Oregon transfers 20 acres to Economic Development Foundation

        Oregon City Council recently approved an agreement with the Oregon Economic Development Foundation (OEDF) to allow the city to transfer land to the Foundation to market for future development.
        The 20-acre parcel is at the northeast corner of Wynn and Cedar Point roads.
        The property was donated to the city in 2004, according to City Administrator Joel Mazur.
        “It was donated by the prior owner to the city in good faith that the city would use the land for further development, whatever that may be,” said Mazur.
        “The city actually invested in planting trees around the perimeter of the parcel as screening. In my opinion, this land should have been transferred to the OEDF some time ago. The city’s owned it for years for whatever reason. The city pays $600 in taxes per year. It is farmed right now. This is just a formality to get the property to the OEDF for some type of development,” said Mazur. “This will relieve the city of the tax burden.”
        Also at the meeting, council:
        0Approved a three-year agreement with FireCatt Precision Service Testing, Troy, Michigan, for annual testing of equipment in the Fire Department at an annual cost of $8,360. The fire and rescue department undergoes annual testing of all fire hoses, nozzle pressures, and ground ladders to ensure that the equipment is up to standard, according to assistant fire chief Mark Mullins. “It gives us the opportunity to do all of our testing for all of our ground ladders, all hoses, and nozzles within the fire department,” said Mullins.
        •Approved the purchase of 16 Lifepak CR2 Defibrillators and accessories from Stryker Sales Corp, Portage, MI, for $30,411.28 for the Oregon Fire Division. The city is in need of upgrading existing Phillips defibrillators in order to adapt to changing technology. The purchase streamlines all of the cardiac equipment, including police vehicle defibrillators, eliminating the need to purchase supplies from multiple manufacturers. Training for all city personnel would be simplified by not having to learn multiple pieces of equipment;
        •Approved the OneOhio Opioid settlement and entered into the participation agreement with Opioid distributors Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. The opioid distributors proposed a joint settlement to the State of Ohio and its political subdivisions pertaining to the distribution of opioids that was a significant cause of the national opioid crisis that led to mass addiction and overdose deaths. Under the national settlement, the distributors will pay billions within six years. Ohio will receive a portion from the settled amounts and make distributions to the political subdivisions. Most of the money received will be earmarked for abatement of the opioid epidemic. The actual amount that will be sent to the State of Ohio and the political subdivisions are unknown at this time, said City Solicitor Melissa Purpura.
        •Approved the $91,638 bid of Core & Main LP, Perrysburg, to provide water distribution equipment, including water service lines, ball valves, corporation stop valves, couplings, curb boxes and stiffeners in order to complete the replacement of lead service lines within the city’s distribution system. Core & Main LP provided the lowest and best bid out of four bids submitted to the city. “We want to replace all of our lead service lines that remain in the city,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman. “We have about 350 remaining.”
        Roman said deliveries have been delayed due to continued supply chain problems. “Deliveries take a long time. Just this ordinance alone, it will take six months to deliver. The biggest delay right now in construction is electric items, such as transformers. All the electrical boxes for the Coy-Navarre project could be delayed until the summer. So there are major delays in electrical equipment.”
        Mazur said fire equipment is another item that is in short supply. “There are specialty vehicles that need to be made,” he said.
        Mayor Mike Seferian said the city is still waiting on a medic unit ordered last year, “We won’t even receive that until possibly February or March of 2024. And if you order a fire truck, there is the condition that you could see an increase of 50 percent and not see it until 2024-25,” he said.
        •Approved an agreement with Ace Diversified Services, LLC, Holland, for portable toilet services for the 2023 season in exchange for waste tickets to be used at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The contract consists of supplying and servicing portable toilets at various locations in accordance with the city’s specifications in exchange for disposal tickets at the Oregon Wastewater Treatment plant. Each disposal ticket is valued at $75 and allows the holder to dump up to 1,000 gallons of waste at the wastewater treatment plant.