NEWS RELEASE

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

THURSDAY, JULY 21, 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 21, 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, Joan Brown, Deputy Clerk and Lyla Gurwell, 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.

In other business, the Commissioners reviewed what was discussed during their study session held on Wednesday, July 20^th at 8:30 a.m. The Board of Commissioners met with the VFW regarding the parking space issue and offered them 7 additional parking spaces in the SW corner for public use. The spots would be designated as 2-hour parking spaces.

9:30 a.m. Becky Wagner, Defiance County Administrator met with the Board of Commissioners and presented the following for discussion:

· Joyce Cavanaugh of the Farm Service Bureau will be meeting with Becky on Monday, August 1^st to review the renewal of the buildings lease agreement. Joyce has completed all of the necessary paperwork to continue with the lease.

· Discussed having with the Safety Committee regarding the need to train County Employees in CPR. The Health Department has indicated their willingness to conduct the training at their facility. The only cost involved would be the cost of the training manuals. Becky did indicate that the Defiance County Safety Committee would purchase a minimal quantity of the manuals which could be shared among the employees going through the training. Becky indicated that the training would be very beneficial to Defiance County employees as well as the residents and would take approximately 3 hours for the initial training and one hour for recertification. The Board of Commissioners decided to begin the training in the fall of 2005 unless the employee chooses to take the class after hours.

10:30 a.m. The Defiance County Board of Commissioners met with City of Defiance Administration Officials, and Darrell Handy City Council Member. Also attending were Jason Tansey Finkbeiner, Pettis & Strout, Jerry Hayes Economic Development Director and Ian Stalker of Zinc Ox located In Belgium to discuss a proposed project for Defiance County. Various issues were discussed including the landfill, route to the landfill, water and waste water from the City of Defiance. Also discussed were opportunities for various government grants, both state and local.

Zinc Ox proposes to invest 20-40 million dollars with the possibility of 50-100 jobs in the United

States. Defiance County and one other site are possible locations for this opportunity.

11:00 a.m. Tim Houck Defiance County Landfill Director opened bid for Landfill Gas Sampling Test. Among those submitting bids were: SCS Engineers Cincinnati, OH, - $17,000, Hull & Associates Toledo, OH - $25,500, and EHS Technology Group Miamisburg, OH - $69,380.00. The Defiance County Board of Commissioners accepted the bid proposals and will take under consideration the award recommendation of Tim Houck at a later date.

Approved for news release: _____________________________

Otto L. Nicely, Commissioner