Inside Lucas County Commissioners Meeting: Aug. 27

TOLEDO – Both Lucas County Commissioners meetings on Wednesday went by quickly. 

The 11 a.m. meeting contained the bulk of approvals and resolutions for the commissioners to consider. Lisa Sobecki and Anita Lopez were the only Lucas County Commissioners present for the meetings, but did not disagree on the business of the day. 

Lily Varwig, a fourth grader at Escuela SMART Academy, led the pledge of a allegiance via a pre-recorded message before beginning the routines of the day. 

“I will have to shamelessly mention that her grandmother is my assistant and in the commissioner’s office: Christine Varwig,” Sobecki said before calling the roll.

Item one on the agenda, “Reappointment of the Lucas County Public Defender Commission” was tabled by Lopez. The extension of the University Park Trail, Item Two, had its funding authorized in 2022, and Benjamin Pushka, the sustainability coordinator for Lucas County, said the only thing left was administrative approval, which was granted. 

Item Three was a petition by the Sheriff’s department to apply for the FY2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, which was allowed. 

“On behalf of the Lucas County adult Treatment Court program, I’m requesting your approval and accepting a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance in the amount of $678 with a cash match of $256,” Judge Ian English. 

“This grant addresses two specific areas. Number one: the grant will fund home based therapists for our participants and their family,” he said. “In addition, the grant provides for peer support specialists through a certified UDL mental health condition service support; they will serve as mentors, role models and advocates, offering help and support and guidance.”

In the same vein, the next two items were from Juvenile Court and dealt with approving agreements for re-entry support services and services at the Community Treatment Center.

4,677 square feet was approved for use by the Lucas County Coroner’s Office. Jeff Nowak, director of facilities, informed commissioners that 2595 Arlington Avenue, home to the coroner’s office, no longer housed the Lucas County Veterans Commission, so that space could be given to the Coroner’s. 

“The coroner has asked for this space to improve their working conditions, maintain accreditation for their lab and increase operational efficiency, as well as complying to all standards,” Nowak said. 

An amendment to the Capital Improvement Plan approved $424,882 for four projects: architectural engineering services for the jail roof replacement, architectural and engineering services for concrete repairs and mitigation of water intrusion on the jail, a heating and cooling rooftop unit on the EMS building at 2144 Monroe Street and engineering and replacement installation of the water service back flow at the fairgrounds.

Commissioner Sobecki was asked about the continued investment in the current jail, to which she said, “I don’t want to speculate until we get these dollars in, and then, amongst my colleagues, we can have a discussion about what that looks like.” In the meantime, the mitigation of water and new roof seemed to be imminent, fixes the commissioners were looking to implement once more information becomes available. 

Lopez took issue with System Solutions items 11 and 12, which included a request for a change order and a contract amendment with Oracle for Human Capital Management and Recruiting. 

“So Oracle actually has the audacity to try to get $1,262 from us for a few more hours,” Lopez said of the agenda items when presented. When asked about her reaction and her apparent hesitation to approve the request (she paused for a few moments before approving), she said, “I always have a concern with change orders, because change orders mean either we didn’t identify something we needed when we first implemented or we did not have maybe personnel who understood our needs.

“A lot of the customization requests need to happen while it’s being implemented. And so, if you don’t have individuals communicating what we truly need, then it gets more expensive along the way.

“$1,200 is very few hours…I can’t believe that they could not have accepted in the original contract, so it’s basically a forecast to me that, if they’re willing to bill for any little minor change, this is going to be a foreseeable cost.”

Resolutions brought forth by the Office of Management & Budget that were tabled from the last meeting passed, including item 15, providing for the issuance and sale of $37,455,000 of Lucas County bonds. These bonds provide a majority investment in the Hilton Garden Inn, connected to the Glass City Center, in downtown. 

Sobecki argued for the renewal of the bond on Wednesday, and said they were just continuing to roll over the money from the last year, as they had done before. 

“These are vital pieces of any big city or any city,” the hotel, Sobecki said, is important for people outside of Toledo to come, enjoy Toledo and choose to invest or come back to the city.

“You would have motels, hotels downtown, so that you attract people. They want to come into your town, they want to have a place to stay and have the experience,” she said.

The 11 a.m. meeting ended with the commissioners moving into an executive session, and then coming out of executive session at the beginning of the next meeting at 2 p.m. 

The county hired one Specialist Two position at the Department of Job and Family Services at $19.50 per hour, an Elderly Specialist One position at the Department of Job and Family Services at $70.79 per hour, four Account Clerk Specialist positions at the Child Support Enforcement Agency at $18.16 per hour and Human Resource Project Manager at $34.36 per hour. 

The second meeting began and then was over briefly with approval of items brought by the county and sanitary engineers.