Seneca County commissioners approved a resolution Thursday to allow Holly Stacy, board president, to sign federal grant papers and related documents to receive funds for paving projects at the county airport.  The county received two bids for the almost $182,000 project.  The federal money is funneled through the state Department of Transportation.  The county will fund the project and then get reimbursed.

Findlay City Council received an introduction to Findlay Ohio Finances dot com yesterday.  The website was created by the Findlay Auditor’s Office and Tyler Technologies to will allow citizens to review the city’s finances.  It is different than the state’s website Ohio Check Book dot com in that it shows both revenues and expenses.  It will be released to the public in the coming weeks.

In other news on Findlay’s finances, the City’s revenue is becoming more dependent on its income tax.  Findlay Auditor Jim Staschiak told council that Findlay’s 1% income tax now accounts for 72% of its revenue.  He has called for more diversification of the city’s revenues.  On the plus side, Staschiak reported the city’s cash balances to be in excess of $60 million.

Marathon Petroleum’s profits fell 3% in the 2^nd quarter of the year.  Last year, an $801 million profit was reported.  Industry-wide fuel surpluses were the main reason.  Profit fell about 63 percent last quarter for MPLX, Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s logistics and natural gas processing subsidiary.

With rumors swirling on social media, iconic Bowling Green restaurant Myles Pizza Pub owner Chip Myles says the restaurant isn’t up for sale.  In a video statement posed Wednesday to the Myles Pizza Pub Facebook page, Myles himself said that, while the building that houses the restaurant has been up for sale, the business itself is not.  The pub, located at 516 E. Wooster near the Bowling Green State University campus, has been a fixture of the city’s food scene for decades.
 

The Fostoria Community Arts Council’s Summer Concert Series is presenting the Carl Acuff, Jr. Show this Sunday at 7:30pm at the Wainwright Amphitheatre in Foundation Park…Other upcoming FCAC concerts include The Cottonwood Jam String Band at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 and the Fostoria Guitar Fest from 5-9 p.m. Aug. 21. Both events will take place at the Wainwright Amphitheatre.  FCAC will also host one final Lunch on the Lawn, featuring Doug Pahl, from noon-1 p.m. Aug. 10 on the Fostoria Municipal Building lawn.

Findlay Municipal Court Judge Robert Fry has announced his retirement.  His last day on the bench will be August 18.  Fry was appointed in January 2007 to fill the unexpired term of Judge Vernon Preston. Prior to becoming a judge, Fry served with the Hancock County Prosecutor’s Office for 26 years, including as county prosecutor for his last 15 years.

With the first day of school quickly approaching, Kroger of Fostoria is hosting the first back to school supply drive this Saturday from 1-3pm.  The local grocer will be collecting anything a student may need for the school year, such as crayons, notebooks, art supplies, pencils and pens.  Kroger will even have a pre-packaged box for purchase to donate.  All supplies will be donated to Fostoria City Schools and St. Wendelin.

Carey will host a dedication ceremony beginning at 2pm Sunday for the new school.  Self-guided tours of the building, which will house pre-kindergarten through senior high school, will be available after the ceremony.  Construction will continue on a separate athletic building and a bus garage.  The 145,000-square-foot, twostory, air-conditioned building is about 6,000 square feet larger than the former school, and cost about $34 million, about $111,000 under budget.  Carey’s school year begins August 17.

East Melrose Avenue in Findlay will be closed to through traffic between Crystal Avenue and Bright Road start today through Friday.  The closure will be from 6:30a to 6:30p because of resurfacing work.

Authorities has identified 47 year of Bryan P. Emans of Findlay as the man who was struck and killed by a train in Findlay on Saturday night.  Emans was lying on the tracks at 10:00 p.m. when a southbound CSX train neared his location in the 400 block of East Lincoln Street.  The train sounded its horn and Emans tried to get off the tracks, according to Findlay police.  The train engine struck Emans and knocked him off the tracks, where officers found him and tried to do CPR.  He was declared dead after emergency medical service personnel arrived.

26 year old Kayree D. Jeffery of Fremont, was arrested by Fremont police Saturday and charged with felonious assault and discharge of a firearm.  Jeffery was involved in a financial dispute inside Pallet Logistics in Fostoria.  He allegedly fired a weapon at the other individual.   Jeffery is expected to appear today for arraignment in Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court.

Anthony Stateler, who has been serving as interim chief of the Northwest Hancock Fire District since April has been tabbed to head the fire department.  The fire district, formed last year, covers McComb, Pleasant and Portage townships.  Stateler replaces Jeffrey Dawson, who stepped down as the district’s first chief in March.

The Findlay Municipal Court has implemented a new program to allow tickets, bonds and other court costs to be paid online and over the telephone.  Since July 1, the municipal court has been using GovPayNet.  To make a payment, citizens can go to www.GovPayNow.com or by calling 1-888-604-7888. A service fee is attached to each transaction.  GovPayNet accepts Master-Card, Visa, American Express, Discover and debit cards.  People can continue to pay fines in person at the municipal court clerk of courts office.

Fostoria’s Emergency Food Program will close operations Tuesday.  Program coordinator Reverend Susan Hatfield states the reason in not the lack of funding but the aging of volunteers.  The majority of volunteers are in their 60’s and 70’s and have difficulty performing all the work needed.  Other food assistance programs will continue to be available, such as ones operated by High Street United Methodist Church and Fostoria Baptist Church on Lytle Street and Pantry Plus on Main Street.

Arlington Village Council began moving toward placing a continuing levy on the November ballot.  The levy will be used for upkeep of the village park and swimming pool.  Council will ask the Hancock County Auditor’s Office to calculate how much revenue a levy would generate. Council probably will pursue a 2-mill continuing levy.  Aug. 10 is the deadline for council to get the issue on the November ballot.

The former Alt’s Music Center in Fostoria will reopen on August 1 as Second Wind Music Center.  Josh Thomas, who is a former band director, purchased the property.  Seneca Wind Music Center will have band instruments, guitars, pianos, accessories and plans to offer lessons in guitar, drums, strings and piano.

The Ohio Department of Transportation announced the Interstate 75 widening project through Findlay will begin a year early, beginning in spring 2017, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced Thursday.  From South Harrison Street/ Hancock County 144 to the Hancock County 99 interchange, contractors will spend an expected three years reconstructing the existing pavement, adding a third travel lane in each direction, and upgrading the roadway to modern highway standards.  The $133 million project was originally scheduled to begin in 2018.

The Ohio Elections Commission has ruled that there was no illegal coordination between Rich Focht's campaign for Seneca County commissioner and the political action committee Citizens for Seneca County.  The Seneca County Board of Elections and Seneca County Board of Commissioners President Holly Stacy - Focht's opponent in the March 15 Republican primary election - filed complaints with the commission in June, alleging improper coordination between the campaign and the PAC.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 10am this morning for the new Seneca County Joint Justice Center.  The new center is expected to be finished in 16 months.  The ceremony will take place on Courthouse Square in Tiffin, to site of the former courthouse.

The Mennel Milling Company has tentatively reached a deal with General Mills Inc. to purchase its Martel-based bakery mix and packaging facility.  Mennel mills wheat into flour for a variety of clients and has locations in Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana and Illinois.  With the acquisition of the facility, the company will be able to offer a full line of bakery mix products to big box, commercial, wholesale and bakery customers and marketplaces.  The sale should be completed before November 1.

During a town hall meeting following a Fostoria Finance Committee meeting, city officials and residents once again discussed solutions to the city’s financial crisis.  In the most productive meeting to date, solid suggestions of possible solutions were discussed.  Ideas included adding a service fee to water service, eliminating the city’s income tax credit for those who live in Fostoria but work elsewhere and annexation.  State Auditor Dave Yost placed Fostoria in a state of fiscal emergency on May 26 with a projected deficit of approximately $800,000.

Findlay City Council voted Tuesday to demolish the former Huber School at 1001 Blanchard Ave. for about $59,000.  The 101-year-old structure will be razed by October.  The demolition costs will be added to the property tax bill of the building’s owner, Yusheng Ji of California.  Ji has been difficult to contact for city officials, so the city also may have to file a lawsuit against him to recover its money.

The Seneca County commissioners have adopted the Seneca County Museum Task Force's recommendations regarding creation of an advisory board for the museum.  The board will have nine members - three representatives for the Seneca County Historical Society, three for the Barnes-Deinzer Seneca County Museum Foundation and three appointed by commissioners.  The county will maintain the building and hire and pay a director and other staff "in a manner consistent with county employee policies."

The Wood County’s commissioners approved a tax break needed to build a large solar farm north of Bowling Green.  The measure approved Tuesday allows NextEra Energy and American Municipal Power to make yearly payments in lieu of the taxes that would otherwise be due on the $43 million estimated value of the solar field.  Instead of about $13.6 million in taxes based on the depreciating value over 30 years, the companies will pay about $5.4 million. More than half of that will go to Bowling Green Schools, with smaller payments for Center Township, Penta Career Center, Wood County and other agencies.

The fifth Seneca County Farmers Market in downtown Tiffin is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday.  The market will feature a wide variety of products including baked goods, fresh produce, plants, flowers and more.  Gabriel and the Grove will be the featured entertainment on the Courthouse lawn.

Wood County commissioners will likely approve today a $14.6 million tax credit for a solar field planned north of Bowling Green.  American Municipal Power and NextEra Energy want to construct more than 85,000 solar panels on around 140 acres of land to be leased from Bowling Green in Center Township.  NextEra would construct the solar array and sell power to AMP, which would then sell to BG 13.75 megawatts of the solar field’s planned capacity of 20 megawatts.  That power would represent on average about 4.5 percent of the city’s overall usage.

The Fostoria Police Department is seeking public assistance in identifying the driver in a hit and run accident.  The accident occurred Monday morning at the Lytle Street Circle K in which a man was struck by a vehicle.  The driver is a white male driving a white sedan with collision damage on the front end.  Anyone with information regarding the accident is asked to contact the police department.

Carey Council President Armand Getz has will become the village’s next mayor.  After the death of former mayor Steve Smalley, village law Director Bob Maison was named mayor.  However, it was later determined that the council president should succeed Smalley based on the type of government Carey operates under.  Getz, a resident of Carey for 21 years, will be sworn in today.

The 7^th Annual Jeff Shiff Run the Res 5 and 10K raised $5600 for the ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital Foundation.  The annual event took place April 17 and featured 250 runners and 40 children.  Over the last six years, the event has raised more than $36,600 for the ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital Cancer Fund benefitting patients and families at the hospital’s Cancer and Infusion Center.

Construction of the new Seneca County Joint Justice Center will kick-off with a Ground Breaking Ceremony on Friday, July 22 at 10 a.m. on Courthouse Square in Downtown Tiffin.  The Leadership Team for the new Justice Center has asked the Seneca County Historical Society and the Tiffin Historic Trust to organize a group of local historic representatives to coordinate the assembly of a time capsule to be sealed into an interior wall of the new 36,000 square foot facility.  Citizens interested in making suggestions can do so during the Seneca County fair or by sending the to the Seneca County Commissions via mail or e-mail.

The voter registrations of about 12,000 people in Hancock, Allen, Hardin, Henry, Putnam, Seneca, Wood and Wyandot counties were deleted in 2015, as Ohio’s elections boards did their annual maintenance of voter rolls.  People were deleted from voter rolls if they died, if they had duplicate voter registrations, or if they did not vote or update their voter registration during a six-year period that included three federal general elections.  More than 10,000 registered voters can expect to receive a letter by July 29, inquiring about the status of their voter registration. The letters are being sent to registered voters who have been flagged by the National Change of Address system, as required by federal law.

Nominations for the 2016 Spirit of Wood County Awards are being accepted through Aug. 15.  There are seven award categories this year, including Agricultural Leadership; Industrial/Economic Development; Education for Civic Responsibility; Liberty through Law/Human Freedom; Religion and Liberty; Self-Government; and the Lyle R. Fletcher Good Citizenship Award.  Nomination forms and category descriptions are available on the Wood County website, www.co.wood.oh.us, by following the “Spirit Awards” link.