NB Council welcomes new member
NEW BREMEN — A new council member was sworn in during Monday night’s village of New Bremen council meeting.
Chad Wuebker began his stint as a village councilor, filling the vacant seat left behind by former councilman Brent Richter.
Richter is now the village administrator, replacing Chris Dicke.
Weubker’s term will run until Dec. 31, 2023.
Weubker is a 1996 graduate of New Bremen High School and moved back to the area in 2013.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati and is currently the president of RJ General, where he has served in the role since 2015. He oversees 16 employees, manages the budget, assists in sales and purchasing functions among other duties.
He’s currently on the New Bremen Community Improvement Corporation and serves on the marketing and finance committees.
“I appreciate your support and your vote of confidence in me,” Weubker told councilors.
With Monday serving as Dicke’s final meeting as village administrator, Mayor Bob Parker thanked her for her years of service to the village.
“I would like to thank Chris for her dedication to the village for the last several years,” he said. “I would like to acknowledge everything she’s done for us and I wish you well in the future.”
In her report, Dicke thanked councilors and remarked on the work that was done during her tenure.
“I just wanted to say, too, I appreciate all the time here and everything. I think we got a lot accomplished,” she said. “The guys really worked hard at getting the GIS. It’s going to make things a lot easier to see what we got to get done. Hopefully we’re good for another 20 years.”
The GIS is a global positioning system that the village began using in 2017.
It enables the village to locate manholes, where pipes go, what size pipes are in the ground, which direction they run and other important information.
Dicke joined the village in May of 2016.
In other business, council:
• Suspended the rules and passed Ordinance 2020-12-20 by emergency which amends the 2020 appropriations to $27,922,586.30 to adjust for Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and
Economic Securities (CARES) Act funding. Fiscal Officer Amy Speelman said the village has received a redistribution from Auglaize County and they have received more than $293,000 total in CARES Act money since it was first dispersed to communities.
• Completed a second reading on Ordinance 2020-11-19 regarding the village’s 2021 appropriations. Speelman said the village is looking at a 20% reduced budget next year because of a decrease in income tax revenues. She said she will have a final proposal available at the council’s last meeting of the year on Dec. 29.
• Completed a first reading on Resolution 2020-12-15, a management agreement between the village and the YMCA of Greater Dayton to run the village pool. The agreement stays the same as last year’s fee which is $13,000.
• Tabled a third reading on Resolution 2020-11-12 to approve CARES Act purchases as the village is still finalizing some purchases.
• Completed a first reading on Ordinance 2020-12-21 and discussed the 2021 cost of living adjustment. The cost of living adjustment as read will be a 1% adjustment.
“I’d like to thank all the employees for their hard work this year. We know it’s been difficult on everybody,” said Parker. “We did have to reduce some staff earlier in the year. It’s too bad we can’t do more than 1% but right now we’re facing some economic hurdles in the future and that’s all we can see going forward with at this point in time.”