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Local News

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Health merger vote changes
By LINSEY MAUGHAN

STAFF WRITER

It's not a tie vote anymore.

Officials have invalidated one of the votes cast in favor of the merger of the Findlay City and Hancock County health departments last week.

The vote by the District Advisory Council, which oversees the county health department, was previously tied 11 to 11, which meant the merger was not approved.

But the Village of McComb's vote does not count, according to County Assistant Prosecutor Cindy Land, so the merger proposal failed by a vote of 10 yes, 11 no.

McComb did not pass a resolution beforehand stating that the village would allow someone other than Mayor Larry Sudlow to vote on the village's behalf last Monday, Land said.

Sudlow said he realized two days before the vote that he would be unable to attend the meeting, and sent Council President Robin Rader as an alternate.

In addition to McComb, five townships sent alternates to vote in place of their township chairpersons, according to Land, but she said McComb was the only one of the six that didn't arrange ahead of time for an alternate.

"All the townships had something in place either in their minutes or a resolution," Land said.

Separately, seven villages could have voted on the health department merger last Monday but were not present for the vote. Of the seven, two would have voted in favor and one against.

The voting intentions of the other four villages could not be determined Monday.

The seven villages were Arcadia, Arlington, Bluffton, Mount Blanchard, Mount Cory, Rawson and Van Buren. The Courier erroneously reported last week that six villages were absent from the vote.

Brian Fink, mayor of Arcadia, said he had a prior commitment March 1 that conflicted with the District Advisory Council meeting.

"I didn't know if I could send my administrator to take my place," Fink said.

Fink said he planned to vote against the merger.

"I just don't think it's a feasible thing to do," he said.

Ed Solt, mayor of Arlington, said he would have liked to have attended the meeting and would have voted in favor of the merger, but was unable to attend because Arlington's own Village Council meeting took place that night.

"I would have loved to have been there," Solt said. "I was surprised that it really came down to that, tied up at 11 to 11. How do you fail with an 11 to 11 vote? When you play a sporting event, it's considered a tie. Usually you don't throw the whole thing out."

"I don't know if people in Hancock County really understood what the benefits of merging both of those organizations together would do," Solt said. "The health care services they would be able to provide as a larger organization would give them some better efficiencies. And you'd have a little more horsepower, I think, to provide better health care service to the county as a whole. I'm not exactly sure what people's reasoning was for not merging two entities who do pretty much the same job. I'm not sure why you wouldn't want those two things together."

Solt said he would support taking another look at the merger.

"I think it would be worth it for the time and effort that we put into it," he said. "I think, also, educating the folks on what exactly the benefits are has a lot to do with it."

Michael Tyson, mayor of Mount Blanchard, said he was unaware of his ability to vote on the health department merger. Tyson became mayor just two months ago and said he'd never been informed of Mount Blanchard's position as a member of the District Advisory Council.

"I don't believe that I received notice about the vote on March 1," he said. "I am at a loss. I didn't know that we had a seat there to vote."

Tyson said Mount Blanchard has changed mayors a few times in the past year.

"It wouldn't surprise me if (the District Advisory Council) didn't know who to contact," he said.

Tyson said the Village Council members had not mentioned the health department merger since he came on board in January.

"As far as merging the two of them, without having any information, I really don't know what to say," Tyson said.

Wade Melton, mayor of Mount Cory, said no one from his village has attended a District Advisory Council meeting in more than a year. He said he was unaware that the merger vote was taking place last Monday.

Melton said he has received notices about meetings held during the past year to discuss the potential merger, but said he was advised more than a year ago by Mount Cory's attorney not to vote on the issue, so no one from his council attended the meetings.

The village attorney, Don Rasmussen, denied ever advising the village on whether or not to vote.

"I never advised anybody not to vote," Rasmussen said. "I didn't express an opinion one way or another, against or for. That's not my position, I'm their attorney."

When informed of Rasmussen's response, Melton said he would check old council meeting minutes, as well as discuss the issue with fellow council members, to try to determine what happened.

Cory Miracle, mayor of the Village of Rawson, said he planned to vote in favor of the health department merger last week, but at the last minute received an emergency service call at his business that prevented him from attending the District Advisory Council meeting.

It was too late, Miracle said, to try to pass a resolution and send an alternate voter on behalf of his village.

"I had been to the other six meetings that they had, and had voted yes at all of those meetings," Miracle said. "I would like to see both sides try to come together and become united as one front, and work together and move forward."

The mayors of Bluffton and Van Buren did not return calls for this story.

Maughan: 419-427-8417,


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7 Comments

Latest comments listed first.
Jack wrote:
Pet peeve
“ Matt, many uninformed people have pet peeves. But beyond your complaints you really haven't a clue. Why don't you read the reams of ORC to find out exactly the powers and responsibilties of Townships. And after that if you still don't like your perceived "amatuer politicians", why don't you apply for the job.
Your comments are so typical of the "bigger is better" crowd. Bigger isn't better, its just more expensive. That means more taxes for less services. There is a reason why Federal, State, County, and City governments are broke, while the Townships are in the Black. Its called efficiency. And its been proven that the most efficient government is the one that's closest to the taxpyer. There are plenty of resources to explain to you about government efficiency if you choose to become informed. ”
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:14:47 AM
R wrote:
Health merger
“ Matt wrote:"Amature politicians that pave roads and botch zoning". Well since my first response on here just didn't quite go through because of censorship by the courier. I will try again. If you think all trustees do is what you are talking about. Maybe you ought to run. You must say the local townships spend there money much wiser than your city. I don't see your city council or mayor out patching roads or putting berm down or fixing problems. They just call someone else to to it. Mainly because they don't know how to deal with it or are to lazy to help out with it. Our government was set up so that people of area's had representation. You just want to be the king. The health merger is a joke until the city can get there books equal with the county. " NO REVOTE" it was voted upon and it was what it was. No matter what or who wants to press this issue. Bring it on. Let the fight begin. You might just find out Findlay your not so special after all. ”
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 9:48:46 PM
R wrote:
merger
“ Matt, You are so wrong and you make more bs coming from your mouth than I have heard in quite some time.Townships have better roads then your city and we are damn proud of it. Your city can't even fix a pothole. And You call our trustee's Amature politians. Hell we have probably twice the experience at business than most of your city people. And I'll bet you don't know all the duties of your health department do you. Village Mayors, most wouldn't know how to fix a problem without having a town maintence person to tell them, So tell me what powers they have by the state over trustees. And do they really do something or do they hire someone, where a trustee goes out and does the work himself and saves everyone money. You need to rethink all that bs. ”
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 6:23:18 PM
Summerteeth wrote:
Health Merger
“ I have to agree with Matt here. The lack of communication was not the fault of the County or City. The lack of communication was between members of the District Advisory Counsel and between village leaders and their own administrators.

Mayor Solt of Arlington states above "I don't know if people in Hancock County really understood what the benefits of merging both of those organizations together would do." There may be some truth to that statement but it is also glaringly obvious that Mayor Solt himself hasn't got a CLUE as to the benefits involved. Otherwise, why would he not bother to show up for the meeting or to even designate an alternate. Very poor respresentation by the six village officials that didn't even attend the meeting (no matter how they were planning to vote).

Also, does anyone else wonder how the Findlay City Prosecutor continues to be re-elected to that position, time and again. His litany of bonehead plays continues to grow with the recent snafu that seems to have sealed the fate of the Health Merger vote. This comes on the heels of his inability to recoginize a problem with the city charter legislation allowing much time and effort to be spent only to have that process cancelled due to a legal technicality. I don't live in Findlay. Just wondering how you Findlayites justify giving him a vote. ”
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 4:26:41 PM
Matt wrote:
Micro Government
“ This issue points to a pet peave of mine. Townships served a purpose 100 years ago, when people had few ways to communicate.

Today, Townships serve very little purpose. Take Marion Township for example, their zoning inspector lacks any knowledge or training, to this day he does not understand how a simple lot split occurs. Nor any of the basic princibles that are outlined in their zoning code.

Hancock County has 16 Townships? 3 trustees each, and a clerk/treasurer. These positions are available to whomever has the whim to take one. Do the unicorporated areas of the the County require over 50 amature politicians basically paving roads and botching zoning. (If they have it)

Villages at least are given more powers by the State of Ohio and can actually do something.

I place the blame of attendance on the government officials that did not show up. "I had something come up" is not an acceptable answer when you are supposedly in charge of representing hundreds or a thousand constituents.
”
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:36:15 PM
Tim from Bowling Green wrote:
AGREE WITH "J"
“ I agree with "j" here. The lack of communication is appaling. Lack of communication is the number one reason why things like this fail. It happens in law enforcement, education, health care as we see here, etc. What an embarrasment. ”
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 8:49:07 AM
j wrote:
Lack of Communication
“ The lack of communication displayed in this story between the city and county units of government is exactly why many people in the county are against the merger. What assurance is there that concerns of villages will can the same consideration as city issues? So far how this whole issue has been handle seem to confirm the county concerns. ”
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 5:30:10 AM
   NEWS VIDEO

Benton Ridge Shooting

This video, released by the Hancock County Prosecutor's Office, shows the shooting of a Lima man who led authorities on a three-county chase ending Aug.24 in Benton Ridge. Be cautioned, the video contains graphic content.
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j wrote in article "Many winners named as Hancock Fair opens":
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JM wrote in article "McComb couple is serious about fair competition":
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News Briefs Firefighters discover 20 marijuana plants in house
After fighting a house fire early Monday at 815 Howard St., firefighters found 20 marijuana plants in the residence.

"They ran across it and called us," said police Sgt. Justin Hendren with the Hancock County METRICH Drug Enforcement Unit.

Police seized all 20 plants, and Hendren said charges are pending.

High-powered growing lights, fans, and a box filled with dried marijuana were also found in the house, according to a police report.

Investigators said an electrical short started the fire before 3 a.m. Monday.

The blaze caused an estimated $12,000 in damage to the residence, owned by Amanda Crawford. No one was injured, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

Carey announces holiday closing
CAREY -- Carey offices, including administrative, income tax and utilities, electric, wastewater treatment plant, and public works, will be closed Monday in observance of Labor Day.

The curbside recycling program will be held Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 7-9.

Findlay trooper named sergeant
Trooper Jacob L. Fletcher, assigned to the Findlay post of the State Highway Patrol, was promoted to sergeant Wednesday by Patrol Superintendent Col. David Dicken.

With the promotion, Fletcher will stay at the Findlay post and serve as an assistant post commander, according to the patrol.

Fletcher began his patrol career in 2002 after graduating from the 139th Academy class and has been assigned to the Findlay post since.

Owens announces holiday schedule
The Toledo and Findlay campuses of Owens Community College will be closed Saturday through Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

There will be no classes and the college offices will be closed.

Classes will resume and offices will open again on Tuesday.

Holiday changes ad deadlines
The Courier won't be published on Monday, in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

Because of the holiday, some advertising deadlines have been moved up this week:

Black and white display advertising for Tuesday's newspaper must be placed by noon Friday. Display advertising for Wednesday's newspaper must be placed by 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Color display advertising for the Thursday, Sept. 9 newspaper must be placed by Friday.

Classified advertising and City and Country advertising for Saturday's newspaper must be placed by 2 p.m. Friday. Classified ads for Tuesday's newspaper must be placed by 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Courier business and advertising offices will close at 3 p.m. Friday for the holiday.