ANNUAL MAYORS OFFICE REPORT The 2023 annual Mayors Office report was given by Mayor Carrie Schlade who couldnt thank the local leadership enough with whom she had the pleasure of working alongside throughout 2023
By: Anna Wozniak
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
anna@thevillagereporter.com
The Bryan City Council met on Monday, February 5, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. Present were Bryan City Mayor Carrie Schlade, Clerk – Treasurer John Lehner, and councilors Mary Leatherman, Richard Hupe, John Betts, Stephen Alspaugh, and Jim Kozumplik.
They first approved the minutes of their January meeting as presented before hearing from Bill Metz, a concerned citizen of Bryan.
Metz came in to discuss some concerns he has been having lately with some joint decisions made by the Bryan City Council and the Bryan Board of Public Affairs.
The main issue he expressed was the discontinuation of video recordings of the BPA and council meetings, sharing the statistics of the city’s Youtube channel, and how their viewings and ratings have dropped significantly since switching over to audio only.
He also shared concerns about his BMU email inbox being inundated with spam mail, as many other residential utility members have since the second week of January, when the Barracuda spam filter used for resident utility users expired.
The mayor promised Metz that she would look into his complaints and ask questions so that they may discuss why decisions were made the way they were, as well as potentially facilitate understandings on both issues.
A resolution was then passed accepting a $8,855 grant for body worn cameras for the Bryan Police Department from the Ohio Criminal Justice System.
This grant will see the department’s need for body worn cameras satiated for now. Two liquor permits were granted sans hearing for Ridi Stores at 1108 South Main Street and Bethesda Market and Carryout LLC at 226 Maple Avenue.
The fire chief was then granted permission to test a potential firefighter to fill an open position in the department.
A letter of support for the 50-unit senior housing project being constructed by Frontier Community Services was approved, and then annual reports began for the Mayor’s Office and fire department.
The fire department answered 1,251 requests for service this year, with 55 being fires, 889 rescue and emergency medical events, 52 hazardous conditions, 54 service calls, 116 good intent calls, 82 false alarms, and 3 special incidents. This number of calls is a 261% increase from the 478 taken in 2022 due to EMS protocols changing in May.
The Fire Prevention Section has been active with their goal to prevent fires through education and have spoken to over 2,000 adults and children throughout 2023.
The live burning training facility was completed, and now all Bryan Fire Training Academy courses may be offered at their training grounds.
The 23.4 hours of operation on the department’s unmanned aircraft ws detailed, as was a list of apparatus detailing department equipment.
Chief Pool was also excited to share that two academy firefighters are taking their tests next week, and that Damon Beltz and Hunter Streeter should soon be welcomed to the team.
There were 133 city employees servicing Bryan throughout 2023, with the departments headed as follows:
Mayor’s Office: Carrie Schlade; Clerk – Treasurer: John Lehner; Engineering: Brian Wieland; Fire: Doug Pool; Parks & Recreation: Ben Dominique; Police: Greg Ruskey; Street: Tyson Engstrom; Wastewater: Wes Wygant; Municipal Utilities: Derek Schultz; and Municipal Court: Judge Kent North.
The budget for 2024 was put at $56,747,811, which is slightly less than 2023’s $59,234,226.
The Bryan Economic Growth Council Executive Committee had eight members, who were as follows:
Mayor Carrie Schlade; Director of Utilities Derek Schultz; city industry representative Bill Steele; WEDCO Director Ashley Epling; Ohio Gas representative Cynthia Reed; real estate representative Mike Sheeran; Chamber of Commerce Director Dan Yahraus; and Maumee Valley Planning representative Dennis Miller.
$2,679,734.61 was awarded to the city via grant funding last year, with $2,032,243.05 towards the Engineering Department; $283,860.19 to the Parks Department; $270,636.37 towards the Police Department; and $92,995 to the Fire Department.
There are still five lots available for development in the Wilson Street Industrial Park, and 78 plus acres off of Brunicardi Way that has had little interest in the last eight months.
Future projects for 2024 were outlined, including planning and zoning code updates; AMTRAK updates; a $600,000 Paving Program project; the second phase of the Safe Routes to School project; the final phase of the Lincoln Park Inclusive Playground project; and a dewatering improvement project at the wastewater treatment plant.
The mayor then finished her report by thanking all of those who made last year possible, sharing that the professionalism of the staff has caused the city to excel, and took the time to recognize local leadership for their impacts made throughout the year, giving them credit for the huge amount of grant funding achieved by the city last year.
Council thanked the mayor and Chief Pool for their informative reports, and they also thanked Mr. Metz for coming in and expressing his concerns.
With everyone looking forward to a great 2024, the Bryan City Council voted to enter into executive session at 6:23 p.m.
