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Good news
To the editor: I am very excited to hear the news that the Dashing Pacific Investors are willing to resubmit their proposal to buy the Marina District with the option to purchase the old steam plant as well.
It is great for the City of Toledo to now have two, possibly three options to consider as viable buyers. Though the sale of the property will benefit the city as a whole, the people of District 3 will benefit the most. The sale will bring potential jobs, benefiting our valued resource of labor and increase the property values for District 3 residents on the East Side – both of which are desperately needed for our people.
We hope city council weighs the options carefully and comes to an agreement soon that best serves the people. The idea of an empty lot draining tax dollars is no longer acceptable to those of us in District 3 and throughout Toledo. One way or another, the property must be developed.
Daniel Angel
Candidate, Toledo City Council District 3
Safety a priority
To the editor: I recently attended a two- day class at Owens Community College presented by FEMA which gave instructions on how to assess the vulnerability of an organization related to man-made, natural, and internal disasters. I attended as a representative of the company in Toledo where I work.
Interestingly, one of the presenters was a former resident of Oregon. In fact, she stated she taught school at Fassett until the mid 1980s. She stated she personally invited representatives from the board of education, police and fire departments, and city government (mayor's office) to attend this free event. Imagine my disappointment as a resident of Oregon when no one was there to represent the city or the school system. In these hard economic times it is appalling that city officials did not take advantage of a no-cost educational offering. The topic was something appropriate for every group invited and the fact that it was local was further reason those invited should have attended.
My question is: Are city officials waiting to further deplete city coffers to attend a course where payment is required and possibly an out of town overnight stay or do they just not care about the safety of our city/citizens/schools?
Sue LaPointe
Oregon
Volunteers appreciated
To the editor: The Oak Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce would like to thank all of the volunteers who came out to help with the inaugural Oak Harbor Community Clean-up Day.
We had over 50 volunteers show up on Saturday, May 21, to help pick up trash and debris from the downtown area. We feel that this event was successful and hope to continue with fall and spring clean-ups each year.
Oak Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce
The blame game
To the editor: I want to express my sympathy’s to the Tim Mix family. This was an incredibly unfortunate incident.
First, I want to say I agree with one of the comments on The Press website only in regards to Northwood Mayor Mark Stoner and a couple councilmen not supporting the income tax increase, putting doubts in the minds of the citizens of Northwood.
Instead, the citizens of this city decided to vote against the increase and let other cities keep their money to fund their own police, fire, streets and government. If the city government thinks it will be bringing in business because of the lower income tax, and add revenue, show me the businesses that don’t get a tax abatement. Show me the development in this city, because Great Eastern and the Woodville Mall are all but ghost towns. Oregon doesn’t seem to have a problem attracting new business and even taking some of ours.
As for the concern over the fire chief having a second job, the mayor asked him to quit Springfield Township full-time, nothing else. It was no secret to anyone in the city government that he remained employed at Springfield. Not the mayor, nor council. As for City Administrator Dennis Recker stating he found out about the chief’s second job late last year, of course that’s when he found out, that’s when Recker was hired. Romstadt does not have a contract, so there is nothing binding him to working only for Northwood. Northwood is a small town, and you’re going to believe the mayor didn’t know about Romstadt’s second job? Maybe the same people who keep voting him into office will believe that. The chief’s position is appointed by the mayor, so he could have fired him at any time. With a family to support, who in their right mind, in that kind of position, wouldn’t have a back up plan in place and stay employed part-time somewhere? As for Mayor Stoner stating he had a fire chief not doing his job, ask him to pprovide documentation of that. Ask for Chief Romstadt’s performance evaluations or if he was written up or reprimanded for anything. Stoner won’t have anything to provide you.
The city administrator told the chief his hours of employment with the city were 8-4:30, no more no less, and anything Romstadt did for the fire department after hours was on his own time.
The free training Romstadt gets from being employed by Springfield Township provides a savings to the City of Northwood, especially since council cut the training budget of the fire department. Mayor Stoner states that Romstadt wasn’t supposed to be working 12-hour shifts three times a week or teaching college (which was taught two times a year for a week, not weekly or daily).
If your fire chief is requested to teach others in the fire and EMS service because of his knowledge, experience and qualifications, why would that be harmful to his effectiveness of running his department? That would be a huge asset to your city and fire department to have someone with those qualifications.
Romstadt’s salary of $66,000 is in question, with his amount of education and expertise? But, no one has a problem with a railroad or auto factory worker making $80,000 or more with maybe only a high school education.
As an FYI, Romstadt’s job description states for him to go on calls “when available.” If Romstadt had not been at Springfield Township on the morning of March 3, he would have been at Olney Elementary School serving breakfast for the mom/grandmother breakfast as he was asked to do and has done in years past. And, any other morning he is home getting his two youngest children off to school, hence not being available. For, those of you who aren’t aware the fire chief is not required to live in the city. The previous chief didn’t live in Northwood. So, if Romstadt lived outside the city, like the new chief might, he wouldn’t have been able to make the call anyway.
Furthermore, he didn’t resign because he feels guilty; we decided as a family that this is what was best for us. His resignation was typed personally by me in February. He delayed handing it in because he was going to submit to the safety committee a plan to bring back the 800 program of two people on duty during the day and increase the hourly rate (which has not been increased since the inception of the program in 1996) of the person manning the 800 paramedic car overnight and on the weekend. He gave up the full-time position, so that half or more of what he was making would go to fund that program.
After he presented this plan to the safety committee, he officially submitted his resignation. The revival of this program is because of Chief Romstadt’s personal financial sacrifice, not the mayor, city administrator or council. It was at the mayor and city administrator’s request that he stayed on in a chief’s position. At that time the wording of his resignation was changed to include requesting to step down to the rank of deputy fire chief. Part of the reason for the other jobs Romstadt holds was to prepare his family for the financial loss when he made the move to resign.
And, as you keep putting the blame on him and the fire department, I will keep bringing you the truth of the true workings of this city.
Amy M. Romstadt
Northwood
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