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Trick-or-Treatin’ in Genoa
Three year old Avah Cole goes Trick-or-Treating at the home of Russell Buffington whose yard featured pumpkin sculptures (bottom left). Bottom center, Melvin Riley, age 9, chats with Officer Robert Miller. Miller and Officer Cody Garcia were on duty that night. Bottom right, Denny McLargin passes out candy to Olivia Mihlbauer. Top right, costumed kids make their way to Main Street. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Oregon
Renewal sought of .5 mill local senior levy On Nov. 6, Oregon voters will decide whether to renew the .5 mill local senior levy. The levy originally passed on Nov. 5, 2013, to provide funding for senior services from 2014 to 2018. The levy was passed for the purpose of providing additional funds for senior services in the city. Mayor Mike Seferian said he believes the public will support the renewal because of the demand for services at the senior center. This year, the city is looking at a couple of major projects, including improvements to the senior center building, and its parking lot. City Administrator Mike Beazley said there is much more activity at the senior center than in the previous facility, an old water pumping station on Bayshore Road. Controversy The levy was the source of controversy in 2013 after it was learned by The Press that levy campaign officials from the senior center had misinformed voters about a sup-
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Most Oregon seniors and their families benefit from the investment of the levy.
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By Kelly J. Kaczala News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
posed shortage in funding it received from Oregon and Lucas County. Lucas County communities, including Oregon, have been paying for a county senior levy for years. The Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio, Inc., has distributed a percentage of revenue from the county levy to Oregon senior services. Among the beneficiaries was the senior center, which received over $60,000 annually from the levy. The senior center at the time had failed to use all the funds from the county levy because it had been underperforming in providing contracted services to seniors.
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After the levy passed, some residents were unaware they would be paying for both a local senior levy and a county senior levy. As a result, Oregon had considered not collecting the revenue generated by the local levy. Expanded services Since then, however, the city has expanded senior services. The city also made good on a pledge to find a more central location for a new senior center. Previous administrations had promised to relocate the senior center from Bayshore Road, but had failed to deliver. In 2014, the city purchased a building on Navarre Avenue near Pearson Metropark for the new senior center. Seferian and Beazley have stated that the levy revenue has been put to good use and will continue to fund senior programs as the local population ages. The city draws down the county levy dollars first before local levy revenue is spent, according to Beazley. The goal was to make sure the city did not supplant dollars already being provided by the county, and to expand services. Continued on page 2
Brush Berylium
Soil removal to proceed at former site By Press Staff Writer As of Oct. 19, approximately 6,293 cubic yards of soil have been excavated from the former Brush Berylium site near Luckey as part of a remedial project, according to an update by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The contractor, North Wind Portage, Inc., has been working in the southwest corner of the site near Luckey and Gilbert roads. The volume represents approximately 15 percent of the volume of waste estimated in the first phase area of the project and about 4 percent of the total volume estimated for cleanup of the entire site. North Wind transported 336 truckloads, each carrying about 15 tons of wastes, off-site for disposal at the U.S. Ecology, Wayne Disposal Facility in Belleville, Mich. To date, 315,448 gallons of water have been pumped from the excavation area or collected from the drains in on-site soil stockpile pads and treated by an on-site water treatment system During the treatment process, settleable solids are removed, suspended solids are filtered out, the water is softened to remove calcium and magnesium as a pretreatment for reverse osmosis, and then a reverse osmosis treatment removes dissolved metals and radionuclides. Treated water is either reused for dust suppression or discharged into the ditch on Luckey Road after the test results from samples of the treated water are provided to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Air monitors that are set up around the perimeter of the site have not detected any contamination moving off-site since the cleanup began. Habitat project The Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District has awarded a contract to Tidewater Inc. of Elkridge, Maryland, to restore and create coastal wetland habitat along the Lake Erie shoreline in Port Clinton. Total project cost, including feasibility and design, is $1.3 million with fundContinued on page 2
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