Date set for new senior center opening

NORWALK — If all goes according to plan, Huron County's new $5 million senior center could be built and ready to open by October 2024. That was one of the messages from Huron County Commissioners at their meeting on Thursday. The new senior center project — estimated to be about 15,000 square feet — is being financed by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 after Huron County voters turned down the same project three times previously. Architectual firm Garmann Miller out of Minster, Ohio, is overseeing the project. Their website says, "Garmann Miller is a multi-service design and planning solutions firm for architecture and engineering needs... We exist to impact communities through dedicated service and smart design. It's our client-first culture that fuels us in shaping how communities live, learn, work and play. Let's inspire each other on a journey that expands your imagination and redifines what's possible." The new center will be built next to the Norwalk License Bureau and Title Office building at 305 Shady Lane Drive. The new senior center will feature a commercial kitchen, space to eat, and flexible spaces for activities, among other things, according to plans released on Thursday. "They're hoping to go out for bids over the summer with a potential start date of October. It may go for about a year sometimes it goes quicker and sometimes it goes slower," Commissioner Harry Brady said, adding he was pleased with the timeline of the project. He said planners are getting input from senior citizens to make sure the new building meets their needs. "That's the whole reason for involving the seniors," Brady said. "Ultimately it is a county building, but we want to make sure it's adequate for everyone to use." Commissioner Skip Wilde said he's pleased with the project's progress. "Oh, absolutely," Wilde said. It took a while to get to where we're at but now we have the architect and they're talking the talk. From there they'll be able to go forward." In other business, commissioners may be looking at an additional rate increase to an already proposed increase for the Huron County Transfer Station. Commissioners have said that an already proposed rate hike — from $58 a ton to $64 a ton — is necessary because of inflation and increased costs to the county. Rumpke of Ohio, which hauls the county's trash to Richland County, is raising the rate it charges Huron County by $2.25 a ton. But now thery're talking about raising the rates even more. "I think we're not raising the rates enough," said Commissioner Skip Wilde. County Administrator/Clerk Vickie Ziemba said commissioners couldn't do anything until after the three public hearings are held on the rate change already proposed by commissioners. Those three public hearings for the initial proposed rate hike, which is required by law, are set for 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 28; 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 4; and 10 a.m. Thursday, April 6. Commissioners didn't discuss a new rate hike in detail, but instead went into executive session to discuss "pending or imminent litigation," said Huron County Assistant Prosecutor Randal Strickler. That executive session was likely linked to a lawsuit between Erie County and Huron County. Commissioners have said that future landfill rates over the next year could be linked to the final outcome of a legal dispute over a contact between the two counties. Under the contract between the two counties, Erie County was to haul trash from the transfer station in Huron County to Erie County's landfill. Erie County used a subcontractor to haul the trash. Huron County, however, pulled out of the agreement early citing complaints with Erie County's trash-hauling subcontractor, and went with a different provider to haul the county's trash. That prompted Erie County to file a lawsuit in 2018; Huron County subsequently filed a counter-suit.