Tecumseh LS Board President Kurt Lewis at the Joint Government Meeting

A special meeting of the Tecumseh Board of Education (BOE) served as joint meeting of the BOE, Bethel Township Trustees, Clark County Commissioners, and New Carlisle City Officials. The meeting took place at 6:30 on Aug. 29 in the Arrow Conference Room at Tecumseh High School.

The Bethel Twp. Trustees reported that the township has two Fire levy renewals on the November ballot.

A New Carlisle representative reported that the annual Heritage of Flight Festival will take place from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. It is the longest-running festival in New Carlisle’s history and is the only airplane festival in the United States. Many popular attractions will be returning. For the first time, the committee in charge of the festival parade is allowing political candidates to participate in the parade with their campaign materials.

New Carlisle Mayor, Lowell McClothin, mentioned that with tax levy renewals coming up on the ballot, residents can visit the Clark County Auditor’s website to find out exactly how much their homes will be appraised at for tax purposes, and exactly how much their taxes will be.

New Carlisle City Manager, Randy Bridge, said the city received a grant called “Creating Healthy Communities” that helped the city get new playground equipment installed at Smith Park. Bridge also thanked the Tecumseh BOE for the playground equipment it donated to the city in order to make way for a new outdoor classroom at Donnelsville. Bridge reported that the New Carlisle pool’s season had gone “extremely well” and that special events like “Family Fun Day” had been a huge hit with residents.

Bridge further announced that the city “has finally sold” the Twin Creeks parcels, explaining that since the city was granted those parcels as part of a land revitalization program, part of the terms of that program state the city can withhold monies from the sale to cover the costs used to administer it. “We are doing everything legally and ethically with this (sale),” says Bridge.

New Carlisle also has a health levy renewal (Issue 1) on the November ballot. The levy will help the city continue providing health services to residents and provide funds for the city to contract with Clark County for public health related work and maintenance issues.

Bridge finished by reporting that the city’s capital improvement plan will be starting and that the he hopes to have New Carlisle’s 2017 budget to present at the next joint government meeting

The Tecumseh BOE reported that the district had a “good start to the school year” and that some new software the district is using has helped tremendously with creating bus routes.

The BOE also said that a preliminary report shows enrollment is holding steady. They further stated that although the results of the district’s state report card were disappointing, the district is not worried since the results were closer to the state average than originally thought. The district is using new software to help teachers “get the kids prepared to take the tests and meet the (state) expectations.”

BOE members further reported that the new “Reading Garden” located outside of Tecumseh Middle School has been really popular with students and the “Outside Classroom” at Donnelsville will be opening on Sept. 22.

Tecumseh Local Schools also has a levy renewal (Issue 17) on the November ballot.

The Clark County Commissioners reported they hired Jennifer Hutchinson as the new County Administrator saying, “We wanted someone who is well-schooled in budgeting, especially Public Debt management.” Hutchinson previously worked for the city of Marysville. Clark County has an $8.2 million note that needs re-financed coming up in November. It also has a $5.3 million note due in May. Those monies were used to remodel part of Juvenile Hall, the Courthouse, and the AB Graham building

Commissioner Rick Lohnes talked about Ohio’s loss of sales tax revenue coming up in July, 2017. According to Lohnes, letters he’s received and discussions he’s had with other government officials puts Ohio’s loss at around $1 billion, with Clark County losing $3.1 million...nearly a 7% loss in revenue. So the Commissioners are looking at how the county’s budget will be affected by the loss.

Lohnes also responds to comments from officials higher up in the government who have said that the state’s “Local Government Fund” may be negatively impacted by the loss, even though the state is in the black and has surplus funds, “There’s no need to pass the new loss onto local governments...we’ve taken enough of a hit already.”

Clark County Commissioner, John Dietrick, told attendees, “If everything goes right, there may possibly be an announcement of 100-plus jobs coming to Springfield.” He also gave an update on the state of the Springfield Mall, saying that plans are in the works to use the building, but that it won’t be used for retail like in previous years.

Clark County Sheriff, Gene Kelly, says the Sheriff’s Office applied for COPS grant to help put a fourth resource officer for the county’s schools. He also reported the department received a DARE grant in the amount of $53,685.48 to pay for part of the salary of the county’s DARE officers. The Sheriff’s Office also received $18,000 grant for in-car cameras. After a recent purchase of body cameras, the Sheriff’s Office received a $15,000 rebate from the insurance company due to the lowered liability the cameras provide. The department has also received $50,000 in federal grant money from the “Click it or Ticket” and “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” programs.

The Sheriff’s Office has applied for a “Victims of Crime Act” (VOCA) grant to help specially-trained Adult-Protective Services deputies work with Senior Services to help protect seniors with an expanded “Are You OK? program where seniors get a call from the Sheriff’s Office checking on their well-being. The monies would also be used to help Senior Citizens who have been abused or taken advantage of through scams and similar activity.

There is a large number of events coming up soon in Clark County:

  • Sept. 11 and 12: South Vienna Corn Festival
  • Sept. 20, 21, and 22: Farm Science Review
  • Sept. 24: Culture Fest in Springfield
  • Sept. 30 – Oct. 2: Heritage of Flight Festival in New Carlisle
  • Oct. 8 and 9: Apple Butter Fest in Enon
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