(PHOTO BY AMY WENDT / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
2025 ARCHBOLD VILLAGE COUNCIL … From left to right: Gary Dominique, Vaughn Bentz, Kevin Eicher, Aaron Babcock, Chad Kern, and President Karla Ball.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagereporter.com
The Archbold Village Council convened for its first meeting of 2025 on Monday, January 6 with councilors Gary Dominique, Vaughn Bentz, Kevin Eicher, Aaron Babcock, Chad Kern, and Karla Ball on hand.
As village departments and boards closed out 2024 business, many submitted Annual Reports for the council to review. Among those included the Archbold Community Garden’s Annual Report.
Council Clerk Cassie Storrer, who also volunteers with the community garden, provided a brief annual update to the council.
She noted that the group recently held its annual planning meeting and reported that harvests were lower due to a lack of rainfall during the summer of 2024.
Despite the challenges posed by the weather, Storrer emphasized the positive. “Overall, we were really pleased with the number of programs that grew, the number of participants that we had…we’re really excited for 2025.”
Mayor Brad Grime shared that he believes the community garden volunteers are doing a “great job” and the programming is “great.”
Village Administrator Aaron Alt highlighted that numerous local businesses and individuals sponsored and supported the garden’s initiatives in 2024.
Taking care of routine matters, the council approved minutes from the December 16 meeting and authorized the payment of bills and payroll in the amount of $715,602.33.
Moving on to annual housekeeping items, current Village Council President Karla Ball was nominated and elected by fellow council members to continue serving as president for 2025.
The council then approved Ordinance 2025-01 which appointed 2025 officers and board members in service to the village.
Resolution 2025-02 was approved, authorizing the sale of unneeded or surplus village-owned personal property through the GovDeals online auction platform. GovDeals.com is a website commonly used by local government entities in the immediate area and beyond to sell surplus, unused, or unneeded items.
Moving on to Resolution 2025-03, the council accepted a proposal for the purchase of a 2025 Ford F-150 Police Responder 4×4 for the Police Department. According to Alt, the new truck will be assigned to Sergeant Merillat.
Multiple December 2024 and year-end reports were before the council for review. According to the December and Year-End Income Tax Reports, village income tax receipts for 2024 totaled $7,030,820.38, reflecting an increase from 2023.
Other reports before the council for review included the Final 2024 Appointment Worksheet, the Fire & EMS Call Response Report for December 2024, the Fire Chief’s 2024 Year in Review, the Police Department’s Calls for Service Report for December 2024, the Police Department’s 2024 Annual Report, and the Street Department Labor & Fleet Report for December 2024.
The next Archbold Village Council meeting is set for Monday, January 20, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. and will be held at Council Chambers in the Municipal Building.