Townships Report - 2015 Summer Caucus

Call to Order/Welcome/Introductions – Leslie Kohli, Springfield Township administrator and caucus facilitator, called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone present. Introductions were made by everyone present.

TMACOG members who were present included:

·         Andy Bick – Trustee, Township of Richfield

·         Penny Getz – Trustee, Township of Middleton

·         Leslie Kohli – Administrator, Township of Springfield

·         Barbara Lang – Trustee, Township of Monclova

·         Donald Sahloff – Trustee, Township of Whiteford

·         Greg Stewart – Supervisor, Township of Bedford

Non-TMACOG members who were present included:

·         John Manor – Chief of Staff, Office of Senator Dale Zorn

TMACOG support staff that was present included:

·         William Best – Vice President of Finance and Administration

·         Kari Gerwin – Water Quality Planner

Topics discussed during the caucus round table include the following:

Ø  Ms. Kohli asked caucus participants to discuss the sources of their communities’ public water supply.

·         Whiteford Township received a USDA grant to build a new plant and infrastructure to treat and distribute ground water to homes, businesses, and schools. The project will be funded 75% by grant funds with remainder paid by residents at a cost of $8-9K per resident.

·         Bedford Township is on the City of Toledo system with distribution provided by South County Water.

·         Middleton Township receives its water service from both Bowling Green and Northwest Water and Sewer.

·         The Lucas County Sanitary Engineer provides infrastructure and delivers Toledo water to the townships of Monclova, Springfield, and Richfield. The City of Sylvania recently notified western Lucas County jurisdictions that they are contracting a feasibility study to determine the cost effectiveness of building a City of Sylvania treatment plant using an existing easement. Townships were asked for a voluntary contribution of $5K to help fund a small portion of the $104K study.

Ø  Participants raised several questions for TMACOG regarding role of TMACOG and the Water Quality Department in regional water quality issues.

·         Participants expressed concern with the lack of coordination and cooperation between the many watershed and water quality groups, agencies and efforts in the region. To avoid redundancy and save resources, they would like to see TMACOG take a leadership role in coordinating one collective effort across the region. Ms. Getz noted that the Maumee watershed extends into Indiana and Michigan, beyond the scope of TMACOG’s planning area.

·         Mr. Stewart suggested that TMACOG could be the source of centralized regional communication. For example:

o   Some participants feel that the threat of microcystin in drinking water has not been well communicated via the City of Toledo’s water quality dashboard and that drinking water status would be better communicated through raw facts on drinking water quality. TMACOG can play a role in communicating information to jurisdictions on Toledo’s water supply. Ms. Kohli mentioned the Lucas County alert system sends alerts to residents who register relevant to each jurisdiction who subscribes to their system.

o   Ms. Lang suggested that TMACOG utilize the Lucas County Township Association, which meets regularly, to communicate program information to trustees. The group agreed that this would be a good idea and that Monroe and Wood Counties should be included as well.

Ø  Fracking is an issue in parts of Michigan and Ohio. The larger issue for townships in the TMACOG region is natural gas pipelines from Cincinnati through northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

Ø  1-75 and Rt. 23 are opportunities for job creation and cross-border cooperation between Ohio and Michigan.

Generate Questions for Forum with State Lawmakers – The Township Caucus generated the following questions for the Forum with State Lamakers.

1.      What agencies and programs are receiving funds that were earmarked to address the Lake Erie algae issue? How is this funding being spent?

2.      How are agencies working together to address the algae issue?

3.      Townships are responsible for road maintenance, but current revenue streams do not distribute sufficient funds to townships to cover these costs and general fund monies are running out as well.  What can legislators do to provide Ohio and Michigan townships with adequate funds for roads?

4.      Ohio is a federal fuel tax “donor state” (it pays more in fuel tax, than it receives back in federal funds.) Do lawmakers have plans to address fuel tax distributions at a federal level?

Announcements – TMACOG will be hosting a TMACOG Tech “Being Prepared When Opportunity Knocks,” Friday, October 16^th from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at Monroe Bank & Trust in Monroe.

Adjourn – Ms. Kohli thanked the attendees for their participation and adjourned the meeting.

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org