Commissioners vote to leave OSS

TIFFIN — The Seneca County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a resolution to leave the Ottawa, Sandusky Seneca Joint Solid Waste Management District in favor of creating its own at the regular board meeting Thursday morning. A recent release from the board explained the resolution was passed to address current waste management issues in the county: "OSS is governed by the commissioners of (Ottawa, Sandusky and Seneca counties). WIN Waste's landfill and other solid waste facilities pay solid waste disposal fees to OSS, which OSS uses throughout those three counties. The Seneca County Commissioners believe that the solid waste disposal fees generated in Seneca County should be used to address solid waste issues in Seneca County, including problems caused by the presence and operation of WIN Waste's landfill. Forming its own solid waste management district would accomplish that purpose." According to Commissioner Bill Frankart, "It's very imperative for the benefit of Seneca County to look at working with our own solid waste district and kinda go through that process." Frankart later said that he had been keeping an eye on Senate Bill 119 which is currently being discussed in the Ohio House of Representatives. "… It's been an ongoing discussion… But we are looking out for the best interests of our residents." Commissioner Tyler Shuff said he agreed with Frankart, while Paradiso said he still had questions and was in conversation with the county attorney but later said he thought it was an important move for the future. "More than ever, we should bring it in-house and try to focus on Seneca County," Paradiso said. "More local oversight would be better," Shuff added. The A-T contacted OSS executive director of operations, Gary Baty, for a comment about what this would mean for both OSS and Seneca County but so far has not received a response. Though the board has officially passed a resolution, Commissioner Paradiso later explained the process to leave the waste management district and create a new one would take upwards of a year to finish. Next steps for the board include a unanimous vote of approval from the commissioners in Ottawa and Sandusky counties and approval from the Ohio EPA. Paradiso later reported having a discussion with representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration regarding an ongoing effort to extend the runway of the county airport. He said the project had been discussed for several years and probably would not be finished for several more. County Administrator Barb Patterson reported county sales tax was still trending downward and she had not received any notification on if and when the state planned to reimburse the county after an eight-day sales tax holiday in August 2024. She also said the county received a "fair amount" of money from an online auction held by the county to get rid of excess office items but couldn't give an exact number of how much was received. She later advised she believed next year's budget was still on track to be approved at next week's meeting and planned to make several small changes before then, but said she did hope to be able to include a raise for county employees in the budget. "They are the backbone of the county," she said. "They do the work." County EMA Director John Spahr also told the board of a 911 outage in the early hours of Monday, Nov. 18 to replace the county 911 uninterrupted power supply and update software. He advised the outage would only be for approximately 15 minutes up to an hour and all incoming calls during that time would be handled by Sandusky County dispatchers and then transferred to Seneca County dispatchers. He also advised the public not to be alarmed if 911 calls are answered by Sandusky County, Seneca County emergency services will still respond to any emergencies during that time. The board later approved the following supplemental resolutions: $40,000.00 from the general fund for contract services. $1,000.00 from the general fund for remit to state. $12,000.00 from the general fund for transfers out. $4,500.00 from the general fund for software licenses and services. $1,500.00 from the FFY25 IDEP fund for salaries. $21.75 from the FFY25 IDEP fund for medicare. $80.00 from the FFY25 IDEP fund for Workers Comp. $271.50 from the FFY25 IDEP fund for PERS. $310.00 from the Seneca Co. Employees Health Fund for PERS. $14,402.20 from the TCAP grant fund for other expenses. $966.69 from the TCAP grant fund for supplies. $3,750.00 from the TCAP grant fund for contract services. $1,000.00 from the TCAP grant fund for travel and expenses. $3,000.00 from the probation funding grant fund for supplies. $1,250.00 from the probation funding grant fund for contract repairs. $12,500 from the probation funding grant fund for contract services. $250.00 from the probation funding grant fund for software licenses and services. $2,000 from the probation funding grant fund for leases. $125.00 from the probation funding grant fund for travel and expenses. $1,139.14 from the probation funding grant fund for other expenses. $14,250.00 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services Grant fund for salaries. $206.75 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for Medicare. $285.00 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for Workers Comp. $400.00 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for HSA Contribution. $3,846.75 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for hospitalization. $1,995 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for PERS. $6,000 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for supplies. $10,500.00 from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services grant fund for contract services. $289,078.00 from the ambulance service fund for ambulance replacement. $10,000 from the ambulance service fund for contract services. The board of commissioners also approved the following resolutions: To withdraw from the Ottawa Sandusky Seneca Solid Waste District. Authorizing fund transfers be made for the LGF Alternate Formula to the EMA Fund. Authorizing fund transfers be made from the One Ohio Opioid Fund to the Ambulance Service Fund. Authorizing the Seneca County Commissioners to enter into a contract with Burgess Ambulance Sales Inc. on behalf of Seneca County EMS. Authorizing the Seneca County Commissioners to enter into a contract with Lexipol LLC on behalf of Seneca County EMS. Setting time and date to accept sealed bids to lease farmland situated in the township of Eden, county of Seneca, state of Ohio. Setting time and date for viewing and public hearing for the vacation of roadway located in Eden Township, Ohio. The next meeting is at 10 a.m. Nov. 21, 111 Madison St. *Tease: Make sure to read in the Saturday Weekend Edition about a more in-depth look into the next steps regarding the possible withdrawal from Ottawa, Sandusky Seneca Joint Solid Waste Management District.