CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS … Swanton Fiscal Officer JoyceMarie Elmore discusses early 2027 budget estimates during the October 26 meeting of the Swanton Village Council. PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Support for committee of the whole meetings and a verbal plea for civility from a Swanton Village Council member was immediately followed by more infighting during the council’s October 26 meeting.
Councilwoman Dianne Westhoven, in response to previous questioning of the value of the committee meetings by Councilman John Schmidt, said the meetings’ purpose was discussion and exploration of topics affecting the village. Whether or not any action or ordinances resulted from those discussions – several of which did per her examples – she argued they served an important purpose.
Councilwoman Pat Pilliod later added her support for the meetings, saying she was able to gain a deeper understanding of several issues which informed her votes on said issues in later council action.
Westhoven also implored her fellow council members to remember to be respectful in disagreement. She said people would often have passionately held positions in opposition to one another, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t trust one another or speak to each other civilly.
Immediately after Westhoven finished her comments and the meeting moved on to a discussion on council matters requested by Schmidt, he launched into an attack on Councilman Deacon Dzierzawski and his allegations in an email that village administration had – intentionally or unintentionally – “obfuscated” valuable information that council members needed to know in order to conduct their business.
When questioned by Schmidt, Dzierzawski said the inclusion of general fund transfers into department funds of just under $4 million as revenue misled council members into believing the village had $12.4 million in estimated new revenue for 2027 as opposed to $8.4 million.
The transfers were highlighted in the documentation provided to council by Fiscal Officer JoyceMarie Elmore, and in the public comment portion of the meeting former fiscal officer Holden Benfield explained the standard procedure of showing the transfers also included equivalent expenditures, making them a net zero shift in the budget. Benfield further stated he had explained that process to Dzierzawski explicitly during his onboarding when he joined the council because Benfield expected that question to come up and wanted new council members to not be misled by the numbers.
Schmidt demanded more examples of the supposed “obfuscation” from Dzierzawski, which brought up further discussion of a private conversation Councilman David Pilliod had in which he was informed the village could have taken a different path in its fire/EMS contract negotiation with the county and received additional compensation. Swanton Fire and Rescue Division Chief Cuyler Kepling reiterated a previous statement that the offer indicated in the conversation was never actually made to the village, and added that he had calculated that if they had been offered the higher dollar amount, the proposed structure would still have resulted in the village receiving less money for the service than it will with the contract that was approved.
OTHER BUSINESS
Council members approved the resignation of full-time firefighter Darrin Kirchner effective October 24. Kirchner previously accepted a position with Sylvania Township, and Swanton Fire and Rescue Chief Cuyler Kepling reported Kirchner only ever worked four shifts in the less than two years he was employed by the department. Due to Kirchner’s limited employment, Kepling said the department was able to recoup all of his pre-employment costs from his final paycheck.
Council members approved retroactively an appropriation of $156,380.14 for the Crestwood Waterline Improvement Project. Elmore reported the appropriation represented a pass through of Ohio Water Development Authority funding for the project and not an expense being paid by the village.
Mayor Neil Toeppe reported an independent structural engineer had been hired and completed an inspection of the burned municipal building, but that a report would not be received until a mechanical engineer was sent by the firm to make his own assessment as well. That assessment was expected to be completed in the following week.
Toeppe reported the proposed rezoning of several agricultural parcels along the railroad tracks east of Foertmeyer and Sons to M2 heavy industrial was scheduled for a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on November 18 at 124 N. Main Street. After the public hearing, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation, which is expected to be voted on at the November 23 council meeting. Toeppe said the eventual plans for the properties are not yet known, but said it would not be used for a data center. He also pointed out the site plan for any proposed use would also be voted on by council before any construction began.
Council members discussed the hiring of a full-time code enforcement officer for the village.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Village Council will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 9, at The Venue on Main, 124 N. Main Street, to be preceded by a meeting of the council’s committee of the whole at 6 p.m.