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LABOR AGREEMENTS:

COMMAND CONTRACT (2007-2009)

PATROL CONTRACT (2007-2009)

FACT FINDER REPORT (MAR. 2008)

CONCILIATOR REPORT (2008)

PERFORMANCE AUDIT (2006)

PERFORMANCE AUDIT WAGES (2007)

PREVIOUS PATROL CONTRACT (2003)

NEWS:

GENERAL ORDER-COMMAND, 2009

COUNCIL MEETNG MAY 11, 2009

COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 27, 2009

CONTRACT SETTLED *

POLICE COMPUTERS (COUNCIL MINUTES)

CURFEW CITIZENS WANT POLICE *

DISPUTE HURTING MORALE +

FORMER CHIEF FOY *

DAN WAGNER *

CHIEF VESPI *

MAYOR VERBOSKY *

GRIEVANCES:

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY (SETTLED/PAID)

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT / DARE (TO ARBITRATION)

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT / DARE (ARBITRATOR RULING)

SENIOR OFFICER PAY (SETTLED/PAID)

FUNERAL DAYS DENIED (TO ARBITRATION)

OTHER:

TOLEDO AREA TAXES BY CITY (2006)

 Some articles listed on this site are taken from other sources. Above, stories are identifed as follows:      *Rossford Record Journal+Toledo Blade News

Article published February 10, 2005 THE BLADE
Rossford: Cost savings keep city from deficit
By ERIKA RAY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

If city officials hadn't come up with the cost-savings measures necessary to balance the budget, 12 full-time city employees were to be laid off. As of now, nine crossing guards were laid off at the end of December.

The city employs about 35 people, plus 33 others in the volunteer fire department.

The city expects its fiscal 2005 general fund revenue to be $4,069,369, which is only a 1.6 percent increase over its fiscal 2001 total. Most of that comes from income taxes, which haven't risen enough to keep up with expenses.

New revenue will be coming in from the newly implemented $9 monthly refuse-collection fee for single and two-family dwellings, which began Jan. 1.

Households that have been certified by the Wood County Homestead Exemption Program - a tax-saving program for property owners 65 years of age or older, or property owners who are disabled with an annual income of less than $23,700 - would receive a $4 discount each month. The fee, which is projected to net $175,000, is for one year only.

Unions were due 4 percent wage increases this year, and are expected to give them up, saving the city about $92,000, City Administrator Ed Ciecka said.

He said agreements have been finalized with the nine members of Local 2954 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; the four members of the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Command Officers Unit; and the 12 members of the OPBA Patrol Officers Unit.

He hopes to have agreements finalized this week with the two full-time employees of the United Auto Workers, and the 33 part-time employees of the Local 245 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

After all the agreements are finalized, Mr. Ciecka said the city will know whether it needs to lay off up to four part-time workers.

Because of the unions' cooperation, Rossford Mayor Bill Verbosky, Jr., said he would give back 5 percent of his $7,500 annual salary - or $375 - to the city in 2005. "Since I was asking people either not to take a raise or to forego a raise, I would also do my part," he said.

Rossford Law Director Keith Wilkowski said he would also reduce his gross salary by 5 percent in 2005. He is paid $95 an hour to attend council meetings, and $105 a hour for legal proceedings.

Council will also be saving money from authorizing a voluntary severance agreement last month with Sgt. Gary Vinson of the OPBA Command Officers Unit, who agreed to resign from his post for a severance payment of about $15,000 from the city. That would save up to $30,000, depending on the date his resignation takes effect, Mr. Ciecka said.

He said council granted up to an 18-month voluntary leave of absence for Sergeant Todd Kitzler of the OPBACommand Officers Unit and Patrol Officers Unit to reduce operating costs to the city, which could save the city about $40,000 in 2005, depending on the date of his leave.

As for cutting or modifying city services to keep funds in check, city officials have eliminated the fall and spring clean-ups, saving the city $20,000, and reduced the road salt used in Rossford by 25 percent by not salting residential streets, saving the city about $15,000, Mr. Ciecka said.

Officials plan to reduce the amount of overtime in all departments and raise recreation center fees, and they have put off some road repair work and vehicle replacements, raised marina fees, and delayed building a fire station.

"We'd like to maintain as many services as we can, but we are continuously looking at ways of trimming the costs here," Mayor Verbosky said.

When the deficit arose, a few community members questioned council about the $623,430 included as a revenue estimate in last year's budget, which was not listed in the 2005 budget.

Mr. Ciecka said the figure was an estimate of revenue the city projected it would receive from settling legal disputes over property owned by the Rossford Arena Amphitheater Authority, possible private development in the Crossroads Area that never materialized, and collecting income tax from the new Meijer that was delayed.

"I'm going to have to say that it is a figure that was ambitious on the part of the city at the time, but it was based on probably the best-case scenario," Mr. Ciecka said, adding city expenses have been increasing, while revenues have not, which will force officials to keep a close eye on spending this year.

"We'll have to continue to monitor our revenue for the year and hope our revenue projection is conservative," he said. "But if the economy and revenue don't pick up, we'll have to look at cutting our expenses still."

REMEMBER THESE STORIES?

ROSSFORD RECORD-JOURNAL REPORTS

A NEW, FULL-TIME FIRE CHIEF IS NEEDED TO PERFORM INSPECTIONS AND RESPOND TO CALLS (2001)

By Diana Hersch
Rossford has named James Verbosky as its first full-time fire chief.
The mayoral appointment was approved in a 6-0 vote with one abstention at the March 12 meeting of Rossford City Council.  Councilman William Verbosky, brother of the chief, recused himself from the vote.
According to Mayor Mark Zuchowski, the city plans a swearing-in ceremony at the next council meeting, March 26.
Chief Verbosky will begin the position on March-26, at an annual salary of $49,000­a jump from his  $7,875 part-time annual wages.  
Mayor Zuchowski  made the determination as to the amount of the salary.  
³I hope to continue in our mission to protect the lives and property of Rossford citizens,² said Chief Verbosky in an interview following the appointment.  He said he can now more fully dedicate his time to that effort and to plan for the growing need for services in the southern portion of Rossford.
³One of my priorities will be to mend fences with departments in other jurisdictions,² he said referring in most part to recent talks between the city and Perrysburg Township Fire Department which failed to bring about a joint fire district.
The money for the chief¹s salary was ³borrowed² this year from the Public Works Department budget.  In 2002, it will become a regular part of the fire department¹s  budget, according to Vince Langevin, city administrator.
An option to utilize the salary of retired Police Officer Michael Reiter to pay for the new post was discarded last month. Police Chief Dennis Foy expects to  name the department¹s replacement  officer in May, he said in a recent interview.
Last month, the city approved an annual salary range of $42,000 to $54,000 in the event Chief Verbosky were to leave the position and an individual with fewer qualifications was to be hired. occassion
Chief Verbosky was first hired October 24, 1983, as a firefighter at Rossford Fire Department.  He served in that capacity until 1992 when he was named a line lieutenant. In 1996, he was appointed assistant fire chief and on September 28, 1998, he was named part-time fire chief, replacing John Vedra.
The position of full-time chief was approved by city council February 12 due to an increase in rescue calls and  safety inspections.  Most of the emergency calls occur within the older, northern section of Rossford.  The inspections largely involve new businesses in the city¹s southern Crossroads of America area, according to the chief.

TOLEDO BLADE FEBRUARY 1988

Somethings Just Don't Change...

Rossford Mayor Louis Bauer and opponent/councilman - turned City Administrator, Ken Gwodz 'bury the hatchet' and agree to work on downtown revitalization by encouraging new businesses to move into downtown and to encourage existing businesses to spruce up their properties and repairing sewer lines. City officials hope to get a federal block grant to help with the downtown area. They are also breathing a sigh of relief that Libbey Owens Ford will invest 26+ million in renovations to their glass plant.

Article published Dec. 19, 1989  TOLEDO BLADE

OVERTIME PAY FOR POLICE

Overtime pay for Rossford Police will cost $12,000 for the last 5 weeks of the year.

Rossford council agreed to transfer $39,736 from accounts that have extra money to those that would otherwise be overdrawn by Dec. 31 according to city records.

The police department gets an additional $12,000 for the period of Nov. 24 to Dec. 31 including $7,000 for the last 3 1/2 weeks, said Mary Ceparksi, Finance Director.

"There's been overtime in the budget every  year forever. Even when we hire more people, we lose people," Mayor Bauer said.

Chief Ronald Bielski said, "Two officers were hired this year, but two are out now on injuries."

"With prisoner transport [to Perrysburg Municipal Court], illness, call-ins on warrants, it's a combination of everything," Chief Bielski said.

Where Can Residents Park on Their Property?

Council gave first reading to an ordinance addressing the "age-old-problem" of where residents can park on their property, Mr.auer said.

Current local law prohibits residents from driving over a curb to park on their lawn, but they may - and do - do so if there is no curb on the street.

The proposed ordinance would prevent that. But would not stop residents from parking on a city easement between sidewalks and the street, he said.

ORDINANCE #2005-35 – AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING A PERFORMANCE AUDIT BY THE AUDITOR OF STATE, PERFORMANCE AUDITS SECTION; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. THIRD READING.

Mrs. Jakubec moved and Mr. Richards seconded the motion to read by title only. All ayes. Motion carried. Mayor Verbosky commented said that with the passage of the levy $40,000 has been budgeted for this but that every effort should be made to get through this with the utmost diligence but trying not to spend the entire $40,000. Mr. Marquette wondered if the departments mentioned are the ones everyone wants audited or if some additions or deletions should be made. Mr. Richards said he is not sure this is precisely what is wanted but he thinks it is a good place to start. Mr. Kovach said to do this right he would like to see a comprehensive audit done and that the other audits for cities available online may be similar to us but we have some unique projects that led the city down some roads that became overwhelming. He would like to see exactly what went wrong and thinks the city owes some answers to the citizens. Mayor Verbosky said he thinks the projects, related debt, and how to get out of it will be covered in the audit of the administration/finance area. Mrs. Eckel asked what cuts will be made to be made to cover the $40,000 expense or is it levy money. Mr. Hermes said the levy has nothing to do with this ordinance as that money will be spent as committed to in the levy request. This audit expense would be paid by continuing with cuts such as not hiring people back, not replacing positions vacated by retirement, or taking money out of the 2006 budget that would have been spent on roads and other things. He said he had passed out a review of other audits for council to look at and many of the things that will be recommended are things the city already does. He feels that $40,000 for this is too much spending for what possible savings the city might get. Mr. Kovach believes that there is $40,000 unencumbered in the Star Ohio account that could be used for this. Mr. Hermes said that is not a correct comment concerning the Star Ohio fund. Mr. Ciecka explained that the money the city appropriates to various accounts is what is in the Star Ohio fund. This is money that is already allocated and if used for other purposes must be covered by reducing expenses from another account. He said the budget being prepared has a line item for the audit expense but that allocation will be covered by cuts in other areas. Mr. Richards said that there is a perception that the community will feel more confident in council’s actions if the $40,000 is used and that council realizes this is money that can’t be used for other things. Mr. Richards then moved that this ordinance be declared an emergency which was seconded by Mr. Kovach. Mrs. Eckel said she has looked at the suggestions made in other performance audits and that they are the same in many of them. She feels that this would be money misspent if told to do things we already do such as apply for grants and agrees with Mr. Hermes that the city should try the free ideas available in the previous audits. Mr. Oberdorf said he is very much in favor of this ordinance and he to would like to see comprehensive audit but can live with this. He has heard many explanations as to how the city got in this position but he would like some experts to come in and tell him how this happened. Mr. Hermes said based on Mr. Oberdorf’s comments that a forensic audit is what he is asking for, something that looks back, and that a performance audit won’t accomplish this, it looks forward.

Mr. Ciecka said a performance audit will make suggestions for improvements in the departments reviewed. Mayor Verbosky feels that some of the prior events will be covered in the audit of the administration/finance department. Mrs. Jakubec said that she in good conscience couldn’t vote for a $40,000 audit to tell us that the city experienced a loss of revenue since 1999. Mr. Marquette said he is for an audit to a degree but doesn’t know what an auditor could tell him to make the Public Works department more efficient. There are a lot of things he would like to see audited but not what is in this ordinance. Vote on the motion to declare an emergency was all ayes expect for Jakubec and Eckel who voted nay. Motion passes 5-2. Mr. Hermes moved and Mrs. Jakubec seconded the motion to amend the ordinance to not exceed $20,000. Mr. Marquette asked what that covered and was told by Mr. Hermes $7,000 for the contracts audit and $13,000 for some other department. Mr. Marquette would like to see the Public Works department eliminated from the audit and just auditing the Administrative/Finance and Police departments along with the contracts which would amount to $29,000. Mr. Hermes then withdrew his motion and Mrs. Jakubec withdrew her second. Mr. Marquette then moved and Mr. Kovach seconded the motion to amend the ordinance by eliminating the Public Works department from the areas to be audited and setting the maximum cost at $29,000. Mr. Richards said he is shocked at the proposed amendment and he believes the entire $40,000 should be spent and thus he would advocate a no vote on this motion. Mr. Hermes said that if something was found during the audit a separate ordinance could be done to extend the scope of the audit. Mrs. Eckel said she agrees with that line of reasoning. Vote on the motion was Marquette, Eckel, Kovach, Jakubec, and Hermes aye with Oberdorf and Richards voting nay. Motion to amend passes 5-2. Mr. Marquette moved and Mrs. Eckel seconded the motion to adopt as amended. Marquette, Kovach, Jakubec, Hermes aye; Eckel, Oberdorf, and Richards nay. Motion to adopt as amended passes 4-3.