Fulton County Ohio Media

The search to replace Swanton Fire Chief Anthony Shaffer who retired on March 19^th of this year is still in progress, but a decision appears to be coming soon.  Initially, nine applications were received and that number was pared to five for the first round of interviews.  The interviews, lasting one hour each, were conducted by Mayor Neil Toeppe and Councilman Derek Kania.

“When you looked at the resumes from all these people you thought, ‘Man, everyone is really good.’  And when you interviewed them, they all had pretty good interviews,” said Mr. Toeppe.  From the list of five, three candidates were chosen for a second round of interviews, this time with Mayor Toeppe and the Fire Department’s command staff.  The second set of interviews allowed a back-and-forth exchange between the potential Fire Chief and several staff members under the Chief’s direct supervision.

Commenting on the candidates, Councilman Kania said, “Everyone in there was passionate about being a fire chief, passionate about their job and career at that point.  It was not easy when we made those cuts.  Ultimately, whoever we do select, if we select any of them, it will be a good fit.”

Mayor Toeppe informed Council that an executive session would follow the Council meeting and the Fire Chief issue would be discussed further.  Two possible outcomes from the session would be the recommendation of a candidate to become the new Fire Chief or to re-open the application process.  However, after the executive session was concluded, a formal decision had not been made.  Interim Fire Chief Chad Smith will continue in his role.

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Last Thursday was Military Appreciation Day and the varsity baseball teams of Delta and Swanton High Schools paid tribute to all six branches of the United States of America’s military, the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy and Space Force.

To honor the day, the Delta Panthers hosted the Swanton Bulldogs in an NWOAL contest with both teams wearing special customized jerseys bearing the emblem of each branch on the upper back of the uniform.  The jerseys were supplied by the 180^th Fighter Wing (180FW) of the Ohio Air National Guard stationed at the Toledo Air National Guard Base which sits directly across the runway from Toledo Express Airport.

To commemorate the event, the 180FW sent a unit to present the colors of the flag during the National Anthem.  A special feature of the ceremony came when the battery for the first pitch was composed of two recently retired Chief Master Sergeants, Greg Chonko of Swanton, who threw the pitch and John Gibson of Delta who caught the ball behind the plate.  Both men served America in uniform for over 30 years, eventually retiring in 2022 from the 180FW.

For those keeping score at home, the Bulldogs won the game 5-1.

Pictured:  Chief Master Sergeants Greg Chonko and John Gibson

Click on the link above to access photos from the ceremony. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

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This past Friday night, the Swanton Lady Bulldogs found themselves down 2-1 to the Lake Lady Flyers entering the bottom of the seventh inning but with their dangerous third, fourth and fifth hitters coming up.  Brie Williams led off with a single and Taylor Forrest followed suit with another single to put runners on first and second with nobody out and Trista Eitniear coming to the plate.

Conventional wisdom, in that situation, dictates you sacrifice bunt the runners over putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position with just one out.  Swanton head coach Joe Nye, however, was having none of that.  “I told Trista that she was a senior who had been playing for four years and there was no way I was going to have her bunt,” said Coach Nye.  “I said Trista, swing away.”

And swing away she did, driving a fastball back up the middle to bring home Williams to tie the game and Forrest to win it 3-2 over a very talented Lake team.  “He called me over and told me to swing away so that’s what I did,” said Eitniear.

Lake took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning off starting pitcher Williams but the Bulldogs quickly got back in the game when Forrest unloaded on an outside fastball, sending it over the right-center field fence to tie the game.  The score stayed at 1-1 until the top of the sixth when the Flyers scored on a single, stolen base and double to grab back the lead and set the table for Eitniears’s heroics.

In addition to the great pitching on both sides, the defense for both teams was excellent as well.  Coach Nye gave special credit to outfielders Jayden Hendricks in left and Alaina Pelland in right who both ran down several long fly balls to keep Lake hitters off the bases.

The win moves the Lady Bulldogs to 2-1 on the season.  Swanton hosts the Patrick Henry Lady Patriots on Monday, April 18^th at 5:00 PM.

Pictured:  Trist Eitniear slashes a single to right field in the second inning.

Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

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Swanton Junior Ryan O’Shea gave up two hits and one run in the first inning then slammed the door shut the rest of the way as the Bulldogs defeated the Delta Panthers 5-1 on Military Appreciation Day at Delta’s Jim Harmon Field on Thursday.  In the final six innings of his complete game victory, O’Shea allowed just one hit and finished the game with 10 strikeouts and only two walks.

“My curveball wasn’t working in that first inning, in the first two innings, actually,” said O’Shea explaining the bumpy start.  “But then it got better and I started throwing my two-seam fastball which was really moving in the wind.”  The entire game was played under a weather wind advisory which saw gusts of between 40-50 miles per hour.

The contest was tight for most of the way with each team scoring a run in the first inning, then Swanton adding a run in the second for a 2-1 lead.  O’Shea and Delta starter Bradyn Ruffer pitched brilliantly for the next four innings, neither allowing a run to score.

However, in the top of the seventh, the Bulldogs scored three runs after the first two batters were retired to put the game on ice.  Garret Swank collected his second hit of the game and later scored on a double to left-center by Drew Smigelski.  Smigelski came home on a single up the middle by O’Shea who then scored when Kaden Curtis reached first on an error.

“Just phenomenal,” said Swanton head coach Josh Siewert reacting to O’Shea’s performance on the mound.  “We’ve kind of been struggling with pitching overall.  Pitchers are only getting one or two innings in and he threw a complete game and saved us some pitching.”

The win was the first in the NWOAL against one loss.  Swanton’s record overall moved to 4-2.

Pictured: Swanton Bulldog pitcher Ryan O’Shea

Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of fultoncountymedia.com.

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Here are some photos from Evergreen’s 8-0 softball victory over Archbold. Click on the link above to access the photos. They are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

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Here are some phots from early in Evergreen’s 1-0 victory over Archbold in NWOAL baseball. Click on the link above to access the photos. They are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

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Swanton Middle School (SMS) seventh grader Andrew Koder is Atlanta bound after winning the finals of SMS’s fourth annual Amazing Shake competition held the in the SMS gymnasium in front of the entire student body this past Wednesday.  The victory sends Andrew to Atlanta, Georgia, where he will compete in the National Amazing Shake competition sponsored by the Ron Clark Academy.

The competition is part of the Swanton Seven Initiative (SSI), a program that focuses on building soft skills in students, placing strong emphasis on manners, discipline, respect, and professional behavior.  There were several rounds of the Amazing Shake competition that began with all seventh-grade students.  The first round pared the number to 25, the second round to 10 and the final round to just three well deserving students.

Joining Andrew, who was representing the SSI House of Sapienta, in the finals this year were Jocelyn Villagomez of the House of Gratus and Morgan Nijakowski from the House of Dignitas.  Each of the contestants were asked a series of questions by Master of Ceremonies Jordan Strack, Sports Director at WTOL Channel Eleven in Toledo.  The students’ responses were then judged by eight area professional individuals.  They were Sean McGee of the Swanton Rotary, Jessica Double of Worthington Industries, Linda Lee of McNeill Chevrolet, Nikki Walborn of the Anderson’s, Christine Heban of NorthStar BlueScope, Paige Johnson of the Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, Brandon Johnson of Team Johnson Limo and Chris Lake, Swanton Schools Superintendent.

Following the questioning, the judges retired to another room where the scores were tabulated.  In what was believed to be the closest competition in the four-year history of the program, Andrew was named the winner by Mr. Strack.

“I’m shocked,” commented Andrew who is in his first year at SMS having previously attended St. Richards School in Swanton.  He was also very gracious and appreciative in victory and very complimentary of his two final competitors, Jocelyn and Morgan.  “I’m just so proud of him.  He worked really hard for this,” said his mother, “We had faith in him the whole time.”

After the competition was over, SMS Principal Matt Smith announced that Worthington Industries would be covering Andrew’s plane fair to Atlanta for the national competition this summer.  He will also be transported to the airport courtesy of Team Johnson Limo. 

Click on the link above to access photos from the competition. Photos are in the jpeg format and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

This past Wednesday, a contingent of concerned parents met inside the pavilion at Memorial Park to discuss bringing back a modified version of the former Swanton Parks and Recreation Board that oversaw and directed the youth sports program in the Village.  It is believed the Board was dissolved sometime around 2004 as a way to reduce taxes and youth sports activities were then placed under the management of the Swanton Local School District and the Swanton Board of Education (BOE).

Parents at the meeting, organized by Betsy Gardner and Gary Ventimiglia, expressed their belief that youth sports in Swanton would be better served being run by a separate and autonomous board and by a director whose only focus would be on the programs.  Currently, the BOE hires a director to organize the various sports programs, which can be a daunting task for any one individual, but does not provide any funding or guidance beyond that.  There have been four different directors in the past four years.

“I just want to be very clear that we are all of the opinion that our director and our sports directors, coaches and parents have been really working hard to make things go well within the confines of the system that we have,” said Mr. Ventimiglia.  “We’re coming from a place that is trying to help and take away those constraints and allow our program to grow.”

Ms. Gardner stated that this responsibility has a relatively low priority for the BOE compared to running an entire school district.  “We think that the school has done a good job of doing what they can with it but, our School Board is our Rec Board.  Why is this under the school umbrella?  It doesn’t have to be.  We can have a Rec Board that cares more about the whole system,” she said.  “That is the whole point.  To get our Rec improved so our Middle School sports are improved so our High School sports are improved.  We are Swanton Bulldogs and that’s what we care about.  We want to raise that up.”

Ashley Stambaugh, who was in attendance, told the group that she and others in the room have already been in discussions with Swanton Superintendent Chris Lake and members of the BOE concerning this issue to bring this point.  “They are supportive of this and have said, ‘We will help you in whatever way we can’ and we can always go back to them,” added Ms. Gardner.

Under the Swanton BOE, the Rec programs are self-funded.  Therefore, the next step in this process, according to Ms. Gardner, is to establish a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization which will exempt the newly formed Rec Board from paying taxes.  In conjunction with that, the group will be looking to create a board of five to seven members and hire a director.  With the creation of a board, the group hopes to provide parents and coaches with a mechanism for addressing any and all relative issues.  They also intend to fully support the board and duly compensate the new director to establish overall continuity going forward.   

Mr. Ventimiglia said this effort is in the early stages and it will take some time as it goes through the transition.  Future discussions will need to involve the Village of Swanton which owns the properties used by the Rec’s baseball, softball and soccer programs.  Councilwoman Samantha Disbrow was in attendance representing the Village.

Pictured:  Swanton Parents Gary Ventimiglia and Betsy Gardner

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After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Swanton Lions held its annual Easter Egg Hunt at Memorial Park. With the late April date for Easter this year, the hope was for nice warm temperatures. No such luck. It was cold, windy, rainy and even snowy for a bit. However, it did not keep a large crowd of kids from two to ten years of age and their families from coming out and enjoying the food, activities and, of course the egg hunt itself.

Click on the link above to access 260 photos from the event. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website and the Swanton Lions Club.

Village Administrator Brad Peebles informed Council members at their April 4^th meeting that an updated cost estimation for replacement of the Delta Community Pool had risen to $5.1 million from an earlier $4.5 million estimate.  Mr. Peebles made a reference to this possibility during the Council’s final meeting of 2021.

“Unfortunately, the anticipated costs just continue to escalate.  In large part it’s just because of the economic conditions we are currently in.  Even if we wait, I don’t know if the costs are going to come down.  All indications are the costs are elevated and they’re going to remain elevated,” he cautioned last December.

Mr. Peebles related cost information he received in a phone conversation with the engineering firm of Peterman Associates.  “Their estimates have been updated based their conversations with a pool manufacturer.  Based upon the amenities that we had discussed with Peterman and the fact that we are retaining the competition component of the pool, the current estimate for the building and the bathhouse and a pool is 5.1 million dollars,” he explained.  “If we eliminate diving boards, if we eliminate the rock-climbing wall which was one of the amenities or features that we had tried to incorporate, we can also reduce the depth of the pool, we can reduce it to $4.5 million.”

Bond funding information for the pool project was also updated by Mr. Peebles.  “When we had talked before, we were looking at bonds rates, interest rates of 3% for a 20-year term.  Interest rates are going up.  In today’s market, interest rate on a 20-year bond is 4.5% and there is no guarantee it’s going to stay there,” he said.

From there the discussion turned to the legislation and ballot language which would need to be submitted to and approved by the Fulton County Board of Elections by August 3, 2022 to be considered by the voters of Delta for the November election.  According to Mr. Peebles, if the Village were to request a 20-year 4.5-million-dollar bond issue it would take 6.2 mils to support it.  He also said the new pool would require an additional 1.0 mil for operating expenses on top of the 1.25 mil already in existence for pool maintenance. 

The Village of Delta’s November 2022 ballot would include two pool funding issues totaling 7.2 mils which, according to Delta’s Financial Director Stephanie Mossing, would equate to approximately $265 per $100,000 of Village property value.  Currently, one mil in Delta generates approximately $56,000 in annual tax revenue.

Another source of funding, the creation of a Park District, was mentioned by Mr. Peebles.  “I do think the conversation with regards to a Park District needs to be had.  In looking at those same numbers, if we were to apply a Park District to the same geographical boundary as the Pike-Delta-York School system, that levy goes to 1.72 mils,” he explained. 

The Administrator went on to support his recommendation by informing the Council that less than 50% of all pool passes issued each year are to residents of the Village and numbers were similar for the use of the ball fields and other Community Park activities.  “I’m not saying they shouldn’t be entitled to it but, others are using the park and the Village residents are, ultimately, paying the majority of the bills,” he stated.

The Park District would be its own taxing entity and be managed by a coalition of representatives from the different areas of the PDY School District.

Pictured:  Delta Village Administrator Brad Peebles provides new pool details at December 2021 Council meeting.