NEWS RELEASE

DEFIANCE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2006

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 Monday, September 25, 2006. Chairman Thomas L. Kime called the meeting to order. Also present were Commissioner Otto Nicely, Clerk Lyla Gurwell, and Deputy Clerk Joanne Goerlitz.

General Session – The Commissioners were presented with various resolutions and documents for approval. The Commissioners reviewed agenda items, discussed upcoming meetings, reviewed, and updated the calendar of events.

James Seney, Chairman, Road to Work Ohio came in to discuss the Road to Work Ohio’s mission of leveraging a lease of the Ohio Turnpike.

Mr. Seney mentioned that he has been meeting with Economic Development Directors, City Mayors, and County Commissioners throughout the region in an attempt to get this issue on the table. Mr. Seney’s goal is to enlist the leaders within the counties to become part of the coalition to move this project forward.

Mr. Seney believes leasing the turnpike is a good idea regardless of who is elected Governor. He also believes it would be a good idea if the bulk of the proceeds were spent in the northern corridor of Ohio, as we are the folks who have paid tolls for over 50 years.

Mr. Seney believes a few of the main issues are quality of maintenance, safety improvements and deployment of technology, transition of any adversely affected employees, truck diversion to alternate routes and toll rate increases. He also feels that maintenance and safety issues can be resolved in the contract and a portion of the proceeds be assigned to helping adversely affected employees through the transition. Mr. Seney also mentioned the current diversion of trucks onto the turnpike could be achieved by writing into the contract incentives for truckers to use the turnpike

Defiance County Engineer Warren Schlatter came in for his weekly update. Warren discussed the final cost for the Behnfeldt Road (0.40 miles south of Blosser Road) project. This project consisted of constructing GRS abutment walls in preparation of a contracted precast beam placement. The final cost of the project is $49,892.

Warren also brought in legislation from the Ohio Department of Transportation that needs to be signed by the Board to approve various changes to local highways. Approval of the legislation would give consent to the use of county and township highway right-of-way for the state highway’s U.S. Route 24 project. A few areas affected are Carpenter Road – (Grade separation – Carpenter Road over U.S. Route 24), Elliott Road (west) (Relocate on new alignment west of Domersville Road), Domersville Road/ 281 (Grade separation – Domersville Road over U.S. 24), and Adams Ridge Road (relocated/ cul-de-sac at U.S. Route 24).

Warren also mentioned the contractor would begin the work on the West High Street Canoe Launch. The Commissioners awarded the project in Mid August to Sines Excavating for $9,892.00.

The Commissioners held a bid opening for the removal of asbestos at the old hospital building. Joe Kreinbrink of J & K Environmental, L. L. C. opened the bids. The first bid was from Total Environmental Services out of Toledo, OH for $8,165.00. The second bid was from Midwest Environmental Services out of Toledo, OH for $7,000.

Mr. Kreinbrink advised the Commissioners of a mandatory pre-bid meeting held on Monday, September 18, 2006. All contractors wanting to bid the project were notified that they must attend the meeting or their bid would not be considered. With this action noted, the Commissioners took the bids under advisement. The Board had further discussion with Mr. Kreinbrink regarding the bid process and awarded the contract to Midwest Environmental Services.

News Release Approved: ____________________________________________________

Thomas L. Kime, Defiance County Commissioner