Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Millbury mayor Michael Timmons, Walbridge mayor Ed Kolanko, Lake Township police chief Brandon Rosebrock, and Lake Township fiscal officer John Ervin were all sent a letter on Oct. 1 thanking them for their cooperation in a recent Public Protection Classification (PPC) survey, which evaluates local fire and water departments, emergency communications, and community risk reduction.
The letter, which graded each of those areas, said that Lake Township’s rating went from a 04/4Y to a 05/5Y, which is a negative movement and could potentially increase the home insurance rates of anyone who lives in the jurisdiction of the Lake Township Fire Department, which includes Walbridge and Millbury.
“It’s something that I don't want to see because it can have a negative impact, but maybe there are reasons that it's happening, and we need to figure out what we can do as a community to improve it,” Kolanko said. “It all starts with communication.”
The letter said: “Insurance Services Office (ISO) has completed its analysis of the structural fire suppression delivery system provided in your community. The resulting classification is a retrogression from the previous classification.”
It went on to state that the class change isn’t being implemented just yet, and they are offering local officials the opportunity to develop a program to retain its PPO classification.
One of the current topics of conversation for Kolanko in the matter is that he had no prior knowledge of this, and this letter was the first he heard of a survey being done.
“This is something that, in fairness, I was surprised to get because I wasn't aware of it despite the letter kind of indicating a thank you for our participation,” he said. “And that’s okay. A lot of stuff happens, and that's not something we always have to have a pulse on especially since we're not directly in charge of the fire department.”
The Press reached out to Lake Township administrator and police chief Mark Hummer, who said our call was the first he has heard about it, as well.
“I haven’t seen it. I can’t give you any insight on anything I don’t have in front of me,” he said.
Hummer said that he is confident Rosebrock or Ervin will pass it along, especially as Kolanko had received the letter just one day earlier.
“I’ll take a look at it and see what it’s about,” Hummer said.
The ISO rating is used by insurance companies to determine house insurance rates, specifically the premiums. A lower score is going to result in a higher premium and vice versa.
Kolanko said he has forwarded the certified letter he received to Rosebrock in an effort to get more information and see how Walbridge can help because “this can and probably will have a direct impact in residents' pocketbooks.”
He is confident that dialogue will happen.
“Hopefully there's dialogue that happens between all those communities because Lake Township is running the fire department, and they have a responsibility to all of us,” Kolanko said. “If this rating's going down, there should be some dialogue that happens amongst all communities to figure out what's going on and what's being done to improve it.”
Kolanko said this is a first for him, and that it is important that more details become known.
“This is the only communication I’ve received,” he said. “I don't recall participating in any survey, so I’m not really sure what has transpired so far aside from getting that letter, which I assume Millbury did as well.
“I kind of need to figure out or know what's really transpired so far because I don't have any information that this was even ongoing or taking place. This is fairly new to me, but it's something I think that we have to get an idea of what’s going on because everybody's kind of watching their pennies.
“They talk about inflation nowadays, Our utility bills are going up, and this is potentially something that is going up as well. We have to try to do what we can as a community to prevent that from happening, or maybe that ball is in motion.
“I don't have a great answer at this point because obviously the fire department is run by Lake Township, not by Walbridge. But we are in this together, so we’ll try to figure it out.
Walbridge council passes renter ordinance
The latest council meeting in Walbridge on Oct. 1 was brief and uneventful, but included the passage of an ordinance that allows village officials to collect more information on renters for tax purposes.
At the first reading on Sept. 3, Walbridge mayor Ed Kolanko said that the then proposed ordinance would allow the village’s fiscal officer, Andy Tepper, to get information on who the area’s renters.
“(Tepper) noticed that there is some language lacking in our code that allows us to understand who our renters are,” Kolanko said at the time. “A lot of people are renting here, and we don’t have any information on those individuals. This allows him to get that information for who our designated tax payers are.”
After its third reading on Oct. 1, it was passed. Kolanko said it really just gives the fiscal officer the language in the village code to request information from landlords on who is renting properties.
“There’s a responsibility of the person who owns the property to provide us the information of the person that's renting because every person, regardless of who they are, has a responsibility to file a return here in the village of Walbridge,” Kolanko said. “Even our seniors, who are retired with no taxable income, they're coded that way, but they should be filing. There is a mandatory filing requirement.”
Tepper will be creating a document for the landlords to complete when they get a new tenant. Kolanko said there is also a new resident form that they use in the mobile home parks.
“It kind of goes hand in hand,” he said. “If we don't know who is living in the home or the apartment, then we don't have the ability to make sure that they're being a responsible taxpayer like everybody else is. This language will provide us some further ability to make sure that we're obtaining that information. And if they fail to provide that, then we have some recourse against the property owner.”
