Mayor seeks new special projects manager

Mayor Christina Muryn will ask Findlay City Council to create a new part-time city position to oversee special projects. While legislation to create a new city position would normally take three separate readings of council over six weeks, the ordinance, included on today's agenda, would create the position immediately. That also will require the council to pass legislation as an emergency. The council will meet in regular session at 7 p.m. today in the municipal building, 318 Dorney Plaza. Masks and social distancing are required. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the city's YouTube page, FindlayOhio. Muryn said the part-time, as needed position will allow her flexibility to hire workers on a temporary or part-time basis, with specialized skills to complete specific projects. The job would pay between $20 and $65 an hour. The council is expected to approve the pay rate as part of the legislation creating the position. Outgoing Safety Director Paul Schmelzer will be the first hired as a special projects manager by Muryn. She said Schmelzer can then train, consult and advise the city's new service-safety director. Rob Martin, the former chief and director of Hanco EMS, was appointed to the post by Muryn in late March. He begins his new duties this month. Schmelzer was named the city's safety-service director in 2012. Prior to his appointment in 2012, as both the safety director and the service director, the two roles had been spilt. Schmelzer kept the duties of safety director when the positions were later split again in 2017. Muryn recombined the positions with Martin's appointment. Schmelzer, who had planned to resign at the end of 2020 but stayed on until his replacement was found, is returning to work in the private sector. Also today, council will consider moving forward with the purchase of three city lots near Findlay's Public Works Department, 330 N. Cory St. Each parcel is about 0.2 acres. The purchase price for all three is $30,000, with the money to be taken from the city's capital improvement budget. An additional $10,000 would be used to develop plans for a building to be used as a fabrication shop by the department. "This is something we have been discussing for the last few years and would allow us to expand the current public works building to generate efficiency in operations and create storage for equipment. This item was in the capital budget," Muryn said. Grant: 419-427-8412