ThisWeek Marysville 6/19

Page 1

June 19, 2011

Plan calls for 10% sewer rate increase By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Marysville’s administration is preparing to pitch a new plan to city council aimed at aggressively paying down some of the city’s debt and lessening the impact of water and sewer rate increases on consumers, in anticipation of continued growth in the coming decade.

Mayor John Gore and director of administration Terry Emery presented a plan for adjusting the city’s collected rate for sewer and water services. Under the proposal, residents would see a 10-percent increase in sewer rates (an increase of $3.73 per 600 cubic feet), and a 7.5-percent decrease in monthly water rates (a decrease of $3.54 per 600 cubic feet). Based on the average monthly water

and sewer bills in Marysville, the change will result in an average increase of 19 cents in 2012, according to the city’s figures. While the city anticipates adding sewer users in the coming years with projects like Jerome Village beginning to come online, paying off debt accrued in 1991 for the city’s water plant is key to Marysville’s financial future in the next

decade, Gore said in his presentation. “One of the reasons for wanting to aggressively pay down that debt — right now we’re paying anywhere from 3to 5 percent interest on that money, and any money we have we’re earning less than half a percent (interest) in most cases,” Gore said. “So it doesn’t make sense to keep that money and try to make money off of it, when we can pay down our debt

City’s ward areas updated ThisWeek Community Newspapers

See WARDS, page A5

See RATES, page A5

Meeder passes the torch at Doc Henderson’s

By LIN RICE The last time Marysville redrew the boundaries of the city’s four wards, the process took clerk of council Connie Patterson several weeks of number crunching and moving slips of paper around to make sure the city’s population was evenly balanced among the wards. This year, city GIS manager Scott Brock, equipped with updated computer software, finished the process in a couple of hours. Marysville is required by law to incorporate last year’s updated census statistics into the city’s wards. While the ward boundary lines can sometimes appear to be haphazard, council president Nevin Taylor said the new ward maps should clear up any confusion for residents regarding which ward represents them. “I was very happy with the system,” Taylor said. “Everything is balanced and we have nice, clean lines now — no ward lines run through people’s back yards, there’s a nice clean boundary now. “The nice thing is we didn’t have to spend a ton of hours on it this time. Our technology stepped up, saving people’s time, and the board of elections loved the idea.” Four of the seats on Marysville City Council represent its wards; currently Tracy Richardson (Ward One), Dan Fogt (Ward Two), Deborah Groat (Ward Three) and Tay-

and save money in the long term.” Gore said the remaining balance on the city’s water plant is $5.8-million. The bonds are there, set aside to pay that off, he said. The proposal would shift a higher end balance in the city’s water funds, rather than sewer, as of Dec. 31, 2011. With a

By LIN RICE ThisWeek Community Newspapers

By Paul Vernon/ThisWeek

After five years in the restaurant business at the helm of Doc Henderson’s, Marysville businessman Bob Meeder has decided it’s time to enjoy some R and R. Last month Meeder announced that Columbus-based Sanese Services would be taking over mangement of his upscale establishment in Marysville. While Meeder will still own the business, he said it’s time to take some time off. “Our plan is to really get into our retirement,” Meeder laughed. “We knew that with starting (Doc’s Cafe & Wine Bar, opening across the street), we’re probably not going to be able to do that tomorrow, but it’s only a matter of time. Our long-term objective is to be totally retired.” Meeder said that since opening Doc Henderson’s in 2006, he’s always strived to provide a unique dining experience in Marysville, one that complements, rather than competes with, the different dining options in town. “After first taking ownership, for a little over a year the business operated as an antique shop, but it was my opinion that we would be getting better value as a restaurant,” he said. “It was our objective, with working with the people who restored the building, that we would focus on having a restaurant in Marysville that at that moment, and I still think this is true today, that we don’t have to compete with. We have many fine restaurants in Marysville, but we focus on the fine-dining atmosphere. Which doesn’t take anything away from anyone else; it’s the focus and objective that’s different.” The Henderson House has stood in one form

Bob Meeder, the owner of Doc Henderson’s Restaurant, recently handed over the day-to-day management of the restaurant to Columbus-based Sanese Services.

See MEEDER, page A2

ThisWeek Marysville staff wins two Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards ThisWeek Marysville has been honored for the second time in the past five months for its coverage of the Marysville city income tax issue and safety services facilities. Staff writer Lin Rice and community editor Jeff Donahue took first place for Public Service for the series at the 33rd annual Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards ceremony June 10 in Cleveland. In February, Rice and Donahue

won the Ohio Newspaper Association’s Community Service Award for the same series. Overall ThisWeek Community Newspapers won 21 Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards in the 2011 contest sponsored by the Press Club of Cleveland. The awards were presented at the Marriott Key Centre in downtown Cleveland and included recognition for investigative reporting, photography, sports, com-

DIRECTORY News: (740) 888-6100 editorial@thisweeknews.com Sports: (740) 888-6054 sports@thisweeknews.com Retail ads: (740) 888-6023 robprice@thisweeknews.com Classified: (740) 888-5003 classified@thisweeknews.com Customer Service: 1-888-837-4342

munity coverage, public service reporting, editorial writing and editorial cartoons. In addition, the company’s website, www.thisweeknews.com, placed second in the state for newspaper website design. First place went to the Toledo Blade. Adam Cairns, chief photographer for ThisWeek Community Newspapers, tied for second place in the Best in Ohio: Photographer category for his body of work. Ed Suba Jr. of the Akron Beacon Journal also won second place in this category; first place went to

Lisa DeJong of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cairns also won first and second place in the Photojournalism category for “585th Homecoming” in ThisWeek Marysville and “Sweet Success” in the Rocky Fork Enterprise, respectively. He also took first place in the General Feature category for non-daily newspaper photography for “Polar Bear” in ThisWeek Bexley; and second place in the Sports Feature category for “Underwater Diver” in ThisWeek Olentangy. ThisWeek Hilliard was honored Cheryl is one of many cats up for adoption at the Cat Welfare Association. On Tuesday, June 21, the association will hold its Summer Solstice Adoption Extravaganza, which will feature food and special adoption rates. For information on adopting Cheryl or any of the cats, visit catwelfareohio.com. Watch a video of Cheryl at ThisWeekNews.com.

in several categories for non-daily newspapers. Staff writer Gary Budzak earned second place in Investigative Reporting for “City continues to question CVB finances.” Community editor Jeff Donahue placed second in the Single Editorial category for “Mural should be last of Hilliard’s concerns” and first place for Best Section among non-daily newspapers was awarded to ThisWeek Hilliard sports coverage. Jim Larrick swept the awards in the Single Cartoon, Non-Daily Newspapers category. He earned

second place for a “Happy Thanksgiving Scan” cartoon that appeared in ThisWeek Bexley and first place for “Oil Spill Aftermath” that was published in ThisWeek Canal Winchester. The ThisWeek sports department likewise took both first- and second-place honors for investigative reporting. Paul Batterson placed second in the category for “Uhles take sibling rivalry to new heights” and Patrick Dolan won first place for “Football heads list See AWARDS, page A2

Sign up for breaking news & sports!

Click on mobile in the top right corner of ThisWeekNews.com to get community coverage delivered to your phone!

http://mobile.thisweeknews.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
ThisWeek Marysville 6/19 by Dispatch Magazines/The Columbus Dispatch - Issuu