ARCHBOLD VILLAGE COUNCIL … Council member Kevin Morton commented on the struggles to get the word out to everyone in the village about the status of snow emergencies. This includes cancellations that could be a result of snow emergencies. Pictured next to Morton is Vaughn Bentz. (PHOTO BY LINDSAY PHILLIPS, STAFF)
By: Lindsay Phillips
Archbold Village Council held the February 7, 2022 meeting, as always, at the Archbold Administration Building in downtown Archbold at 5:30 p.m.
The meeting was called to order followed by a moment of silence and the approval of the minutes from the January 17 meeting.
Mayor Brad Grime read a Proclamation for Career and Technical Education Month. This is a yearly Proclamation which Council does in which the entire month February is dedicated to the Four County Joint Vocational School.
This month is to raise awareness of the large impact that Career and Technical programs have on student’s futures. CTE Month is also a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements of the school.
Four County Vocational School has 30 rewarding career and technical programs for students in their Junior and Senior year of High School. The school also offers programs for Adults and serves approximately 2,000 Adult students each year.
Council discussed the efforts from the previous meeting to establish the Boundaries of the Community Reinvestment Area in the Village of Archbold.
Also discussed was the need for creating a Housing Council, assigning a designated Housing officer and declaring an emergency for said program. Aaron Alt will be named the Housing Officer.
This program has been updated numerous times since 1977 when it was first implemented allowing an abatement for Residential, Industrial, and Commercial properties.
Through the changes in the program, Residential was removed from that list. Glen Grisdale from Reveille Planning Consultants said “When going through the comprehensive plan process it was discovered that Workforce housing is important and improving Residential stock is important.”
After approving this Legislation, Administrator Donna Dettling said, “There will be a few more steps, we have to publish this for two weeks, then we will send in proof of publication along with multiple other documents including this legislation.” Council moved to suspend the three-reading rule, and to approve.
The next order of business was to authorize the purchase of a Splash Pad from Penchura LLC. Council approved the purchase and passed it as an emergency.
The rush on the Splash Pad is to avoid any additional cost increases. Almost $400,000 was donated towards the Ruihley Park Splash pad, just about reaching the total cost of $430,000.
The Splash Pad is on track to be ordered in ten weeks, with still no exact estimate on when it will be built.
The Archbold Police Department is growing and with that the need for more police vehicles comes into play.
Council accepted a proposal for two 2022 Police Interceptor Utility AWS Vehicles for the Police Department and declared it an emergency.
Chief of Police Leo Wixom said that he hopes to eventually have a police vehicle for every officer.
In other business, Former Mayor Jim Wyse was made the Economic Development Coordinator, effective February 8th, 2022.
Council went over annual and monthly reports, including the Zoning and planning report for 2021. During Planning Director and Zoning Inspector Aaron Alt’s report, he stated that “A development group from the Cleveland area called Zaremba is looking to annex 1.8 acres of land at the Northwest Corner of County Road 24 in Stryker across from the gas station to the west and it’s a Dollar General looking to annex that.”
Aaron continued to state “They have satisfied all requirements, we asked them to put their best foot forward, so it will not be your normal dollar general, it will be a more upscale looking one, at least from an aesthetic point.”
Before adjourning the meeting Council viewed the approved Fulton County Board of Elections Ballot for May 3rd, 2022.
Lindsay can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com