Wapakoneta Daily News | AP iAtom feed

Relay for Life ready

2013-06-19T11:42:32-04:00

Organizers have set a goal to raise at least $50,000 this year as they prepare for this weekend’s Greater Auglaize County Relay for life.“We are shooting for at least that much,” Relay for Life Public Relations Chair Kim Klingler said of the biggest fundraiser held annually in the county for the American Cancer Society. “The last two years we have been right at that number.”It is the 16th year for the event, which is being held at the Auglaize County Fairgrounds. While the number of teams is down, Klingler said, the number of participants on a team is higher as 167 are signed up. She said they would welcome the signing up of more teams before the weekend.“You can make a team of whatever number you want,” Klingler said. “It can only be two or three people. We like to get as many people participating as we can.”Klingler said she feels the event has a great chance to reach its fundraising goal. To date, $21,431 has been raised, ahead of last year. The funds raised go to the American Cancer Society for funding the many programs it offers and research aimed at finding a cure. She stressed that 98 percent of the money raised stays in the county to assists patients in the area.Some of the programs include “Look Good Feel Better.” This new program started in June and holds group workshops to teach beauty techniques to cancer patients to hep combat appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment. “Patient Navigator” helps patients and family members chart their cancer treatment journey, and “Reach For Recovery” provides support and education to patients in families dealing with the emotional effects of breast cancer.Another program, “Hope Lodge,” provides free overnight housing for patients in Cleveland and Cincinnati. are just some of the many programs funded and available in the county.A 5-K run is to be part of the festivities for the first time and is set to begin at 6 p.m. Friday with registration beginning at 4:30 p.m. The event kicks off with a survivor lap after opening ceremonies and remarks.There will be a butterfly release and team recognition lap.The popular Miss Relay contest, where teams get a man to dress up like a woman to raise money, will also take place Friday. The man raising the most money is declared the winner. At 10 p.m. a luminary service to honor those who have fought the cancer battle will be held. A celebrity look-alike contest will take place at 11 p.m.Several teams are also hosting their own events, including a cupcake decorating contest from the TSC Purple Stars, a cookie decorating contest by the No Remorse For Cancer team, and fun hairdos by the TA Travel Centers-Haul’n For a Cure team. Many other events and items for sale are being offered by the event and its participants. There also will be several themed laps on Saturday including “Rocky,” “Pearl Harbor,” “The Wizard of Oz” and western.Klingler said the event has raised more than $1 million in the greater Auglaize County area since its inception 16 years ago.American Cancer Society Income Development Representative Sarah Burke said more than 100 Auglaize County residents received help through the many programs available in 2012. She said she feels they could help many more.

Brown: System needs fix

2013-06-19T11:39:00-04:00

Troopers target distracted drivers

2013-06-19T11:36:05-04:00

Cash clash

2013-06-19T06:36:04-04:00

A Wapakoneta City Council member refused to suspend the rule of three readings for supplemental appropriations until he has a more complete explanation of amounts shifting accounts and changes made to the city’s budget.Wapakoneta 1st Ward Councilor Jim Neumeier declined to suspend the rule of three readings for an ordinance to shift $25,000 into the Wapakoneta Fire Department’s personnel account to cover unemployment expenses from the contingency fund. With Councilor-at-large Dan Graf absent, Neumeier’s vote was needed to meet the six votes necessary to suspend the rules.During discussion of the ordinance, Neumeier questioned administrators on who was receiving unemployment benefits, and the Finance Committee member also wanted to know where did $283,000 come from for the contingency fund when no money appeared in the account during the budget process.“I am not prepared to suspend the rules and pass this until I get the answers I need,” Neumeier told his fellow councilors during Monday’s meeting. “Somebody is rewriting the budget and it is not the Finance Committee. If there is a logical explanation for this that is fine, but I want to know what is going on with the finances.”Safety-Service Director Bill Rains said former Wapakoneta Fire Department Capt. Tom Stinebaugh is receiving unemployment after being terminated in August and winning his argument with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Office of Unemployment Compensation on his third attempt. The city won arguments with the agency the first two times Stinebaugh filed.Rains could not answer why an amount appeared in the general fund on the city’s budget ordinance passed in March and not on spreadsheets used by Finance Committee members during the appropriations and budget process in January and February. “I am really concerned about the general fund, especially in regard to the numbers we use to establish the city budget and to set the appropriations for city departments in comparison to what appears on the ordinance,” Neumeier said.Neumeier conceded he knew the budget numbers do not translate exactly from the spreadsheets to the ordinance because financial figures on the spreadsheet may be combined on the ordinance, but he reviewed his spreadsheets from the last Finance Committee meeting and there was no money in the contingency fund in the general fund or the individual funds of the general fund and yet more than $250,000 appears. The budget ordinance sets all the appropriations for the city departments.City Auditor Gail Walter, who was not present at the meeting, wrote in a memorandum to councilors, “This supplemental is to specifically fix a few things that were wrong in the budget this year. I am also trying to be proactive about keeping the budget adjustments current.”Wapakoneta 3rd Ward Councilor and Finance Committee Chair Bonnie Wurst told Neumeier and fellow councilors “we are going to address this next year during the budget process” in regard to the budget spreadsheets more closley matching the ordinance passed by council.After the meeting, Wurst said she intends to meet with Walter by herself about the budget process.“When it gets closer to the actual budgeting process, I am going to talk individually with Gail about giving us the final numbers she uses to write the budget or appropriations ordinance and the final budget spreadsheet she uses which she has not done in the past,” Wurst said after the meeting. “She did tell us up front that the final spreadsheets we saw during the final Finance Committee meeting regarding the budget were not going to be the final numbers and that she was going to have to tweak some of the numbers.”Wurst said it would help the Finance Committee and council of they were provided with a more accurate month-to-date, year-to-date expense and budget report with the budget ordinance in March before its passage and the same report once a month during the year. They receive reports during the budget process along with up-to-date spreadsheets for the budget or appropriations, but they did not receive the final spreadsheet.“It is more important to us to have accurate spreadsheets that we can work with during the year as opposed to just the final budget or appropriations ordinance because the final budget does lump line items together,” Wurst said about the ordinance which is required to be finalized by April 1 and is in a format to meet state auditing standards. “I am going to go home and review the final spreadsheet to see if there were no contingency funds in the police and fire budgets and try to figure this out.“I don’t know if additional funds appeared or she moved some money between funds because she noticed a discrepancy and fixed it,” she said. “We don’t know that and I need to discuss it with her and find out.”

Wapak prepares for GOBA cyclists

2013-06-19T06:32:54-04:00

Mayor, SSD laud crews, residents

2013-06-19T06:29:11-04:00

Mayor against HB5

2013-06-17T12:47:53-04:00

A bill before state legislators is expected to streamline a patchwork of local rules, forms and definitions in regard to Ohio’s numerous municipal income tax, a state office holder says. The bill is meant to institute a simpler, fairer and more friendly system to help spur job creation.Mayor Rodney Metz disagrees and says the city stands to lose thousands of dollars, if not more, in income tax revenue, which would force them to seek new forms of revenue from local residents.State Treasurer Josh Mandel proclaims he has taken a leadership role in passing Ohio House Bill 5 because currently every single municipality can set up their own rules and regulations which translates into a job killer for small businesses.“The proponents of the bill, including state government leaders including myself, are in discussion with mayors and the Mayors Association in order to identify ways in which we can simplify the municipal income tax system without harming municipalities’ ability to provide core services like police and fire,” Mandel said. Mandel explained the bill, which was introduced by state Reps. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, and Michael Henne, R-Clayton, does not dictate a set income tax rate, but it does standardize the municipal income tax form. Today, more than 600 local government entities have devised more than 300 different tax forms. “As a result, our municipal-tax reality is an unnecessary maze of inconsistency, uncertainty and inefficiency,” Mandel said. “There is a reason why no other state subjects its residents and businesses to such a complex and cumbersome web of tax rules and forms.”For example, he said an electrician in Minster was required to file 39 different municipal tax forms last year. He owed a tax to every city he visited in a single work day, even if he was there for 10 minutes or less. If he worked in any one of those municipalities more than 12 days in a year, he was required to file its tax forms.The bill would increase the number of work days to 20 within a year.Metz is against the bill as introduced and supports the state’s Mayors Association in their stance. He would like to see the bill be at least revenue neutral for the city of Wapakoneta so it could grow revenue as business activity increases and more residents move into the city.“From what I have read about the bill, I am not in favor of it at all,” Metz said. “I think us municipalities need to be in control of our own income tax collection. In my early reviews of the bill, I understand the city would receive less in income tax revenue and we would have to make those dollars up somewhere else or cut services.”While the bill would not affect income tax rates, Metz said it hurts Wapakoneta by restricting areas where taxes were previously collected.At present the city collects 1 percent income tax, one of the lower amounts in the state.In a story in ThisWeek, Whitehall Mayor Kim Maggard termed the bill as “an effort by a few select special-interest groups to exempt themselves from paying taxes to the local government that provides them with securities such as police and fire protection.”She said the bill would shift the tax burden “onto unsuspecting residents and to lessen the fair share of corporate taxes paid to municipalities.”One mayor said the bill is more about reforming taxes than simplifying the tax code. He called it a continued shift of the tax burden onto municipalities from the state so the state’s finances look good while the cities and villages must suffer.

Locals: NSA in the wrong

2013-06-17T12:45:53-04:00

Area experts teach proper techniques

2013-06-17T12:43:17-04:00

God's Storehouse celebrates 30th year in existence

2013-06-17T08:13:13-04:00

Helping people has always been the mission of God’s Storehouse and for 30 years, the volunteers running the local food pantry have been able to do just that.

God’s Storehouse recently celebrated its 30th year of serving the community with the need continuing to grow. In 2012, God’s Storehouse distributed $57,000 in food, a steady increase from $26,821 in 2008, $44,145 in 2009, and $47,621 in 2010.

Mae Cartmell, one of the founding members of God’s Storehouse said they first established the food pantry in April 1983, in a period of economic recession similar to today. At the time, no food pantry existed in Wapakoneta.

Cartmell was part of a group of citizens, a local physician and priest who first met the year before God’s Storehouse opened to discuss what they could do to help area residents desperate to feed their families, who did not qualify for any form of government assistance even though they had lost their jobs at a time when several area factories closed.

God’s Storehouse was established as a temporary form of assistance until clients were able to “get back on their feet,” said Carol Berg, who serves as chair of the organization’s Board of Trustees.

“We knew there was a need,” Cartmell said, explaining people were willing to do anything to help their families and weren’t getting the support they needed.

As part of the organizational process, Cartmell said they visited pantries to see how they were doing it and took referrals from local pastors, who knew of families’ needs. God’s Storehouse opened with $700 worth of food on the shelves and vegetables, beans and a starch, the first items distributed to those in need.

From there the pantry began to grow, Cartmell said.

“It’s still needed and we help in many different ways now,” Cartmell said. “There always seems to be a need.”

In addition to food, referred families sometimes also receive clothing and household items if needed.

“It’s been great through the years helping people,” said Cartmell, who continues to volunteer with the pantry today and serves as an emeritus adviser on the Board of Trustees.

As long as she can continue to help, she will, said Cartmell, who works once a month in the pantry now and also sends out thank you letters.

God’s Storehouse is staffed by 54 regular volunteers, plus others who assist with food drives and other special projects.

God’s Storehouse Board member Joy Kantner said recently a former client came up to her and told her how much their help was appreciated, that they couldn’t have gotten by without it.

It’s reminders like that that lets the group know what they are doing is making a difference, they said.

Sometimes the “thank yous” also come in the form of hugs, while many give back to the pantry once things are better in their lives, Berg said.

Clients are referred by area pastors, Auglaize County Job and Family Services, the Auglaize County Crisis Center, St. Vincent DePaul — a nonprofit organization helping meet a variety of needs for people — and other agencies and the non-profit charity partners with St. Vincent DePaul to screen potential clients. A three-point check system between God’s Storehouse, St. Vincent DePaul and Mercy Unlimited, a non-profit Christian ministry also tending to community members’ needs, ensures that services are not being duplicated and those who need them most are getting them, Berg said.

Clients shop weekly for groceries and are referred for four consecutive weeks at a time. The amount of groceries they receive is based on their family’s size. For clients receiving food stamps, they may receive items food stamps may not be used for, including paper products, hygiene and health items and cleaning supplies. Milk vouchers also are available for Walmart.

God’s Storehouse, located at 107 W. Pearl St., is open from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday through Saturday, with clients able to get food any time during those hours. At this time, 264 people receive assistance from God’s Storehouse, with all clients shopping weekly. In April, God’s Storehouse dispensed $3,827.50 in food and groceries.

Berg said support for the food pantry comes from many local churches, service organizations, civic groups, clubs, businesses and individuals. In addition to the food pantry, God’s Storehouse also operates a thrift store, which is open to the public, with 100 percent of sales going toward the purchase of food.

“God’s Storehouse is very appreciative of the community support we have received,” Berg said. “We are happy to be celebrating 30 years. The clients are the reason we are here.”