P
The
Since 1972
Comets-Eagles Game of the Week See Sports
RESS September 22, 2014
FREE
Serving More Than h 33 33,000 000 H Homes & B Businesses i iin 4 C Counties ti
Brothers get All-League See Sports
M
Eastwood removes levy from ballot By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com
Anime convention
Fans of Anime converged at Maumee Bay State Park recently for a convention celebrating the Japanese cartoon and its artforms. Visitors came from as far as Tampa, Florida, and London, England. At left, Austin Stambaugh as a character from “The Mighty Boosh.” Top right, Erich Igel, Rebecca Mainger, Julie Cartier, and Jordan Kornfeld as characters from “Adventure Time.” Bottom right, fans engage in a mock battle. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
New senior center
City council seeks ideal location By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
“
It’s very stressful to go through this for that number of years, and not get anything when you know your city has money...
“
Oregon plans public meetings before officials decide on the location of a senior center. Council President Dennis Walendzak, who sits on a committee to determine how revenue from a new senior levy passed last November will be used, said more input is needed from seniors. “The discussion on location has come up and it’s being reviewed and talked about, and we will have additional public hearings before any decision is made,” said Walendzak at a committee of the whole meeting on Monday. Administrator Mike Beazley said the mayor, administration and council are actively involved. “We put together a group that’s focusing first on the service side,” said Beazley. He said Councilman Terry Reeves, who chairs the committee, and Walendzak are leading the process. The committee will then focus on a location for the center. “We actively looked at properties. We
are working on this,” said Beazley. City officials were responding to comments from Doris Levy, former board member of the senior center, who has fought for a centrally located senior center for 11 years. Their own center Levy told council on Monday that seniors want their own center, not a building that is leased for senior services. “We want our own senior center, like Point Place, Toledo, Maumee, and Sylvania,” she said. “We would like to have
Heartbeat Diamond Collection The Diamond Moves to the Beat of Her Heart
as senior center to call our own. I don’t think we should waste our money on rent, it should be to buy a senior center. It does not have to be new.” Since 2004, she has been meeting with officials from the Area Office on Aging, and city officials trying to get a building for a senior center. The present building where seniors meet on Bayshore Road is too small with few programs to attract enough seniors, she said. City officials have repeatedly over the years promised they would find a new center, but it never happened, she added. Beazley and Walendzak asked her for patience. “It’ll be 11 years in January when I started this,” she said. “I probably won’t be around by the time that happens, and I don’t think my husband will.” She said the city spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for new construction at the municipal sports complex, but nothing ever materializes for seniors. “It’s very stressful to go through this for that number of years, and not get anything when you know your city has money and Continued on page 2
The Eastwood Board of Education has approved a resolution to formally have a levy issue for a new elementary school removed from the November ballot. The board met Sept. 12 in a special meeting to approve the resolution. The previous night, board members and the administration held a town hall forum that focused on a proposal to finance a new elementary school without additional taxes. The board is proposing to use revenues from a tax abatement agreement with The Home Depot and public utility taxes from a Troy Energy plant to cover most of the district’s share of construction costs for a new school. Using those two revenue streams – which, combined, will provide about $1.275 million annually – and drawing $1.5 million from a carry-over balance in the general fund for a down payment, school officials claim they can pay off the district’s share of $12.5 million in 10 years. The Ohio School Facilities Commission would provide $7 million for the project. The board had voted in June to place a bond issue on the ballot. But after getting an advisory from the OSFC that the district could use revenues from the abatement agreement and utility taxes for its share, the board and administration decided to proceed without seeking a bond levy for additional tax monies. “Given the fact that we can raise our local share without extending our current debt, it simply does not make sense to ask voters to approve a bond issue that is no longer relevant,” Brent Welker, superintendent, wrote in an email message to residents. Terry Burton, a director of the Wood County Board of Elections, confirmed Tuesday his office received Eastwood’s resolution to remove the issue from the ballot. Opponents to the new school have argued the matter should be decided by a vote of district residents. During the town hall forum, they raised several questions Continued on page 6
Q
uote
of The Week o
Or, we go into a dark family room with the television. That’s not social. That’s not healthy. See John Szozda