NEWS RELEASE

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2007

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 13, 2007 in the Conference Room in the Commissioners Office at 500 Court Street, Suite A, Defiance, Ohio 43512. Chairman Otto L. Nicely called the meeting to order. Also present were Commissioners Thomas L. Kime and James E. Harris, Jr., Laura Howell, County Administrator, Cara Brown, Clerk, and Joanne Goerlitz, Deputy Clerk

Lynn Army, Maumee Valley Conserving District, met with the Commissioners to provide an update on the St. Joe River. Lynn advised that since clean-up began in the Spring, 87 logjams were removed, 10 of which were located in the six miles of river in Defiance County. The cost to Defiance County was $11,443.49.

There are 451 parcels in Defiance County at this time, so the average initial cleanup price was $25.37 per parcel. The logjam cleanup price averaged $1,144.35 per jam.

The annual maintenance program has begun with 25 miles of the 50 miles of the river canoed and mapped for logjam removal for 2008. The logjams will be cleaned up during low flow times of the year.

Laura Howell, Administrator, provided her report. Laura advised that she and Rhonda Casler, Records Center, are looking into digital imaging for the Records Center. They will be traveling to Williams County to look at their equipment and to obtain more information.

The Commissioners then entered Executive Session to discuss hiring personnel.

Morris Murray, Director of Child Support, met with the Commissioners in Executive Session to discuss employee compensation.

Randy Vogel, Dog Warden, provided his November report to the Board. Randy advised that for the month of November, he had 126 complaints, 23 warnings and 25 citations. Thirty-four (34) dogs were taken to the shelter. The amount of court fines collected in November was $443.99. The amount of pounds of animals taken to the landfill were 1800lbs. Please be a responsible pet owner and have your pets spayed or neutered.

Tim Small, Board Chairman of the Defiance Port Authority, met with the Commissioners to provide an update. Tim advised the Board that he has had meetings with some of the Commissioners in the surrounding counties to see what their views and concerns are with joining the Port Authority to become regional. Tim also advised that the Port Authority will be meeting on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 8:00 A.M.

Release Approved: ____________________________________________________

Otto L. Nicely, Defiance County Commissioner