(PHOTO BY BRIANNA BALOGH / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
AWARD PRESENTATION … Pictured are Daryl Bowling – USG Water Systems, BPA Director of Utilities Derek Schultz, Mayor Carrie Schlade, Jennifer Gleisburg – Tnemec Coatings.
By: Brianna Balogh
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
The Bryan Board of Public Affairs meeting was held Tuesday September 17th. The meeting was called to order at 5pm starting with the pledge of allegiance. Roll call was taken by John Lerner, Clerk- Treasurer.
In attendance were board members Chair Karen Ford Chair, Vice Chair Annette Schreiner, Dick Long, Bob Eyre, Mayor Carrie Schlade, and Director of Utilities Derek Schultz.
Absent was board member Jim Salisbury. There were several guests in attendance for the awards presentation including the city council. The minutes from the September 3rd meeting were approved before moving on to the presentation of the awards.
Director of Utilities Derek Schultz introduced guests Daryl Bowling USG Water Systems Consultant, Kent Dever USG Water Regional Director, Buddy Stanford Coating Consultant, and Jennifer Gleisberg Director of Performance Coatings Tnemec. He provided a brief explanation of USG Water and Tnemec and their involvement in the project. Mr. Schultz then introduced Jennifer Gleisburg to speak.
Gleisburg began by expressing her happiness to be able to present both the Tnemec Tank of the Year Award and the People’s Choice Award to the City of Bryan Ohio.
Since 2006 Tnemec has celebrated creativity and innovation by presenting the Tank of the Year award across the United States and Canada, with this past year having a record breaking 46,729 votes.
The Dum-Dum tank is only the 2nd tank to win both the Tank of the Year and the People’s Choice award, which was introduced in 2016.
The Dum-Dum tank is also featured in the Tnemec 2024 calendar for the month of January. Gleisburg explained the innovative coatings used in the project to protect from the Ohio weather and highlighted the cooperation between the City of Bryan, Spangler Candy Company, and USG Water Solutions.
To conclude her speech, she thanked Daryl Bowling, the City of Bryan, Derek Schultz, Spangler Candy Company, the muralist Eric Henn, and Tnemec coating consultants.
The 2024 Tank of the Year competition is currently taking place with the people’s choice voting open from October 7th to October 18th, with the announcement of the winners on October 25th.
Next order of business was the clerk-treasurer report. John Lerner opened the floor to questions. With no board members raising concerns, Dick Long introduced the motion to approve followed by Annette Schreiner with all other board members approving.
Ben Dominique, Park and Recreation Director, was introduced to speak in regard to street tree donations. Dominique spoke about the donation request and for what it would be used.
This program has been in effect for 25 years and provides street tree replacement when they are lost due to construction or similar type projects.
Dominique was asked to review some highlights where he provided commentary from the arborist, specifically noting that 123 trees were planted the prior year including 68 along the streets and in parks as well as 23 native trees at the retention pond.
Donations were provided by the board of public affairs, the parks department, and Bryan engineering totaling $23,000.
Eyre inquired about follow up care in which Dominique explained that the new trees will have tree bags and that there is no specific protocol, but maintenance is on an as needed basis. Once clarified that the donation requested was the same as the prior year, $4,000, all members passed the motion.
Next on the agenda was a motion to reschedule the next meeting. Schultz explained there was a conflicting conference on October 1st.. All members approved a proposed date of Thursday October 3. Time will remain the same at 5pm.
The motion to effect semi-monthly disbursements was questioned by Eyre specifically referring to a transformer. Schultz explained the transformer’s purpose to help mitigate peak day usage and that it should be arriving the following day. With no other comments or questions the motion was approved.
The final item on the agenda before the executive session was comments from BPA and staff. Each member took the time to thank everyone involved in the water tower project.
Eyre highlighted how great of an award this was for the City of Bryan. Long welcomed the out-of-town guests and spoke about the initial stages of the project and design. Vice Chair Schreiner specifically thanked the muralist Eric Henn who was unfortunately not in attendance.
Chair Ford talked about growing up near the water tower and how the tower now puts a smile on your face. Schultz thanked the park department, USG and Tnemec. Mayor Schlade expressed her gratitude for the park department, thanked the council for attending, and thanked the USG and Tnemec representatives for traveling from many different areas to be here.
Schlade spoke about the initial stages and challenges that were faced. Council Member Tom Sprow was thanked specifically for his involvement.
Additional comments highlighted how the Dum-Dum tower has become an attraction for people from all over, especially for photos.
Lerner informed the board of the 2023 audit completion. The audit was good with no comments or concerns. He relayed to the board that the city council voted to waive their right to an exit conference with the auditors, and with no objections the board approved to waive the exit conference as well.
At this time, Chair Ford invited members of the audience to speak. Dominique took this time to thank several individuals and teams who have been assisting the park department with several projects, including assistance with power lines on the field 4 project.
Daryl Bowling with USG water spoke about the concerns around weather and timing that was faced during the project. He expressed the excellent communication provided and what a great team it was to work with.
Kent Dever spoke about how impressed he was with the town of Bryan and how this artwork has circulated around the country as an example of what can be done.
He thanked the mayor and board for the opportunity to work on this project. Chair Ford thanked everyone once again and motioned for a recess to take pictures prior to executive session.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 with the next meeting rescheduled to October 3rd.