A PROUD MOMENT … New APD Assistant Chief Tera Rogers gets pinned by her daughter, Serenity.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Archbold Village Council met on Monday the 7th for its first regular meeting in August with all Council members present.
Council started off the meeting by approving the minutes from July 17, bills, and payroll in the amount of $1,035,221.27, and July 2023 financial reports as presented.
In front of a roomful of friends and family, APD Officer Tera Rogers was officially given the Assistant Chief’s badge by Chief Leo Wixom, who announced her recent promotion. Rogers’ daughter, Serenity, had the honor of pinning the badge on her mother’s uniform.
Rogers joined the APD roster in 2003 and moved to full-time status in 2017. In 2019, she then received a promotion to serve as Administrative Sergeant of the department.
Chief Wixom addressed council to share why Rogers was chosen for the promotion. “It’s one of those things where I have been absent from an assistant chief for about a year now and when we had the reassignment, Tera stepped up. “
“She took the bull by the horns and asked me what she could do to fill those shoes. And she’s filled those shoes. Not even being asked, she filled those shoes.”
“The most recent thing – I took a two-week vacation just two weeks ago, and when I came back, I was able to do what I needed to do.”
“Didn’t have to clean up anything, didn’t even have to worry about anything. So that just shows when I’m out and when I’m absent, she can fill those shoes and I’m proud to promote her today.”
Following the short ceremony, Village Administrator Donna Dettling shared with council that the APD was recently awarded a grant for body-worn cameras and asked Assistant Chief Rogers for an update on that project.
Rogers noted that 15 cameras were recently issued to all of the officers. Despite a “hiccup” with software, the officers have been learning how to use the new equipment and are finding the cameras to be beneficial not only for their intended purpose, but they have also proved helpful when compiling reports and documentation.
Dettling added that the equipment purchase was “about a $90,000-ish project,” and a reimbursement of a “little over $51,000” was received from the state grant.
Rogers elaborated, “It (the project) did end up running a little bit over because there were a lot of IT problems that we ran into that we weren’t expecting.
In the long run, they were things that would eventually need to be updated – we just did them a little bit early.”
In June 2022, Rogers also applied for an incentive through the Ohio First Responder Recruitment, Retention, and Resilience Program.
Dettling noted that the village received notice last week that they will be awarded $82,088.30 from that program.
Rogers added that the grant funds will be split between 22 Archbold first responders though firefighters and EMS personnel under volunteer status do not qualify according to the state.
The amount received will be 10% of base pay as of June 2022 providing the first responder signs a service agreement stating that they will stay with the Village for at least 24 months.
“Recently it’s been really hard for first responders to retain people – especially in law enforcement. We have so many people that are leaving the profession or they are just not going into it.”
Rogers further noted that it’s becoming highly competitive for smaller villages such as Archbold to get good officers and keep them when larger metro areas such as Toledo and Columbus can offer sizable sign-on bonuses to new first responders.
Moving on to legislation, council approved Consent Ordinance 2023-32 to Replace FUL-2-5.06 Bridge over Flat Run located on State Route 66 north of Quail Run.
Upon suspension of the rules and declaring an emergency, Council then approved Resolution 2023-33 which authorizes an expenditure for ammunition to be made from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund.
Council approved Resolution 2023-34 Accepting Change Order #1 for the S. Defiance Street Waterline Project Contract 2-2023.
Dettling added, “We are increasing it to $158,645 and the total contract price will be $659,050.” According to Village Engineer Dexter Krueger, the increase is due to replacing an additional 1200-foot stretch of waterline.
Krueger noted that during the design phase of the waterline project, the decision of whether to replace that stretch was debated due to budget and after consideration, the decision was made to stay conservative and not replace it for a couple more years.
The water department began to experience more breaks in the section and when they attempted to connect the new water line to the old one, it “exploded” forcing the engineering and water departments to reconsider replacement.
Upon suspension of the rules council approved Resolution 2023-35 to set the starting rate of pay for the newly hired Zoning Inspector, current APD Officer Grant Schaffner.
Dettling shared with council that the village used an internal process to fill the Zoning Inspector position because a couple of village employees were interested.
Schaffner is set to transfer to his new position on August 27 and will stay on with the APD Auxiliary to help with that department’s scheduling.
With no committee and board minutes to review, the Council moved on to discuss the following reports:
– Income Tax Receipts July 2023 Overall w/.3% Up 9% Withholding Up .65%
– Police Department Call Response July 2023
– Fire & EMS Calls for Service July 2023
– Street Department Labor & Fleet Reports July 2023
– TTHM 3rd Quarter Report (Water)
In correspondence received, it was shared that the village received a grant award in the amount of $625,000 for a Sanitary Sewer Project.
Other upcoming events noted were the Sherwood State Bank Groundbreaking Ceremony on August 11, the F&M Golf Outing set for August 25, and the Fulton County Museum Haunting History Tour on October 20 and 21.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The next Archbold Village Council Meeting will be held on Monday, August 21, 2023, at 5:30 pm.
Amy can be reached at amy@thevillagereporter.com
