Carey village council members got another update on the village’s electrical system Monday. Jeff Gump of the GPD Group told the council that needed electrical projects will cost millions. He added that the village could do the upgrades in phases to help deal with the costs.
Gump says Carey needs to upgrade services for a proposed Blanchard Valley Health System Medical Clinic near the U.S. 23 interchange with State Route 15. Casey’s General Store is also looking to locate in that same area.
Arlington residents will see a tree trimming effort in the village over the next few weeks. American Electric Power will cut down limbs to protect power lines.
In other utility-related matters, crews will flush fire hydrants around town starting next Monday. The work is dependent on the weather.
A Marathon Petroleum subsidiary continues to expand. The company announced Monday that Speedway LLC bought 78 Express Mart locations in New York. The stores are mostly located in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.
Marathon expects the deal to close in the third quarter of this year. After that, they’ll rebrand the Express Marts as Speedway stores.
Putnam County continues to use extra space in its jail to generate revenue. The Putnam County Sentinel reports a lot of that revenue is coming from Hancock County. According to the newspaper, in January Hancock County spent a little more than $31,000 to house inmates in Putnam County. That number climbed to more than $38,000 in February and more than $40,000 in March.
Putnam County Sheriff Brian Siefker says they’re able to use the extra space to help out other counties and generate revenue. Siefker says the county is looking at expanding a video arraignment system to Hancock County. That would cut some travel costs for housing inmates a half-hour away.
The financial picture is improving for the Findlay City School district. In January, forecasts showed a $1.5 million deficit for fiscal 2018. School board treasurer Mike Barnhart says the deficit will likely be below $1 million now.
Barnhart says they’ve made some moves to help lower projections. They include cutting 21 jobs through attrition by fiscal 2019 and shifting some expenses to the permanent improvement fund. Barnhart says property tax collections are coming in higher than expected as well.
Even with a deficit this year, the school will likely have a $9.3 million carryover balance at the end of the fiscal year.
The Republican candidates running for the 83rd Ohio House District seat met in a public forum Monday. Jon Cross and Cheryl Buckland discussed many topics, one of which was the attacks from political action committees. Both candidates said they didn’t approve of the actions done in their name.
Cross called the attacks deceitful and said that they are just trying to throw off his campaign. Buckland said that she doesn’t like the actions that these committees. She added that she doesn’t think there’s any way to stop them though.
Aside from the committee actions, the candidates were also asked about the opioid epidemic. Buckland said that there needs to be more people in the House and the Senate with backgrounds in health. She added that the efforts against the epidemic should be more consolidated so that services don’t get duplicated. Cross focused more on prevention citing school resource officers and the DARE program.
The candidates agreed that education should be handled at a local level. Cross said that reducing over-testing will help lead to better education and provide more vocational opportunities. Buckland agreed that children are over-tested. She added that making children learn subjects that they may never need is a disservice to them.
The winner of the race will face off with Democrat Mary Harshfield in the November general election. You can watch the full forum below.
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and WFIN spoke to the experts. National Association of Insurance Commissioners president Julie Mix McPeak said that distracted driving-related fatalities happen more often than you might think.
She said that it is important to make sure you’re prepared to go before you turn on your car. You should also remember that whatever you think you need to do can wait until you’re stopped.
Four runners from the area braved the cold and finished the Boston Marathon. Findlay residents Jackie Gast and Christopher Roberts both finished the race. Gast came in at a little over 3 hours and 18 minutes. Roberts came in at 3 hours and 38 minutes.
Bowling Green residents Amy Craft Ahrens and Chris Dilbone also ran the marathon. Dilbone finished at 3 hours and 8 minutes. Ahrens ran a total time of 4 hours and 9 minutes.
The 8th annual Backyard Mission Trip in Findlay will be Saturday, April 28th. This is a mission project of the Findlay Ministerial Association. If you have any light household repair or spring cleanup projects, you can apply. You can call 419-379-4903 for more information or find out where to get an application.
A fire in an RV has closed westbound U.S. 30. The incident happened just to the west of the U.S. 68 interchange near Williamstown. You can avoid the backup by exiting at U.S. 68, driving north to County Road 304 and driving west to County Road 9 before heading back to U.S. 30.
