2 Maumee acting directors elevated, commended

Finance, public service officials won't receive raises

8/10/2011

Two Maumee officials were handed trophies with their titles.

Linda Wilker, the city's acting finance director since September, 2009, and Joseph Camp, acting public service director since December, 2008, were named directors last week.

The titles are official, but the shiny statues (tongue-in-cheek gifts from a fellow city employee) were unofficial tokens of the acting directorships' longevity.

Teasing aside, several elected officials commended Mr. Camp and Mrs. Wilker for their hard work, particularly during the last couple of years when Maumee has faced financial difficulties, and they said the new directors had earned their jobs.

The new directors will not receive pay increases. The city's directors declined raises this year, Mrs. Wilker said after the meeting. Her new title will be finance director/municipal clerk.

Council unanimously confirmed, with Councilman Michael Coyle absent, President Richard Carr's appointments of Mrs. Wilker and Mr. Camp, effective Aug. 2.

Mr. Carr, rather than Mayor Timothy Wagener, made the appointments because of an ongoing ethics commission investigation, officials said.

In April, City Council decided to pursue an investigation of Mr. Wagener by the Ohio Ethics Commission on allegations of ethical violations after release of findings from an internal investigation into the intermingling of his private and public lives.

At issue were loans Mr. Wagener received from a city employee and an allegation that the mayor, an insurance agent, obtained a list of retiring city employees, spouses' names, and contact information in an attempt to sell them annuities.

During a break in the meeting, Mr. Carr said "the investigation is going on right now."

In other action, council approved the $61,879 purchase of a Duraco Durapatcher from Leader Machinery Co. of Monroe, Ohio. The all-season unit, which features a heat process, will reduce the city's use of cold patch, Mr. Camp said, and it will mean that patches applied with the new process will stay put on roadways longer, even during freeze-and-thaw cycles.

Council also approved an agreement with Ed Schmidt Truck Store in the amount of $219,428 for two single-axle dump trucks (2012 Hino Model 338) with snow removal equipment and a tradein. Voting no were Councilmen Brent Buehrer and Douglas Brainard.

Mr. Brainard said he was having a hard time with the proposed purchase, which would bring Japanese trucks into Maumee, an All-America City.

Mr. Camp said the trucks are assembled in West Virginia and were preferred over International-brand trucks.

Mr. Buehrer said after the meeting that he voted no because figures on the International trucks were not shared with council for comparison.