April 10, 2011
City administrator
Field of candidates increases to 36 By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The pool of potential candidates for Marysville’s city administrator position has grown to at least 36, with more applications arriving in the mail over the weekend. City officials are now reviewing the candidates, and may form an interview team to vet many of them in person, ac-
cording to human resources manager Brian Dostanko. Additional applicants include: • Gregory Berquist, director of public safety and services for Delphos, Ohio, and former CIO-deputy director at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. • Gerry Cotter, former Genoa Township trustee and former assistant counsel for the Waterfront Commission of
the New York/New Jersey port district. • Terry Emery, director of public service for the city of Gahanna, and former safety/service director of Greenville, Ohio. • Dan Evers, a consultant at Independent Consultant, and former township administrator at Deerfield Township and Sugarcreek Township, Ohio. • Dennis Galicki, operations manager central region at C.B. Richard Ellis
Healthcare Services, and former director of Future Plans and Surface Operations at the U.S. Navy Cruiser Destroyer Group Two, Norfolk, Va. • David Johnson, county administrator of Wabasha County, Minn. • Jim Lenthe, job search coach with the Knox County Department of Job and Family Services, and former city manager of Wellsburg, W.Va. • Cheryl Nester, deputy legal coun-
sel for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services and former city attorney for the city of Whitehall. • David Samson, vice president, title resource manager at First American Title. • Janet Schilk, Courageous Conversations state equity team member and former director of the Office of EducaSee CANDIDATES, page A2
Police, fire contracts await council approval By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Photos by Adam Cairns/ThisWeek
(Above) Production manager Joel Armbruster grabs a handful of bats for painting at the Phoenix Bat Co. in Plain City. Phoenix is one of 28 officially licensed companies that produce bats for Major League Baseball. (Below) Maple wood forms are handweighed and marked prior to being placed on the lathe to be carved into a bat.
Wild about wood Baseball fans flock to Phoenix Bat Co. in Plain City By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Some of baseball’s most important implements are manufactured in a small workshop off Industrial Parkway in Plain City. The Phoenix Bat Co. has been turning out rock maple and white ash bats for more than 10 years. In the past year, the company’s workshop has been a highlight stop on the Union County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) bus tours of the community. “When we first moved up here, we started with a couple people at a time coming through, and now it’s busloads of people, and it can be kind of hard to fit 60 people in our showroom,” Phoenix Bat founder Charley “Lefty” Trudeau said. The business is now located at 7801 Corporate Blvd. In Plain City, but Trudeau began turning baseball bats on a lathe while restoring houses in Old Town East. After several years of playing 19th-century-style baseball with members of the Ohio Historical Society’s Ohio Village Muffins, he was approached about fashioning a few vintage baseball bats to add to the team’s authen-
See CONTRACTS, page A3
School board sets work session about finances By JIM FISCHER ThisWeek Community Newspapers
ticity. “Those guys, you’ll never find a better group of people,” Trudeau said. “They have a blast playing, and they exemplify the spirit of what baseball’s all about.” Through word of mouth, Trudeau’s bats began to grow in popularity, until the wood-
worker had to decide between restoring houses or making baseball bats. Phoenix Bats now produces about 13,000 bats a year, ranging from vintage replicas and personalized gifts, up to bats for Major League players See WILD, page A3
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The Marysville Exempted Village School District Board of Education will take another look at the district’s pending fiscal crunch at another work session scheduled for Monday night. Having spent some time with projections at a March 21 work session in light of the proposed state budget, board member Doug Lassiter would like to see the board take a closer look at the issue of salaries as a way to help improve the district’s financial picture.
“It’s about sustainability,” Lassiter told ThisWeek. He broached the issue on March 21, saying the board spends significant time discussing cutting programs as a way to help close the budget gap but, “We rarely ever talk about compensation.” Superintendent Larry Zimmerman countered that Marysville teachers have Larry been very coZimmerman operative in reSee WORK, page A3
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Both collective bargaining units representing Marysville’s safety services have signed off on contracts that provide no police or fire salary increases over the next two years. All that remains for a contract to be put in place is for Marysville City Council to give final approval, which is expected to take place this week. Council voted unanimously March 24 to approve reports prepared by independent fact-finder Mitch Goldberg regarding Marysville’s negotiations with the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Local 3032 and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 171. IAFF Local 3032 members accepted the report prior to council’s approval and FOP Lodge 171 members officially accepted it on March 28, according to Lodge 171 representative Tony Brooks. He said all three units (sergeants, patrol and communications) voted unanimously to approve the report. “Now that the report has been approved by both sides, we’re just putting the entire collective bargaining agreement together to be
signed,” Brooks said. “Everything is done except for the signatures.” Marysville human resources manager Brian Dostanko said council is expected to vote on the agreement at its April 14 meeting. Both agreements call for no increase in salaries for union members in the next two years, with a 3-percent salary increase in the third year. That freeze applies only to cost-of-living increases; the employees will still receive their annual step increase in salaries, Dostanko said. About 80 percent of Marysville’s employees in the two departments have already reached the cap on step increases. Both unions agreed to changes in their medical insurance programs, Dostanko said: Union employees may choose between the city’s preferred provider organization (PPO) plan, continue with a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or opt in to a health savings account (HSA). Changes were also agreed upon for vacation reimbursements. Dostanko said union employees previously could carry over a year and a half of accrued time and “sell” half a year; now they may
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