The Bluffton school board took initial steps on Dec. 14 to place before voters the renewal of its one-half percent income tax levy. The levy expires on Dec. 31, 2010, according to Greg Denecker, superintendent.
When the levy expires in 2010 it will mark the end of its first three years being in effect. The levy has generated approximately $600,000 annually. According to Denecker, it is the intention of the school board to have a three-year renewal of the levy on the November 2010 general election ballot.
As the season changes, village employees switch their work from fall to winter.
At the Dec. 14 Bluffton council meeting Jamie Mehaffie, village administrator, told council members that leaf pickup is completed. "We have received quotes for the grinding of the brush dump," he said. "The low quote was $9,125 and the high, $13,625. My plan is to have this completed as soon as possible so that that material will be ready for spring."
Erica Gelhaus, Miss Ohio 2009, presented at the Bluffton University Institute for Learning in Retirement's (ILR) Christmas brunch, Dec. 9. She is a senior vocal performance major at Otterbein College and will compete in the Miss America pageant in January 2010.
Margaret Grace Steiner, 95, a lifelong resident of Bluffton, died Monday, Dec. 14, 2009, at the Mennonite Memorial Home, Bluffton, where she was a resident.
She was born Oct. 23, 1914, in Bluffton to Fred and Bertha (Althaus) Hahn. She graduated from Bluffton High school in 1933. In 1937 she married Nelson F. Steiner and he died in 2003.
Citizens National Bank has announced that a bill payment product, provided through CheckFree, a leader in the bill payment industry, is available to all its online banking customers, according to Michael Romey, CNB president.
"The service will provide the time-saving benefit and convenience of paying all bills from one website. Additionally, several improvements will make tracking customer bill payments and finances even easier," he said.
CNB bill payment improvements include:
Linda L. Fett, 63, of Bluffton died Dec. 14, 2009, in Winter Haven Hospital, Winter Haven, Florida. Arrangements are incomplete at Chiles-Laman Funeral Home, Bluffton
Okay, I'm the first to admit that I like nice things, and that I probably spend more money on a single pair of shoes that some people would spend on three or four pairs. But when you have feet built like mine, you learn that a $30 pair of flats just won't cut it. I recently walked into my favorite sewing machine store and walked out with a computerized, digital sewing machine. We also own (and use) four computers -- two Macs, a Dell, and an HP.
