Village won't take stand on effort to separate township

7/17/2003

Waterville's village administrator said this week that the village will not take a position on some Waterville Township residents' efforts to separate the township from Waterville and Whitehouse.

Lucas County commissioners have asked Common Pleas Judge Robert Christiansen to rule on the constitutionality of a state law that allows only property owners who are registered voters to sign a removal petition.

If the majority of property owners in the unincorporated area approve the move, commissioners would likely vote to approve the removal.

“We understand why we were named [in the court petition], but we don't feel like we should be named,” Waterville village administrator Jay Bahr said. “We will sit on the sidelines and watch.”

The petition drive began last year when residents in the unincorporated area said that they wanted to be represented by people living in the unincorporated area, and not by people living in Waterville or Whitehouse.

They said that interests of village residents are not always aligned with those in the unincorporated area.

Last month Walter Celley resigned as assistant solicitor of Waterville Township so that he could represent those fighting to separate the villages and township.

In other action, the council:

w Learned that Waterville village will have to find someone to do its police and fire dispatching or else do the work in-house.

Maumee police, which have been doing the village's dispatch work, is asking for a 28 percent increase in fees to $189,000 per year.

w Heard that a citizens' advisory committee recommended that the mayor's pay be increased $100 a month to $6,000 annually and an increase of $50 a month for council members, bringing them to $4,200 annually.

Solicitor Keith Wilkowski told the council members that they could vote at a later meeting to enact the changes for the 2006 term.