NEWS RELEASE

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 24, 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 Commissioner 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.

Tina Hiler, Defiance County Senior Services, recently informed the Commissioners that the Senior Services Garage Sale held May 14-16^th raised approximately $3,500.00.

Cecilia Parsons, Defiance County Recorder, met with the Commissioners for an update. Cecilia provided a document and revenue comparison for her office. During 2010 the office has received 1,398 documents and collected $5,360 in user fees and $1,538 in copy/fax fees. During the same time period in 2009 the office received 2,466 documents and collected $8,416 in user fees and $912 in copy/fax fees; for 2008 there were 2,080 documents received and collected $7,148 in user fees and $1,251 in copy/fax fees.

The Board discussed the flooding situations throughout the County, including the Hicksville and Ney areas, over the weekend. Defiance County EMA provided assistance at the scenes in both the Villages of Hicksville and Ney. The Board noted that each Commissioner, individually, traveled throughout the County over the weekend to view the flooded areas.

The Village of Hicksville received around 4” of rain, creating flooding at several locations in the area, including Community Memorial Hospital. The Board will be researching options to help the Community Memorial Hospital with their flooding concerns. The Board met with Christopher Spellmire, USDA Rural Development, Mayor Haver and Mick Procratsky, Village Council President, about a Rural Business Enterprise Grant for storm water control, with a possible retention area along with other solutions to try to alleviate flooding around the Community Memorial Hospital.

Once again, the Village of Ney experienced flooding from the banks of Lick Creek. The main route through the Village of Ney was impassable because State Route 15 was flooded from The Bend Road to the intersection of State Route 15 and State Route 249, causing traffic to be redirected. With approximately 1 ½” of rain in the Ney area, the heavy rain north of Ney, around the City of Bryan and Williams County - in the Lick Creek watershed, seemed to cause the flooding in the Ney area. The increased development and drainage improvements in that portion of the watershed have only increased the burden on the downstream landowners. If no improvements or storm water retention is made and development continues, it will only exacerbate and continue to burden downstream landowners.

Kevin Hancock, Defiance County Ditch Maintenance, met with the Commissioners to present the Defiance County Ditch Maintenance Inspection Assessment Report for Year 2011 and the Joint County Ditch Maintenance Inspection Assessment Reports for Year 2011. The Board directed the Clerk to schedule meetings with the Joint Boards to review the Joint County Reports. These inspection reports are to be certified to the County Auditor by July 1, 2010.

Warren Schlatter, Defiance County Engineer, met with the Commissioners for an update. Warren stated that the crews will be working to patch the flood damage from the weekend; there are between 15 and 20 areas of berm varying in length that need replaced. Jericho Road east of Casebeer-Miller Road is closed due to a culvert failure from the flooding. Carpenter Road between the two Jewell Road intersections will be having roadside ditch work. Lockwood Road east of Farmer Mark Road bridge work was completed last week.

Michael Gaynor, GO21, and Jerry Hayes, Defiance County Economic Development, met with the Commissioners to introduce the organization. G021 is a non-profit, public interest organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans and building a stronger economy by promoting increased use of freight rail transportation as an alternative to continued reliance on an overcrowded highway system.

Release Approved: ____________________________________________________

James E. Harris, Jr., Defiance County Commissioner