You are here

Bluffton Council/School Board

Updated Village of Bluffton public meetings schedule

The Village of Bluffton has issued the following public meetings schedule.

January 25 - Bluffton Beyond Tomorrow - 7:30 p.m.

February 1 - Joint Personnel & Safety Committees - noon

February 1 - Parks & Recreation Committee - 1:00 p.m.

February 2 - Pathway Board - noon

February 3 - Finance Committee - noon

February 6 - Council Committee of the Whole -  6:30 p.m.

February 8 - Streets, Lights, Alleys, & Sidewalk Committee - 5:30 p.m.

February 13 - Council Meeting - 7:00 p.m.

Council agenda for January 23, 2023

The January 24, 2023 Bluffton Council meeting will be conducted beginning at 7:00 p.m. with the attached agenda. Summary of agenda:

- 2nd reading of resolution adopting a Complete Streets policy

- 1st reading of a resolution to accept revised versions of portions of the Bluffton policy and procedure manual

Village meetings announcement January 2023

The following meetings for the Village of Bluffton. The meetings will be at the Bluffton Town Hall.

Personnel Committee on Wednesday, January 18 at noon.

Council Meeting on Monday, January 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Bluffton Beyond Tomorrow on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Village of Bluffton
www.bluffton-ohio.com
154 North Main Street
Bluffton, OH 45817
Phone: (419) 358-2066

Bluffton School Board 2023 reorganizational meeting summary

HIgh Five Fridays featured on Toledo news; Pat and Rick Shaner return as substitute teachers; Bakery Bingo is back

The first Bluffton Board of Education meeting for 2023 was held on January 11 in the Elementary Media Center, where several guests gathered to address the board.

The first order of business, however, was to reorganize the board for the upcoming year:

Brad Dailey was elected as board president and Wes Klinger was elected as vice president. 

Standing authorizations were made for the treasurer and superintendent.

Bluffton council meeting summary for January 9

By Andy Chappell-Dick

On January 9, Bluffton Council met for the first time in 2023, utilizing fourteen fewer ballots to select their leader than their D.C. counterparts. I'm not saying it's a who-drew-the-short-straw, but Councilor Jerry Cupples was expeditiously re-elected Council President as the first order of business.  With Mayor Rich Johnson absent, Cupples chaired the rest of the meeting.

COMMITTEES
Councilor Phil Talavina reported on the Safety Services Committee meeting. EMS Chief Jan Basinger had presented a proposal for increasing EMS volunteer incentives. (This meeting is covered HERE).

LEGISLATION
Three bills were up for consideration. The first was an annual ordinance that adopts the latest version of Ohio Basic Code as the Village's code. This is chiefly for the Police Department's day-to-day enforcement of safety and general welfare. The ordinance passed 6-0 as an emergency.

The second was a resolution adopting a new policy called "Complete Streets For All."  This document is the culmination of many months of work by a committee of residents, experts, and officials that will guide the Village as new streets are added or existing streets are repaired.  Councilor Joe Sehlhorst gave a summary slide presentation describing how streets can be better designed to be useful to cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and other ways of getting around.  This policy is not a set of requirements, he emphasized, as each situation must be weighed individually. With buy-in from Council and the public, the ideas put forward can bring many benefits to the community. This resolution passed 6-0, and will move on to a second reading at the next meeting.

The third resolution reaffirmed Bluffton's relationship with Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission.

» CONTINUES

Zoning board approves variances for the conversion of 104 E. Elm property into apartments

By Liz Gordon-Hancock

The Village of Bluffton Board of Zoning & Building Appeals, which is made up of members Tom Downey, Tony Pinks and Dave Miller, met on Tuesday, January 10 to hear a proposal from Ryan and Jessica Meyer asking for permission to convert the former True Word Tabernacle church at 104 East Elm St. into a multiple apartment facility.

The Meyers’ proposal required permission for variances to certain Chapters and Sections of Village code, involving conditional use (Chapter 153.142), required yardage for a residential property (Chapter 153.123 & 153.145), and off-street parking (Chapter 153.306).

Jessica Meyer gave a detailed presentation on their proposal to convert the church into 8 individual apartment units with modern amenities and private entrances. 

Over twenty community members attended, many of whom spoke in favor of the proposal.

The Zoning Board unanimously approved all three variances required.

END

Pages