The Wood County village of Weston is just over one square
mile and home to about 1,600 residents. The village is west of Bowling Green
and south of Grand Rapids. Weston was a founding member of TMACOG in 1968 and
recently renewed membership.
Village officials stay busy, working on park improvements,
road repair, and economic development projects. This year, the village joined
in with several other Wood County communities to apply to the Ohio Public Works
Commission for road repair funding.
Village Fiscal Officer Sarah Schroeder knew
that their application would get points for showing collaboration between
jurisdictions. They didn’t get the grant this year, Feller Finch, the lead
engineer for the project, thinks that they can refine the application and try
again. “We apply for grants to spread our money further,” says Ms. Schroeder,
“but even though we didn’t get the state funding, we have the budget to re-pave
the streets that really need it, and to do some other repairs.” The village also
recently completed installation of decorative lights on the downtown strip.
Ms. Schroeder and other village officials attended a TMACOG
Tech session on economic development this year where they got ideas for
attracting some new business to the village. “I took pages of notes,” said Ms.
Schroeder. Mayor Jason Worthen and the council members would like have a
banking office in town as they have been without a bank since 2007. Village
officials asked TMACOG to do a traffic count to help them put together a
package that they can share with financial centers as well as Dollar General
that expressed interest in Weston location.
In addition looking for new business, village officials have
been working to make the best use of some older infrastructure. The elementary
school in town closed several years ago - students now attend a consolidated
school with Otsego. However, the old school property has become an opportunity.
Village council voted to buy the grounds and villagers are now deciding what to
do with it. An open forum was held to solicit ideas which range from adding
more baseball fields, to new soccer fields, or a running track. The village has
other park land which was improved recently through a grant from the Wood
County Park District.
The largest local employers in town are MCM Precision
Castings and Cresset Chemical Company. The Northern Ohio Grain Co-op has their
main branch right in town, too. Westonians have a strong community spirit. The
annual Weston Days celebration is held on the main street the last weekend in
June with music, rides, and a beer garden operated by the volunteer fire
department. Mayor Worthen is a member of the fire department and an EMT as well.
Learn more about the busy village of Weston on their
website: www.westonohio.org.
Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org
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