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March 24, 2011

SWEA skips base pay hike for 2nd year By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers South-Western City Schools and the South-Western Education Association have agreed on a three-year contract that includes no base pay increase for the current school year. The agreement, approved by a 4-1 vote of the school board at a special meeting March 21, calls for a 0.5-percent pay hike starting July 1, and a 1percent increase starting July 1, 2012.

Step pay increases, which are based largely on longevity and education, will remain in place, superintendent Bill Wise said. The teachers union agreed in 2009 to go without a base pay increase for a year as part of a contract extension that expired June 30, 2010. The teachers kept working under the provisions of that extension during recent contract talks. About 80 percent of SWEA members voted in favor of the new contract, according to union president

Rolla Beach. Another significant change to the contract is the reduction of teacher health care and benefits paid by the district. SWEA employees will pay 7.5 percent of their health care and dental benefits beginning October 2011 and 10 percent beginning October 2012. Wise said the change to benefits reflects a nationwide trend. He anticipates future district contracts with employee bargaining units to have similar provisions.

“Nationally, employees continue to share more of (those costs) on a yearto-year basis and we would see that trend continuing,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is that we don’t see an increase in premiums, but as those costs rise, there will be a continuing expectation that employees share in those responsibilities.” In addition, the new contract ties supplemental contract salaries to the prior school year, effectively slowing the dis-

A closer look A significant change to the contract is the reduction of teacher health care and benefits paid by the district. SWEA employees will pay 7.5 percent of their health care and dental benefits beginning October 2011 and 10 percent beginning October 2012.

See SWEA, page A2

City council OKs changes to audit panel By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Grove City finances will face more scrutiny if the revisions to the city’s audit committee have their intended effect. City council on March 21 voted 3-2 to approve changes intended to strengthen the audit committee’s oversight of city finances. The amendment requires the audit committee to include at least one certified professional accountant and two others with some financial background. The amendment also adds a standard of expected ethics. It requires the committee to prepare reports to council based on annual state audits and to respond to management letters from the state auditor. In addition, the audit committee will forward the minutes of its proceedings to the clerk of council, who will be an ex-officio committee member. Council president Ted Berry and council member Steve Bennett introduced the resolution at the March 7 meeting. Voting was delayed after mayor Richard “Ike” Stage asked that the resolution include the statement, “The annual audit performed by the auditor of state is to reasonably assure the financial statements are free of material misstatement with limited consideration of internal controls.” At the March 21 meeting, council member Maria

By Lisa Aurand/ThisWeek

Gardens at Gantz education specialist Gloria Hartung shows off the garden’s labyrinth, which was finished in November along with the garden’s new herbal grove. The labyrinth is based on one at Chartres Cathedral in France.

Labyrinth, grove added at Gantz By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers Those who visit the Gardens at Gantz this year might find it a more peaceful, calming experience. It’s not that the gardens weren’t peaceful before, said Gloria Hartung, Gardens at Gantz education specialist. But Hartung hopes that the recent installation of a labyrinth will both draw visitors to the park and allow for self-reflection. “First of all, a labyrinth is not a maze,” Hartung said, describing a labyrinth’s circular, serpentine path. For one thing, a labyrinth is flat, and has no false paths. The one and only path will lead a person to the labyrinth’s center. Religious

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We had trees in the herb garden itself, but we took them out of the raised beds because as the trees were getting bigger the roots were tearing up the walls. We decided that we still wanted herbal trees … so we decided to start an herbal grove.

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JODEE LOWE —Grove City urban forester

and spiritual tradition says those who walk the labyrinth will derive personal blessings. “It’s kind of a spiritual tool,” Hartung said. “There are labyrinths all over the earth. They go back 5,000, 7,000 years.” South America’s Nazca lines are now

thought to be a type of labyrinth, according to Hartung. Churches in the middle ages used labyrinths as a standin for holy pilgrimages. “Some people walk a labyrinth and say prayers. A lot of them are connected to churches.”

Like most area labyrinths, the Gantz labyrinth is based on one at Chartres Cathedral in France, built in about 1200. Hartung, who started working at Gantz as a volunteer in the late 1980s and was hired full-time in 1995, said she’s wanted a labyrinth in the gardens for a long time. “I’ve always wanted one,” she said. “We thought that it would be a benefit for the people in the community. This is pretty much a passive park. … People come and walk their dogs here and bring their kids. We have a path that goes around the creek. People come here and read. It’s a very peaceful kind of place.” See LABRYINTH, page A2

See COUNCIL, page A3

City receives federal funding for tree replacement By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers

A $22,500 grant will help keep Grove City green, in spite of the emerald ash borer. The city on March 18 learned it is one of 29 Ohio communities to receive federal funding for tree replacement through the Ash Removal and Canopy Restoration Grant program from the U.S. Forest Service, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. In Franklin County, only Columbus, at $37,500, received more money.

The grant requires a 50-percent match from the city, which urban forester Jodee Lowe secured from council in December. “I’m just excited we got approved,” Lowe said March 22. The emerald ash borer, which has killed millions of ash trees since its discovery in northwest Ohio in 2003, was found in Grove City trees for the first time in November 2010. Lowe at the time said she believed trees in the Farmbrook and Ziner Farms neighborhoods had been infested for two to three

A closer look This year’s 10 percent of ash trees have already been removed and are being replaced with a variety of other trees, including oaks, gingkos, tulip trees, upright maples and elms. Trees are not being replaced at a one-to-one ratio because city guidelines for tree spacing have changed over the years.

years. Once trees are infected with the insect, nothing can be done to save them. They have to be removed before they fall.

Grove City Urban Forestry implemented a plan in 2007 to remove 10 percent of city-owned ash trees each year. This year’s 10 percent already have been removed and are being