By: James Pruitt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Williams County has a new dog warden following action by the Board of Commissioners.
The commissioners offered the full-time job to Pat Walsh following the retirement of the previous dog warden Aug. 31. Walsh accepted the position immediately.
Walsh will have a starting salary of $14 an hour, which will be reviewed after six months. She has worked in the office since 2001.
Commissioner Lewis Hilkert said he will discuss with Walsh about ways to change the office. Walsh has some ideas that have been discussed a bit.
During her tenure she has helped alter the way her office is called out on an emergency, by defining what an emergency is. This has improved the service greatly, she said.
Re-bidding Opdycke Barn
After receiving only one bid to repair the barn roof at Opdycke Farm, the county will advertise for new bids with an eye toward getting the work done by next May.
Engineer Todd Roth appeared before the board Sept. 1, to update commissioners about his new estimate. One key change is that his estimate for materials to repair the roof was off sharply.
The county is in line to receive $75,000 from the state to help with repairs and needs a contractor to submit a bid to within 10 percent of Roth’s estimate.
The board will accept sealed bids until 11 a.m. Sept. 22. At the commissioners meeting Aug. 29, the county received a single bid for $72,842.55 for one kind of roofing and $87,413.29 for another. The engineer’s estimate at that time was $57,383.26.
While the new estimate will be significantly higher, and closer to the $30,000 bid, Roth said the new bids must be at most 10 percent higher than his estimate.
In other actions, the board:
Approved new signage for the IT office at a cost not to exceed $552.70. Fast Signs of Toledo will do the work.
Authorized Commissioner Brian Davis to apply for Ohio Public Works Commission funds for resurfacing, rehabilitation and reconstruction of CR K between CR 21 and the county line, CR 13 from CR C and the county line and CR24-25 between SR 34 and CR C.
Received an update on the Sheriff’s Department Fleet. The commissioners were reticent to order two more SUVs and may opt for sedans. Any new vehicles will not arrive until sometime in 2017.
The commissioners said they needed to discuss the matter with Commissioner Alan Word who was not in attendance.
James Pruitt may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
