Toledo City Council
Councilor Alma Baxter
Councilor Jackie Kauffman
Councilor Jill Lyon
Adam Denlinger, Public Works Director
Slump Outs at Mill Creek Dam
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Three city councilors were sworn into office Wednesday evening at the beginning of the first Toledo City Council meeting of the new year. New City Councilors Alma Baxter and Jackie Kauffman were given their oath of office as was returning City Councilor Jill Lyon.

Councilors immediately got busy on the agenda that included council approval for Public Works Director Adam Denlinger to apply for a state grant to provide a pedestrian and bicycle path that connects East Slope Road to Butler Bridge Road and Fir Streets. If the grant is approved, the pathway will connect the east side of Toledo to the main downtown area and to the city waterfront. Denlinger said the pathway will go a long way to fixing a number of connectivity issues the city has had for many years.

Denlinger also briefed the council on a major flooding event at the city’s Mill Creek Reservoir. Denlinger was quick to emphasize that the flood event at the city’s secondary source of drinking water and the dam that keeps it there did not weaken the dam or cause any chance that the dam might fail. But he did say that the repairs now going on at the dam are aimed to ensuring the problem doesn’t threaten the dam’s strength and safety down the road.

Denlinger said four inches of rain falling in a single 24 hour period nearly two weeks ago caused two slides along the access road to the base of the Mill Creek Dam. The water-logged ground just above the road caused a slump out which covered the ditch that normally channels storm downhill and into Mill Creek. Instead, a small mudslide diverted the stormwater from its ditch, directing it onto the road surface. The water then ran down the road and cascaded over an edge that caused another, more serious slump, that threatened the base of the dam’s fish later facility.

Denlinger says crews have been working feverishly to restore the contour uphill from the fish ladder and to strengthen roadside areas. He said the work will help prevent a similar thing from happening again during any prolonged downpour.

Denlinger stressed that the incident has not weakened the dam, but if left unrepaired for an extended period of time, it might. He estimated the cost of the repairs at around $45,000, some of which he hopes will be picked up by the city’s insurance carrier. Denlinger added that a high level structural engineer will be visiting the dam this week to confirm the preliminary assessment that’s already been made on the situation. The Mill Creek Dam was built in the 1960s.

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Toledo City Hall
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Toledo City Councilors Tuesday night learned that a town resident wants to erect a series of Christmas Nativity Scenes on city-owned properties throughout Toledo, following the Trail of the Three Wise Men to a Toledo church where they find the Baby Jesus. The council was also told the resident wants the Nativity scenes to be running through early January. City Manager Michelle Amberg said, to her knowledge, it was Toledo’s first request of this nature and asked the council how they wanted to proceed on the man’s request.

The council turned to City Attorney Wes Chadwick for advice. Chadwick said, “You can say yes or you can say no. But if you say yes, you have to allow all religions and sects to use city property to display Nativity scenes.” The council thought about it for a few moments, then achieved consensus that if religious faiths want to use city property for that use, let them. But they quickly added, they need to fill out an application which will be available at Toledo City Hall. The application will have some rules about how the Nativity scenes are to be displayed and how soon they have to be taken down after a certain number of days. And with that they charged City Manager Michelle Amberg with the task of formulating the application form. Amberg said she will confer with the city attorney on how best to move forward on it and expressed hope that the form will be available in a day or so.

The council also announced citizen vacancies on three Toledo council advisory committees. There are two openings on the Toledo Public Utilities Commssion which advises the council on rates for trash pickup and for setting franchise fee rates for electric and gas service within the city limits of Toledo. There is also an opening on the city’s Budget Committee which advises the council on how the upcoming city budget should address community needs and goals. And there is also an opening on the Toledo Planning Commission which helps to regulate land use in the community. All applications are available at Toledo City Hall. All applicants must be residents of Toledo.

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