SIDNEY — After a six month selection process, Police Chief Will Balling introduced John Curtis, the police department’s newest officer, during Sidney City Council’s meeting Monday evening.
During the swear-in ceremony, Balling said the department is“excited” to swear Curtis in and look forward to he and his family becoming part of the SPD and community.
Balling said when interviewing Curtis he demonstrated SPD’s core principles of professionalism, integrity, courage and compassion. He recalled one of Curtis’s answers during the interview about the most important skill a police officer must posses is “being trustworthy and creditable were essential.”
Curtis grew up in Anna and attended Edison Police Academy to obtain his Ohio Police Officers training certificate. He and his wife, Stacy, have two young daughters.
The Anna Police Department hired Curtis in 2015 and he worked there for a year before being hired by the Miami County Sheriff’s Department in 2016. Curtis will be assigned to work second shift with the SPD.
In other business, council adopted a resolution authorizing the City Manager Mark Cundiff to enter into a contract for the purchase of property located at 2287 Hardin Wapakoneta Road. This action came after council emerged from an executive session to discuss pending or imminent court action and to consider the purchase of property for public purposes. This was the only action taken after the session.
The property consists of 2.03 acres of land, which is adjacent to two other parcels of land the city is also currently pursuing purchasing.
Cundiff said the property is within the well field protection area. The well field, he said, is land the city has been developing since 2012 as a part of the Sidney’s source water project.
The Hardin Wapakoneta Road property includes a pond that recharges the aquifer when it rains. An aquifer is an underground area that water can easily move though. The underground water could be contaminated through the pond, or ponds, that are on the three parcels of land Sidney is seeking to acquire.
“When the opportunity came up, council felt it was in the well field’s best interest and the best interest of the (overall) property,” Cundiff said. “Council felt if was a good and wise investment to (acquire the land) to protect the well field. This keeps anyone else from acquiring it and contaminating the water recharge areas. If we control the land, we can protect the water supply (for the wells).”
Currently, Cundiff said, the city has a contract to buy the land, which is contingent upon a positive environmental survey and inspection of the house/barn and shed. He said the city is doing its due diligence to ensure there are no environmental issues they would have to contend with later before they close on the property.
The other two parcels of land that the city would like to aquifer for the same reason, Cundiff said, is still in the negotiating process with two separate owners.
There was also a midyear status update given by Mike Dodds, executive director of Sidney-Shelby Economic Partnership on economic development in Sidney.
Dodds spoke about several development expansions and construction activities of several area businesses. He reported unemployment is still down and that available Shelby County jobs have increased.
Shelby County’s recent joining with three other counties on the website https://hometownopportuinty.com, Dodds said, will be a great resource for job seekers/businesses.
During the public comments portion of Monday’s meeting, Sidney resident Joe Lawson asked council for help concerning his property line and an issue regarding the sewer line that runs along his property line. His complaints were about two separate issues.
He was confused about his property line because he said the city denied his request to construct a storage building because it would be on an easement. Lawson said the city told him the area he wants to build on is a city owned alleyway. Large trees are growing in the area of the supposed alley, Lawson said, and he cannot find the alley that takes up 15-feet of his property. He said he already has a fence going through the alleyway the city say they own.
Lawson said he also received a letter threatening to fine him if he doesn’t clean up an area where a sewer line runs along his property. He didn’t think he should be required to clean the area up that a city contractor had been working on. It was unclear what Lawson’s full issue was regarding the sewer line, so Cundiff requested his number and said they will be in contact with him and investigate the issues.
