Post-meeting release 1/5/23

Commissioners elect Paradiso as President, Shuff as Vice President for 2023

[Tiffin, Ohio – Jan. 5, 2023] – The Seneca County Board of Commissioners chose officers for 2023 during its reorganization meeting Thursday.
Commissioner Anthony Paradiso was chosen as president for 2023. He also served as board president in 2022 and Vice President in 2021.
For a second consecutive year, Commissioner Tyler Shuff will serve as VP of the board.
The board session also marked Bill Frankart’s first as a Seneca County Commissioner.
“Starting out, I’m getting my feet wet in the water this week,” he said, adding that he has hit the ground running by attending several meetings and going to his first radio interview on WTTF.
As part of the reorganization, the commissioners discussed committee assignments for this year.
County Administrator Jaime Wolfe read through some of the assignments from last year, with Frankart potentially picking up any assignments from former Commissioner Mike Kerschner.
The board is hoping to ratify all committee assignments during next week’s session.
The board meeting schedule for 2023 also was discussed, and the commissioners agreed to continue meeting at 10 a.m. on Thursdays. Some meetings could be rescheduled or canceled and notification for that will be posted online and sent to media partners.
In other business, Paradiso said during his report that 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of Seneca County.
He said he aims to begin working on forming a committee that can plan events to celebrate the county’s bicentennial.
He mentioned Seneca County Museum, Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce, Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership and former Commissioner Holly Stacy among those he would like to invite to be part of that committee.
In other action, County Fiscal Officer Barb Patterson provided the year-end General Fund financial report for 2022.
She said revenue was about $21.3 million, while expenses were about $18.3 million.
In other business, the commissioners each agreed to sign a letter of support for increased funding for the Chillicothe Veterans Hospital.
The letter states:
“The Chillicothe Veterans Hospital is a primary provider of mental health services to approximately 20,000 veterans in Ohio each year. We were thankful that the hospital was not fully shut down following a recent report from the Department of Veteran Affairs that recommended 20 facility closures across the country and cuts to another 37 facilities nationwide.”
It concludes:
“The federal government made a promise to take care of every member of our Armed Forces and we believe they should be held to that promise. Therefore, we ask that the Chillicothe Veterans Hospital be fully funded and programs that were cut be restored as soon as possible.”
In new business, the board approved all resolutions and appropriations from the meeting agenda.