Hughes elected to council

MENDON - Council members unanimously elected Steve Hughes as a new council member during Tuesday's meeting.

Hughes will fill the vacant council seat after Mayor John Boroff and two other council members interviewed him and recommended his appointment. Hughes will receive council's set salary of $40 a month, effective immediately. Hughes replaces Jeremy Welker, who resigned in December due to work commitments. Hughes' term will end at the end of the year.

Representatives from the Lima office of the West Ohio Community Action Partnership also spoke about National Fair Housing Month in April to celebrate the 51st anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the campaign includes efforts to end housing discrimination and raise awareness of fair housing rights in communities across the country.

Basares said WOCAP will hold classes on tenant rights and responsibilities at its office in Lima from 5-7 p.m. April 9. WOCAP also will host a class on landlord rights and responsibilities through the Auglaize County Department of Job and Family Services from 5-7 p.m. April 22 at Auglaize Acres Nursing Home, 13093 Infirmary Road, Wapakoneta.

In other business, water tower project manager Craig Knapke of Access Engineering presented an updated budget for the project. The new estimated cost is $876,560. Council members have secured funding from the Ohio Public Works Commission, Community Development Block Grants and CDBG critical infrastructure grants totaling $934,000, leaving $57,440 in remaining funds. This budget is an almost $10,000 increase from the previous estimate of $866,795.

Knapke also updated the estimated costs of outstanding projects such as the old tower demolition, tower foundations, capping water lines, restoration, connecting well pumps and water lines to the plant and new water softener head replacements at the water treatment plant. The new estimated cost came in at $128,000, which would require $70,560 in village funds. This is a more than $10,000 decrease from the previous estimate of $80,795.

In addition, council members accepted the lowest bid of $88,050 from Ortman Drilling for well construction. Also submitting bids were Moody's of Dayton, $100,105; Boone Water Systems, $104,860; and Jackson Well Services, $121,650. They also accepted the bid of $9,765 from Iseler Demolition for the tower demolition.

Boroff gave an update on the bottle cap bench project. More than 2,800 pounds of caps were donated, mostly by townspeople. Council members likely will have seven benches made out of 1,600 pounds of the bottle caps. They will try to donate the excess caps to another community.