By Katelyn Sattler
Staff Writer
Obetz City Council handled a couple of financial matters at its Sept. 12 meeting.
“We do this every year,” said Obetz City Administrator Rod Davisson. “It’s that thing we turn into the budget commission, then it relates to our inside millage, which is 1.7 mills. And you accept that and you collect your 1.7 mills, which is essentially $1.70 per $1,000 of taxable value of every house in town. So it’s simple math, but it’s really hard to wrap your head around. Ours is at 1.7 mills, we’ve never increased it. Not since I’ve been here, which is going on 20 years now. And I think it was like that for a while before that. It collects around $250,000 total from all the houses in the city.”
Council also approved some appropriations and expenditures for the city.
“We’re increasing the contractual services in the police department by $8,000 for training,” said Davisson. “That’s primarily related to our new officer, Luther Copley. And then Kerri Duffy, parks and recreation director, needs to move some money around for youth league trophies. So she’s moving $2,000 out of one account and into another.”
Zucchinifest review
Mayor Angela Kirk praised all the hard work that went into putting on Zucchinifest this year.
“I know it was our first year doing this together as a team, so I appreciate all your hard work with everybody showing up and chipping in,” said Kirk. “Thanks to the heavy lifters! I appreciate that. Stacey Boumis ran it like a champ and kind of pointed us in the direction we think we needed to go. So, through trial and error, we think we did a very good job and we couldn’t do that without you guys, so I appreciate that.”
Kirk praised the entertainment performers and said people seemed to have a good time.
“Stacey will start getting some reports from our vendors to see where we can make it better or fix anything,” said Kirk. “We had a lot of new vendors this year that have already told Stacey they want to sign up for next year.”
Kirk said it was estimated 220,000 attended Zucchinifest.
“We did have some rain all around us, but we got really lucky that it kind of split around us, which was good,” said Kirk.
Other Obetz news
•The Mayor’s Golf Outing will be Sept. 23 at Homestead Springs Golf Course in Groveport. All proceeds go to the food pantry. Signing up a team costs $75 per player.
•“We had a pretty busy couple of weeks,” said Obetz Police Chief Michael Confer. “We took 1,281 calls for service. The guys patrolled 4,089 miles. We cited four speeders, issued two parking citations. We had four misdemeanor arrests, 37 other moving violations besides speeding. We took 28 office reports, five crashes, and had two domestic violence incidents over the last couple of weeks. We stayed busy.”
•“For August, we had 66 EMS runs and 31 fire runs in Obetz,” said Hamilton Township Fire Chief Ralph Shillingburg.” At Zucchinifest, we transported four.”
Kirk added, “I want to thank the chief and his staff. They did a really good job for Zucchinifest. They get a 10 for lost kids, lost adults, and any type of first aid injury. And they were giving out bottles of water and they did the firehouse, which is always a big hit with the kids. If they get to come ride the rides and spray the hose, that’s a big event for those little kids. I appreciate you guys and your help, as well.”
•“We are doing our year-end capital review,” said Davisson. “We have to go through employee reviews. We have a bunch of economic development going on. We’re trying to get the Buckstone stuff launched plus another half dozen other projects out there. Then, it’ll be Halloween, then it’ll be Thanksgiving, then it’ll be Christmas, and then it’ll be the New Year and we’ll start all over again. So it goes faster and faster and I go slower and slower.”
