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EBE Hall of Fame inductees reflect diverse business interests

By
Dock David Treece
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Four area businesses will soon be inducted into the Entrepreneurial & Business Excellence Hall of Fame (EBE HOF).

Honored for business excellence will be Hanson Inc., American Broadband + Telecommunications and The Oasis Restaurant & Delivery. Honored for excellence in family business will be Rima Manufacturing Company.

The EBE HOF recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs and business leaders who have built and sustained growing businesses and created jobs in the region, said Adam Davenport, EBE HOF chairman and president of Gorillas & Gazelles, founding sponsor of the event.

The companies will be inducted during a public ceremony Nov. 6 at The Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle, Maumee. Networking will start at 5:30 p.m. with the first set of awards announced at 6:30 p.m. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available. Tickets are $85.

The winner of the Davenport-Longenecker Lifetime Achievement Award will also be announced at the event.

For more information, visit www.ebehof.com.

— Sarah Ottney

Business Excellence:

Hanson Inc.

Hanson Inc. started as five people working above a warehouse — the way CEO Steve Hanson still sometimes thinks of the company.

Today, the Maumee company has close to 80 employees creating websites, mobile applications and digital marketing for local and internationally known brands. The company also offers event management services.

What started in 1991 as a film and video production company expanded in the late 1990s to work in new media.

“Companies, small, medium and large, realized that no matter who they are, they needed to have a presence [on the Internet],” Hanson said. “As the Internet matured, people’s bar went up along with their expectation of how good a website needs to look.”

To say the company’s induction into the EBE HOF is an honor would be an understatement, Hanson said.

“To have something as prestigious as this group reaching out and [sharing] a handful of business in Northwest Ohio, Southeast Michigan is truly pretty incredible,” he said.

Hanson said he owes his success to his team.

“I am constantly blown away by the dedication, the loyalty, the intellect [and] the passion that the people that work here have,” he said. “It’s the collective total of all of them that makes this company extraordinary.”

Hanson said  he manages his company on one premise: He surrounds himself with excellence and then gets out of their way.

“We have the belief that every customer, every client, should have their Super Bowl,” Hanson said.

Hanson said he likes to work with clients in the long term.

“Rather than a project, we love the opportunity to work with a client at its most significant level and help them be successful,” he said. “I think that’s probably what we value the most.” O

— Matt Liasse

Business Excellence:

American Broadband +

Telecommunications

American Broadband + Telecommunications of Toledo has provided  customers throughout the Midwest with a comprehensive and innovative suite of communications services since 2004.

President Jeff Ansted said he is honored the company is being recognized for business excellence by the EBE HOF.

“We appreciate the recognition and could not have realized such success without the contributions of all our employees with their hard work to achieve the growth we have,” he said.

Ansted started the business in Sylvania in 2003.

“We’re rapidly expanding, having quadrupled our customer base since 2011. We credit our success to finding a niche for services that we deliver efficiently and support effectively,” he said.

American Broadband began by serving customers in Ohio and Michigan, but now offers communications services to commercial and residential customers in 15 states, Ansted said. He said the company has added wireless service and its commercial base is growing.

The company now has 85 full-time employees, of which 65 are located at its Downtown Toledo offices. The other employees work out of numerous sales offices across the Midwest to serve customers in those areas.

“We are the largest telecommunications company you’ve never heard of,” Ansted said, explaining how the company generates business with very little advertising.

The company provides local and long-distance telephone service, high-speed Internet, DISH Network digital television, dedicated broadband services and information and communications technology services for residential customers. It also handles commercial accounts that include small businesses to large institutions and municipal operations.

“We are able to offer our business and residential customers with telecommunications solutions built to fit their unique needs and at competitive prices,” Ansted stated on the company’s website. “We take pride in delivering those solutions with top-notch customer service to our neighbors throughout the Midwest.”

— Duane Ramsey

Business Excellence:

Oasis Restaurant and Delivery

What started in 2008 as the Campus Oasis at the intersection of Dorr Street and Secor Road has grown into a multi-million dollar business with six locations and nearly 350 employees.

Now, in addition to the original restaurant, Oasis Restaurant & Delivery has locations on Laskey and Reynolds roads in Toledo as well as locations in Bowling Green and Perrysburg. On Nov. 10, its sixth restaurant will open in Oregon. The company hopes to open a location in Sylvania in the near future and then expand into another market.

“We wanted to be able to deliver convenience through wide variety, and to be known for dine-in quality food with fast, casual pricing and delivery,” said president, CEO and majority partner Moyad “Mo” Dari.

Dari and his business partner Moe Swidan got their start at Cottage Inn Pizza, and in 2004 started experimenting with another model at their Byrne Road restaurant.

Transforming it into Cottage Inn Pizza and Grill, they expanded their offerings and met with success. In 2006, they started searching for real estate and in 2007 bought the location at Dorr and Secor. In 2008, Oasis was born.

Recently, Dari and Swidan have been joined by additional partners who have stepped up as advisers and investors: attorney Pete Silverman, financial advisers Fred and Jay Treuhaft, and Zach Ottenstein, director of marketing and communications for Health Care REIT.

Oasis offers a wide variety of menu items, including pizza, subs, salads, baked potatoes, burgers, wraps and gyros, quesadillas, ribs, fried chicken, shrimp, fish, wings, hotdogs, shakes and ice cream. Dari said this variety sets Oasis apart from other restaurants, along with a dedicated customer service call center and late-night delivery.

Dari said he hopes to double sales to $20 million by the end of next year when they open four more units in another market and grow to approximately 500 employees.

Also in the works for the near future is a “brand repositioning,” including a name change, prompted by the growth and evolution of Oasis over the last several years, said Dari, adding that this will most likely happen in early 2015 before Oasis moves into its next market.

Dari said being inducted into the EBE HOF means a lot.

“I feel like we are being recognized in the area for doing the right things,” he said. “We are very community oriented, and we want people to know that we are involved and will continue to be involved. We want to make a difference in this community.”

—Michele Jurek

Excellence in Family Business: Rima Manufacturing

Rima Manufacturing of Hudson, Mich., will be inducted into the EBE HOF in the category of Excellence in Family Business.

“Receiving this award is an important moment for me,” said CEO Ed Engle Jr. “I’m 72 years old and have dedicated my working career to Rima since 1970. This award is an affirmation that what I believed in all those years — a family-owned and community-oriented business — were right and good values worthy of my life’s work.”

Rima is a supplier of precision machined metal components produced primarily for automotive applications such as braking, fuel fluid control, HVAC and transmissions. The company’s products include brackets, bushings, valves, fittings, tube connectors, couplings, pins, shafts, spools and pistons.

The ranks of Rima’s workforce have grown along with the company, which now employs 105 workers.

“We believe that their work and dedication to Rima is the foundation of our success,” Engle said. “Consequently, we feel a personal responsibility back to them and their families; and we satisfy that responsibility by conducting our business in a prudent, honest, competent and profitable manner.”

Rima was founded in 1955 by Edward Engle Sr. Engle Jr.’s son, Jed Engle, serves as president and his daughter, Laura Tomasello, is an engineer who oversees the manufacturing operations.

The company was originally located in a wooden building on Munson Highway. A year later, Rima moved operations to a sturdier cinderblock building and in 1960, the machining department was founded.   In 1978, Rima moved to its current location. The company now works out of two facilities with a total of 50,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

In 1980, the family established Rima Canada in Kingsville, Ontario, to better serve its Canadian customers.

“During those 59 years, we have sustained our entrepreneurial spirit by remaining committed to God, strong family values, high professional standards, long-lasting relationships and economic well-being,” Engle said.

— Duane Ramsey

Flagg: Issue 1 isn’t for our kids

By
Toledo Free Press
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This is the fourth in a series about the Toledo Public Schools (TPS) levy. The first, “Tough choices,” was published July 26. The second, “TPS’ pig in a poke,” was published Oct. 19. The third, “Student outcomes first,” was published Oct. 26.

Toledo Public Schools officials are promising a continuation of the momentum with the passage of Issue 1, a levy that will siphon $66.5 million from the poorest sections of Toledo (two school districts operate in Toledo, TPS and Washington Local Schools).

According to TPS, continuing the momentum — mostly resulting from a change to K-8 elementary schools — requires restoring bus transportation to pre-2010 levels ($30 million), increasing employee salaries for competitive purposes ($27.5 million), purchasing 2,000 computers in each of the next five years ($7.5 million) and building maintenance ($1.5 million).

Transportation of students has no documented impact on student outcomes except where it might increase attendance. Yet TPS has had a steady attendance rate of around 94 percent, both before and after transportation was cut back in 2010. No research exists to support higher student outcomes from such services and TPS has not made a compelling argument.

TPS makes a case for increased salaries by offering mostly anecdotal stories such as principals lost to other districts for $20,000 more a year. Yet we’re not told that TPS is the only district in the state where principals are unionized. The contract restricts TPS’ ability to compete salary-wise and changes in contract language should be the prescription. TPS’ proposed solution won’t keep talented principals when other districts can offer what the market will bear. TPS says teachers are underpaid. Yet again the district presents its case relying upon sketchy data from a few local and urban districts at two salary grades out of 182 grades on the Toledo Federation of Teachers (TFT) salary schedule. Total compensation, which includes a list of TPS fringe benefits versus other districts, has not been reviewed. Union contracts and political influence on local boards of education are the real barriers to retaining  experienced teachers. There is no competition for experienced teachers among districts.

Teacher recruitment could be a problem especially for teachers with specialty skills like math, science and special education. Starting teachers receive the same base pay for four years, which is likely a competitive disadvantage when recruiting the best college graduates.

While starting teacher salaries have been cannibalized and compressed in prior negotiations, every six months from years four to 13 and less frequently from years 13 to 30, teachers receive longevity step increases between 2 and 4 percent annually. For example, teachers with a bachelor’s degree see their salaries increase from year four through year 12 by 38 percent (at a 4.5 percent average annual increase).

Starting salaries require review but TPS isn’t planning a major overhaul even if the levy passes. TPS mostly hires teachers directly from colleges and invests heavily — although not always effectively — to improve each teacher’s capacity. It is critical in such situations to get the best candidates possible while providing high levels of support to improve teacher quality within TPS.

TPS just hasn’t done its homework. It has never looked at total compensation and issues such as starting salaries, incentives for hard-to-fill teaching specialties and the challenges of staffing low-performing, high-poverty schools with the best teachers.

In May, wages in the third year of the contract will be re-opened for negotiation. Based on past fact-finding reports resulting from negotiation impasses, the fact finder is likely to support the union’s request for a large portion of the new levy. Even the TPS treasurer has publicly acknowledged that state labor laws favor unions in negotiations, meaning large surpluses result in significant employee wage increases that create large future structural deficits necessitating future budget cuts, things like student transportation. In the end, just as it always has, the board will likely cave to the political pressure, approve the fact finder’s recommendations and TPS will be saddled with higher costs while maintaining the status quo. Students will once again come out on the short end — especially poor and minority students.

Integrating 2,000 computers a year into the classroom and curriculum is a daunting task. It requires a plan, support services and digital instruction materials. There isn’t a plan and there has been no mention of materials or access for poor students to home Internet connections.

If you look at the facts and want real improvement in student outcomes, this levy is not worthy of your vote. It’s not about the students — our kids and future — but about controlling the economic engine called TPS to benefit the few. More money unwisely spent on programs not directly impacting student achievement just raises long-term costs and makes it difficult to fund programs that will impact student outcomes.

The TPS Board of Education doesn’t deserve our support for their half-baked, politically motivated new levy request. There are simply better ways to spend money that can improve student outcomes.

Steven Flagg is a community activist with more than 20 years of experience in education advocacy. For more, visit tpsinfo.com or @sgflagg on Twitter.

Issue 8: Support mental health services in Lucas County

By
Lynn Olman
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The Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County (MHRSBLC) has renewal of its 0.5-mill levy on the Nov. 4 ballot, and I encourage you to vote yes on Issue 8. This 10-year levy, first passed in 1985, will continue providing $3.4 million to support behavioral health services. As a renewal, it is not a new tax, and costs the owner of a house valued at $100,000 just $15.31 a year.

Lynn Olman

Lynn Olman

In the 10 years that I proudly represented western Lucas County in the Ohio House of Representatives I learned about the challenges individuals and families face when they themselves or a loved one experience a behavioral health disorder. I worked for successful passage of Ohio’s insurance parity law, which required that insurance companies provide equal coverage for mental illness. But as we all know, insurance coverage may fall short in the face of serious, debilitating illness.

Changes in insurance laws and the expansion of Medicaid coverage are helpful in providing treatment for those who need it. However, the needs of a person or a family coping with serious mental health problems are many and varied.

People with serious mental illness are often unable to maintain a full-time job, and some are unable to work at all. Housing support services, many provided by Neighborhood Properties Inc., allow people with mental illness to live in the least restrictive, and least costly, environment.

Peer and family support services, such as those provided by Thomas Wernert Center and NAMI of Toledo provide essential socialization opportunities that increase stability and keep people out of crisis as well as provide families with coping skills.

Over 500 Lucas County first responders have completed CIT (Crisis Intervention Training). CIT teaches emergency personnel to respond appropriately to a person experiencing a mental health crisis. Without training, a person in crisis and the first responders themselves are at increased risk of harm if the situation becomes unsafe.

Lucas County is facing an opiate/heroin crisis. The Lucas County Coroner’s Office reported eight opiate/heroin deaths in 2010. In 2013, there were 80 deaths. By the end of this year, we could see 150 deaths. (Source: Toledo Free Press, July 31, 2014)

The Lucas County Board expanded treatment services and is employing new approaches to stem the tide of addiction and death, but it is still not enough. More treatment services are needed. Another approach is to stop addiction before it starts. A new program from Harbor is educating senior citizens about the dangers of prescription misuse. Board funded opiate/heroin addiction education programs are available to both children and to the community at large from Swanton Area Community Coalition, Sylvania Community Action Team, Harbor, UMADAOP, and others.

The Lucas County Board is governed by 18 volunteers providing stewardship of tax dollars entrusted to its care. Just six cents of each dollar goes to pay staff and other overhead. Accountability is required in each service contract with comprehensive monitoring, tracking of system-wide outcomes, and continuous quality improvement.

Last year, 26,000 individuals received direct services supported by MHRSBLC. That number is expected to rise by at least 2 percent this year and in subsequent years. The State of Ohio reduced MHRSBLC funding by $2.5 million this year. If Issue 8 fails to pass, the services presented above and others will likely be reduced or eliminated.

Lucas County citizens can be justifiably proud of the comprehensive system of behavioral health care that their generosity has provided in the past. For healthier and safer Lucas County communities, vote yes on Issue 8.

Lynn Olman, a former Ohio State Representative, is a member of the Lucas County Mental Health Services Board.

Issue 9: Seniors depend on your support for essential services

By
Billie Johnson
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The Senior Levy is asking for one of the lowest dollar amounts of all the levies in the county. For under $20 a year, you can help seniors stay independent.

Billie Johnson

Billie Johnson

Did you know that you helped provide 323,000 meals, 105,000 hours of home care, 45,000 transportation trips and 16,000 hours of Alzheimer’s adult day care for Lucas County seniors last year? Not bad for your investment of under $20 a year (for the owner of a $100,000 home) in the Senior Citizens Services and Programs Levy.

Without your continued support of the Senior Levy on Nov. 4, these desperately needed services for your aging loved ones and neighbors will be severely reduced. Evelyn Sullivan is one of the seniors who receives services funded by the levy. She said, “Getting the food I need is my goal. Since I am blind and was told it is not safe for me to cook, if it weren’t for the home-delivered meals I receive, I wouldn’t be able to eat.”

The Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio helps provide delivered meals for seniors like Evelyn Sullivan, right, who is blind. Photo courtesy Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio.

The Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio helps provide delivered meals for seniors like Evelyn Sullivan, right, who is blind. Photo courtesy Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio.

This reduction of services would not only impact the tens of thousands of seniors who directly receive services, but also those sons and daughters who indirectly benefit from the Levy services that supplement the care they are able to provide to their aging parents.

If the Senior Levy were to fail, many family caregivers would be forced to make the difficult decision of either quitting their day job to become a full-time unpaid family caregiver for their parent or putting their parent in a nursing home.

Like most Lucas County families, we have done some budget belt-tightening of our own by already having cut senior service program budgets by 15 to  20 percent due to federal, state and local funding changes. These cuts combined with the fact that the senior population has increased by 11 percent since the Senior Levy was last passed five years ago, makes the need to Vote For Issue 9 now more important than ever before.

To keep seniors fine, vote for Issue 9.

Billie Johnson is president and CEO of the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio.

BBB Torch Awards to honor five ethical businesses Nov. 5

By
Joel Sensenig
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Many people think of the Better Business Bureau only when they want to report a company using less than honorable practices.

The Better Business Bureau of Northwestern Ohio and Southeastern Michigan is hosting its 13th annual Torch Awards to honor area companies going about their business in an ethical manner.

The 2014 ceremony is scheduled for noon Nov. 5 at the Hilton Garden Inn at 6165 Levis Commons Blvd., Perrysburg. The event is being emceed by Diane Larson of 13abc. Tickets for the event, which includes a meal, are $48 or $38 for nonprofit agencies. A table of eight tickets cost $370. Seating for the awards begins at 11:30 a.m.

“The Torch Awards are meant to celebrate businesses in our community that are doing a good job of displaying ethics in the marketplace, with their customers, with their vendors, with the community and with their employees,” said Mollie Tyrell, director of special projects at the local BBB office, 7668 King’s Pointe Road in Toledo.

Awards are presented to one business in each of five categories: small business (1-9 employees), medium business (10-49 employees), large business (50-149 employees), extra-large business (150-plus employees) and nonprofit.

Tyrell said the BBB received about 100 nominations for this year’s awards. Winners receive a trophy created by Toledo glass artist Mike Wallace.

Marylin Levine, BBB foundation director, said “You often hear a lot about businesses that are not doing the right thing. We would rather highlight businesses that are doing the right thing.”

Helping the area BBB accomplish this is keynote speaker Dennis Johnson, a Toledo native who is president of the Brooks Insurance Agency. A longtime fixture on the Toledo business scene, Johnson is currently serving the United Way of Greater Toledo as its 2014 campaign chair.

Johnson also serves on the boards of Fifth Third Bank – Northwest Ohio, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, Toledo Museum of Art, Regional Growth Partnership, St. Francis de Sales High School Endowment Fund and the Toledo Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

“Sometimes you think you have to look far and wide for somebody to be a speaker at your event, but there’s people right underneath our nose here in the Toledo area,” Tyrell said. “We like to find somebody that has a lot of integrity. (Johnson) was chosen because he is so recognized in the community as an ethical person of integrity.”

Johnson was an obvious choice for keynote speaker, Levine said.

“Denny is the epitome of a person with ethics and integrity,” she said. “It’s nice to have people come and honor our own people and recognize the fact that our community is made up of people with character, which makes Toledo what it is.

We discovered that people would like to and are excited to hear what our local leaders have to say, and he’s definitely a community leader, and he gives back and gives back continuously.”

Levine pointed out the BBB does not identify types of ethics.

“Our contention is that there’s no difference between business ethics and ethics,” she said. “There’s just ethics. If you’re an ethical person, that transcends business, family, sports, whatever you’re doing. We don’t have our business ethics that we leave on our desks at night and go home and put on our family ethics and shopping ethics and whatever.”

The ceremony will also reveal the two winners of the Jim Smythe Memorial Student of Integrity Scholarships, a $500 gift awarded to area high school seniors. The winners will read their essays, which describe an ethical situation they encountered and how they handled it.

For more information or reservations, contact the BBB at (419) 578-6000 or visit www.bbb.org

TPS seeking levy funding for salaries, transportation, technology

By
Matt Liasse
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If voters pass the Toledo Public Schools (TPS) levy on the Nov. 4 ballot, the estimated $66.5 million raised over five years would be the first new money for the district since 2001.

The five-year, 5.8-mill levy — 4.3 mills for operations and 1.5 mills for improvements — breaks down to $121.80 a year, or about $10 per month, for the owner of a $60,000 home.

Superintendent Romules Durant, a Waite High School graduate, listed a number of areas the funds will assist, but said he prioritized the safety of students.

Funds raised by the levy would restore bus transportation for students from kindergarten to 12th grade, which was eliminated in 2010. High school students currently have no transportation and some elementary students walk up to two miles to get to school. The need for change was made apparent after the harsh weather conditions last year, Durant said.

“Last winter was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “We want to make sure safety is our priority. … We heard it from the community and from parents who made decisions to go elsewhere because of that.”

Maintenance and repairs to the existing TPS facilities and purchasing school computers will also be funded by the levy.

“Our buildings look new; the reality is that iPhones weren’t even invented when we started,” he said. “[Technology] has drastically changed. We need to make sure that these kids, who we consider the digital natives, are having the practice and experience with the most updated technology.”

Durant said that because some testing is now online, the schools need the proper bandwidth to accommodate it.

The levy will also help increase the salaries of TPS teachers, currently among the lowest-paid in the region. Durant said without quality teachers, programs are not being driven the way they should be. He said that he wants to use levy funds to improve conditions in regards to “recruitment and retention” of staff members.

Durant said he will continue implementation of the district’s Transformation Plan, which aims to “increase community partnerships, broaden educational opportunities for students and establish neighborhood schools” in order to increase state performance ratings. The plan has already seen success, Durant said.

“If you want collective impact, you have to have collective work,” he said. “When people say Toledo is a compassionate city, I find that to be in true reality.”

If the levy passes, TPS will not be on the ballot again until 2018 when the current tax levies are due to be renewed. Durant said he will consider cost-cutting even if the levy is passed.

“We’re being judicious with our taxpayers’ dollars so we’re going to make sure that we’re doing our best in regards to spending it appropriately and efficiently,” he said.

Other school levies

Voters in four other local districts will also find levies on their ballots.

– Washington Local Schools will ask for a new, continuous 4.9-mill levy for current operating expenses.

-Oregon City Schools is asking for an emergency five-year, 5.9-mill levy.

-Springfield Local Schools is seeking two levies: one a five-year, 1.35- mill renewal levy for permanent improvements and the other a new, continuous 7.9-mill levy for current expenses.

-Maumee City Schools will ask voters to approve a new, continuous 3.9-mill levy.

Service agencies seek levies

By
Danielle Stanton
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Lucas County Children Services said they will be forced to cut a program that helps kids stay out of foster care and trim valuable staff if a levy they’re seeking on the November ballot fails.

Dean Sparks, executive director of LCCS, said the agency has already frozen enrollment and will eliminate the $180,000-a-year program that provides financial support to relatives who care for kids if the levy does not pass. The program’s end will force more children into the foster care system, Sparks said.

The agency is asking for voters to renew and extend its current 1.4 mill levy set to expire in 2016, and support an additional 0.35 mills, through 2018. The levy is a property tax that will cost the owner of a $100,000 house $54.25. Residents now pay $42 at the current millage.

Sparks said the agency has cut its spending this year from $46.5 million to $40 million in order to maintain its services and has had little help from the state and federal government. He has seen a “significant reduction” in state and federal dollars, placing the burden for financial support on local institutions.

“The State of Ohio is the 50th in the nation in support of child protection; and that’s something that we in Ohio are going to have to struggle with,” Sparks said. “We used to have 405, now we have 349 staff people. We can’t cut anymore. The next cut is staff and services.”

The renewal and additional levy will raise $11.8 million to meet its $42.5 million budget. The agency will see about 12,000 children this year and will handle 5,000 new reports of abuse and neglect in Lucas County.

Most of the children the agency serves are five years old and younger; however they are seeing more older kids due to the fact that they deal more with juvenile court by helping kids gain independent living outside of foster care.

The “faces” of the kids are changing: they come with more needs; they have more siblings; more require institutional care; LCCS keeps more kids until they are 21 years old to guide them through high school, college and into the workforce.

Many of the LCCS children have special needs such as autism, developmental issues or behavorial issues. Some children have parents who are victims of domestic abuse, have a mental illness or lack stable housing. Some 100-plus children were trafficked in Lucas County.

“We’re seeing 9-year-olds that are homicical and suicidal and kids getting suspended from kindergarten,” Sparks said.

The levy is also about kids who have been affected by heroin, either addicted at birth or with parents who are addicted.

Sparks said the agency is seeing success in its foster care program in which more kids are graduating high school than ever before and more kids are entering college from foster care than in the past. The figures are dim: a third end up homeless and another third in the criminal justice system.

LCCS has a “very dedicated” staff of 200 case workers, Sparks said. If the case workers are unable to help the children now then they will return in the criminal justice system later.

“The citizens of Lucas County have always been supportive,” he said. “They have always cared about kids.”

Senior Levy

Billie Johnson, president and CEO of the Area Office on Aging Northwestern Ohio, has requested a 5-year renewal of the agency’s 0.45 mill levy that expires at the end of the year, as well as an increase of 0.15 mills.

“It’s a modest increase of 0.15 mills. I say modest because last year we never got the money we were certified (by the auditor) to receive,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason we went out for more money.”

The auditor tells applicants what dollar amount they can expect to receive at a certain millage. Johnson said her agency received $3.5 million this year from its levy, a million less than expected.

The agency needs the money, Johnson said, to meet growing demand from an 11 percent increase in the Lucas County senior citizen population since 2010 and for its four main areas of service: nutrition, Alzheimer’s care, home care and senior center services.

“We use the levy to match federal and state dollars,” Johnson said. “When we don’t get the money, you can’t deliver the services.”

Ninety-two cents of every dollar goes toward program costs and eight cents toward operating costs, Johnson said.

“(The levy) is really very important,” Johnson said. “We have pretty close to 50 agencies that get this money and if they don’t get these dollars, they will really have to cut services and maybe eliminiate some. It’s not all of their funding, but a good portion. Most of the agencies’ funding were reduced since 2009, close to 15 percent, when at the same time, our population increased.”

Mental Health Levy

Mental Health Recovery and Services Board is seeking to renew a 10-year, 0.50-mill levy.

The agency said it anticipates about 26,000 Lucas County residents will receive treatment for mental illness or addiction in fiscal year 2014, a 4 percent increase over the previous year.

Executive Director Scott Sylak said he expects the levy, if it passes, will generate $3.4 million dollars.

Sylak said the agency lost $2.6 million in state and federal funds this year. Last fiscal year, the legislature put an additional $50 million in the budget of which the agency received a portion. That money was later retracted, Sylak said.

“We still have a tremendous need for services,” Sylak said. “Not only treatment but support that helps stabilize individuals on their meds and help them recover from their addiction.”

One in four families are affected by mental illness. A “significant” number are in jails and have contact with law enforcement, Sylak said.

“Voters have been generous in the past,” he said. “We want to keep that momentum moving foward and prove that the services are needed.”

The levy funds will help the agency address the heroin epidemic, allow them to continue to help people — 3,700 last year — negotiate a “significant crisis;” provide emergency shelter; help house 600 individuals who would be in a shelter, and fund training for law enforcement, among other services.

“We fund a network of 21 agencies that employ 1,600 individuals,” Sylak said. “We will loose services. If this levy is not renewed, we will cut $3.4 milion dollars out of our budget. That will absolutely affect people. We are trying to get the word out.”

The agency, in order to be a good steward of tax dollars, took an internal look at itself and lowered administrative costs in 2007.

Ninety-four cents of every dollar collected by the levy goes toward its network.

Sylak said they are seeing benefits from the levy money. More people are being released from hospitals and they are seeing a “good return” on treatment.

“We recognize we have a lot of work to do,” Sylak said. “Every service we fund has an outcome and we monitor that twice a year.”

Sylvania may lay off firefighters, close station if levy fails

By
Danielle Stanton
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If a 1.5-mill levy fails to pass at the ballot box, the Sylvania Fire Department said it may have to layoff firefighters and eventually close a fire station, said the department’s fire Chief, Jeffrey Kowalski.

“The next year’s going to be a challenge,” Kowalski said. “I have a deficit next year. I may have to lay off a few firefighters…. I won’t be able to maintain a fire station…. It’s not a threat; I’m not trying to pull one over on the public; it’s not a threat just the reality of it. We have done so much with so little for so long we’ve become good at it.”

The department currently has 56 fulltime firefighters/paramedics who staff four fire stations 24 hours a day.

The continual 1.5-mill levy would collect about $1.82 million annually and would cost the homeowner of a $100,000 house $53 a year.

In 2008, the fire department asked for a 2.5-mill levy and promised they would not come back for five years, Kowalski said. “It’s been seven years,” he said.

Kowalski cited a decrease in expected revenue from depreciating property values coupled with rising demands on his department as reasons why he needs the extra money.

The levy in 2008 was expected to bring in $1.8 million a year, but only generated $1.5 million due to re-evaluation of property tax values, he said. With that levy money, they replaced three fire stations that were falling apart — one 85 years old — and bought three engines and a truck. Kowalski said they spent money only on areas of need and tightened their belts when less money came to the door.

“We tightened our belts and did away with purchasing things we needed before going back to the voters,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have another way of funding our department. We have no payroll tax and we don’t transport people so we don’t get any money for that.”

The fire chief said his department has been doing more with less for years now yet it remains No. 1 and No. 2 on its level of runs in a comparison with six other departments in the Toledo area. Few other departments protect a city and a Township, he said.

The demands have increased. Over the past 10 years, runs have gone up 47 percent and the population has increased 9.6 percent, yet Kowalski staff has decreased, he said.

“We’re doing more with less and trying to make it work,” he said.

The response to the levy has been mostly positive with some folks saying the Sylvania Department should go back to being a volunteer department. To that, Kowalski says they wouldn’t have the same level of response time.

“Response time is key to saving lives,” he said. “You have a better chance than anyplace else of being saved in Sylvania and the township. Each engine and truck that leaves the station has all the equipment.”

With the new levy money, Kowalski said he plans to put some firefigthers on full-time status because runs are going up. Since 2007, runs have gone up 2.7 percent every year. Last year, the department had 4,500 incidents with 7000 responses. Responses are the number of vehicles put into service for an incident. Most of the runs — 77 percent — are EMS and the rest are fire.

He wants to replace aging equipment, including radios, a 20-year-old fire truck and an aerial truck in 2020. He said he is setting money aside each year for new vehicles.

“We want to improve our basic life support system,” he said.

Kowalski said the department “did its homework” on the financials of building three new fire stations rather than renovating the old. He said it would have cost twice as much to renovate.

Four businesses to be inducted into EBE HOF Nov. 6

By
Erin Holden
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Four area businesses were recently named this year’s Entrepreneurial & Business Excellence Hall of Fame (EBE HOF) honorees and the group also announced plans to form a group just for women.

Honored for business excellence are American Broadband + Telecommunications, Hanson Inc. and The Oasis Restaurant & Delivery. Honored for excellence in family business is Rima Manufacturing Company.

The EBE HOF recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs and business leaders who have built and sustained growing businesses and created jobs in the region, said Adam Davenport, EBE HOF chairman and president of Gorillas & Gazelles, founding sponsor of the event.

The companies will be inducted during a public ceremony Nov. 6 at The Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle, Maumee. Networking will start at 5:30 p.m. with the first set of awards announced at 6:30 p.m. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available. Tickets are $85 with various sponsorship packages also available.

The winner of the Davenport-Longenecker Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced at the event.

The EBE HOF began as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program in 1989, brought to the area by Adam’s father, Larry Davenport. In 2006, Gorillas & Gazelles founded the EBE HOF, which took over the inductions.

More than 700 people attended last year’s induction ceremony and the event grows each year, Adam said.

“That proves and validates that we are doing something really great for the community and people need to know about the positive aspects going on in this area,” he said. “Every year, I get so many calls and emails after the event saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I did not know those companies even existed.’ The motivation all of the honorees give year after year is just truly astounding.”

Nominees come from businesses within about 60 miles of Toledo and winners are chosen by an independent panel of judges.

“Particularly as our Fortune 500 base has diminished, the entrepreneurial base has done a marvelous job of filling in for it in Northwest Ohio,” Larry said.

Partnering with Bowling Green State University has been great for EBE HOF, he said.

The university brings about 100 students to the event as ambassadors and for networking and learning opportunities, said Kirk Kern, director of BGSU’s Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

“What we’re trying to do is get students started on the right track,” Kern said. “This gives them the opportunity to look to the future and say, ‘Listen, if I start my company today, five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, look where I could be and be recognized.’”

EBE HOF also partners with BGSU on its E-Week, or Entrepreneurship Week, in April, which features a startup business competition called The Hatch. As many as 12 student finalists chosen to go through a 10-week training course with BGSU professors and alumni entrepreneurs compete.

Starting last year for the 25th anniversary of the business awards, the EBE HOF started hosting speakers and other events throughout the year.

“A lot of people love that we did that,” Adam said. “One of the things we want to focus on this year is what we going to do for the next 25 years.

“Each year we get bigger and better and bring different ideas. There are a few things we have in the works this year that we hope are going to blow away the audience. They are going to say, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s not just the ceremony anymore.’”

New this year is the formation of Women of EBE, a branch of the EBE HOF for female inductees as well as member spouses.

For more information, visit www.ebehof.com.

Glass City Athletics complex hosts grand opening

By
Maggie Dziubek
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Tenants at the “mancaves” of the Stone Oak Business Condominiums at the corner of Airport Highway and Albon Road have new neighbors after last weekend’s grand opening of a new facility for the veteran youth volleyball organization, Glass City Athletics.

The 22,500-square-foot facility will house Glass City Athletics’ travel youth volleyball program, as well as Toledo Elite Basketball Club and Toledo Sport and Social Club adult recreational sports.

Developer Stephanie Kuhlman of Industrial Developers Ltd. estimates the facility will bring in 300-400 people a weekend during travel volleyball tournaments. This could mean more development along Airport Highway.

“At the moment, once you hit that Super Kroger by Holloway, everything sort of stops right there. We’re hoping to tie that development space into our development farther down,” Kuhlman said. “There have already been more sales of land as people know that things are coming. It just stretches everything west a little bit.”

Glass City Athletics owner Dana Hooper connected with property owners Greg Repass and Rich Iott through Kuhlman, whose daughters play volleyball at the club.

“I’ve been looking for the last eight years for a place, but nothing fit with location, price, all those kinds of things,” Hooper said. Until now, the volleyball club has rented spaces around the city, including Tam-OShanter and the University of Toledo.

Repass, co-owner of the 15-acre property, said he hadn’t planned on opening an indoor athletic facility. In fact, the original plan was to augment the existing Stone Oak Business Condominiums with more mancaves, individual, multipurpose condominium units geared toward men. However, after connecting with Glass City, the project took a different path.

“God had a different plan and we were trying to be obedient to him,” Repass said. “We wanted to do something that would benefit the youth in this community, and [Glass City] needed somebody who would believe in them.”

In addition to the sports facilities, additional retail and restaurant facilities will be going in on the property in early 2015. The biggest of these additional facilities is a nationally franchised indoor trampoline park called SkyZone. That project broke ground earlier this month and should be open early next year.

SkyZone approached the property’s owners and developers after spending a long time scouting locations in the Toledo area. They were eager to build near an athletic complex because of the extra business the captive audience of tournamentgoers can provide.

“When a family comes to town for a tournament, the players usually have siblings, the other kids have nowhere to go, nothing to do,” Repass said, “So one parent can go take the younger kids to jump on the trampolines next door. We truly think it was a match that was made in heaven.”

Kuhlman said the Las Vegas-based company has opened 50 new locations this year; the next closest location to Toledo is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The project is estimated to create 70 new jobs. As for the ‘mancaves,’ Repass said the tenants were a little nervous to have such a large-scale project go in right next to them. However, so far, so good.

“Quite honestly, it’s not the direction they thought that the project was going to go — but they’ve welcomed the tenants,” Repass said. “They understand that the new development is good for everybody, good for them and good for our community.”

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