NEWS RELEASE

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 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 Thursday, July 14, 2005. 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. 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.

Commissioners reviewed the meeting they held yesterday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. regarding Route 24 issues. Attending the meeting was: Representative Stephen Buehrer and his aide Ryan Frazee; Jim Roach, Northeastern Local Schools; John Kaylor, Educational Service Center; Otto Meyer, Richland Township Trustee; Brent Peterson, Jewell Grain Company; Warren Schlatter, Defiance County Engineer and Sheriff Dave Westrick. The group discussed safety and traffic issues concerning the intersection at Independence Road. During harvest season, many wagons have to cross the intersection to deliver their grain to the elevator and multiple school busses utilize that crossway during the school year. A date will be set for several in the group (Buehrer, Westrick, the Commissioners, Roach and Schlatter) to go to Columbus to voice their concerns to ODOT.

At 4:00, Steven Sondergaard, a resident of Wooded Acres, voiced concern over the increase in traffic noise when Route 24 is widened and requested ODOT install a noise barrier to cut down on traffic noise. The group going to the Lima ODOT office will also discuss this concern.

9:30 a.m. Nancy Porter, County Humane Society Chairman, and Josh O’Hara, Shelter Director, met with the Board with a request for the installation of an exhaust fan system in the cat rooms and then attaching a central air conditioning unit to the current furnace to cool the animal pen area. The Board suggested they check the air conditioning equipment removed from the old hospital; it may be useable for their purposes. They also told them that if the Shelter needed cabinets, they could get some from the hospital building, also. Becky will check to see what units may be available that would fit their needs.

Ms. Porter also submitted a form and a fee schedule that they will be using when animals need to be quarantined.

10:00 a.m. Cindy Mack, the new Tourism Director, met briefly with the Board to introduce herself and talk about upcoming events. Fort Defiance Days will be held beginning July 29. Many of the activities will be held at Pontiac Park. Check the Tourism website at www.defiancetourism.com for more information.

She discussed the upcoming movie “The Prizewinner of Defiance County”, based on the book written by Defiance native Terry Ryan. It is due to be released in theaters in September.

The Tourism Board is subsidized from hotel/motel tax. Although one hotel has been demolished to make way for Walgreen’s, Ms. Mack did not feel it would affect the hotel/motel tax income.

10:30 a.m. Becky Wagner, Administrator, presented the following for the Board’s review:

ü Renovations at Defiance County-East are progressing well. Ron Cereghin, Maintenance Supervisor, has been filming the progress.

ü A drop-off at the rail spur site in Industrial Park will be checked out by the City.

ü The 211 phone number (like dialing 9-1-1) which is a source of information and referral assistance is not well known, posters will be hung at various locations to assist in informing others of the number and what services are available. Dialing 2-1-1 will give the caller access to services and programs including human service agencies, food and shelter providers, child care resources, special services for seniors, volunteer opportunities and much more.

Ron Cereghin, Maintenance Supervisor, stopped in briefly to let the Board know that various areas of county sidewalks will be patched.

11:30 a.m. Will Burns, Maumee Valley Planning, and Matt Gilroy, Economic Development, met with the Board for an update on the Standridge Color Corporation project. City administration officials Mayor Bob Armstrong, Finance Director John Seele and Law Director Dave Williams also attended. Will reviewed the design and construction summary and reviewed the funding sources and amounts. Grants and loans for the project total $460,375.00, leaving a shortfall of approximately $61,000 to complete the project. The group discussed other funding sources to cover the remaining cost. It is estimated that 16 new jobs will be created when Standridge begins operations in the fall.

Commissioners then signed Rural Development paperwork, brought in by Will Burns, for R and L Industrial Park.

Approved for news release: _____________________________

Otto L. Nicely, Commissioner