By GLEN WERLING
Town Manager Luann Martin has announced her retirement.
Martin, who has served as town manager for the past 17 years, kept her retirement letter to members of the Ossian Town Council Monday night rather short.
“On March 20, 2023, I will have worked for the town of Ossian for 17 years. I am glad to say I’ve reached a time in my life where I can retire,” Martin stated in the letter, which was read by council president Josh Barkley.
Martin, who has worked with a wide range of council members over the years as well as members from council-appointed boards, added, “It’s been an interesting 17 years for all of us and one I will never forget,” adding with her usual aplomb, “You all will miss me when I’m gone.”
The feisty and outspoken Martin has occasionally sparred with the council in the past over various issues which she has championed. Martin’s views expressed at council meetings have tended toward the pragmatic and she’s said in the past that she sometimes has to bring people “down to earth.”
When council member Brad Pursley observed that no one would run for his seat in the East Ward when he chose not to run again two years ago — resulting in him remaining on the council — Martin quickly replied, “I’m not staying, I’m going.”
After the meeting Martin said that she will be 66 and four months old when she retires effective March 31, 2023, meaning she can draw her full Social Security payments. She agreed to give the council one quarter’s notice before officially leaving the position.
Prior to coming to Ossian in 2006, Martin served as town manager in Antwerp, Ohio, for 11 years.
The council will now begin the search for her replacement. Applications from qualified people seeking the position will be accepted until noon Friday, Jan. 4, 2023, at the Ossian Town Hall.
Regarding retirement, Sgt. Stephanie Tucker of the Ossian Police Department formally announced she will retire from her position effective 11:59 a.m. Jan. 1.
Tucker, who won election to one of two at-large seats on the council in the Nov. 8 election, cannot serve as both a council member and an employee of the town.
She had declared as early as this past May that she was planning on retiring in 2022 (actually now 2023), but did not specify a date.
Chief Dave Rigney will also be leaving the chief’s position at the end of the year. Rigney was unopposed in his quest for the Lancaster Township Trustee’s position in the Nov. 8 election. Rigney may be staying with the force, however, but not in a chief’s position.
One of the positions he might vie for will be a part-time position. Council members Barkley, Pursley, Jeff Kemper, Jason House, and Dennis Ealing, following several minutes of discussion, approved a request by Ossian Police Commissioner Caleb Chichester to expand Ossian’s part-time police force to 10 members.
Currently there are five part-time officers working in Ossian — all but one of whom — Dennis Fiscus —are full-time law enforcement officers elsewhere. Fiscus is a former officer and detective with the Bluffton Police Department who is currently a full-time medic.
The expansion was recommended by Rigney, as upon his stepping down and Tucker’s retirement, the town will only have one full-time police officer — veteran officer Brian McClish — on the force.
The goal, Chichester observed, will be to one day expand the Ossian police force to six full-time officers. But for now, he added, the commissioners are continuing their search to quickly fill the four positions that will be open with qualified candidates, including a new police chief.
While the expansion of the part-time force will bring an additional five part-time positions, there is not yet five applicants to fill those positions, however Rigney advised Monday night he has received interest from two experienced officers for a part-time position on the Ossian force.
In other police-related business, the council discussed a request from Chichester to purchase nine new Glock automatic pistols for the department to replace the officers’ current sidearms. After considerable discussion on the matter, the council members believed that seven pistols would be enough to fill the needs of the department — one for each of the potential full-time officers plus a spare in case a pistol is quarantined for investigation. Fiscus has his own pistol and the part-time officers already use the ones they are most familiar with in their full-time law enforcement jobs, it was observed. The council also agreed to the purchase of ammunition and a sonic cleaner for the guns. This will all come at a cost of $9,436.
The council members — meeting as the Ossian Redevelopment Commission — also approved of a request by Wells County Economic Development Director Chad Kline to match $670,000 in investment by developer Kevan Biggs with the application of a residential tax increment financing district to the 66.019 acres Biggs is proposing to develop into a new housing addition on the town’s north side, immediately adjacent to the Rose Ann Heights housing addition.
Biggs, at the request of the council, has agreed to upsize the original sewage and water service to the proposed addition in exchange to the council agreeing to allow him to recapture his investment through a TIF. Biggs made it clear at a previous meeting of the council he could not financially follow through on developing the bare piece of farm ground without the TIF.
The estimated cost of increasing the scale of the sewage and water lines as well as a new, larger sewage lift station to replace the Davis Road sewage lift station, has been placed by town engineer Jim Breckler of Engineering Resources at $670,000 — an investment that Biggs will make entirely on his own and then will recoup through the increase in property taxes captured by the TIF via the increase (and only the increase) in the assessed value of the land once it is developed.
Barkley remarked that Biggs was actually taking a considerable risk as he could not recoup his investment for at least 16 years while the town, on the other hand, will benefit from getting the necessary-sized infrastructure to continue growth northward.
Kline said that the TIF will be necessary for the town to have an opportunity to receive READI grant funds from the state. Without the TIF, the state will not view the town as having made a good faith effort in trying to grow the TIF and will likely pass over Ossian for READI funds. Without the TIF, there is no READI, Kline emphasized, and without READI, Biggs will not have the necessary incentive to develop the ground, even though he owns it, Kline added.
As the sole owner of the property to be developed, Biggs has sought and initiated the process of having the bare farm ground annexed into the town. The council took the first step toward annexing the land Monday night. The next is a public hearing.
A public hearing is also the next step in Ossian for expanding the Ossian Industrial Park Economic Development Area — another TIF — from the Ossian Industrial Park through the downtown of Ossian as far north as properties either side of Heyerly Drive, including the Ginger Fresh Market.
Monday night, the council members (the council, not the RDC) approved orders from the Wells County Area Plan Commission approving an amending declaratory resolution and a declaratory resolution for the TIF.
The public hearing will be held by the RDC at the First Baptist Church, 1001 Dehner Drive, at 7 p.m. Dec. 5 to hear the views of the neighborhood associations and residents of the affected neighborhoods with respect to the proposed expansion of the industrial TIF area.
Actually any impact will be unnoticeable to the people living in and the businesses in the affected area as there will be no increase in tax rates caused by the TIF. The TIF only impacts the way new tax revenue from the growth of assessed valuation from new development is distributed.
In other business, the council members:
• Accepted the resignation of utility clerk Katie Stout effective Nov. 25. The council gave Martin the authority to hire a new clerk to replace Stout, who Martin said “found a different position that works a little bit better for her.”
• Agreed to set a minimum bid of $1,000 for the public to bid on the surplus police department Dodge Charger police car. Bluebook value of the car is between $2,455 and $3,700, however the Charger has “front end issues” and is being sold as-is.
• Learned from House that the new part-time fire department position has been working well, according to Ossian Chief Ben Fenstermaker.
• Approved of two utility adjustments and delayed action on two more until more information is received as to why the people seeking the adjustments would qualify for them.
• Approved of once again purchasing hams as Christmas gifts for the town employees.
While the Redevelopment Commission is meeting for a public hearing Dec. 5, the town council’s next meeting isn’t until 7 p.m. Dec. 12 at Collier’s Comfort, 215 N. Jefferson St.
glenw@news-banner.com
