SWORN IN … From left, Blakeslee Village Council members Linda Muehlfeld, Brad Dahl, Robert Mohre and Nick Reed were officially sworn in by Mayor Eric Jenkins for another four-year term at the meeting on Wednesday, January 7.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Blakeslee Village Council met on Wednesday, January 7, as it approved the 2026 budget at its meeting.
Council approved the permanent appropriation ordinance regarding the 2026 budget totaling $59,749.10 during the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026.
Last year, the 2025 village budget totaled $52,754.00. Village Fiscal Officer Courtny Osborn pointed out that the 2026 general fund is $25,407.10. She had increased the general fund from a year ago, which had totaled $20,212.00.
“The reason being I had bumped it up is because everything is costing more, especially utilities and contracted services such as ice and snow removal,” said Osborn. “A lot of that comes out of the general fund.”
Special revenue funds appropriated for 2026 totaled $21,842.00. This includes street construction, maintenance and repairs totaling $19,542.00, which is unchanged from last year and includes salaries ($1,800.00) and benefits ($292.00).
Other special revenue funds budgeted were State Highway ($800.00) and permissive motor vehicle license tax ($1,500.00).
Also, the enterprise and garbage funds for the village totaled $12,500 in the 2026 budget. Osborn told the council that village garbage pickup prices have increased by seventy dollars a month from $847.00 last year to $914.00 this year.
“We can still make enough and have a surplus of about $1,900 at the end of the year if we kept it the same and everyone paid their $215.00 per month cost,” Osborn said of the garbage cost.
“If we want to cover the entire cost, like cover it and pay $12,500, that is going to cost approximately – it would have to bump to about $244.00 for a year, which is about $30.00 extra.
“That’s up to you what you want to do, keep it the same for this year, but next year we’ll have to bump up.”
In the December finance report, the village recorded $3,492.82 in receipts and $9,490.54 in payments. Osborn said the increase in payments was due to the fact that the village’s liability insurance had increased by $498.00, and the final payment was $6,033.00.
Edon Mayor Duane Thiel spoke to the council about his village’s use of solar-powered speed signs, in which Blakeslee is seeking to do the same with necessary funding and eventually installing them at both ends of the village on State Route 34.
“We opted with solar because it was a lot easier than try to run electricity to them,” Thiel told the council.“It was a lot easier just to dig the hole and set the signs and have it done.”
Thiel told the council the Bryan Area Foundation has grant money available for the project and suggested the village contact them for funding, which they distribute three or four times a year.
Council member Brad Dahl recently obtained price quotes for two solar-powered speed signs from A&A Safety in Amelia, Ohio.
Dahl had a copy of the November 15, 2025, invoice from A&A Safety stating a pair of solar-powered speed signs with data collection and reporting devices and alternating red/blue and white lights would cost $8,540.00.
Council also approved the minutes of the December 3, 2025, meeting.
Prior to the meeting, council members Brad Dahl, Linda Muehlfeld, Robert Mohre and Nick Reed were officially sworn in by Mayor Eric Jenkins for a four-year term effective January 1, 2026.
The next council meeting will be on Wednesday, February 4, at 6:00 p.m. in the village hall.