Monday, March 23, 2009

As promised, an upcoming meeting to discuss recent flooding:

Sylvania Township Hosts Flood Meeting

Sylvania Township, Lucas County

Media Release: March 23, 2009

The Sylvania Board of Township Trustees will host the Lucas County Engineer, the Lucas County Building Regulations Department and the Lucas County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) at the Sylvania Township Administrative office on April 1, 2009 at 6:00pm to discuss the Ten Mile Creek Watershed within Sylvania, Richfield, Spencer and Harding Townships in northwestern Lucas County.

The County Engineer will talk about future efforts to clean 10 Mile Creek, the proposed Lucas County Storm Water Utility and related Storm Water Utility fee and the updated FEMA flood maps.

The County Building Regulations Department will discuss their flood plain rules and regulations for construction and mitigation of flood plain risks.

The EMA is jointly presenting information on flood insurance with Christopher Thoms from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources along with information regarding flood proofing methods.

Also the Health Department and Sanitary Engineer representatives are scheduled to speak as well.

The public is encouraged to attend.

Contact person: Gregory W. Huffman, Public Works Manager, gwhuffman@sylvaniatownship.com or telephone 419-882-0031.

My thoughts ...

I encourage residents and others who have concerns regarding past or future flooding in northwest Lucas County to attend this meeting, located at Sylvania Township Administrative Office at 4927 Holland-Sylvania Road. This meeting is directed toward more than just Sylvania Township; drainage systems west of the Township will have an impact in the Township.

This is a great opportunity for the various county and township officials to hear from residents about their concerns, perspectives, and thoughts, as well as a chance for residents to learn more about why there is flooding in this area, why it seemingly has gotten worse in only the last year or two, plans to address the flooding, and the potential impact on the area.

This meeting is just one of many steps in a long process the Township has undertaken in order to address flooding issues throughout the township. Under prior boards, minimal resources were directed toward ditch and creek maintenance. The township was in a position where decades of maintenance worked had been neglected. My fellow trustees and I agree that maintaining our infrastructure is vital to maintaining our quality of living, and we have directed that an emphasis be placed on our drainage system. Although after years of neglect we can't address all of the issues right away, we are making great progress.

We have completed extensive cleaning of Schlickter Ditch (North of Central between McCord and the bike trail) and began work on Smith Ditch in the St James Wood area, with more work scheduled for this summer. Ditch work in the eastern portion of the Township is also proceeding this summer. We have also been working with residents in several subdivisions who were experiencing excessive flooding for a variety of reasons.

One of the biggest undertakings for these projects is getting access to the ditch in order to get our equipment and trucks in to perform the work. Easements granted decades ago often are not wide enough to get our equipment in so we have to find property owners who will grant us additional access. We have been working diligently to get appropriate access easement, but it is a time-consuming and lengthy process, thus delaying actual physical work until we have appropriate access points. This is just one of the many issues that need to be addressed with regard to dealing with the flooding of 10 Mile Creek.

I encourage you to attend the meeting on April 1 at 6 p.m. to learn more about flooding in Sylvania and the outlying areas.

DeeDee Liedel
Sylvania Township Trustee

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sylvania Township Update - March 2009

Sylvania Township has some great news to share this month, and a few items that residents should be aware of.

Sylvania Township Rated AA+

I am very happy to announce that Sylvania Township received an AA+ bond rating from Standard & Poor's, just one step below the top rating of AAA. We pursued a bond rating in anticipation of a bond sale next year in order to continue our work on the Fire Department's $10 million capital plan as approved by voters in March 2008. This bond rating is directly related to Sylvania Township's solid financial position and strong management practices that have been implemented and is the result of a lot of hard work by the trustees and our administration and staff in putting together a financial foundation that is sound and sustainable.

According to our financial advisor, Steve Szanto, this is the highest bond rating of any government entity in Lucas County and places Sylvania Township in the top 10% state-wide. This bond rating helped us achieve a net interest rate of 0.699% on the sale of $7.9 million Bond Anticipation Note, giving us a net interest cost of only $54,000, several hundred thousand dollars less than we had budgeted.

Standard & Poor's rating is based on seven financial practice areas and the Township was rated 'strong' in each one. As Mr. Szanto recently said "the Trustees realized the importance of prudent financial management tools and adopted formal policies a though the township was a business." The management tools he is referring to includes numerous policies that we have passed in recent months regarding a rainy-day fund, fund balances, and account reserves as well as having five-year budget projections and capital improvement plans. Our general fund balance of $5.6 million was helpful as well, especially since this balance has increased from $675,000 in 2004.
The Standard & Poor's RatingsDirect report can be found here: Standard & Poor's Rating.

Gypsy Moth Infestation Reported

Every year the Township receives numerous inquiries regarding Gypsy Moth infestation. There are numerous resources available to help provide information and possibly services to areas affected with Gypsy Moths. The Ohio Department of Agriculture has a spraying program for areas where the residents have agreed to spraying and meet certain criteria, including 100% resident participation (basically signing the petition), a certain level of infestation (egg masses per acre) and at least 50 acres in size.

One negative to Ohio Department of Agriculture's program is that the state will fund only one-half of the cost of spraying; residents are expected to pay for the other half which often dissuades property owners from signing petitions. The Township Trustees believe that our trees are a valued commodity in Sylvania. To make sure that the expense of the resident portion of the Ohio Department of Agriculture's program does not discourage neighbors from participating in the program, the trustees have directed our township administrator to draft a policy that if a given neighborhood or area of the Township meets the criteria of the Ohio Department of Agriculture's spraying policy and in fact are scheduled to be sprayed, the Township will pay the residents portion of the spraying.

For 2009, there is only one area in the Township/City that is infected heavily enough to warrant spraying. Three other areas were reviewed and deemed to have insufficient infestation including one area where a naturally-growing fungus has counteracted the Gypsy Moths. Areas of concern will continue to be monitored by the Department of Agriculture so that any threat can be minimized and we can continue to enjoy the shade, beauty and landscaping that our trees provide

Sylvania Township Provides Funding for Food Pantries

Every year, Sylvania Township receives request from area charities to fund general operating expenses of various organizations. In the last several years, funding and requests have ranged from tens-of-thousands to hundreds-of-thousands. I have always been opposed to these requests for several reasons including the fact that once we provide funds, we have no control or oversight on how they are spent. But a recent proposal brought to the Trustees by Board Chairman Pamela Hanley provided a new perspective on our funding of such organizations and I felt it warranted my support.

Recent conversations between the United Way 2-1-1 and the Township have brought to light an increase in calls to 2-1-1 from township residents seeking information regarding food assistance, as well as rent, shelter and utility assistance. Clearly, given the current national economy, it is not surprising that more people need help including those in Sylvania and food is the most basic of needs.

Locally, there are five service-providers in the Sylvania area that provide food assistance to struggling families including Sylvania Area Family Services, Jewish Community Center, St. Joe's/St. Vincent de Paul, Olivet Lutheran Church, and Lutheran Social Services' Open Door Resource Center (located in Springfield Township but they provide services to Sylvania residents). Discussions between these five organizations and the United Way have developed in to a structure whereby the United Way has agreed to administer contributions from the Township for their SafetyNet Fund, a fund used solely to fund food pantry inventory.

These funds will be distributed to the five organizations that in turn will use those funds to provide food assistance only to Sylvania Township Residents. Accounting and record keeping is in place to make sure these funds are used as requested. The United Way is providing this service with no administrative overhead charge to the township or our residents.

The Sylvania Township Trustees unanimously voted to contribute $8,000 to the United Way's SafetyNet Fund. This amount will be matched with an additional $1,000 from the Toledo Community Foundation. Others may also make contributions designated to this fund. All contributions leverage the resources the community has to provide food assistance to our residents during these trying times. Knowing that the township will have accountability for our contribution and that the funds will be used to serve the neediest of our community, I was happy to support this contribution

Fire Department Update

Progress for the Fire Department's capital plan is on schedule, with construction underway at Station #4 on Sylvania Avenue. As with any construction project, there have been changes to the original plans as we find some assumptions were not quite as expected when plans were developed. Some changes are in our favor, some are not but so far the project is looking good.

Station #3 on Whiteford near Monroe is in the permit application process. Demolition of the house located on the property is scheduled and we will begin bidding on this station this soon. Finally, we are still pursuing options for relocating Stations #1 and #2, but remain within our timelines for their construction.

The process of hiring additional firefighters as planned by the 1.25 Mill Levy is also continuing, with a test date scheduled for April 9.

The only negative news to give regarding the Fire Department came from Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez when she updated the Trustees on the triennial revaluation which is taking place this year, to be effective for property taxes payable in 2010. Basically, with the drop in real estate values, the 1.25 mill fire levy passed in 2008 will probably suffer a decrease in revenue. How much of a decrease we won't know until much later this year, but it could be in the range of 5-10% for this levy (prior voter-approved levies would not see a reduction in revenue).

Certainly, when I was meeting with Sylvania Mayor Craig Stough, Sylvania City Councilman Mark Luetke and others from our community in late 2007 to formulate a levy proposal that everyone could support, no one expected or even suggested such a negative turn in our property values. This was an unforeseen event and a situation that we will address when we have more details on the exact impact.

In the meantime, the Township and the fire department will work to recognize whatever cost savings we can, such as the interest savings I mentioned earlier, and minimize cost overruns and change orders on the construction of the new fire stations as much as possible. I believe this situation is manageable and will not be detrimental to the Department. Being aware of the situation and preparing to address will help us weather this storm.

If you are curious as to the possible impact of decreasing property values on your home or business, I would encourage you to contact the Lucas County Auditor's Office and discuss with them impact of declining property values. A 10% reduction in property values does not equate in to a 10% drop in your property tax bill.

Ten Mile Creek and Other Flooding

Recent heavy rains have caused severe flooding in areas of Sylvania Township near Ten Mile Creek, closing roads, flooding basements and crawl spaces and making a mess out of yards with trash and yard debris. Many have questioned why it seems that all of a sudden (in the last couple of years), these areas are experiencing flooding to this extent. Others blame over-development and say bad planning have finally caught up to an areas commonly known as the Black Swamp.

In reality, it is probably a mixture of these factors to varying degrees, and a few others such as development based on 35-year-old flood maps and yard debris clogging drainage routes. Recent information provided to the township also revealed that areas of Ten Mile Creek in Fulton County were cleared of log jams, which logically has contributed to the situation by increasing the rate of water flow in to the Township's portion of Ten Mile Creek.

Many township residents want to know what the township is going to do about this. This presents a challenging situation for Sylvania Township. First, Lucas County not Sylvania Township has an obligation to maintain Ten Mile Creek. Rough cost estimates of cleaning out the Creek run in the area of $5 million for 4-5 miles of Creek bed and include cooperating with agencies such as the Army Corp of Engineers. It is not just the monetary cost, but the time requirements necessary to coordinate and oversee such a project that is beyond the capacity of the township for at least this coming year if not a few years.

Another option would be to simply clear the log jams in the Creek, estimated to cost between $70,000 and $120,000 to clear about a dozen log jams. This is a more reasonable undertaking and one that I plan to have the township look at seriously, hopefully for this coming summer.

There are other areas of the Township which experience flooding in recent weeks. Some areas were simply overwhelmed with the amount of rain and barely-thawed grounds; others were areas of known problems that we are working to address. The Lucas County Engineer is planning to schedule a meeting to discuss flooding issues, including having the Lucas County EMA take reports of storm-related damage estimates in the next few weeks. I hope to coordinate with this meeting to provide a forum for Township residents to hear more about what can be done, what options may be available to the Township, and what can residents do on their properties to help minimize flooding by increasing water flow. The Township will announce a date as soon as it is set, and I encourage you to attend
Thank you for joining me in my update this month. The township is making great progress on making sure that services are sustainable for the benefit of the entire community.

Sincerely,

DeeDee Liedel
Sylvania Township Trustee