{"id":119594,"date":"2019-06-25T04:58:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T09:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=119594"},"modified":"2019-06-26T05:06:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T10:06:27","slug":"van-wert-city-council-covers-a-variety-of-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/06\/25\/van-wert-city-council-covers-a-variety-of-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Wert City Council hears various updates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert City Council moved quickly through a light agenda on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Jerry Mazur, Safety Service Director Jay Fleming and Councilman-at-large Joel Penton Sr. were not at the 38 minute meeting, but Council President Jon Tomlinson read aloud a report from Fleming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDue to ongoing issues with CenturyLink the Jefferson Street bridge project start date is still undetermined,\u201d Tomlison said. \u201cCable splicers are working but they are still estimating two more weeks to complete. We have been in discussions with the school, ODOT and the contractor about a late start or pushing the start date to next May.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was noted the matter should be cleared up by the next council meeting. The project was scheduled to begin in late May and end by August 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleming also said in his written report that bids are going out soon for water tower painting and street paving, and he said the next brush pickup is scheduled for July 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topic of a charter form of government came up during Monday night\u2019s meeting and after a brief discussion, Tomlinson suggested talking more with the Ohio Municipal League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that would be the next logical step since we utilized the Ohio Muncipal League and we\u2019re familiar with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A possible switch to a charter form of government will appear on the November ballot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert Economic Development Corporation Director Stacy Adam spoke briefly about the group\u2019s recent annual meeting and provided some key demographic information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the last five years there have been 1000 jobs created in Van Wert County,\u201d Adams stated. \u201cPopulation is down right around 200 over the last five years and it\u2019s expected to decline 200 over the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just had updated regional wage information \u2013 that is up 4.7 percent, 92 cents an hour from $19.68 to $20.60 an hour, so I think that was good news,\u201d Adam added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other business, Parks and Recreation Committee Vice Chairman Bill Marshall said the bleacher replacement project at Smiley Park is nearly complete, and he thanked those involved with the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had seven volunteers that worked with several park department employees on June 14,\u201d Marshall explained. \u201cAll but one set is complete and will be done as soon as parts are in. The new bleachers are certainly an improvement over what we had in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council members approved a resolution supporting House Bill 166, which includes changes to business income deductions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomlinson also introduced Veronica Cuevas as the new City Council Clerk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the regular meeting, council\u2019s Health, Service and Safety Committee heard from Miami County Department of Development Director Richard Osgood and State Certified Building and Electrical Inspector Rob England about the city and Van Wert combining to create a local building department and potentially outscoring services to Miami County.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a big deal and a big conversation piece, so this is kind of in the introductory or fact finding stages,\u201d Tomlinson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More discussion is expected at future meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 8, in Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent writer Van Wert City Council moved quickly through a light agenda on Monday. Mayor Jerry Mazur, Safety Service Director Jay Fleming and Councilman-at-large Joel Penton Sr. were not at the 38 minute meeting, but Council President Jon Tomlinson read aloud a report from Fleming. \u201cDue to ongoing issues with CenturyLink the Jefferson Street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 16:44:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}