitted in March.  The current grant continues until September 2010.  Family Nutrition Programs were attended by 513 people at various sites throughout Defiance County.

 

Agriculture Natural Resources:  Fifty-three area farmers recertified their Private Pesticide Applicators License at the Defiance County training session.  Bruce Clevenger taught over 400 farmers Polytank Failure Prevention for Farm and Business.  Computerized farm recordkeeping workshop with Quicken® was attended by six area farms.  Nearly 150 people attended the Ag Appreciation and Farmers Share Breakfast that was co-hosted by OSU Extension and Defiance Soil and Water Conservation District.  During the first quarter of 2010 nearly 160 calls and/or personal visits were made to the county agriculture/natural resources agent. 

Bruce Clevenger coordinated and served as editor for a state-wide research network to investigate Maximum Yield Maximum Profit soybean production.  Eight locations were selected and designed with replicated research plots to study foliar products such as fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides and additionally seed treatments and herbicide programs.  2009 results indicated that 1 product out of 34 treatment combinations showed an economic return to the soybean farmers.  Detailed on-farm research results available at: http://agcrops.osu.edu/. 

Defiance Farmers Market opening is May 1st.  2010 market locations/days/times: Defiance:  Saturdays 9am-12pm and Thursdays 12pm - 4pm; Sherwood: Fridays (starting May 28) 9am - 12pm; Hicksville: Tuesdays (starting May 18) 7am – 11am.  The guidelines and registration forms were updated and posted to the http://defiance.osu.edu/ website.

 

The Commissioners attended the Four County Solid Waste District Board of Directors meeting and the Four County Joint Board meeting at Paulding County.

 

 

 

 Release Approved:    ____________________________________________________   

                                                James E. Harris, Jr., Defiance County Commissioner