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HIgh Five Fridays featured on Toledo news; Pat and Rick Shaner return as substitute teachers; Bakery Bingo is back

The first Bluffton Board of Education meeting for 2023 was held on January 11 in the Elementary Media Center, where several guests gathered to address the board.

The first order of business, however, was to reorganize the board for the upcoming year:

Brad Dailey was elected as board president and Wes Klinger was elected as vice president. 

Standing authorizations were made for the treasurer and superintendent.

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By Andy Chappell-Dick

On January 9, Bluffton Council met for the first time in 2023, utilizing fourteen fewer ballots to select their leader than their D.C. counterparts. I'm not saying it's a who-drew-the-short-straw, but Councilor Jerry Cupples was expeditiously re-elected Council President as the first order of business.  With Mayor Rich Johnson absent, Cupples chaired the rest of the meeting.

COMMITTEES
Councilor Phil Talavina reported on the Safety Services Committee meeting. EMS Chief Jan Basinger had presented a proposal for increasing EMS volunteer incentives. (This meeting is covered HERE).

LEGISLATION
Three bills were up for consideration. The first was an annual ordinance that adopts the latest version of Ohio Basic Code as the Village's code. This is chiefly for the Police Department's day-to-day enforcement of safety and general welfare. The ordinance passed 6-0 as an emergency.

The second was a resolution adopting a new policy called "Complete Streets For All."  This document is the culmination of many months of work by a committee of residents, experts, and officials that will guide the Village as new streets are added or existing streets are repaired.  Councilor Joe Sehlhorst gave a summary slide presentation describing how streets can be better designed to be useful to cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and other ways of getting around.  This policy is not a set of requirements, he emphasized, as each situation must be weighed individually. With buy-in from Council and the public, the ideas put forward can bring many benefits to the community. This resolution passed 6-0, and will move on to a second reading at the next meeting.

The third resolution reaffirmed Bluffton's relationship with Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission.

» CONTINUES

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By Liz Gordon-Hancock

The Village of Bluffton Board of Zoning & Building Appeals, which is made up of members Tom Downey, Tony Pinks and Dave Miller, met on Tuesday, January 10 to hear a proposal from Ryan and Jessica Meyer asking for permission to convert the former True Word Tabernacle church at 104 East Elm St. into a multiple apartment facility.

The Meyers’ proposal required permission for variances to certain Chapters and Sections of Village code, involving conditional use (Chapter 153.142), required yardage for a residential property (Chapter 153.123 & 153.145), and off-street parking (Chapter 153.306).

Jessica Meyer gave a detailed presentation on their proposal to convert the church into 8 individual apartment units with modern amenities and private entrances. 

Over twenty community members attended, many of whom spoke in favor of the proposal.

The Zoning Board unanimously approved all three variances required.

END

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UPDATED 1:00 P.M. JANUARY 11
The Icon is providing expanded and corrected descriptions of two incentive program options provided by EMS Chief Jan Basinger. The proposal document is attached.

EMS Chief went on 486 of 808 calls in 2022

By Paula Scott

On January 9, the Bluffton Council safety services committee met to hear a proposal by EMS Chief Jan Basinger to provide on-call and service frequency incentives for EMS volunteer crew members. He was responding to a 2021 request from the council to create a bonus program for EMS members.

The reason for the new proposal is that calls for service are steadily increasing while EMS volunteer personnel numbers are decreasing.

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New 5-year contract for superintendent

By Paula Scott

At 7:30 p.m. on January 11, the Bluffton Exempted Village Schools Board of Education will meet for a re-organization and regular meeting. Board meetings are held in the Elementary Media Center, 102 S. Jackson St.

The organizational meeting agenda gives a partial view of the duties of the school treasurer and superintendent based on the permissions granted to them by the school board.

In regular business, the board will be asked to approve a new 5-year contract for Superintendent Greg Denecker and the reappointment of Carrie Phillips to a 7-year term as a Bluffton Public Library board member.

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The Bluffton Board of Zoning and Building Appeals will meet at 7:00 p.m. on January 10 in the third-floor Community Room at the Bluffton Town Hall, 154 N. Main St.

Applicants Ryan and Jessica Meyer are asking the Village of Bluffton for permissions to convert the former True Word Tabernacle church at 104 East Elm St. into a multiple apartment facility. Allen County Assessor's records show the 9,844 square foot building was constructed in 1920 and renovated in 2004.

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