Rep. Latta Encourages AW Students To Become Involved
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Think bickering in Washington is bad?
During the first sessions of Congress, senators and representatives came armed to the teeth, U.S. Rep. Bob Latta told Anthony Wayne High School students.
In creating the Articles of Confederation – the first constitution of the United States – men with differing views were locked in a sweltering room as they hammered out a compromise, Latta said.
Still, differences lingered, and it wasn’t unusual for fights to break out.
Aaron Burr, vice president under Thomas Jefferson, fatally shot his rival Alexander Hamilton in a famous 1804 duel. In 1856, Congressman Preston Smith Brooks beat Sen. Charles Sumner with a metal-tipped cane.
Today’s 24-hour news coverage demands constant action, and Latta believes having cameras on the House floor and in the committee rooms reduces complex issues to short sound-bites from opposing views – and exacerbates the view that Congress can’t get along.
Holding up a pocket-size copy of the Constitution, Latta urged Jason Apgar’s senior government students to read it – and get involved.
Latta and Waterville City Council member Tim Pedro visited Apgar’s classroom on January 27 to answer questions and talk about being a part of the process.
Pulling a list of voters from a manila envelope, Pedro noted that of the 11,000 citizens in the Anthony Wayne area, 8,000 are registered voters and the average turnout at the polls is 60 percent.
Students who will be 18 in November can register to vote in the March 6 primary, Pedro said.
“Go online and get what’s called a walking list of your neighborhood,” Pedro said. “Go door to door and ask your neighbors if they’re registered to vote.”
If each student in the class got 10 more people to vote, the turnout in the AW area could rise to 63 percent, Apgar said.
As a youth, Pedro said religion and politics were off limits. Now that’s not the case, and Pedro said students who help out with campaigns or do voter registration drives will be amazed at their influence.
“Get involved. In service clubs, schools, church and community,” Latta said. “Find people to talk to. Don’t just listen to 30-second sound bites.”
Latta’s political career began as a Wood County commissioner, then progressed to the Ohio House and Ohio Senate before he became U.S. representative for Ohio’s 5th District in 2007. But it was checking out a book on the Civil War in the third grade that began his interest in politics.
One of the biggest challenges Latta sees is tackling the $15.3 trillion in U.S. debt.
“Is this something that we have a chance at solving, or should we start hiding money under our mattress?” Apgar asked, looking at the debt clock at www.usdebtclock.org.
“We can turn this around, but it’s not going to be easy,” Latta said, noting that cuts have to be made somewhere. Medicare will be broke by 2019-21 and Social Security by 2036 at the current rate, he said.
One reason is that when Social Security was created, the average male lived to 53, while benefits began at age 65. That meant 40 workers supported one Social Security recipient. Today that ratio is 2 to 1, Latta said.
“We need a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. It’s been 1,003 days and the Senate hasn’t passed a budget,” he said.
Latta also shared how he communicates with constituents by calling and visiting each of the 16 counties he represents, how the 5th District was reconfigured, his thoughts on EPA regulations and the difference between Tea Party and Occupy activists.
“The police say that when Tea Party activists left Washington, they couldn’t even find a gum wrapper on the ground,” he said.

Police Protection, Annexation To Be Topics For March Waterville Twp. Meeting
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Waterville Township trustees are calling on all residents to attend their March meeting to voice opinions about an annexation proposal and police protection.
During their January 25 meeting, trustees discussed a mailer that will outline the issues to be discussed at the Wednesday, March 28 meeting.
Police Protection
In 2006, a financial forecast showed how much money was needed to maintain 24-hour police protection.
After meeting with the county auditor about how many mills would be needed to generate that amount, trustees placed a levy on the ballot and it passed.
But the amount certified by the county auditor at the time was inaccurate, as trustees discovered when collections began.
As a result, the department has been managing with $30,000 less per year than needed, explained trustee Brett Warner.
While pinching pennies has worked for the past five years, several other factors have impacted the department – changes in the state’s personal property taxes, decreased income as homes and properties are annexed to Whitehouse or Waterville, and lowered property taxes due to reassessed values – for an approximate annual loss of $62,000.
At the same time, insurance, rising fuel costs for police vehicles and rising insurance rates have created more challenges, Warner said.
While neighboring Monclova Township has budgeted $541,381 for 2012 for one Lucas County sheriff’s department patrol vehicle on duty 24 hours a day, Waterville Township supports a 24-hour department for under $300,000 per year, he said.
Township residents have three options to consider:
• Support a new levy to generate more money to continue the same service.
• Continue using the existing levy to negotiate a contract with another agency.
• Become a part-time agency, in which an officer may or may not be on duty when a citizen calls. This may increase response time.
“Regardless of how we got here, we need to address the issue without blame and with well thought-out resolutions for the future of the township,” Warner said.
During the next month, Warner said he’ll continue to gather numbers and details on options to present during the March meeting.
Annexation Proposal
Trustees will ask residents whether property along SR 64 west of the US 24 bypass but east of Noward Road should be open to annexation to the city of Waterville.
Trustees had been working to form a joint economic development district with the city for that area when a property owner requested permission to annex instead.
The land, owned by Ronnie and Eileen Perry, is at the northwest corner of the SR 64 and US 24 intersection. The Perry family declined through their attorney to comment at this time.
Township solicitor Walt Celley explained that the Perrys are among several property owners in the area that is currently served by the Waterville utility district.
Because of the Perrys’ request, trustees want to ask residents about whether the entire property should be open to voluntary annexation.
The city has indicated an interest in at least investigating the option, Celley said.
Zoning commission member Karen Schneider questioned how an annexation would benefit the township, which is currently working on design standards for an overlay district, along SR 64 between Waterville and Whitehouse.
That several-months process is nearly completed, and was to be presented to the board by March. If annexation is permitted, design standards would only apply to the township portion of the overlay district.
Celley outlined several conditions that could be attached to an annexation agreement: the city must provide local government services, the city could not abate real estate property taxes being received by the township, the city would be prohibited from annexing residential property, and the city and township would agree to share income taxes.
Another condition could require the city to conform its boundaries – meaning that the city would withdraw from the township, Celley said.
Currently, residents of the city of Waterville and Village of Whitehouse are permitted – along with the township’s 1,953 unincorporated residents – to vote in elections for township trustees and clerk.
“Not having the city vote for township officers has been a goal of the township for a long time,” Celley said.
Other municipalities have done this, including Perrysburg, which withdrew from the Perrysburg Township when becoming a city, he said.
Because so many questions surround the topic of annexation, trustees say they hope to receive a lot of public input.
“These decisions are very important to the structure of the township,” added trustee chair Les Disher. “It’s important to have input from more than just three of us.”
During the January meeting, trustees also:
• Opened bids for the Davis Road reconstruction project ranging from $269,157.60 to $311,791.60. The bids will be sent to the county engineer’s office for evaluation and a recommendation to trustees before the February meeting.
• Approved Tom Borck, a 19-year township resident, to serve on the zoning appeals board. Borck has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Purdue University and is a registered professional engineer in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. He is vice president of Poggemeyer Design Group.
• Discussed a railroad crossing sign that’s missing at Hertzfeld Road. Trains have not crossed the tracks in more than a year.

The next Waterville Township trustees meeting is Wednesday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m.