PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
DISCUSSING GRANTS … Pioneer Village Council members, from left: Al Fiser, Bryan Gendron, and Trever West discuss pursuing grants to replace a water main in the area of High Point Drive and Lakeshore Drive in Pioneer at its council meeting on Wednesday, July 8.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
Pioneer Village Council met in regular session on Wednesday, July 8, with council members Trever West, Al Fiser, Bryan Gendron, Brock Zuver, Dean Frisbie, and Joseph Nickloy present.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer, council approved the July 8 meeting agenda, minutes from the June 8 meeting, financial report and the payment of bills.
Council decided to postpone a road project involving the resurfacing of High Point Drive and Lakeshore Drive in order to pursue grant funding for a larger project.
To pay for the project, residents in the area were going to be assessed.
At the May meeting, village officials said they believed the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) would force the village to replace asbestos waterlines in that area during the assessment period, resulting in a second assessment on property owners.
Instead, the village is opting to apply for grants that would fix the roads and also replace the waterlines.
“I don’t want to put a new road down if we can get a new waterline and everything fixed out there,” said Council member Trever West. “I will say it does need some attention out there. What we do, I don’t know.”
Mayor Ed Kidston said there were no promises, but a good chance to get grants with the right amount of effort.
He mentioned the grants could happen within the next calendar year.
“I would suggest we hold off,” Kidston commented. “If none of (the grants) come through, we can revisit this again, a year from now. Let’s take our shots on the grants, first.”
Despite no citizens having spoken about the project, the village had sent letters, and officials have spoken to individuals from the neighborhood.
Village Administrator Anthony Burnett told council he noticed holes on the side of the berms on the roads that are affected and will address it with hot mix patch repairs.
He also pointed out that the response to the project was mixed.
“I think it’s a mixed bag of people out there,” said Burnett. “It’s a 50-50 crapshoot. Some don’t care if they end up with double assessments.”
Burnett added the village stands a good chance of receiving a grant from the Ohio Small Government Board as well as grants through the county.
“I’ve talked with Dennis Miller of the Maumee Valley Planning Organization and the county commissioners, and there is going to be two, maybe three, critical infrastructure grants next year,” Burnett said.
“There’s CDBG (Community Development Block Grants), none of them are guaranteed. I think we roll the dice and we apply for all these grants next year and maybe have a 2028 project.”
Kidston then made a motion to withdraw all three ordinances involving the resurfacing project. The motion carried by a 5-0 vote with Frisbie abstaining.
Police Report
Lieutenant Randy Mills, filling in for Police Chief Tim Livengood, who was on vacation, presented the report for June.
Mills told council there are five full-time, five part-time and three auxiliary officers currently on the roster.
He also reported there were six calls for service, three arrests, five citations, and 25 traffic warnings issued in June, with the average response time of two minutes.
School Resource Officer Stephanie Mills will be attending a School Safety Training program, with police departments from across Northwest Ohio attending. The program will go over all kinds of school safety, how to respond, and how to handle certain situations.
The department was also represented by an officer who helped provide security at both Buckeye Boys State and Buckeye Girls State, which took place in June.
Fire Chief Report
Fire Chief Don Bertke reported the fire department had just four calls in the month of June, with all of those calls being canceled en route. Two of those calls were in Pioneer, one in Bridgewater Township, and one in Montpelier.
He reported that LT Construction has started roof replacement at the fire station. Once the roof replacement is complete, work will begin on the new siding and doors.
Bertke updated on the status of Engine 71, in which Interstate Truck and Trailer Repair of Pioneer has already performed its portion of repairs and upgrades.
Among the repair work done included new drive tires, new suspension air bags, power steering repair, rocker box oil leak repair and new LED headlights.
Engine 71 was picked up by Atlantic Emergency Solutions of Findlay on June 25 to perform its portion of the upgrade/repairs.
“It was expected to take 2.5 to 3 weeks to complete, but I did ask them to take a look at the rest of the list of items which included some upgrades to the pump and lights, basically that was the extent of the remainder of the items,” said Bertke.
He said that Atlantic came back with a price on the repairs which cost $35,701.72, which included replacement of 14 emergency lights.
The issue involving the pump is the gear box that drives it, and he said it’s very difficult to replace.
Kidston made a motion to approve payment to Atlantic Emergency Solutions for Engine 71 repairs, and it was approved.
Bertke reported there are two individuals who have turned in their paperwork to become firefighters, but they need to pass a physical before being approved by council. Once approved, it will increase the roster to six firefighters.
He added there are fire classes being offered in the second week of September. There will be five or six people taking classes, which end in the first week of October.
Village Administrator Report
Village Administrator Anthony Burnett reported on the following items:
-Reminded council members of the upcoming AMP-Ohio Conference held October 12-14 in Columbus.
-Proposed changing the date of the October council meeting from Monday, October 12 to Wednesday, October 7 at 7 p.m., which was later approved by council.
-The Capital Program grant application was submitted for the Pioneer Walking Trail. He said the village would find out in early September if the application was approved before reevaluating the project.
-Discussed a change order for the solar field project with the purpose of getting tax credits filed next year.
Kidston added that the solar field project is currently moving along, and he is hoping to get it operating by December 31, 2026, but mentioned the village had received its first USDA grant payment on July 8.
He wants to schedule a USDA inspection between Thanksgiving and Christmas for the project.
-Updated council on awarding the Brownfield Remediation Grant at a cost of $136,000 for 15 environmental soil borings in the village.
-The OPWC (Ohio Public Works Commission) grant of $500,000 was approved for the Elm Street, Church Street, and Cedar Street project.
Burnett is hoping that a resolution can be made at the August meeting and putting it out for bid in September. The project is expected to be completed on September 30, 2027.
-Informed council on roof damage from a windstorm on June 17 that resulted in a tree falling on the Cogswell building, resulting in significant damage on the south side of the roof.
Burnett had contacted the village’s insurance company and had an adjuster come out. The adjuster gave the village a claim amount of $21,200.
Instead, he suggested the village just do the entire roof on the Cogswell property at $31,707, and council approved it.
-The village will be renewing its five-year contract with Archbold Refuse Service from June 1, 2027, to December 31, 2031, for refuse pickup service for residents and new trash dumpsters.
It will include a 3% increase in costs for each of the next five years. The current contract expires December 31, 2026. Council approved the renewal by a 6-0 vote.
-Heard from a couple of council members regarding an ordinance on not allowing political campaign signs on village-owned property.
Mayor’s Report
Kidston discussed the “Fiber to the Home” project and added the village is not agreeing to do it but wanted to move to allow Anthony Burnett to put the project out for bid.
“Once we see the bid and see all the financials and see how it’s going to work out, then we can determine whether or not we want to accept the bids or go with a contract or do away with it,” the mayor said.
“We won’t know that until we go out for a bid and actually have numbers to look at.”
The project will bring fiber to every home in Pioneer, which will give everyone extremely high internet speeds and is expected to bid out 5,000 megabytes per second.
“It’s going to be a top-of-the-line project,” he said. “It will also allow the village to instantly read electric meters as part of the solar field project, as every electric meter is being replaced.
“I think it’s just time that we look to bring that service in-house and do it for our people.” Kidston made a motion allowing the village to work with a consultant to develop specifications and to put it up for bid. The motion passed by a 6-0 vote.
“At the end of the day, what we like to have is a service in town that builds the village, and the village then bills the revenues under water, electric, and sewer,” Kidston said. “We’ll get a master bill and then we’ll distribute and charge our citizens.”
Regarding the fire department situation, Kidston said the citizens of Pioneer have been safe since the big eruption (April 13) when 15 firefighters, including the fire chief, had walked out of the council meeting that night in protest.
“We have gone several months now without incident,” noted the mayor. “We continue to protect the people and do the best we can with the limited resources we have.
“If I heard Don (Bertke) correctly, our forces would be up almost as large as they were before the whole eruption by the end of the year.”
Kidston then added, “Don (Bertke) has done an unbelievable job faced with the circumstances that he was faced with.
“Anybody that wants to join this force or come to join this force, we have trained people in this community that can do it in a moment’s notice and not continue to let our people down.
“They’re not to come in and dictate and say, ‘we don’t want any accountability’ or ‘whether we want to do.’ That’s not how you run an organization.”
“An organization holds people accountable, and if people want to be accountable, I welcome them with open arms. They’re not going to come in and dictate orders on how they were going to do this and do that.
“That’s not the way you run a community, as every department in this town is accountable to the taxpayers and we as elected officials are accounted for the taxpayers and we are going to serve the taxpayers.
“We are not going to let people dictate what they’re going to do and how they are going to do it. That isn’t going to happen because they don’t set the rules. Our town is safe and our town has been safe and had no issues.”
In other council business:
-Approved Fiscal Officer Nikki Mittelstaedt to attend fiscal officer training in Perrysburg on October 7.
-Approved Mittelstaedt and Gina Gruber to attend the Software Solutions Impact Conference Training in Columbus on October 28-30.
-Went into executive session to discuss personnel with no action taken. Next council meeting will be on Monday, August 10 at 7 p.m.
