PHOTO BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
SAME BUSINESS, NEW LOCATION … Members of the Swanton Village Council meet at Ritter Hall in downtown Swanton for their regular meeting after the village offices – where the council chambers are located – was damaged by a fire.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Members of the Swanton Village Council heard several updates during their most recent meeting regarding the fire at the village offices as well as kudos to various staff for their efforts in the midst of the resulting upheaval.
Chief among the concerns regarding ongoing operations is the status of the village’s server. Fiscal Officer Holden Benfield said it is up and running, but was damaged and will need to be replaced.
In addition to its use for a wide range of village services, the server is the sole repository of Swanton Police Department body camera footage.
According to Police Chief John Trejo, a majority of the space on the server is taken up by the footage, which is not backed up anywhere else.
He said they are now looking into future options to store the footage at an additional location in order to ensure none is lost in the case of future server issues.
Village Administrator Shannon Shulters said the server is currently housed with the police department in the Swanton Community Center and digitally connected to the administration’s temporary home in a former doctor’s office at 1 Turtle Creek Circle.
She said there is a bit of lag due to that setup which makes remote operation slower, also slowing some of their work.
Mayor Neil Toeppe thanked both the community and a variety of regional, state, and federal organizations and individuals for their assistance in the village’s time of need, including the office of U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), State Representative Jim Hoops (R-Napoleon), Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski, the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Fulton County Emergency Management Director Rebecca Goble, and Governor Mike DeWine.
Toeppe said the smoke smell is still overwhelming in the portions of the building not directly damaged by fire, and that they will not know whether or not the whole building will have to be torn down and rebuilt or if a completely new location for village offices will be needed until they hear back from the insurance adjuster.
If full demolition is necessary and they choose to rebuild, he said, the work could take 12 to 18 months.
“It is worth noting that Administrator Shulters has worked tirelessly to not only maintain daily operations but transition all administrative operations.
“She worked closely with Chief Trejo to assure police operations were not interrupted. She marshaled all of the village departments to achieve as smooth a transition as possible,” Toeppe said, adding “All departments should be recognized for their selfless efforts in a time of crisis.”
COUNCIL RULES CHANGES
After an at times combative discussion during a recent special meeting rewriting the rules of council, members again engaged in verbal sparring during the first of three readings to accept the new rules.
Councilman Deacon Dzierzawski, who was the driving force to make the changes with support from council members David Pilliod, Patricia Pilliod, and Dianne Westhoven, made a motion to amend the rules further with regard to the number of council members on the council’s committees.
The motion launched the council back into its previous arguments over whether committees were necessary at all.
The subsequent conversation was wide-ranging, from things already discussed at the special meeting to how decisions were made with regard to the rescinding of a fire levy by a past council.
The faction consisting of Dzierzawski, the Pilliods, and Westhoven were at odds with Councilman John Schmidt and Councilman Noah Kreuz, who didn’t feel the additional layer of government was needed.
The two factions – who sat on opposite ends of the tables with Toeppe in between – argued and spoke over one another, with Schmidt telling Dzierzawski “I don’t care” if things were done that way before, a reference to Dzierzawski’s comment during the special meeting that he didn’t care if things were done differently now.
Dzierzawski also confronted Toeppe over his comments during the discussion, cutting him off at one point and eventually calling for discussion to end and a vote to be taken.
They eventually voted to pass the resolution accepting the rules on first reading 4-2 with Schmidt and Kreuz casting the dissenting votes.
OTHER BUSINESS
Council members voted to pass on an emergency basis resolutions authorizing the fire chief to apply for grants through the TC Energy Fire Equipment Grant Program and the Ohio EMS grant program. Neither grant requires the village to provide matching funds.
Council members approved a pair of $50,000 appropriation changes for the Street Department as an amendment to the temporary budget.
Benfield said the expenses causing the changes were planned, but were initially expected to happen in 2025, leading to the 2026 temporary budget amendment.
Fire Chief Cuyler Kepling reported the Swanton Fire and Rescue Division responded to 120 calls in January, a record for the month.
Of those calls, 19 were fire calls including four working fires – three in Swanton and one in Delta. Trejo reported the police department responded to 296 calls in January, which was slower than recent months.
Shulters reported a bid opening for the Crestwood project will be held at the Kleinfelder office in Perrysburg on February 12.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Village Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, February 23, at Ritter Hall, 124 N. Main Street.