June 30, 2011
Board OKs $186M temporary budget Local Tea Party members offer suggestions they say would cut $20 million more By CHRIS BOURNEA ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Westerville Board of Education voted unanimously June 27 to approve a $186-million temporary budget for fiscal year 2012. Interim treasurer Steve Huzicko said the reason for the temporary status is un-
certainty about revenue projections and the state’s biennial budget. “We’re still looking at revenues from property taxes, due to reappraisals, and the state budget,” he said. Superintendent Dan Good said the district continues to look for ways to save money and announced that he will make contractual concessions to reduce his total
compensation in fiscal year 2012 by approximately $20,000. A portion of Good’s concessions will result from foregoing a contractual increase to his $189,000 base salary and contributing more toward health-insurance premiums. The other portion of his concessions will come from the amount of his total compensation package that is
paid into an annuity. “My own choice isn’t made with the expectation that others follow suit,” Good said in a statement. “It is, however, what I and my family feel is sensitive to a fragile but incrementally improving economic climate.” Despite Good’s concessions and the district’s other cost-saving measures, in-
cluding a reduction in staff of eight positions that is expected to save $650,000, numerous residents spoke out and urged the board to cut spending even more. Representatives of the Westerville Tea Party presented board members with a proposed spending-reduction plan that See SCHOOL BOARD, page A2
Expansion
Westerville Square
St. Ann’s gets OK for final phase
Public hearing, Walmart vote to come July 5
By JENNIFER NESBITT
Proposed renovations to the Westerville Square shopping center at the corner of South State Street and Schrock Road will be up for a public hearing and a final decision from Westerville City Council on July 5. Council heard the second reading of legislation at its June 21 meeting to allow for a modification of the development’s site plan. If approved, shopping center owner The Hadler Cos. would be able to move forward with plans to tear down three storefronts in the center to construct a 108,000-squarefoot Walmart and to renovate the rest of the center to match the new construction with brick facade, brick columns, dormer windows and parapets. The company also plans to upgrade the parking lot with more landscaping, greenspace with public art and seating on South State Street, and brick walls along South State Street and Otterbein Avenue. At the first reading of the legislation June 7, council members expressed concerns over the effect the renovated center would have on traffic, particularly at the intersection of South State Street and Schrock Road.
By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital received approval from the Westerville Planning Commission June 22 to move forward with plans for a reconstructed main entrance and for a four-story tower. The permission is contingent, however, on gaining the planning commission’s approval of a new master plan within the next five months. The June 22 approval was the third issued by the planning commission for the St. Ann’s expansion, which also will include a reconfigured parking lot, a three-tier parking deck and expansions to the hospital’s energy plant and food-service facility. The new entry to the hospital will be relocated to the campus’s south side. While cars will still come in off of Cleveland Avenue, the entrance will face Schrock Road. The 12,372-square-foot entrance will be two stories high and will feature natural stone columns and a glass façade. “The stone is something different than we’ve seen before in the hospital material,” Westerville senior planner Bassem Bitar said. “It’s a nice, rich, natural material and stands out from the brick. It should be very easy once you’re on campus to realize where the entry is.” David Dryden, Mount Carmel vice president of design, con-
See WALMART, page A2
Otterbein’s police force to start July 1 By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Summer splash
Nick Chapman plays in the splash pad at the newly renovated Highlands Aquatic Center in Westerville. The center opened Memorial Day and has been so popular that employees have had to turn people away.
See ST. ANN’S, page A2
Civil War activities part of July 4 festivities By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Fourth of July in Westerville will include the annual Rotary run, parade and fireworks, but this year, the city will add educational events about the Civil War to the lineup. The Ohio Historical Society’s vintage baseball team, the Ohio Vil-
lage Muffins, will play a game against a local team, following Civil War-era rules, at 4 p.m. July 2 at the Westerville Sports Complex, 325 N. Cleveland Ave. The Westerville Visitors and Convention Bureau will host History Exhumed! from 1 to 5:30 p.m. July 3 at Heritage Park. The event, part of the city’s commemoration of the
DIRECTORY
150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, will include live entertainment, concessions, old-fashioned games for kids and information on Civil War history. The Eagle River Trio will perform songs from the Civil War era on the porch of Everal Barn. Children can participate in candle-making and games of skill that were
played by children in the 1860s. There also will be displays and presentations about Westerville’s role in the Underground Railroad and on how Westerville’s Hanby family spent the war years. Civil War re-enactors will show ladies’clothing and talk about how
After a three-year process, the Otterbein University Security Department will complete its transition to the Otterbein Police Department on Friday, July 1. The purpose of the transition is “to improve safety services for the campus community,” Otterbein Police Chief Larry Banaszak said. “Right now, we’re a security department, so we don’t have any authority to operate with police powers. We can’t investigate crime. We can’t stop crimes in progress,” Banaszak said. “We’re going to have all the traditional law enforcement responsibilities on campus that any other police department would have.” The university’s 10 full-time security officers received training and certification through the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission and were commissioned as police officers in February 2009. “We wanted to give our officers all the tools they need to protect our campus,” Bob Gatti, vice president and dean for Otterbein Student Affairs, said of the transition. Although sworn in more than two years ago, the officers have not been acting as a police department but instead have
See FOURTH OF JULY, page A2
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