For everyone who was unable to attend Mayor Goldner’s first “State of the Village” report, she has graciously shared it with us to share with our NBXpress readers.
State of the Village – 2016 – January 19, 2016
Key Projects and tallies for the Village of North Baltimore 2015
Good evening – “One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals. When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing.”
― Jean Vanier, Community And Growth
2015 was a busy year here in North Baltimore and we had several personnel changes in our village government and our office staff over the year. After the November 6th election we had 2 new council members, Matt Archer and Ron Carles AKA Ty, and had 2 long-tenure council members leave the village council – Bill Cameron and Aaron Patterson. We also had a change in the Village Clerk position as Rick VanMooy, who had been our Clerk for 12 years, decided not to run for re-election. Kathi Bucher was appointed as our new clerk during the first meeting of 2016. As a council position was left open by my being elected as mayor Rick VanMooy was nominated and approved as a new council member to complete our Village Council. We also added Courtney Bretz as our new Billing Clerk.
- In August, after serving just over a year with the village, former Village Administrator Donna Dettling informed us of her intention to take a position with the Village of Archbold, Ohio effective November of 2015. After a candidate search conducted by Clemens-Nelson & Associates, the Village hired Allyson Murray, the Safety Services Director in Fostoria, Ohio to replace Ms. Dettling.
- North Baltimore EMS responded to 542 calls for service in 2015, (before we went fulltime). This equates to an average of 45 calls per month, or approximately 11 calls per week…and this was when we were just running from 7am-7pm. As of January 1, 2016 we now have an EMS squad available to provide service 24 hours a day seven days a week.
- North Baltimore Fire responded to 210 calls for service in 2015. This equates to an average of 4 calls per week. These calls ranged in severity from car & truck fires on I75 to house and field fires. North Baltimore Fire’s annual Toys for Tots drive in December collected $1400 and (4) truckloads of toys for those in need last Christmas.
- North Baltimore Police responded to 3398 calls for service in 2015 which is roughly 285 calls per month, or 65 calls per week. North Baltimore Police Officer Mandy Slane attended DARE certification schools and is now a DARE officer in North Baltimore schools. Several of our officers attended specialized training programs as North Baltimore PD continues to provide outstanding service to our village. North Baltimore PD along with Wood County Prosecutors Office worked in cooperation to bring charges against individuals providing heroin to an overdose victim last spring. We were one of the first municipalities in Ohio to bring charges against those who provide drugs in the case of an overdose.
- On our public utilities side of things 2015 was an exciting year. We successfully treated close to 140 million gallons of flow at our sewer treatment plant and provided just under 160 million gallons of high quality water to our residents. Water is one of those things many of us take for granted until a crisis such as the current water emergency in Flint, Michigan or the Toledo water emergency from a few summers ago, reminds how important it is in our everyday lives. We here in the Village of North Baltimore are fortunate to have an outstanding staff in our water and sewer plants who make it their priority every day to provide our residents with safe water.
- Public Works is responsible for so much in the Village it is hard to know where to start. Our public works dept. mows 70 acres of village owned property beginning in April and continuing until November each year. Our staff of 4 public works employees were responsible for the opening and closing of 38 graves in our cemeteries, finished the upgrades to the windows, roof and doors of shelter house #3. They also maintained all village owned park property and ball fields, opened and closed concession stands and bathrooms, installed 84 snow emergency signs throughout the village as well as maintained all traffic signals and signs. These employees are also responsible for leaf pick up, leaf grinding, the pick-up of 20 dump truck loads of brush from throughout the village and installed & took down the village Christmas lights. This dept. also delivered loads of bagged leaves to residents who wished to utilize these leaves in their landscaping. Residents can call the village office to arrange this service. The painting of crosswalks, plowing of snow, applying brine to assist with ice control, salting streets once ice has developed and spraying for mosquito control also fall under this dept. The flags and banners throughout town and the roundabout are maintained by the Dept. of Public Works, as is the tree trimming, repair or replaced storm lines on Rudolph Road and the slip lining of one block of Water St. from Taylor St. to Bates St. They also assisted and supervised the village street paving project and the tile repair on Mitchell Road.
- North Baltimore started 2015 off with a renewed interest in the Tree Commission and its status as a “Tree City”. The Village was once again awarded the “Tree City Recognition” at the annual Tree City Awards Program in April 2015, and the North Baltimore Tree Commission worked in conjunction with Stephanie Miller from ODNR to complete an extensive tree inventory of trees in the Village and a plan to maintain and/or replace those trees. 58 brand new trees were planted in the tree lawn on the North side of town in November 2015 concentrating on North Tarr St., North Second St., and North Third St.
- Renewed interest in both the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals was a focus of former Village Administrator Donna Dettling who worked to re-organize these commissions with new appointments and agendas aimed at creating an environment open to economic development here in the Village.
- The Village identified in the spring of 2015 that it would be able to utilize funding that remained from the sewer separation project to renovate and update the wastewater treatment plant. A request for qualifications was sent out in April 2015. Bids were opened on this project in December 2015 and Peterson Construction was awarded the bid. A Pre-construction meeting regarding this project will take place February 16, 2016 with work beginning soon after. This project will update the lab area of the current wastewater treatment plant as well as update the “Headwork’s” (or frontend) section of the treatment process.
- In August, after serving just over a year with the village, former Village Administrator Donna Dettling informed us of her intention to take a position with the Village of Archbold, Ohio effective November of 2015. After a candidate search conducted by Clemens-Nelson & Associates, the Village hired Allyson Murray, the Safety Services Director in Fostoria, Ohio to replace Ms. Dettling.
- In September of 2015 the Village developed a new project to replace existing water meters. Working in conjunction with Neptune Equipment the Village funded the project estimated at $364,000 by taking $91,000 from four separate water/sewer funds. (fund 511 water operating, fund 573 water capital, fund 521 wastewater operating, and fund 574 wastewater capital). The new meters will be able to transmit data to our office software with regular updates several times daily. Currently it may take us several days to identify and repair a leak or other issues. Utilizing this state of the art system we will be able to identify issues with residents’ water meters within hours saving both the village and resident’s critical time and money. The installation of these new meters is scheduled to begin this week. (January 2016)
- After more than 15 years of issues, leaks and problems with the Municipal Building roof, the engineering firm of Peterman and Associates of Findlay, Ohio was hired to design a new roof system that would cover the entire roof sections of all three buildings that make up the Municipal Building Complex (Fire, Police, Village Office/EMS). Bids were opened in November of 2015 and Helms Construction was awarded the bid with work scheduled to begin as soon as the weather breaks.
- In November of 2015 a former Village employee pleaded guilty to theft in office charge in Wood County Common Pleas Court. In January 2016 this individual was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 5 years of community control sanctions. She was also required to pay restitution to the Village in excess of $77,000. The State of Ohio Auditor’s Office was critical in assisting us in identifying a problem with our financial records and discovered this fraud taking place. Matt Gilmore with PERSO is working on an insurance claim in order to recover these funds.
- We were so fortunate to receive funds from the estate of Lars Larsen and used those funds to repair and update shelter house #2 at the Village Park. A memorial plaque will be mounted on a large rock and placed next to the renovated shelter house as soon as weather will permit. We also were able to dedicate a portion of the Village Park in memory of Rev. Paul Eichar who was instrumental in helping develop our beautiful and extensive park area. A large rock with a plaque will also be dedicated and placed to indicate the memorial area. Both of these memorials will help us remember the sacrifice and dedication of these former residents to our Village
“All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don’t. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.”
― Robert F. Kennedy
