Mayors provide village updates
NEW BREMEN — The three mayors running the towns that make up the Golden Triangle delivered remarks Thursday morning at the annual State of the Villages held at the American Legion in New Bremen.
Mayors Keith Leffel of New Knoxville; Bob Parker of New Bremen and Dennis Kitzmiller of Minster updated those in attendance with a year in review and a peek into what the future holds.
Leffel said despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, New Knoxville was still able to grow.
“We had a lot of businesses that were declared essential so our income tax pretty much stayed where it was from the previous years,” said Leffel.
The village’s revenues were more than $3.2 million and its expenditures totaled $2.7 million.
“All our key indicators were similar to what we did in years’ past,” said Leffel.
He said the village completed 18 building permits, mentioning the new office that German Farmers Mutual Insurance recently completed and opened, as well as the new terminal at the Neil Armstrong Airport.
Leffel then talked about the fire and police departments, commending the volunteers for the jobs they do as well as helping with meal donations last year early on during the pandemic.
“Someone donated some money to Main Street and said, ‘Hey, let’s find a way to take care of some of our elderly people and just provide a meal, just as a way to [have that] support system.’ Main Street took the lead, Abby [Homan] our fiscal officer was in charge of the list and we got some volunteers,” said Leffel. “With the fire department, we had every truck out there delivering some meals. We had the police department and numerous volunteers delivering meals. Next thing you know, our fund at Main Street started to grow and grow and we were delivering more meals … I really appreciate what they did.”
He said response calls were up on the fire department side in 2020 but its police calls were down.
Mayor Kitzmiller spoke next, saying that the village of Minster took a “very cautious” approach to spending because of the pandemic.
“As the pandemic became apparent, the village took a very cautious approach to spending and reducing our overall spending,” he said. “What we thought would be a down year, turned out to be a pretty good year for us.”
Kitzmiller announced that the village took in a little more than $4
million in income tax, the third highest profit Minster has ever collected.
“… which came as a big surprise to the village,” Kitzmiller added.
He announced projects Minster completed including: completion of the northwest sanitary sewer project; various road pavings; the installation of eight new pickleball courts and two full-size basketball courts at Four Seasons Park; completion of the second phase of the village’s solar field, combined with current solar field that provides the village with nine megawatts of electric which makes up 13% of the village’s annual usage and the annexation of more than 18 acres of ground which will accommodate both commercial and residential growth.
The village welcomed in four new businesses in town: Chilltex Heating and Cooling, Wilson Health Urgent Care, Fastenal and C.A. Lawton, who took over the operation and ownership of the foundry.
Kitzmiller said the village distributed $75,000 of CARES Act money to 15 businesses.
Looking ahead, Kitzmiller said the village: is working with CDM Engineering firm to design and bid out construction of the new water tower to replace the old one; improvement at East 7th Street will be a complete reconstruction from Main just east of Hamilton streets and completion of the village’s newest electrical substation located on North Ohio Street.
In items related to personnel, Kitzmiller thanked former councilman Rick Schwartz, who retired at the end of last year, for his 30 years of service to the village.
Just up the road in New Bremen, Parker began his remarks by thanking the police department for their service.
“There has been a lot of bad press about defunding the police. We are lucky to have the police force that we have in this area,” said Parker. “The professionalism they exhibit every day is — I want to firstly thank them for the outstanding job they do for all the adversity they face every day.”
Parker congratulated the New Bremen Schools football, volleyball and basketball teams on their successful seasons.
The village had a final total of income tax receipts of $4,407,698, which was a 2.3% reduction from 2019. The expenses were $10,121,623.
“It might seem a little high but it’s because we built a new substation out by the bowling alley and a lot of that was funded by a loan,” said Parker. The total fines, fees and forfeitures was $17,859.
Projects that were completed in 2020 include: the new substation, traffic signal upgrades at Washington and Monroe and Monroe and Main streets; updated controls at the water plant; improvements of the wastewater aerators; reconstruction on Franklin and Ash streets; the state Route 274 widening project; new landscaping at the library to go along with a new roof; new heater at the swimming pool and the 139 acres of farmland the village purchased from Komminsk Estate.
As for personnel changes, Village Administrator Chris Dicke retired after five years and Brent Richter took over. Chad Wuebker joined village council, replacing Richter. Chris McKinney retired after 25 years of service for the New Bremen Police Department. Angela Hamberg resigned as the economic development director after 10 years and Adrian Speelman was recently named the new parks manager.
Parker noted all the village events that were canceled last year but was hopeful they will be on this year.
New Bremen’s garage sales are scheduled for April 16 and 17 and the village’s cleanup day is May 5. The Firemen’s Picnic will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. AES Ohio, formerly Dayton Power and Light, is going to replace an electrical line between New Bremen and St. Marys in 2023, which Parker noted will cost around $24 million.
Also delivering remarks in person on Thursday were Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima); Patrick McCauley, the public affairs liaison for Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague (R-Findlay); Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) and state Rep. Susan Manchester (R-Waynesfield). Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Cleveland) and Sen. Rob Portman (RCincinnati) made comments via prerecorded videos.
Following his speech, Huffman presented New Bremen Schools 7-12 Principal Marcus Overman with a resolution, recognizing the football team as the 2020 state champions.