Ohio Historical Society Director Visits Wolcott Museum Complex
On a tour of historical sites in Northwest Ohio, Burt Logan, the executive director and chief executive officer of the Ohio Historical Society, visited the Wolcott House.
“It’s quite an honor. We haven’t had him here in quite a while,” said Marty Wendler, curator consultant of the Maumee Valley Historical Society and Wolcott House Museum.
Logan participated in a tour of the Wolcott House Museum complex.
“It’s nice to share with him and show him what we have here,” Wendler said.
Logan’s stop in Maumee came after a visit to the archives special collection at Bowling Green State University. He was also planning to attend the annual meeting of Historic Perrysburg at Fort Meigs.
“It’s really the local history like this that forms the fabric of Ohio history,” Logan said.

City Council Approves Positions In Public Service, Fire Division
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
Maumee City Council approved personnel changes in both the public service department and fire division as recommended by the personnel committee.
At the May 7 council meeting, personnel committee chair and council member Mike Coyle requested that council approve filling the positions of public service commissioner and floating assistant supervisor in the public service department. The committee also recommended eliminating the positions of engineer and engineer tech.
Council also approved the committee’s request to fill the bureau chief of firefighting position.
According to Coyle, the committee discussed several items including job vacancies, job descriptions and pay ordinances. Coyle has requested that a compensation study be completed in order to proceed with a comprehensive review of personnel-related topics.
“What’s been happening is that we have been meeting and trying to move forward on these types of things but at the end of the day, the compensation study should have happened and it hasn’t,” Coyle said.
According to Coyle, the issue was referred to the finance committee in December 2010.
Coyle said he believes that items discussed in committee, such as the compensation study, allow for a higher level of discussion, and when items are either removed from committee or not discussed at all, the system breaks down.
“In my opinion, due process is being denied the Maumee public,” he said.
Jenny Barlos, the chair of the finance committee, said that the issue of compensation has been in committee but focused more on general compensation, especially as it related to director pay.
“There is nothing in the record that I know of that says we need to do a compensation study,” she said. “I’m not sure exactly what he is referring to and why this is so immediate other than that he has things in personnel similar to that.”
On May 10, the personnel committee also approved filling the support lieutenant position in the police division; however, further details regarding that position will be addressed after a compensation study is complete, Coyle said.

City To Consider New Tech For Reading Water Meters
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
The city of Maumee is considering a switch to automated meter readers to monitor water consumption.
If the plan is implemented, the new readers would be installed in 6,200 homes and businesses throughout the city, service director Joe Camp said.
Currently, requests for proposals are being prepared for the program, which could cost Maumee approximately $2.5 million.
If it is approved, the new meters could be installed in 2013.
“The new meters will be more reliable in reading what is actually used or consumed,” Camp said.
As a result, the billing will be more accurate and final readings can be generated immediately, he said.
The battery-operated meters, which use a transponder to emit signals, send information to a data collector. Once the information is collected, it is sent to a host server, Camp said.
The system could detect leaks immediately and the resident or business owner could be alerted, he said.
“The entire system will also benefit in lower energy costs by reduced pumping times,” he said.
Other communities, including Sylvania and Perrysburg, have implemented the same type of technology, he added.
After the bids are received, an evaluation process will be completed to determine if it is feasible to proceed with the project.