Council moves full grant toward Heavenly Park

TIFFIN — Tiffin City Council redirected the full $120,000 in available Community Development Block Grant project funds to the Heavenly Pizza Gives Back playground project, shelving a previously discussed plan to help fund a sidewalk replacement in front of St. Mary Catholic Church after updated cost estimates made that project unworkable under state grant requirements. Council amended Ordinance 2026-29 on first reading to send all available project dollars from the city's $150,000 CDBG allocation to the playground. City Administrator Nick Dutro told council that while a contractor's initial estimate for the St. Mary sidewalk came in around $54,000, the project would balloon once state requirements attached to CDBG dollars were factored in. "While the numbers that we got from St. Mary makes sense when you're doing a private project, when you add in prevailing wage and other factors that we would have to do through a state project like this, we actually expect that to balloon quite a bit, potentially taking up the entirety of the funds that would be available if we were to fully fund it," Dutro said. Dutro added that the city's engineering department is stretched thin by major sewer infrastructure work. Hiring an outside consultant to manage the sidewalk project would add an estimated $10,000 to $15,000, he said. Councilmember Kyle Daugherty made the motion to redirect the full grant to the playground, and the amendment passed. Mayor Lee Wilkinson and several councilmembers said fully funding the playground would benefit more residents than splitting the money across multiple proposals. The playground is expected to cost well beyond the grant amount. Pat DeMonte, representing the Heavenly Pizza Gives Back nonprofit, told council the playground equipment alone is quoted at $130,367.57 after a $57,063.50 discount from Play & Park Structures. The nonprofit will cover costs beyond the grant. CDBG Administrator Judy Dezse of the Seneca County Collaborative said the equipment would likely be installed next summer. The full project must be completed by fall 2028. The ordinance was amended but not passed. The legislation has two more readings before council votes on it. Public Works marks 45 years as Tree City USA Public Works Superintendent Brandon Burner delivered the department's annual forestry and operations update. Burner reported that Tiffin has earned Tree City USA recognition for 45 consecutive years and earned the National Arbor Day Foundation's Growth Award for the eighth time, its third consecutive year. "It is infrastructure, but it is green infrastructure," Burner said of the city's trees. Burner laid out a plan to close a roughly 700-tree planting deficit built up over the past five years by prioritizing large-species replacements in areas with curbs and sidewalks by 2037. The department has averaged 54 plantings a year but will need around 140 annually to catch up, depending on removals. The department has secured more than $130,000 in grants in recent years, including a $62,500 urban forestry grant for 2025. Shade Tree Commission Chairman Michael Pinkston made an appeal for volunteers to help maintain the 140 downtown planting sites, which include 43 hanging baskets, 17 flower beds and 80 flower boxes. When the program started roughly a decade ago, the city maintained 24 hanging baskets. "We started a program with a gator and 24 hanging baskets, and now we're taking care of 140 sites with that same gator," Pinkston said. Without more volunteers, Pinkston warned, the city may eventually need to follow Findlay's model of paying public works crews to water flowers early in the morning. Other action Council approved Mayor Wilkinson's appointments of Douglas Stoll to the Fair Housing Board and Gemma Steen and Rob Malone to the Tiffin Municipal Arts Commission. Ordinances 2026-21, 2026-22 and 2026-23 passed on third reading. The measures create separate vacation and longevity pay schedules for the police chief, fire chief and deputy fire chief and update the city's definition of a full-time employee to 35 hours. The last measure reverts a 2009 recession-era work-reduction provision. Ordinance 2026-25, authorizing the city's acquisition of 12 N. Washington St., passed on third reading. The property is the site of the All Patriots Memorial across from the Ralph parking lot, according to Wilkinson. Council suspended the three-reading rule to pass Ordinance 2026-31, adopting the 2025 Ohio Fire Code. Council also passed Ordinance 2026-32, appropriating $350 for a refunded municipal court training and $19,088.66 from a Progressive Insurance claim for damage to the Jefferson and Main Street traffic control box and pole. Ordinance 2026-33 corrected a $3 raise inadvertently applied to the guard supervisor pay scale. The next regular Tiffin City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 4 at Tiffin City Hall, 51 E. Market St.