PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN/ THE VILLAGE REPORTER
NEW FIRE CHIEF … Don Bertke (above) was appointed as the new fire chief of the Pioneer Fire Department after being approved by the village council at its regular meeting on Monday, May 11. Bertke has been with the fire department since September 2000.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
PIONEER — Pioneer Village Council appointed Don Bertke as its new fire chief of the Pioneer Fire Department at its regular council meeting on Monday, May 11.
The 50-year-old Bertke has been with the fire department since September 2000, and had previously moved through the ranks as Lieutenant, Captain and eventually served as an assistant fire chief from 2014 through 2018.
He was appointed to the position by Mayor Edward Kidston, who had recommended Bertke following a 40-minute executive session.
Council had approved his hiring by a 5-1 vote with council member and former firefighter Brock Zuver voting no.
Zuver said he had nothing against Bertke despite his no vote on the fire chief appointment.
“I had a presentation or an offer for the mayor to have at least 11 of the firefighters come back, but he would not accept the offer that we had,” said Zuver.
“That’s why I voted no. I really hope the fire department can get back to full fledge and we can protect the citizens of Pioneer.”
Bertke replaces former fire chief Rodger Swank, who resigned last month following Kidston’s non-recommendation of Tiler Williams as assistant fire chief. The move also sparked a walkout of 15 firefighters following the mayor’s decision.
“I’m going to try and do my best to gain interest from the community and getting some people that want to get out there and take a fire class and serve the community,” said Bertke.
“Hopefully I reach out to some of our former members if they want to come back. If they want to talk, my phone is on and they all know me.
“I’m more than willing to talk and work out anything that we can work out.”
Currently, there are three firefighters on the force, including two more taking the firefighter course. The new fire chief is working on getting a fourth person in the department who is already certified.
The two people taking the course will be finished on June 6. One of those people is Josh Arvay, who is currently on the police department.
Zuver said the village bylaws state fire department members have to live within 10 minutes of the department, and Arvay resides in Toledo.
Bertke said he didn’t have an answer to those questions, saying he needed to work with Police Chief Tim Livengood on the details.
“I’ve been put in a very tough situation here to try and make sure the community is safe,” said Bertke.
“Josh (Arvay) doesn’t live close by, but I’m going to work with Tim (Livengood) to see how we can work this out while he’s here in town.”
Livengood said if a fire call happens in town, Arvay will respond to the fire call if he’s on duty.
“As an officer he will respond to that call and as soon as fire service arrives on scene, we would relinquish back to (Bertke) and resume our responsibilities,” he said.
“If he has to break away, then there is more conversation to happen. Law enforcement would be his primary responsibility.”
MAYOR ASKED TO RESIGN
In the citizen comment period, Gary Miller said he wanted Kidston to resign. “I want to get the town back to normal,” said Miller. “That will about do it. I’ve been here for 76 years and I’m getting ready to get out of this town because it’s not safe to live in.”
Another resident, Stan Bryner, addressed the conditions regarding Beard Park. He told council there is no signage saying what the park’s name is or even signage uptown for the point of people going down there.
Kidston had spoken to village administrator Anthony Burnett after Bryner had approached him about the signage.
“I think you (Bryner) got some great ideas, and we should try to get a big sign up like Cromer Park,” said Kidston. We could also tear up the concrete underneath the cannon and put in a new concrete pad and some picnic tables.”
Resident Rod Eckley addressed council regarding the Lakeshore Drive improvement project.
Kidston responded to Eckley’s question saying the village was notified by the EPA, who did a survey for all towns asking what the village’s water lines were and had to list them.
The mayor said there was an asbestos pipeline out there on Lakeshore Drive.
“I’ve been working with the EPA nearly all of my life and usually when they start asking the question, they’re going to come in with an enforcement shortly thereafter,” said Kidston.
Kidston then continued in responding to Eckley’s question, “I want council to understand that there is a very strong chance sometime within that ten-year period. The EPA is going to come in and make the village redo the waterline and the road.
“Then they will be faced with double assessments for these property owners and that is something that we need to consider. There is a likely possibility that we will be completely rebuilding that road within the ten-year assessment period. It is something that came up after we started down this journey of redoing that road.”
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Tim Livengood introduced the newest member of the police department, Josh Arvay, to council members.
Arvay comes from the Toledo area and enjoys working for small communities. He is also an EMT and will be expanding his own horizons as a future firefighter in the village.
“He (Arvay) has a lot of really good contacts and a lot of nice feedback from the community,” said Livengood.
Livengood also reminded council that Student Resource Officer and Lieutenant Stephanie Mills have been working on a multi-jurisdictional event which will take place Wednesday, May 13 at North Central Local School.
This will involve a lockdown drill, evacuation, and reunification. The department does this annually in an effort to continue to work collaboratively with the school to extend a relationship between law enforcement and school district in addition to the community and other agencies between the fire department, EMS, so they can basically put a drill together and evaluate that and then move forward in building on it every year.
ADMINISTRATOR REPORT
Village administrator Anthony Burnett thanked everyone who attended the National Day of Prayer event on Thursday, May 7.
Burnett also reported that local military veteran banners have already been installed by the electric department.
He added that there are 14 more banners coming and waiting on them to be delivered and installed.
“This has been a great addition to our community and great collaboration with the Pioneer American Legion who have put in a lot of time into designing the banners,” he said.
Burnett also reported there were a couple of issues with the Floral Grove Cemetery involving some property damage, with several reports being filed with the Pioneer Police Department and Williams County Sheriff’s Department.
He is also seeking an individual for summer help in the village.
SOLAR FIELD PROJECT UPDATE
Regarding the solar field project, Burnett said the village has filed for a BABA (Buy America, Build America Act) waiver saying they are really stringent on one hundred percent American made products.
He added they have struggled with two transformers and a recloser out at the solar field, and that’s why they applied for a waiver.
“I bring this up because the waiver could take up to two months for USDA to approve,” said Burnett. “I spoke to our legal representatives in Columbus, and I’ll get another update this week, and we’re going to talk in a little more detail.
“We’re hoping to get it operational by the end of this year. If we get the waiver granted, we can get two non-compliant transformers for $220,000. Our legal team thought it was a good option, but I would like to move forward with having to buy those transformers just to get them ordered and get them here.”
Burnett sought a motion from council per legal recommendation to move forward to purchase the non-BABA compliant transformers at the risk of the village along with a recloser which costs $25,000.
Council then approved the motion by a 6-0 vote.
“I think it’s a good risk to take,” said Kidston. “Let say we buy them (transformers) and we don’t get the waiver; we have to resell them at even 50 or 60 percent of what the retail value is.
“When you compare that against postponing $4.5 million in tax credit and $2,600 a day in electricity, it’s a risk worth taking.”
Council later passed an ordinance accepting the bid of B&M Ashman Inc of Wayne County, Michigan for the solar infrastructure project.
The village will be purchasing Stated Controls which tells the solar fields to turn on and off and interface with the substation. It is a new meter for every household in the village.
It’s a new circular fiber optic cable going from the north substation down through the village to the south substation out on U.S. Route 20 to the solar field, back into town and back to the substations.
This is a looped fiber optic cable in which the village hopes to connect to in the future and bring high speed fiber optic networks to all the residents. It’s not a part of the deal, but it’s the backbone part of a fiber optic network.
“This came in actually about $200,000 underestimate, so it put us right in line where we need to be with this project,” said the mayor.
LAKESHORE DRIVE IMPROVEMENT UPDATE
Council tabled three ordinances regarding the Lakeshore Drive Improvements until the June meeting.
-Ordinance 17-2026: An ordinance determining to proceed with the improvement of High Point Drive by resurfacing High Point Drive from the west edge of Lakeshore Drive pavement at the intersection of High Point Drive and Lakeshore Drive west to the end of High Point Drive, including the cul-de-sac and intersection radiuses. The total project will involve approximately 234 feet.
-Ordinance 18-2026: An ordinance determining to proceed with the improvement of Lakeshore Drive by resurfacing Lakeshore Drive from the southernmost end of the Toledo Western Parkway curbing at the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Toledo Western Parkway south a distance of approximately 2,233 feet to an end point being approximately 815 feet northeasterly from the center of the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and U.S. Route 20, as measured along the centerline of existing pavement.
-Ordinance 19-2026: An ordinance accepting the bid of Bryan Excavating, LLC for the resurfacing of High Point Drive and Lakeshore Drive. It authorizes the village administrator to enter into an agreement and to sign all documents necessary.
Council member Dean Frisbie suggested sending letters again to residents regarding the improvements.
Burnett said the village had distributed notices to everybody by March 19, and they knew the project was coming and had seen their assessment of how much they were going to pay.
“They had 15 days to come into the office and fill out an objection which then went forward to a committee who discussed the project and made the call on what to proceed or not,” said Burnett. “We didn’t have one person come into the office.”
Kidston noted the reason why council had tabled the ordinances.
“The reason why we’re tabling it is because we don’t want to double assessment every five or six years and that’s the reason,” he added.
ODOT SALT CONTRACT
Council passed a resolution authorizing the village to participate in the ODOT road salt program for the 2026-27 winter season.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
