Message from Mayor Kapszukiewicz
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Details of our new regional water system rates were released this week, and this is another step in a process that will benefit our city and the entire region.
In a very real way, we have been doing this together with our partners in the suburbs. We formed a technical committee with water officials from each of the suburban communities and created a fair plan for everyone.
We’re moving forward feeling that we have accomplished what these cities have been requesting for 40 years.
We will be eliminating the minimum water charge for customers so you will only pay for what you use.
The plan also factors in the cost of replacing the city’s lead pipes and providing an affordability program. Suburban customers will only pay Toledo for the cost to process the water, transport it to each suburban community, and improve Toledo’s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
Also this week,
ProMedica President and CEO Randy Oostra and I
announced the creation of a leadership team
that will shepherd our community toward implementing quality prekindergarten education for all young Toledo residents.
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The leadership team is comprised of the city of Toledo, ProMedica, Toledo Public Schools, Washington Local Schools, the United Way of Greater Toledo, and the Toledo Community Foundation.
This community has been thinking about, considering, and studying prekindergarten for all Toledoa
ns for a number of years and we have come together to form this implementation group. We don’t need any more studies or task forces. It is time to act.
Students who have the advantage of attending a quality prekindergarten program develop vitally important emotional, academic, and social skills that they might otherwise lack when entering kindergarten. Investment in high-quality prekindergarten also generates economic and other benefits.
I want to thank Toledo Public Schools CEO/Superintendent Romule
s Durant, Washington Local Schools Superintendent Susan Hayward, Toledo Community Foundation President Keith Burwell, and United Way of Greater Toledo President and CEO Wendy Pestrue for their support.
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Mayor D. Michael Collins Memorial Blood Drive
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City workers, including police officers and the mayor donated blood Wednesday for the fourth annual blood drive in honor of Mayor D. Michael Collins.
Mayor Collins died in office in February, 2015.
Sandy Collins, Mayor Collins' widow, said her husband didn’t like frills and fanfare, so honoring her husband while saving lives makes sense.
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"Mike always worried about the blood supply being low and for that reason, he was a contributor of blood himself," Mrs. Collins said.
The blood drive was at the Toledo Police Patrolman’s Association union hall, where Mayor Collins had been president during his career as a Toledo Police officer.
Mayor Kapszukiewicz said the annual event is a small way to honor the contributions Mayor Collins made to the city.
"He wasn’t just a mayor," Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. "He spent his entire adult life in service to Toledo. He was a police officer and before that he was a Marine. He was a Toledo councilman and finally mayor of our great city.”
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The Ottawa Park Ice Rink at 2015 Parkside Dr. was closed for nearly a week because the city Zamboni was broken. The ice rink reopened Thursday. Check the
calendar
for times.
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Tyrome Alexander, a certified human resources professional with 20 years of experience in the health care, higher education, and non-profit sectors, has been named director of human resources for the city of Toledo, effective Feb. 25.
Mr. Alexander is currently the human resources director for
IMPACT Community Action i
n Columbus. Mr. Alexander was previously human resources manager for the Columbus Metropolitan Library system, where he was responsible for the library’s benefits and compensation programs, employee relations, performance, talent management, and human resources technology strategy.
Mr. Alexander held various human resources positions at The Ohio State University, including generalist, consultant, administrative manager, and regional campus human resources director. He has a Bachelor of Arts in political science from OSU and a Masters of Business Administration from Ohio Dominican University.
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Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz will deliver the 2019 State of the City Address at Waite High School, 301 Morrison Dr., at
5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 28
.
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The annual State of the City brings community, business, faith, non-profit, and government leaders together to hear the state of the city. The event is free and open to the public.
Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. and the speech begins at 5 p.m.
Parking will be available in three areas. The most convenient handicapped parking is in the parking lot along East Broadway Street, just east of Mott Ave. There is a ramp at the front of the building, which faces east. An elevator will be marked and available to take those in need of special seating to the third floor of the school, which is the second level of the auditorium where handicapped seating is available. Parking is also available in the parking lot along Essex Street. That parking lot leads to an entrance facing north, which is also handicapped accessible. A third parking lot is off of Morrison Drive and 2
nd
Street. There is limited street parking on the south side of Morrison Drive.
The speech will air live on BCAN (Buckeye Community Arts Network). You can watch the live broadcast on Buckeye Cable Channel 109/609HD or tune in on Facebook by following BCAN Arts,
www.facebook.com/BCANarts
.
T
he city of Toledo supports the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact Joan Easler, ADA coordinator, at 419-245-1059.
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Toledo Police vs. Toledo Fire
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Support the Toledo Police and Fire departments in the first annual Battle of the Badges basketball game at Savage Arena! The Police vs. Fire basketball game will be played
2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23.
Following the game, come out to the Rocket basketball game at 6 p.m. for their nationally televised match-up against the Northern Illinois Huskies. Tickets are available for $10 and are good for both games!
Purchase $10 tickets for Toledo Police with promo code: "POLICE"
$5 from every ticket sale with that promo code will be donated back to the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association.
Purchase $10 tickets for Toledo Fire with promo code: "FIRE"
$5 from every ticket sale with that promo code will be donated back to the Toledo Firefighters' Local 92 Charity. More
here
.
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OSU Extension will be there with the Blender Bike mixing up some healthy samples and there will be lots of gardening information.
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By The Numbers
(year to date)
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8,571
potholes filled
84
water main breaks repaired
207,162
feet of sanitary sewers cleaned
3,010
feet of storm sewers cleaned
974
fire runs
7,339
EMS runs
24,483
tons of salt used for 2018-19 season
56,952
cubic yards of leaves collected during 2018-19 program
199
trees trimmed
582
illegal signs removed
1,150
building inspections
1,204
contractor licences
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Toledo City Council President Matt Cherry
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Toledo City Council submitted two proposed charter amendments - one that aims to give legal rights to the Lake Erie ecosystem and another that prohibits Lucas County from building a jail anywhere but downtown - to the Lucas County Board of Elections in a timely matter on Aug. 15.
The Board of Elections legal counsel decided not to have those placed on the Nov. 6 ballot but City Council was directed by the Ohio Supreme Court, and we subsequently placed both resolutions on the ballot.
The Lake Erie issue will be before voters next week. I am 100 percent against the "Lake Erie Bill of Rights." The reason? It will immediately will go into litigation if it passes. Toledo also could end up spending taxpayer dollars to defend the law in court.
The legislation could discourage industries from coming to Toledo and possibly cost our region jobs.
We need solutions that will improve the health of Lake Erie. That is undeniable. We have already done a lot in response to the city's 2014 water crisis, including spending nearly $1 billion on
ratepayer-funded upgrades
to the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
I respect those who have pushed for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights since they have legitimate concerns about commercial animal-feeding operations that foul Lake Erie tributaries, but that issue should be addressed at the state or federal level.
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Clyde Scoles
will forever be remembered by this community as a compassionate, wise, and respected man who enjoyed an active life serving the Toledo and northwest Ohio community as an advocate for public libraries and for access to information for everyone.
Clyde was a visionary leader who sustained the growth of the Toledo Lucas County Library into the digital age, and established centers around our community that celebrated Toledo’s rich history.
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He joined TLCPL in 1978 as its associate director and he later became director. Clyde served for the TLCPL for more than 40 years and during that time he became the face of TLCPL due to his forward-thinking management style that revitalized our public libraries at a time when the digital age was taking over.
In this difficult time of grief, the thoughts of all Toledoans are turned toward his loving family and friends.
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Toledo In The News
An ocean's worth of learning: Toledo family sails around the world
For Nick and Maggie Hirt’s children, every day at school is a world-class field trip.The Old West End family spent the past 21 months sailing around the world in a 49-foot Westerly named Selkie. Tristan, 12 years old; Lily, 10; and Mara, 5, are home-schooled by their mother, and 3-year-old Rory isn’t far behind.
Toledo officials unveil new regional water system rates
Toledo officials believe they know what water rates will be under a
new regional water commission
, a key detail suburban water customers have been waiting on before they decide whether to keep getting their drinking water from Toledo or to take their business elsewhere.
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City uses app to help track and fix potholes
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve gone from sub-zero temperatures to highs near 60 degrees within just a few days. Mix in some rain and snow and conditions are perfect for the formation of potholes. Long term fixes can be costly and time consuming.
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Names for two upcoming Metroparks announced
Metroparks Toledo’s park commissioners had a rare moment Wednesday: They got to announce the names of two future Metroparks on the same day. The Glass City Metropark and Manhattan Marsh Preserve Metropark are together multi-million-dollar investments. They serve as the final two links to the park district’s longstanding goal of providing at least one Metropark within five miles of every Lucas County resident.
UT to develop training tool to better care for patients who are homeless
The University of Toledo is developing a virtual reality training to improve Ohio Medicaid providers’ cultural competency and reduce implicit bias as a way to better understand the patients they serve. The virtual reality training focuses on the barriers to health care faced by those without stable, permanent housing.
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