Fulton County Ohio Media

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Unable to hold the Amazing Shake competition as part of the Swanton Seven Initiative (SSI) program for last year’s seventh graders due to COVID-19 safety protocols, Swanton Middle School (SMS) held the competition last Friday for the now eighth-grade students.

The SSI is a program, now in its fourth year, that focuses on building soft skills in students, placing strong emphasis on manners, discipline, respect, and professional behavior. The Amazing Shake is a competition designed to put what the students have learned to the test.  To demonstrate these skills, students worked their way through “The Gauntlet.” There were eleven stations in “The Gauntlet” and at every station each student was met by a local professional from the world of business, government or industry who would grade the students’ abilities and award points based on their knowledge, abilities and performance.  Each student had to show great poise and confidence in personal interactions as well as exhibit effective management skills.

The eleven stations were as follows:  Interview Alley, Conversation Circle, Know the News, Dining Drive, Appointment Alley, Shark Tank, Candid Interviews, McNeill Sell Car, Dress to Impress, Know the Photo and Customer Service Situation.

This eight-grade class, which will be in the high school graduating class of 2026, will be the first group of students to complete the SSI program from start (fifth-grade) to finish.  Another Amazing Shake competition will take place for this year’s seventh-grade class sometime in March of 2022 putting the program back on schedule.

Click on the Google Photos link below to access and view all photos from the competition. Photos may also be downloaded.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YW54Gt4gZGusC6gq5

Inaugural Civic Engagement Academy a Success

Recently, seven individuals completed the inaugural Civic Engagement Academy through the Village of Swanton.  This community initiative was a way for community members to learn more about Village operations.  It was a tool to provide accurate and transparent information in an interactive form.

For seven weeks, the seven participants learned about general government structure to governmental accounting to how water and waste water is treated to tours of various facilities.  The participants heard from all Division Heads regarding their respective services.  Overall, the feedback from the participants was positive and they indicated they learned something they didn’t know before enrolling in this program.  On October 12, the participants were welcomed to the Village Council Meeting and presented with a certificate of completion.

Village Officials believe the inaugural year of the program was a success and look forward to conducting more sessions in the future.

Editor’s Notes:  After the presentation of certificates, some of the participants commented positively on their experience, including John Schmidt.  “I would like to say, of all the people that we met, from the core Village Administration office to all the services including the police chief, the fire chief, water reclamation and so on, what a dedicated core of individuals that really have a strong work ethic and really work hard for the citizens of the Village of Swanton,” he said.  “I am impressed.  I was very impressed.”

Out of the seven participants that completed the course, three, Sam Disbrow, Mickey Disbrow and Patrick Messenger are listed on this November’s election ballot, running for the office of Swanton Village Council member.

Pictured: (L to R) Emily Barr, Alan Barr, Mayor Neil Toeppe, Olivia Pasternak, John Schmidt.  Not pictured:  Sam Disbrow, Mickey Disbrow, Patrick Messenger

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The seventh annual Swanton Fine Art Exhibit and Sale was held this past weekend at Valleywood Golf Club, returning after an unavoidable pandemic-forced one-year absence.  The 2021 exhibit featured 154 pieces of artwork by 58 artists from 20 different communities in Ohio and Michigan competing in the categories of Acrylics, Oils, Water Colors, Drawings, Photography and Mixed Media.  All the works of art were adjudicated on Thursday by a panel of highly respected artists and academics from Siena Heights University and Eastern Michigan University. 

The exhibit opened with an Artists Reception on Friday evening and then opened to the public on Saturday and Sunday.  Ribbons (Blue-First Place, Red-Second Place, White-Third Place and Gray-Honorable Mention) were awarded as well as cash awards.  Awards were also given out for Best-in-Show and People’s Choice.

Award winners are as follows:

Acrylic:  1^st-Steve Mueller of Holland, 2^nd-Jennifer Sowders of Fostoria, 3^rd-Randy Bennet of Rudolph, HM-Jennifer of Sheriff of Toledo, Lucille Smith of Swanton

Drawing:  1^st-Paula Davis of Perrysburg, 2^nd-Joe Rudski of Toledo, 3^rd-Dinese Declercq of Toledo, HM-Denise Declercq of Toledo, Katherine Pattay of Perrysburg, Kenneth Jackson of Holland

Mixed Media:  1^st-Timothy Tyree of Maumee, 2^nd-Rose Letherby of Toledo, 3^rd-Christeen Deemer of Perrysburg, HM-Paul Sneider of Hilliard

Oil:  1^st-Debra Buchanan of Toledo, 2^nd-Denis Chalwik of Toledo, 3^rd-Edward Marks of Perrysburg, HM-Debra Helwig of Swanton, Don Rowland of Toledo

Photography:  1^st-Jack Meyers of Grand Rapids, 2^nd-Jack Meyers of Grand Rapids, 3^rd-Bill O’Connell of Swanton, HM-Bill Horvath of Toledo

Water Color:  1^st-Cody Winter of Riga (MI), 2^nd-Harry Daugherty of Whitehouse, 3^rd-Jennifer Sowders of Fostoria, HM-Janis Butler of Whitehouse

In the Youth Group, Blue Ribbons went to Elyse Renkel of Grand Rapids for Drawing and Photography and to Allena Cosgrove of Wauseon for Mixed Media and Painting.  Red Ribbons went to Allena Cosgrove of Wauseon for Mixed Media, Gavin Doerfler of Swanton for Painting and Elyse of Grand Rapids for Photography.  White Ribbons went to Abbie Lewis of Swanton for Mixed Media and Gavin Doerfler of Swanton for Painting.  Allena and Elyse were also awarded $250 Scholarships.

Best-in-Show was given to Deb Buchanan of Toledo for her oil painting “The Story of Man”.

People’s Choice winner was Karrie King of Swanton for her drawing “Lord I Need You”.

Click on the Google Photos file above to access all photos from Friday evening.

The Swanton Village Council just voted to give employees of the Swanton Police Department (SPD) a significant raise beginning at the end of this November and incremental raises for the next four years after that.  The increase in pay was not only well deserved, it was years overdue but given, for the most part, to stop young police officers from treating the SPD solely as an apprenticeship program.

At the most recent Council meeting, Councilwoman Kathy Kreuz put it best.  “You all know the turnover we have.  We train them and they leave.  It would be nice to be able to keep them.” she said.  “But nine times out of ten they’re not leaving because they don’t like Swanton, they’re leaving because of the pay.  And you can’t blame them with the way the world is now.”

Council President Craig Rose agreed the police officers deserved more money but he was concerned that it would take away money from other Village needs and it may still not be enough to be competitive with other surrounding communities.

I completely agree with Mr. Rose’s concerns.  But where have those concerns been for all the years he has served on Council?  What solutions did he and other Council members recommend beside dipping into the pockets of Swanton taxpayers?  Our first responders, Police and Fire and Rescue have been underpaid for a very long time which goes a long way in explaining the revolving front door on both departments.

Finance Director Jennifer Harkey says the Village income tax, which funds the SPD, will be able to absorb the raises but that money will be diverted from the General Fund and not spent in other areas.  To help alleviate the burden on the General Fund, the Village is looking at possibly placing 3.0 mil police levy on the ballot, which is a property tax that would generate approximately $231,232 annually.  In effect, the solution to this problem is to again, raise taxes on Swanton citizens.  Who didn’t see this coming?  I am sure most of us did.

When Neil Toeppe ran for the office of Mayor of Swanton, a large part of his platform was focusing on economic development, new tax-paying businesses with new tax-paying employees and new homes that would help to properly fund Village services without having to raise taxes.

Soon after Mr. Toeppe was sworn in, he proposed several economy-boosting initiatives, including the formation of an all-volunteer Economic Development Commission (EDC) to attract new businesses into Swanton.  The Rose-led Village Council summarily rejected his recommendations. 

Mayor Toeppe brought his ideas before Council several more times without success as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and battered the national and local economy.  Frustrated by the Mayor continually bringing up the issue, Mr. Rose, with the support of Village Solicitor Alan Lehenbauer and several other Council members changed the Rules of Council and took control of the meetings’ agenda and eliminated the Mayor’s input in Council meetings.  Basically, there would be little, if any, talk of helping Swanton’s economy and generating more tax revenue.  Even pleas to the Council from local business leaders to consider Mr. Toeppe’s economic plans fell on deaf ears.

In fact, the Mayor’s voice was silenced within the Council Chambers on virtually all issues regarding the Village.  Mr. Rose had created a culture of blatant obstructionism and, as a result, the Village of Swanton is now two years behind an opportunity to reverse the image of the Swanton Village Council as an anti-business political body.  And two years behind finding a way to increase revenue without burdening the citizens.

I applaud the Council’s decision to finally begin to pay our police officers more of a fair wage but I will never understand their decision making of the past two years that has essentially forced them into a tax increase bailout. 

But now for the good news.  All four of the Council members with expiring terms, including the two Councilmen who led the obstructionism, have wisely decided not to run for reelection.  Whether it was to avoid a humiliating defeat at the polls next month or not, what only matters is they will be gone and the economic roadblocks they set up will eventually be gone with them.

The new Council will be met with major challenges beginning with the task of rebuilding the trust of the Swanton constituency.  Change for the better will not happen overnight and we will need to be patient.  But it will soon be on its way and we will all see it coming.

Submitted to fultoncountymedia.com website

On Saturday, October 9^th at noon on the Evergreen High School Softball Field, Evergreen Baseball and Softball will play a five-inning slow pitch game in support of Zach and his fight against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

A homerun derby will take place after the game.  We will be providing hot dogs, chips, popcorn, water and pop for a Free Will Donation.  We will have a 50/50 raffle with all proceeds going to Zach and his family.

Please contact Robin Mitchey if you would like to donate or volunteer.  Email:  RMitchey@manniksmithgroup.org or 419-346-2356.

Venmo Information:  @Laver74

T-shirt Information:  Melissa Marvin

Rain Date:  Sunday, October 10^th at 2:00 PM

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The Archbold Lady Blue Streaks continued its march unabated towards an outright NWOAL Volleyball Championship with a three-set (25-16, 25-20, 25-18) road victory over a very talented Swanton Lady Bulldog team on Tuesday night. The win gives Archbold a 6-0 record and at least a tie for the crown headed into the final match of the season with Bryan. Not only do the Lady Streaks have a perfect league match record, they also have not lost a game in a league contest and stand at 18-0.

In the loss, the Lady Bulldogs dropped to 4-2 in the league. One bright spot for Swanton was junior Sophie Taylor reaching a major milestone in collecting her 2000th assist.

Click on the Google Photos link above to access all photos from the match. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded to your computer for FREE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

The following was submitted by Dawn Santchi of the Swanton High School Band Boosters.

The 2021 Swanton Marching Band Bulldog Bowl is back and scheduled for Saturday, October 23rd at the Swanton High School Football Field. Fourteen area bands have been invited to perform and compete for trophies and a spot to perform at the State Competition. Gates will open to spectators at 4pm with an adult fee of $7, students and senior citizens $5 and children five and under free with a paying adult. There will be concessions for sale as well as pie by the slice.

Parking will be at the Fisher Gym parking lot on Dodge Street with overflow parking at Swanton High School. All traffic for the event will be directed through the Dodge Street entrance of the high school. The Main Street entrance of Swanton High School will be closed to prevent non-event drive through traffic from 3pm-11pm to keep all participants safe.

Mrs. Preisner and The Swanton Band Boosters are still looking for volunteers to help the day run smoothly. If you are 18 or older and would like to volunteer for a shift, please contact Dawn Santchi at dsantchi@gmail.com. We would love to see alumni and alumni parents (we miss you).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jzXsFAeB5MKYurP89

Cheerleader and Swanton Youth Football photos also included. Click on the Google Photos link above to access all photos. Photos are in jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for free.

Concerned with the high rate of turnover within the Swanton Police Department (SPD) in the past several years, the Swanton Village Council made several moves at their September 27^th meeting to improve the overall recruitment and retention rate including voting for a pay raise, establishing an Employee Compensation Schedule and placing a levy on the ballot to help fund the SPD.

The SPD compensation issue was explained in Village Administrator Rosanna Hoelzle’s Report stating, “Recruiting and retaining employees is crucial for any organization, the public sector is no different.  The Village of Swanton supports its public servants, and in this particular case, its police officers as best it can.  In 2017 there was an analysis of the SFRD wages, it is now time to do the same for the SPD.  The main point is providing our employees with the knowledge of what their compensation will be (barring any unforeseen issues such as a global pandemic) over the next few years.  We also would like to ensure we are staying competitive, relatively speaking, to recruit and retain good officers.”

Council voted unanimously for Emergency Ordinance 2021-XX, Establishing Swanton Village Employee Compensation Schedule for Swanton Police Division 2022-2025.  The pay raises will go into effect on November 28, 2021 and will range from $1.50 to $2.00 per hour based on years of experience.  There will then be incremental raises for the next four years ranging from 0.50% to 3.00% with the 4-6 and 7-9 years of experience groups heavily weighted  Finance Director Jennifer Harkey informed Council the initial raises would cost the Village just over an estimated $100,000 and another $30,000 after that.

Prior to the vote there was discussion on where the funds would come from and what effect is would have on the General Fund.  “It will be supported by the income tax right now,” said Ms. Harkey.  “As we forecast out over the next five years, we will be able to absorb it by our income tax as it stands right now.  Part of what is covering the $100,000 is what we are able to offset police wages with the COVID funds from last year.  That was about $54,000 that did not burden the General Fund.”

Ms. Hoelzle interjected with a clarification on the wording of the ordinance as it pertained to available funding.  “The way the ordinance reads, though, it states that ‘The annual wage increase will take effect only if appropriations are available.’  This is a difficult conversation to have when you have a high turnover.  Yes, of course it’s going to impact our General Fund, 100% it’s going to impact our General Fund.”

Police Chief Adam Berg quickly responded to Ms. Hoelzle’s comment.    “You can’t give a raise and then take it away because things aren’t appropriated properly,” he cautioned.  “That will cause way more harm than anything that this (pay raises) will cause good.”

Councilman Craig Rose said he supported the raises but questioned whether it would be enough to remain competitive with other communities.  “Even if we pass this, we still have work to do,” he said.  Chief Berg replied it would definitely help in recruiting.

“We’re closer to what Whitehouse is paying and we’re not too far off from what their income tax collection is based on the other entities that replied,” said Ms. Harkey relating information she received from a survey she sent out this past Spring.  She also said, and Ms. Hoelzle agreed, it would be “prudent” to present the compensation schedule before Council every year and weigh it against current financial conditions.