NEWS RELEASE

Thursday, April 12, 2018

The Board of Defiance County Commissioners met in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2018 in the in the Commissioners’ Session Room at 500 Court Street, Defiance, Ohio 43512. President Ryan Mack called the meeting to order. Also present were Commissioners Gary Plotts and Mick Pocratsky, Sherry Carnahan, Finance Manager/Administrator, and Lanie Lambert, HR/Finance Deputy Clerk.

The Courthouse Committee of the three Commissioners, Sheriff Engel, Clerk of Courts Amy Galbraith, Common Pleas Court Judge Schmenk, and Probate/Juvenile Court Judge Strausbaugh met to discuss two requests for work at the Courthouse. The Committee approved changing doorways for the new Magistrate’s Office. They did not approve high density shelving to be installed on the first floor.

The Commissioners met in General Session; they approved and signed various resolutions, contracts and documents. The Commissioners also reviewed the calendar of events and discussed upcoming meetings.

The Commissioners certified the March Solid Waste Disposal Submittal Forms for the Landfill facilities. Defiance Township, as the host government agency, received $2,495.39. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) also received $3,383.03 for the construction, & demolition debris (C&DD) waste. Monthly (MSW) Disposal fees paid to the Ohio EPA for the Defiance County Landfill was $36,000.81. The Four County Solid Waste District received $12,522.85.

Bruce Clevenger and Teresa Johnson, Defiance County OSU Extension, met with the Commissioners to provide a quarterly update. They reported the following:

Agriculture Natural Resources:

· 279 area farmers recertified their private pesticide applicators license by attending an OSU Extension training session. There are nearly 140 farmers in Defiance County licensed. On average, each Defiance County private applicator applies pesticides on 733 acres, making OSU Extension program reach 102,620 acres of cropland.

· 22 fertilizer applicators received the Fertilizer Applicator Certification Training (FACT). OSU Extension is the exclusive provider for this training. Beginning in 2014, Ohio Law requires farmers and commercial applicators of fertilizer to be certified is fertilizer is applied on 50 acres or more of cropland. Defiance County now has 233 farmers that hold a fertilizer certification and will receive recertification every 3 years.

· OSU Extension hosted a 2018 Farm Outlook meeting in Jewell in January. Over 125 area farmers and ag-business professionals attended to learn strategies and information about trends and forecasts affecting local and global production agriculture.

· 200 area farm managers participated in meetings regarding the value of keeping farm records.

· OSU Extension is providing an essential amenity to the local food service industry. Local food service managers of restaurants, delis, and convenience stores serving food must have a manager that has completed the Level 2 ServSafe training and successfully pass and exam. The exam is administered locally at the OSU Extension office. In 2018, there have been 15 food service managers schedule the trainings and exams with OSU Extension.

· Clint Schroeder has been hired by OSU Extension to assist area farmers with farm business analysis and benchmarking. Mr. Schroeder is located in the Defiance Office and is one of four analysts in Ohio hired through a USDA grant awarded to Ohio State University Extension. The program gives producers a farm finance scorecard that shows how they stack up in each of the 21 national financial standard categories.

SNAP Ed:

· The SNAP Ed program presented 84 educational sessions with over 1,750 participants.

· Defiance City Schools participated in nutrition programs.

· Defiance SNAP Ed helped with Cooking Matters classes in Paulding. Eleven participants graduated.

4-H Youth Development:

· 1,043 youth from Defiance Middle School and Tinora High School participated in the Real Money, Real World program. This hands-on experience gives young people the opportunity to make lifestyle and budget choices similar as those of an adult.

· The 4-H Educator conducted training for the adult and teen volunteers who have care, custody, or control of minors during an activity or program with minors. 65 Defiance County 4-H volunteers and 110 4-H camp counselors from the region received training.

· 76 4-Hers received training for 4-H officers (president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and health/safety).

Ron Cereghin, Defiance County Maintenance Supervisor, met with the Commissioners to provide an update.

Release Approved: ____________________________________________________

Ryan Mack, Defiance County Commissioner