Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Village council members in Walbridge held their latest regular meeting on June 3, which was highlighted by a debate over the potential lease of the former Carroll’s Health and Fitness Center, located at 417 Main St.
In the old business portion of the meeting, an ordinance had its second reading for the village to enter into an agreement with Ohio Elite All Stars Cheerleading to rent out the facility, which was purchased by the village in April 2024 for $190,000. The site was originally built in 1971 and has been vacant for at least 10 years.
Mayor Ed Kolanko requested that council move the issue forward as an emergency in an effort to get things squared away.
“We have somebody new coming in here, and they're going to bring people to the village (such as) employees, guests. And those people use services — like Random Acts, like 7-11, get their hair cut … all that helps,” he said.
Kolanko would like to invest $95,000 into the property to get it in shape, and the rental would provide $1,700 per month to the village to help offset that cost and potentially make money down the line. The investment cost would cover roof repairs, electrical upgrades, plumbing and some demolition work.
Council member Kristen Angelo said she has a lot of concerns with the idea. It’s a month-to-month lease, and she had several questions, including what happens if they don’t remain.
At $1,700 per month, it would take approximately four years and eight months to break even.
In response, Kolanko questioned why Angelo didn’t have a committee meeting to discuss her issues instead of going to Facebook to “rile up the people?”
“That's what a committee meeting is for,” Kolanko said. “But yet you want to go on Facebook and rile up the people two hours ago. ‘Come to this meeting, voice an opinion.’ I'm asking a question. You didn't want to invite me to your meeting. You didn't want to ask any questions. Yet, you want to go rile people up on Facebook? I've offered the olive branch to you on many occasions.”
“I don't understand how inviting people to the meeting is riling them up,” Angelo said. “I was letting them know something.”
“You are willing to talk to Facebook more than you're willing to talk to the administration,” Kolanko said. “You're willing to talk to Facebook more than your council members.”
“I'm not comfortable having private meetings,” Angelo said.
“It's not a (private) meeting,” Kolanko said. “You had a committee meeting that's open to the public. Why didn't you discuss it then?”
“You have a motion on the floor that I wanted to discuss tonight,” Angelo said. “This motion was not on the floor at the last council meeting.”
“It was discussed. Was it not? … You chose not to discuss it,” Kolanko said. “You chose to go to social media once again without talking to anybody else and rile people up. That is your MO. That's your behavior. That's what you do.”
“That's not what I did,” Angelo said.
“That's exactly what you did,” Kolanko said.
“Are you going to let me finish the sentence?” Angelo said.
“Sure, go ahead. You want to go put it on Facebook?,” Kolanko said. “I'll answer your questions. I'm asking you as a concerned person in this village, please communicate going forward. That's what I'm asking you to do. You have not done that for the first five months of this year.”
“And it works both ways,” Angelo said.
“Kristen, I have tried with you,” Kolanko said. “I have sat here in this building and said, 'Hey, this is me offering you an olive branch. Work together.' But you don't even try.”
“What am I supposed to try?” Angelo said. “You have a motion on the floor, and I have some questions and concerns with that. And that should be discussed in an open public forum.”
“Which is your committee meeting,” Kolanko said.
“I don't understand why we can't have discussion,” Angelo said.
“You could have easily called me, emailed me, texted me, whatever you want to do, instead of going to Facebook,” Kolanko said.
At that point, council president Thomas Urbina interjected.
“This isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “Please pose the questions.”
Angelo’s first question was how the improvements to the building will be tailored specifically to the cheerleading squad.
“The cheerleading squad really just needs a basic shell,” Kolanko said. “They need a concrete floor. They need nothing additional than just a concrete floor, a shell. This is an ideal opportunity for us, in my opinion, to bring in a business that can rent at $1,700 a month that will give us a payback of the potential improvement cost over a period of five years.
“I think that's good business personally. When I talk to (village administrator) Dave Shaffer — Dave's got more experience in these buildings — I think there's some hesitancy before all this.
“Everybody kind of thought this building was bad. And this building, even though it has a couple little quirks, is actually in pretty good shape. There is life to that building, so if we can invest up to $95,000 with council's approval, and get that paid back over a five-year period of time, now we have a very good building. If we have a renter going forward, we're using somebody else's money to make those improvements, and we have a local business here.
“But as far as your question goes, they need a bathroom. They need a small changing room, and they need an open floor plan. This really suits up well because we don't have to put a lot of money into that building. I know $95,000 is a lot of money. I don't disagree. But to get it back over five years and to have a functional building that's being used here in the village, I'm putting it forward because I believe that it makes sense.”
Angelo then said that there were mold concerns with the building when it was originally purchased and wanted to know if those still exist?
“There's a couple small spots that were minor in detail, but that was on a wall,” Kolanko said. “I'm not going to say there was none. We're talking maybe a two-by-two section that we used bleach and were able to take care of that.”
“Okay, and what about the foundation?” Angelo asked. “There are also concerns about the foundation.”
“There is no concern about the foundation,” Kolanko said. “Before we bought the building, we actually had a structural engineer come (and) provide an eight-page report. And that eight-page report said that, really, the building is in pretty good structural condition. As far as foundation goes, that's a big block. That thing's not going anywhere.”
“Those were my concerns about the building, because I know those were concerns when the village originally purchased the building,” Angelo said.
Angelo’s last question was how the deal came about with the cheerleading squad.
“What I mean by that is, was there some sort of call put out for local organizations to be able to utilize this space?” she asked. “It's kind of the same concern I had with the shelter house, which I think they've done amazing things with it, but at least that's going to the local school, but now we're bringing in an Oregon-based organization. Was there an offer put out to Walbridge-area organizations that this space was available?”
“No, it's an organization that I know quite well because my daughter cheers for Ohio Elite All-Stars, and in going to their facility in Oregon, which was in pretty bad shape, they said, 'Hey, we're looking for another place to rent to,’” Kolanko said. “And I thought, 'Hey, why not look at the village of Walbridge?' And I know you're probably going to use that against me.”
“I literally said nothing,” Angelo said.
“I can just tell by your reaction,” Kolanko said.
“I'm making notes of what you're saying,” Angelo said.
“I think everybody's responsibility here is to try to promote and bring people to the village,” Kolanko said.
“I literally did not say anything,” Angelo said. “I'm writing down, so I have notes to look back on. That's all I'm doing. Please do not put words in my mouth. Those are all the questions I have. Thank you for answering them.”
At that point, Urbina interjected again.
“Just so council knows, I did have a little correspondence with the mayor earlier today, and we do retain the right to rent out other spaces of that building, so there's a possibility for more revenue there. That was just one thing I was a little concerned about, making sure we reserve that.”
“What other spaces would we rent if it's just one open room?” Angelo asked.
“I think we said something about the back part, correct?” Urbina posed.
“There's a back,” Kolanko said. “There's kind of a median wall, so the building is kind of cut in, for lack of a better word, we'll say half and half, but probably more of like a three-quarter, one-quarter kind of feel. That back quarter is really just going to be an open shell too. There's a wall that separates the back quarter from the front three quarters.
“Actually, I had a conversation with Dream City Church. They wanted to potentially use some space to provide some of their ministry work, whether it was a food pantry, whether it was a clothing pantry … things like that. That discussion has been ongoing, but that's a space back there that the cheerleading group does not need to use, so that still potentially opens up. The lease is going to identify the fact that it's not for sole use of the cheerleading group.”
Council then voted to approve the emergency authorization, with Angelo being the only vote against. However, council member Sue Hart-Douglas wasn’t in attendance, so the vote didn’t reach the five-vote threshold for emergency authorization to be approved. So, the matter moves forward to the next meeting on June 17 at 6:30 p.m., in which it could simply be approved without emergency authorization and only need a majority to agree.
Other topics
Buildings and lands committee chair Joel Mass reported that, along with Angelo, the pair met with Rochelle Bowen of Republic Services regarding the ordinance on the table to enter into an agreement with the company for waste and recycling collection in the village. It had a second reading at the June 3 meeting.
“I thought it was a fantastic meeting,” Mass said. “Bowen did a fantastic job presenting facts and information that was requested. We had a lot of questions for her, and she answered them all incredibly well.”
Angelo said they have more questions regarding Northwestern Water and Sewer District’s role, which she sent to Kolanko.
“I have heard back from the rep, and she answered a few questions for me which I already knew,” Kolanko said. “A couple that you’re asking about, one being if a person decides to pay the water portion but not the trash portion of the bill, how does that affect service? And that has to go to the legal department. I have not gotten a response back yet on that question.”
Parks and recreation chair Karen Baron said that flowers have been planted at Loop and Railway parks, and they look very pretty. She thanked everybody for their help with the planter boxes and the dirt, and the guys who continue to water the flowers.
The personnel and HR committee chair, Ron Liwo, didn’t have a report, but Kolanko reported that new police officer Seth Austin has been out doing ride-alongs with sergeant Dominic McCrum. Another new officer, Andrew Thomasson, has completed his field training work, so he’s now out on his own. Kolanko said both are nice additions.
Similarly, Urbina didn’t have a streets committee report, but Kolanko said he spoke with David Bowers of Bowers Asphalt & Paving and said they are looking at hopefully the week of the meeting, or if not probably the week after, to get started on paving Walbridge Road. He said approximately 10 days after the June 3 meeting, there should be a bid opening for the Allen and Holly project.
Shaffer reported that the pool inspection went very well and that the village of Walbridge sign in front of the administration building was removed and the installation of the new one is being prepped.
He also said the maintenance of the ball fields has vastly improved.
“We’ve sprayed all the places of unwanted grass and weeds within the fields, and that has cleaned up pretty well,” Shaffer said. “We also use a spike drag. That helps loosen up the material after it rains. The field’s getting very hard, and the spike drag is loosening that up, making it a lot softer and a better playing surface for the kids.”
Mass said he schedules the umpires for the youth baseball games, and he’s been told by them that improvement has been noticed from years past.
“Things are where they're supposed to be,” Mass said. “We're getting compliments from people that don't even live here about how things have improved.”
Baron said that the Walbridge Library sent a thank you for the recent council approval to provide 200 free day passes for local children to attend the pool as an incentive to take part in the summer reading program.
Summer schedule
Council’s next meeting is June 17. Similar to many other local governments, the village’s summer meeting schedule will be lighter with only one meeting each month, which will be July 15 and Aug. 19. They will go back to bi-weekly meetings in September. All meetings are at 6:30 p.m.
