(PHOTO BY AMY WENDT / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
CRIMINAL ACTIVITY CONCERN … Following a review of the Archbold Police Department’s April 2025 Calls for Service report, Councilor Vaughn Bentz questioned the number of major offenses reported in the village during that month.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagereporter.com
Village officials met on Monday, May 19 for the second regular Village Council meeting of the month with Councilors Gary Dominique, Vaughn Bentz, Kevin Eicher, Aaron Babcock, and Chad Kern in attendance while Council President Karla Ball was absent.
Mayor Brad Grime and Village Administrator Aaron Alt were also in attendance representing the village’s administrative team.
After approving the meeting minutes from May 5 and authorizing the payment of $518,570.17 in bills and payroll, the council got right down to business attending to the several pieces of legislation on the agenda.
Following a third reading for each, Ordinance 2025-20, which provides for a wastewater rate increase effective with July 2025 usage, August 2025 billing cycles, and Resolution 2025-21, authorizing the village administrator to enter into a sanitary sewer service agreement with Ridgeville Township Water and Sewer District, were given the green light.
Aaron Alt clarified that the rate increase in Ordinance 2025-20 is not necessarily an increase, rather, it removes the tiers from the village’s current billing structure. “So, the impact is marginal on anybody who is using over 50,000 gallons,” Alt added.
Speaking on the new sewer agreement with Ridgeville Township outlined in Resolution 2025-21, Alt provided background on the factors that led up to the rate increase. “So, I guess with this, it’s been a long time coming,” the administrator began.
“We’ve been talking about this since – we have been in discussions with Ridgeville since November. We realized that there was a need to amend this 20-year-old agreement when we started these agreement amendments with Fulton County, and then carrying this into Ridgeville Water and Sewer District.”
“The tiers just were not the way that they should have been designed. The tiers that they were on, both Fulton County and Ridgeville, were on the tiers that the billing was really geared towards people on pre-treatment that are dealing with BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand).”
“So again, ConAgra, FSI – they hit that high rate. Ridgeville Township does as well, but Ridgeville Township is not paying for the BOD. So, when you hit that million-gallon plus mark, you have other factors that are determining your bill just above and beyond the sewage.”
“ConAgra – they’ve got a full pretreatment processing plant basically on site. Ridgeville does not. So, the rates were just not intended – should not have been intended to be carried out on these different agreements.
So, this is just setting a flat rate that Ridgeville will receive and ensure that the plant (Archbold Wastewater) is no longer losing money, treating their sewage.”
The new rate structure will take effect with July usage and appear on August bills. When asked by Councilor Bentz whether there had been feedback from Ridgeville Township, Alt responded that the township had little choice, given its high monthly sewage volume which ranges from 3 million to 7 million gallons.
Council heard on its second reading Resolution 2025-23 authorizing the village administrator and finance director to execute a perpetual lease agreement with CB Acquisitions, LLC for the Verizon wireless cell tower site.
The lease, originally proposed at $124,000, saw renewed attention after local media coverage led to wider interest. According to Alt, multiple companies have reached out to the village with offers to purchase the lease, including one unsolicited of $170,520.
Alt presented the counteroffer to CB Acquisitions, who initially declined to match it, but later agreed to the $170,520 amount.
“Originally, this company (CB Acquisitions) proposed $124,000, so we’ve made quite a bit of headway on this lease. So, I don’t know, I can’t sit here and say in two weeks we’ll have – we may have a higher offer. This may be pulled. We don’t know. So, we’ll just continue to let it ride and see where it goes.”
No action was taken, and the legislation will come before the council for a third and final reading at the next meeting.
Council passed Resolution 2025-24 authorizing the director of the Parks & Recreation Department to submit an application for financial assistance from the Natureworks Program. If awarded the approximately $20,000 allocation, the funds would be used to install pathway lighting for Ruihley Park.
Resolution 2025-25 Accepting Change Order #1, Contract 2-2025, Ditto Street Parking Lot was also approved.
According to Alt, after speaking to concrete experts, crews made the decision to add fiber reinforcement into the concrete and reduce the thickness which necessitated the change order. He estimates that the parking lot project will be completed in “a couple of weeks.”
Council also gave the green light to Resolution (2025-26) authorizing the advertisement for bids for Contract 6-25 for the Short Buehrer Road sidewalk project and Resolution 2025-27 to transfer funds from the Special Assessment Fund 509 Murbach #5-03 to the General Fund.
Lastly, Ordinance 2025-28 which amends Chapter 152 – Zoning Code, based on recommendations from the April 14 Planning Commission meeting was adopted.
The changes to the code establish a height limit for light poles and also address kiddie pools, water gardens, hot tubs, koi ponds, and similar features added to properties within the village.
It was also noted that the Planning Commission has been discussing potential changes to poultry restrictions but plans to conduct further research before taking any action.
The Archbold Police Department’s April 2025 Calls for Service report was reviewed, which included several serious offenses.
The report listed four calls for importuning, eight for pandering obscenity involving a minor, one for pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, one for the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, and five for disseminating matter harmful to a juvenile.
Councilor Vaughn Bentz remarked, “There’s a lot of concerning things on the April arrest reports.” He asked Village Administrator Alt for clarification as to whether the offenses listed stemmed from multiple incidents or offenders, or if they were connected to a single case.
Before adjourning, the council briefly discussed the unmowed property on S. Defiance Street formerly owned by Drug Mart.
Alt reported that he had spoken with both the property management company and the mowing contractor, and the issue is expected to be resolved soon.
The next Archbold Village Council meeting is set for Monday, June 2 at 5:30 p.m.