Thanks to the community
“Thank you to the community for your continuing support. We promise to be good stewards of your tax dollars and continue to provide excellent service,” offered Sylvania Township Fire Chief Chris Nye in response to the positive vote for the fire levy on the Nov. 6 ballot. “Currently, our resources are depleted at least three hours per day but, thanks to the levy passage, that will not be the case in the future.”
According to Sylvania Township Administrator Oliver Turner, the Sylvania Township Fire Department will not seek additional funding for the next six years. “With the voter approval of our 2.5 mill levy, the department will be well positioned to respond to the increased number of incidents. The department will add three firefighters/paramedics next year, an additional three in 2027, and another three in 2029 depending on funds and need,” Turner noted.
Nye and Turner said they received a lot of community input throughout the campaign, which they find most helpful for future planning.
Keep streets clean
For the third year, Sylvania Township streets and roads crew, police, firefighters/paramedics, and administrative staff have been working in cooperation with Keep Toledo Lucas County Beautiful to adopt roads. Crews pick up litter three to four times each year on their adopted roads, Holland Sylvania from the Township building to Sylvania Avenue and Sylvania Avenue between Holland Sylvania and McCord roads. “While we have adopted two miles of roads, we pick up trash from other sections of heavily traveled roads, too,” noted Samantha Didion, Sylvania Township Administrative Project Specialist.
Board appointments
The Sylvania Township Trustees approved several requests by Administrator Oliver Turner. They reappointed Jason Levine to a five-year term and Tony Malik to a one-year term as an alternate to the Board of Zoning Appeals. They appointed Joe Belinske, who has served as an alternate on the Zoning Commission, to a five-year term as a regular member and appointed Mary Himmelein to a one-year term as an alternate. Himmelein, who has served as chairman of the Zoning Commission for several years and as a member of the board for 20 years, announced her retirement from that position at a previous meeting. The trustees reappointed Maureen Atkins to serve a one-year term on the Arts Commission and Rich MacMillan to a three-year term on the Sylvania Area Joint Recreation District at the Sylvania Township Board of Trustees’ Nov. 19 meeting. The trustees also renewed their agreements with the Lucas County Board of Commissioners for Animal Control Services and with Sylvania Advantage for public information services.
The Rev. Ernie Unholz of the First Christian Church Sylvania was named the new Sylvania Township Fire Department Chaplin by the trustees. He had been recommended for the unpaid position by Fire Chief Chris Nye following the retirement of the Rev. Donald Smith.