STRONG CITY/STRONG SCHOOLS … Wauseon Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Troy Armstrong introduced the new school treasurer, John Kahmann, to Wauseon City Council at the October 3, 2022 council meeting. Mr. Kahmann is seen here sharing a little about his goals. Mr. Armstrong also took the opportunity to assure the community that the city and school district may not always agree but they do work together, cooperate, and support each other. (PHOTO BY REBECCA MILLER, STAFF)
By: Rebecca Miller
Wauseon Schools Superintendent Troy Armstrong attended the October 3, 2022 Wauseon City Council meeting for dual purposes.
Following the opening business of the meeting, Mayor Kathy Huner invited him to speak. First, he had brought the new school treasurer who started in August, John Kahmann, to meet Wauseon council and administration.
Kahman was welcomed to the community by Mayor Huner and council members and given a few minutes to tell a little about himself.
Kahmann thanked them for the welcome and said he looks forward to doing here in Wauseon what he was able to do for the Gibsonburg school system, “focusing on turning the district around and getting it on solid ground, executing the plan that was started by Mr. Armstrong and Dave Fleming.”
Armstrong shared that the second reason he wanted to come before council that evening, came out of a visit he had when he and councilor Brandon Tijerina met for coffee.
They had talked about the rumors they heard after the rough time surrounding the school levy campaign.
“There are community members who feel like the school district doesn’t support the city and city council, and vice versa, that the city doesn’t support the school district,” he said.
“I want to publicly be able to have our two entities say to the community, ‘That’s not true.’
It is never going to happen in any society that everyone always agrees on everything, but the City of Wauseon supports the school district really well and the school district supports the city.”
He shared some examples that he said were small but good. One is that anytime the Wauseon Parks and Rec directors contact him and ask if he can send a flyer out to the parents, the school gladly and quickly does so via email saving time and money for the city.
“They have a much greater participation rate because we do that,” he continued and then shared the example of the city being immediately ready to help when a freezer at the school quit working and he called to see if they could help.
“Those are some of the simple cooperations that people don’t really know about that take place on a daily basis.
The fire department, the police department, the fact that the city provides our SRO (school resource officer, how Mr. (Keith) Torbet wrote grants for that position, and when everyone was in trouble in ’08 and ’09, the city started that and still to this day pays for the SRO which is huge.
There is a ton of cooperation that goes on and I wanted to publicly make sure people in our community know that the city supports Wauseon Schools and Wauseon Schools support the city. It is absolutely a supportive relationship.”
Mayor Huner agreed and mentioned how the schools open their doors and provide a custodian on Saturday mornings for the park kids to go in.
The parks have allowed the school tennis teams and other groups to use areas.
“There is just so much that if you don’t work together…it is ok to agree to disagree and when we move forward we benefit the kids of the city.”
She thanked Tijerina for meeting with Armstrong and getting things cleared up. “Strong schools make a strong community, and a strong community makes strong schools,” Armstrong added.
Council heard a few department head reports, starting with Fire Chief Phil Kessler who shared that October is Fire Prevention Month and they will be in the schools in Wauseon and Pettisville for programs.
For Trick or Treat night everyone is invited to stop by the fire station for donuts and cider.
Director of Public Service Keith Torbet reported that Burnell St. is almost done; Washington St. water line is also almost done; Scott Smith is going to re-do the Christman Star along with the book portion and update the candles; sidewalks on Shoop are progressing at ODOT and hoping to go all the way to Dollar General; parking lot behind the chamber is done except for striping which will be done by the contractor; and unlimited trash went well with a steady flow of people taking advantage of it.
Director of Finance Jamie Giguere shared that she is working on the 2023 budget and she has asked forms to be returned by department heads by the end of October, and the income tax is 13% over last year (probably attributed to the reduction for people working outside of the city).
In committee reports, councilor Sarah Heising brought a recommendation from the Utility Committee.
She spoke for a few minutes of their efforts to determine how to proceed with trash collection, saying that there were enough people who wanted to stay with the tags that they were recommending that.
They adjusted the written resolution to only be a recommendation to use the tag system for trash pickup and council voted to approve the recommendation.
Also approved that evening were;
- resolution 2022-23 a resolution declaring the official intent and reasonable expectation of the City of Wauseon on behalf of the State of Ohio (The Borrower) to reimburse it’s capital fund for the CE22y/CE23y, Brunell St. rebuild with the proceeds of tax-exempt debt of the State of Ohio.
- resolution 2022-24 to amend ordinance 2021-14 annual appropriation ordinance by authorizing the director of finance to increase or decrease certain line account appropriations within the various funds listed within the year of 2022. Councilor Shane Chamberlin asked Giguere to explain this to everyone and she said it is to move the fire and EMS budget out of general and into their own fund, which the state just approved them creating.
- resolution 2022-25 accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor
In new business Mayor Huner read “Triangular Processing INC, 206 N. Fulton St., applied for a transfer of D5L Liquor License from Sullivan Roth Holding Company, LLC” and explained that doing nothing on the part of the council would allow it. Nothing was said and they moved on.
Mayor Huner asked for a motion to accept local government funds which was done and approved.
Approval for payment of bills was also given and the meeting adjourned at 5:30.
Rebecca can be reached ay rebeccca@thevillagereporter.com