Beer sales planned for lake marathon

ST. MARYS - The St. Marys Area Chamber of Commerce plans to sell beer Sept. 26 to raise funds during the second annual Grand Lake Marathon.

City council approved an emergency resolution charging the chamber $40 for a permit to sell beer in Memorial Park on that day.

The chamber will receive any net proceeds from the sales, industrial and community development manager Susan Crotty said after the council meeting.

"We learned a lot of lessons from the first event. Susan has been working very closely with the chamber. We're just trying to step up our game a little bit. We want to have the ability to sell alcohol or beer at Memorial Park. We're working on food vendors and things like that. We just didn't know what to expect last year. …We really didn't think the marathon running type were beer drinkers but apparently they are," public service and safety director Gregory Foxhoven said.

He believes the event is an opportunity to promote the city.

"It's a good event, a good qualifier for the Boston Marathon," Crotty said this morning.

She confirmed about 1,000 participants have signed up for the various courses this year.

Registration ends Sept. 23 and no one may sign up on race day.

Last September about 1,850 participants from 30 states ran in the 26.2-mile course, half marathon, 10K, 5K or children's race.

Council members also,

• heard first reading of an ordinance requesting the rezoning of 0.687 acres of land at the intersection of South Spruce and East South streets from residential to commercial to allow for a parking lot.

The land is owned by St. Marys Foundry and will be turned into a paved parking lot with curbs and gutters. The lot will be able to hold about 40 employee vehicles, community services and engineering superintendent Craig Moeller said at the Aug. 18 planning commission meeting.

No timeline has been set, foundry vice president of finance Tom Pfenning said at the planning commission meeting.

A public hearing on the request has been scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Sept. 28 in the council chambers.

• heard a public information meeting is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 29 in the basement of the city utility office to discuss a 10-year renewal of the 0.5 percent county sales tax on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The 0.5 percent tax generates about $2.5 million annually for the county's general fund. The tax is set to expire on April 1 and is part of the the county's overall 7.25 percent sales tax.

In 2008, the 0.5 percent sales tax generated about $2.3 million for the county. That figure rose 14 percent to about $2.7 million in 2014. The tax in 2015 has already earned the county more than $1.5 million, county commissioner Doug Spencer had said previously.

The tax was first enacted in 1996 to pay for the construction and operation of the Auglaize County jail. The bulk of the money generated still funds the sheriff's department, which could face significant budget cuts if the levy fails, Spencer said.