DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2003

NEWS RELEASE

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met at 8:30 a.m. in the Conference Room of the Board of Commissioners, 500 Court Street, Suite A, Defiance, Ohio 43512 on Monday, November 10, 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 Alison Grimes, Clerk and Debra Bloomfield, Deputy Clerk. Joan Brown, Deputy Clerk, attended the 10:00 a.m. and the 1:30 p.m. meetings.

8:30 a.m. Russ Herman, Defiance County Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, stopped in briefly to meet with the Commissioners. He requested EXECUTIVE SESSION regarding the Purchase of Property (ORC 121.22 (G) (2)). EXECUTIVE SESSION ended at 8:54 a.m. The meeting was informational only.

9:00 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. Larry Long, CCAO Executive Director, arrived during General Session as he will attend the 10:00 a.m. insurance meeting.

10:00 a.m. This time was taken for an insurance presentation by representatives of CORSA (County Risk Sharing Authority), CCAO’s (County Commissioner’s Association of Ohio) self –funded insurance pool. Attending were Larry Long, CCAO Executive Director, and Toni Donahue, from AON Consulting, Inc., an employee benefits consulting group in Columbus. Also attending the meeting was Ken Keller, First Insurance and Investments, Defiance. Toni and Larry presented information regarding benefits and costs for the county and county employees if their health insurance program, CEBCO (County Employee Benefit Consortium), is utilized. If the Commissioners decide to accept it, the plan would be effective January 2004 and would run for three years. CCAO backs this insurance plan and is presenting it to all the counties in Ohio. The Board took all the information presented and will review it thoroughly before making any decision.

11:00 a.m. Gaylon Davis and Warren Schlatter, County Engineer’s office, met with the Board for a weekly update. Also attending the meeting was Russ Herman, Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. They met to discuss the drainage problem at the County Fairgrounds. Warren discussed several solutions to the drainage problem. Russ Herman will generate a letter to be sent to adjacent landowners regarding the issue.

Russ Herman left after this issue and Gaylon and Warren presented the rest of their update. Warren reviewed information concerning the signage to be placed in the parking lot behind KeyBank. Costs of some of the signs will be paid for by the County; other sign costs will be paid for by KeyBank. The signs need to be placed so they do not interfere with winter snow removal. The lot has been paved and striped; parking space numbering is the only project left to finish.

Commissioners requested a section behind the Hicksville Senior Center be re-surveyed; Gaylon’s office will perform the survey.

Mr. Davis then reviewed accumulated revenue: permissive tax revenue, motor vehicle/license tax revenue gas tax revenue and court fines income. Overall, revenue is up slightly from 2002.

Gaylon also requested that several manholes on county roads be adjusted so snow plows are not damaged when plowing the roads.

1:30 p.m. Ken Keller, First Insurance and Investments, met with the Board for an insurance presentation. First Insurance is the County’s third party administrator for the current employee health insurance. He reviewed the large claims report, renewal premiums, financial results and then compared the 2003 rate with the upcoming 2004 rates. As with the other insurance quote, the County will take the information and review it thoroughly before making a decision.

After the meeting, a photo op was held with Chief Bill Wilkins, City Fire Department and Commissioner Kime to present a check for $7,500 to the City of Defiance for the purchase of five warning sirens. This grant funding was received through the researching efforts of the Public Safety Services personnel.

Today’s meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

Approved for news release: _____________________________

Thomas L. Kime, Commissioner