Open Letter to Baltimore Residents from Village Council - Things That Affect YOU - Ohioans for Responsible Rural Development

From the Village of Baltimore Website
Published December 15, 2011

To the Residents of Baltimore, Ohio

May I begin this letter to our residents by saying, on behalf of the Baltimore Village Council, thank you for the privilege of serving each and every one of you.  We sincerely appreciate the trust you have placed in us by electing us to this position.  And, please be assured that the decisions we make, hard though they are at times, are all made with the residents of this village in mind.

Now I would like to address some of the recent rumors and misconceptions that seem to be moving around and through our village.  We were greatly saddened by the recent failure of the Police Levy that appeared on the ballot at our last election.  It is our sincere desire to see that this community is safe and protected for every one of you and we pledge to you that we will do everything we can to make certain this takes place.  With that recent failure, we have had to make some very difficult decisions regarding our extremely professional police force by laying off two (2) of our well-trained and highly competent officers and additionally letting an office staff person and a Service Department person go from their positions.  To all of us on council, this decision was made with very heavy hearts.  If you had the opportunity to read the press release in the paper regarding the changes that were made, you are aware that these changes and the decisions for these changes were made by the members of your Village Council.

Next, as members of Council, it is very important to us that you, the resident, be made aware of happenings at our council meetings.  These council meetings are ALWAYS OPEN and we meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays in council chambers.  You are encouraged to attend these meetings so that you are aware of the happenings about our village.  Recently, we asked that our Village Administrator and Fiscal Officer, provide to us a list of all the grants this village has received within the past four (4) years.  The list (which is available at the Village offices and includes the exact award and the project name) reveals thirteen (13) grants since 2007 with grant awards of $1,892,053.00; loan awards of $783,106.00; and local match of $1,135,648.  Of those grants we received, six (6) of them had no local match required at all.  We are certainly very appreciative of the time it takes for this to be accomplished.

Additionally, just so everyone is aware of what our Village Administrator does for our village, may we share with you the positions she holds and some of her accomplishments.  For example, Ms. Hall is our Village Administrator, Zoning Administrator, Property Administrator and Code Enforcement Officer - all of which consume many hours daily, to which are added the meetings she must attend in the evenings here and elsewhere and then, doing all our grant writing for the village, for which we are most fortunate as was previously discussed; she is the 1st Vice President of the Ohio Municipal League, which covers the entire State of Ohio, and will move up to President of that organization at the end of this term; she is a member of the Fairfield County Revolving Loan Committee; and, she is a member of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC).

Lastly, we, your Village Council members, made another very difficult decision recently regarding our village Christmas decorations.  Following a recent Finance Committee meeting, at which the finance condition of the village was discussed, it was proposed by that committee to forego the Christmas decorations this year due to cost, which was just one of the many cost savings proposals made by this committee.  This proposal was then discussed by the entire Village Council and a decision was made by your Council to forego the decorations.  Following that, a resident of Baltimore contacted our Village Administrator and asked about the expense to put up the decorations and could it be privately funded by donations from our residents.  It was discussed and it was decided that if the residents wanted to privately fund this at this time, we could proceed.  Within the past several days, it was brought to our attention that some of our residents were told this was recommended by our Village Administrator.  The council members would like everyone to know that this decision was a decision of the full council, not the Village Administrator.

Unfortunately, sometimes someone can say something and it is either misinterpreted or misunderstood and the next person doesn't hear it the way it started.  It is the hope of your Village Council members that if, and//or when, something like this happens, you will contact one of the members of your council and ask for an explanation - or better yet - PLEASE COME TO OUR COUNCIL MEETINGS AND GET THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK.

It is our sincere hope that all our residents have a very Merry Christmas along with a safe and Happy New Year.

Thank you, Baltimore Village Council members
(Judy Landis, President; Dwayne Mohler, Robert Hankison, Jim Hochradel, Tony House and Chuck Keller)

Related story:  Marsha Hall leaves as Baltimore village administrator