ThisWeek CW 09/17/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/09/14/largest-crowd-yet-attends-annual-labor-day-festival.html

according to Mayor Michael Ebert.

He estimated this year’s attendance at more than 40,000.

The festival, held Sept. 5-7, drew record crowds Saturday and Sunday evenings, due in part to this year’s headline entertainers, Bon Journey and Hotel California, he said.

“We had the largest crowds on Saturday and Sunday evenings we have ever had that I can recall,” Ebert said. “And our daytime crowds were steady, but the heat may have kept some people away.”

Attendees packed High Street for the Sunday night performance by Hotel California. The band is billed as the only Eagles cover band recognized by the Eagles themselves, and the city had to book the band almost two years ago.

“The entire festival committee was really looking forward to feedback on our entertainment lineup for this year and based on what we heard, I think we hit a home run,” Ebert said.

Each year, the Labor Day Festival kicks off with the Peggy Wood Scholarship Pageant in the Oley Speaks Auditorium. This year’s winners included:

* Miss Canal Winchester, Kailin Clymer; First Attendant, Joelle Zuberi; Second Attendant, Mckenzie Kiser

* Miss Congeniality, Joelle Zuberi

* Junior Miss Canal Winchester, Anna Ratliff; First Attendant, Rachel Connors; Second Attendant, Avery Nack

* Little Miss Canal Winchester, Britton Whitworth; First Attendant, Grace Brinker; Second Attendant, Skyler Benson

* Tiny Miss Canal Winchester, Isabella Busey; First Attendant, Justice Chetwood; Second Attendant, Julia Paini

This year’s car show drew more than 170 participants.

“There were lots of fantastic-looking vehicles and a wide variety of makes and models,” Ebert said. “My choice this year (for the Mayor’s Choice award) was a yellow 1965 Plymouth Satellite — it was sweet!”

He said the festival drew the most sponsors this year than in recent memory “and we want throw out a ‘thank you’ to all the vendors who saw through the changes we made to the layout. From what we heard, for several it turned out to be their best year, also.”

ThisWeek CW 09/17/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/09/14/apple-butter-day-volunteers-needed-to-help-cook-signature-treat.html

The weather hasn’t felt very fall-like yet, but that won’t stop the apple butter from being cooked in time for this year’s 42nd annual Groveport Apple Butter Day.

This year’s festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 10 at Heritage Park, 551 Wirt Road — but first, the apple butter needs to be made, and organizer Carla Cramer is hoping to find several more volunteers to help with that on Oct. 3.

“We will need help making the apple butter,” Cramer said. “On Oct. 3, we will be starting the fires at the log house around 6 a.m. and will be there until we jar the apple butter, usually around 1 p.m.

“People are needed to take turns stirring the apple butter and helping with the canning,” she said. “Please spread the word to your neighbors and friends. This is a community effort!”

Cramer invites organizations to get involved in the effort as well, but said no apple butter will be sold or distributed until Apple Butter Day.

Anyone interested in volunteering to make the apple butter should call Cramer at 614-580-9099.

The festival itself will again include 1800s-era craft demonstrations, numerous stands featuring handmade crafts, food concessions, vintage tractors, a hayride and several old-fashioned games and festival favorites such as pony rides, face painting and a petting zoo.

KidSpace will host the Groveport Senior Citizens bean dinner and a spelling bee for students in fourth and fifth grades will be held on the main stage.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that all of our entertainment is free, including the kids’ activities,” Cramer said.

This year’s festival will feature a celebration of the 200th birthday of Groveport’s historic log cabin. Visitors will be able to walk through it and view the typical lifestyle of a family from the mid-1800s.

This year’s quilt exhibit will take place at Town Hall and once again, a quilt will be raffled off. Raffle tickets are available now at Town Hall, or may be purchased on Apple Butter Day.

“We encourage you to stop by Town Hall to see quilts from past Apple Butter Day festivals,” Cramer said. “All previous raffle winners were contacted and we have 14 quilts on display. They will be there through October and the quilt that will be raffled this year is there also.”

The first Apple Butter Day was organized in 1974 by a group of people “who just wanted to have an activity to foster community togetherness and fun,” Cramer said.

“We’re happy to continue that tradition. These events are wonderful opportunities to participate in the community spirit that only a small town can provide.”

ThisWeek CW 09/17/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/09/14/three-year-agreement-contract-gives-sergeants-pay-hike-other-benefits.html

Groveport City Council approved a new contract with the police sergeants union, increasing pay in each of the three years of the new deal.

Council members voted unanimously Aug. 24 to approve the new contract with the four Groveport Police Department sergeants, who are members of the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

According to City Administrator Marsha Hall, this negotiation could not be completed until after a new contract had been approved for the 15 police officers and three detectives in the department.

“We had to wait to finish the FOP contract before completing this because the pay is tied to that agreement, and this agreement does become retroactive to July 1,” Hall said.

The new contract continues to base sergeants’ pay on what the highest-paid police officer receives, plus an additional percentage. This means the sergeants’ pay will increase by 3 percent each year of the three-year contract, the same as the police officers’ pay that was negotiated with the FOP.

However, the sergeants will also receive an additional pay increase each year.

In year one, sergeants will receive a pay rate that is 13 percent above the top pay wage for the officers, which is the same as the previous contract. In year two of the contract, this percentage increases to 13.5 percent above the top pay wage for officers, and goes to 14 percent in the final year of the contract.

Besides pay increases, the contract includes the same changes to compensatory time and equipment allow-ances negotiated in the FOP contract.

The new sergeants’ contract increases the amount of compensatory time a sergeant can bank from 40 hours to 56 hours. They will also be given an additional personal day each calendar year, up from one day to two.

Shift differential pay for all shifts between 2 p.m. and 6 a.m. will increase an additional $1.05 per hour as well.

Sergeants also will receive a $100 increase in their annual uniform and equipment allowance, from $800 to $900 per year.

Chief Ralph Portier thanked council for supporting the new contract and thanked Hall for her work in negotiating the agreement.

ThisWeek CW 09/10/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/09/04/madison-township-seeks-title-to-land-bank-property.html

Madison Township officials are hoping to trade one kind of green for another by requesting the title to the first of about 10 properties where structures have been demolished as part of the Franklin County Land Bank program.

Township trustees voted unanimously Aug. 19 to approve legislation seeking the title. Township Administrator Susan Brobst said the process of getting a parcel from its status as blighted township property to tax delinquency to Land Bank demolition then to auction forfeiture by the state can take months but ultimately could result in some minor revenue for the township.

“The state of Ohio is ready to forfeit the property at 3317 Latonia Court over to Madison Township at no cost to us if you will approve it,” Brobst told township trustees at their Aug. 19 meeting. “This was the first demolished property as part of the Franklin County Land Bank program and since they have had no bids on it, we can ask the state to deed it over to us and then we can sell it.

“Once we have the deed, we can put sales signage on the property and we’ll put additional information on our website.”

Brobst said other than an apartment complex that once stood at 3232 Winchester Pike — a site now owned by the township — all the other properties are small lots that do not provide the township with other use options except to sell them.

“Similarly, with many of the other sites, unless someone else thinks of another township use for them, we’ll just resell them to developers,” she said.

The Latonia Court site “is just a single home lot and is very isolated, so I think selling it would be the best use for the township,” Brobst said.

“We’ve got to keep mowing these as long as they are in this process or owned by us, so getting rid of them will be a big help taking them off our mowing schedule,” she added. “And then, besides the sale price, we would be able to collect real estate taxes again.”