Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Village council members originally passed an ordinance on Dec. 1 to allow implementation of traffic speed cameras in school zones, which would operate in clearly marked school-zone locations during school hours only.
Violations would also be treated in civil court and not result in BMV points or entries on a driving record.
Though the ordinance authorizes the use of photo enforcement in all posted school zones, the only site currently under consideration is the Oak Harbor High School area along SR 163, where a village speed study conducted early in the 2024-25 school year recorded more than 1,000 drivers traveling at least 10 MPH over the speed limit during school zone hours.
Thus, after a lot of buzz on the topic since the last meeting, council members continued discussion on the topic at the village’s latest meeting on Dec. 15.
Mayor Quinton Babcock was asked what he had been hearing in terms of response.
“No one contacted me directly,” he said. “I had one person write to me say they were against it. They weren’t from town. They weren’t close to town. I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm not saying (the cameras are) the greatest idea since sliced bread. I think that there are obvious cons, right? And the pros are only realized if you live in town ... if you live five miles away, I don't think that you're going to experience the pros, right?”
Councilman Austin Short made a point that while he doesn’t love the idea of the cameras, it will only be used in school zones in school hours.
“I don't like anything about speed cameras, but it's 10 miles and over in a school zone during school zone hours,” he said. “If you can't abide by that, what are you worried about? I think people need to know, too, because I read multiple comments on Facebook that once we spend all our money on speed cameras, then we’re going to ask for another levy.
“We’re not paying for the cameras. The cameras are being put in. We’re splitting the revenue with the company that installs them. I don’t love the idea of speed cameras, but they’re in school zones during school hours. That’s the only time you’re going to get a ticket.”
Council members also reiterated that the project isn’t a money-making venture for the village, but more of a safety measure as part of the village’s participation in the Safe Routes to School Program through the Ohio Department of Transportation, which also helped pay for the traffic study in front of the high school. The cameras also won’t cost the residents any money.
Decisions are still being made regarding implementation of the cameras.
Logo redesign
Council also discussed the next steps in a potential village logo redesign. Babcock said he is working on putting something together for public engagement so residents would have the ability for input.
Babcock responded to a question on why the need for a change, as well.
“We don’t really have a logo,” he said. “Obviously we have a mark that we use as a logo. The one thing is it's not like a complete emblem of any kind. It doesn't say Oak Harbor on it, for example. Not that it has to say Oak Harbor, but you know what I mean? It's a tri-globe I would say it doesn't necessarily clearly communicate.
“The other thing is it was made by a vendor that was as sort of as a courtesy so that we could put it on like a postcard like 10 years ago, so we don't have any high-resolution version of it. And by high resolution, I mean any resolution, so it really limits like the applications. At minimum what we would need to do is pay someone to recreate that and make a version of it.”
Babcock said they’ve done focus groups for feedback and have engaged a designer. They’re working on potentially putting something out to the public for input similar to the property tax issue recently.
“When we put that out to the public and we got some input, it kind of helped us understand in a more nuanced way, ‘Okay, here's what really people are looking for. These are the three things.’ (It’s the) same kind of vibe here. We know generally what people think Oak Harbor looks like and represents, but let's get a little more refined input to validate that we know what we think we know. But then also get some input on that.”
When a comment was issued regarding a potential push to keep the three globes in the new logo, Babcock said he was kind of agnostic on it.
“I'm definitely not opposed to it,” he said. “I think the thing to keep in mind is there's so much more to the brand than just the logo. The logo is really important, but there's a lot of other things, too. I don't want to rule out another good option.”
No money has been spent on the project yet. It’s just in a discussion phase.
Hall departs
Councilman Barry Hall took part in his final meeting as his term ended. Other council members John Humphrey, Jackie Macko, and Aimee Kline were also slated to have their terms up, but they were all re-elected in November. Logan Segaard earned the next most votes via write-in to replace the departing Hall.
“I haven’t really had problems,” Hall said. “We have a very workable, working council. We’re going to have a new young face in the mix, which I think will not hurt anything. I’m proud to have served for eight years. I spent eight years looking for some graft, and I never found any, so that was a good thing. I’m still going to be involved. I’m going to be on the tree commission, and I might be on the zoning BZA. We’ll see.”
Old business
Earlier in the meeting, council had third readings, and subsequent passage, for ordinances revising sections of the codified ordinances for establishing sewer rates, water rates, and storm drainage rates.
They also passed a resolution in support of applying for grant funding from the Ottawa Sandusky Seneca (OSS) Joint Solid Waste Management District for fiscal year 2026, as well as a resolution authorizing the village administrator to apply for the Coastal Management Assistance Grant for the Portage River Local Coastal Management and Access Plan.
Next meeting
Council is slated to meet next on Jan. 5 at 7 p.m.
