The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
City maps out future at event
Wellington residents gathered March 14 at Wellington Eagles, 631 S. Main St., for the Wellington Kiwanis Club sponsored “State of Wellington.” Village and Wellington Exempted Village School District officials discussed plans for this year. “We celebrated our bicentennial last year ... and we look forward to what’s ahead for the village in 2019,” said Wellington Mayor Hans Schneider. Schneider took some time to give an update on the village’s upcoming “passive” park. “In 2017, we bought the land that use to be McCormick Middle School (the area that is surrounded by the block of South Main Street, Carpenter Street, Courtland Street and Dickson Street),” he said. “We had a committee of 13 members plan the park that will include a bandstand, playground, gathering space and water fountain. “We also have a name, ‘Union Park’ in honor of the original school that was located there. This year, we will continue to hold meetings for the park which will cost roughly $1.6 million.” The next meeting is 5 p.m., April 1, on the second floor south meeting room at Wellington Town Hall, 115 Willard Memorial Square. Schneider said 2019 will serve as the preliminary planning phase for the village’s new police station. “The first thing was to find a downtown location ... which we were able to find on [147] East Herrick Avenue,” he said. “Construction will begin in 2020 ... and the building will serve the community for the next several decades. “The station is a need for the Department ... who currently uses rooms that serve multiple purposes due to lack of space.” Steve Dupee, village manager, said the passage of the municipal income tax raise, from 1 percent to 1.75 percent, has put the village in good financial standing. “It will bring in $750,000 annually,” Dupee said. “This allows funds for recreation, buildings and grounds, admin and financial, and infrastructure projects. It allows us to maintain our current level of services.” The schools Ed Weber, superintendent of Wellington Schools, discussed the state of the schools. “We want every student to be involved in a sport or extracurricular group or activity,” Weber said. “We encourage students to take advantage of these groups and make connections.” Weber laid out the overall goals of the district. “The first goal is that we have students that graduate with college acceptance and career skills,” he said. “Not every student will want to go to college, some may want to work immediately, but we want everyone who graduates to have the option to go to college or have a skill to make a living.” The second goal focuses on timely, professional communication. “An example of this is the new website (wellingtonvillageschools.org),” Weber said. “We also have our quality profile which is a self-report we did to look at what we think we are doing well and where we need to improve.” The third goal is transparent reporting on how the district is using its resources, he said. Anyone can look at the district’s finances by going to the Ohio Checkbook website: wellingtonexemptedvillageschools.ohiocheckbook.com. The event also featured the presentation of a key from the village to Patti Young, owner of Wellington Implement, and Tom Stannard, general manager and vice president of the business, for 90 years of service to the village.