Fort OKs cost for shared OVI tool

FORT RECOVERY - Councilors signed off Monday on Fort Recovery's contribution to a countywide breathalyzer to be housed at the sheriff's office.

Fort Recovery Police Chief Jared Laux presented councilors with a Memorandum of Understanding at their regular meeting Monday night between the police departments of Celina, St. Henry, Coldwater and Fort Recovery, and the Mercer County Sheriff's Office for the purchase of a shared breathalyzer.

Each agency is set to contribute funding based on the number of DUI arrests made annually. Celina and the sheriff's department are set to pay $5,000 each, Coldwater $2,500 and Fort Recovery and St. Henry $1,250.

While police units do travel with portable breathalyzers used alongside field sobriety tests and visual clues, those tools are not admissible in court, Laux said. The state-approved breathalyzer machine is admissible in court and will be stored at the sheriff's office.

The county's current breathalyzer will soon need replaced, and Laux said the agencies are trying to get ahead of it.

No total cost was shared on Monday night, but the devices range in price from approximately $8,000 to $10,000, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

Also Monday, councilors heard from Benjamin Rife with the Western Ohio Community Action Partnership of Allen, Auglaize and Mercer counties.

Rife was there to inform councilors that WOPAC is starting a Fatherhood Initiative Program with grant money from the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood and Ohio Department of Children and Youth.

The program is split across 12 sessions and designed to help fathers strengthen their relationships with their children, build confidence in their parenting role, and overcome barriers that could make it difficult to engage in their families' lives.

The program is free and open to fathers and father figures living in Allen, Auglaize and Mercer counties. Classes will be held at WOCAP offices in Lima, Celina and Wapakoneta.

WOCAP is offering a $200 completion incentive, a $100 incentive for those that complete 90 days of case management after program completion, on-site childcare, and $10 gas cards for travel to sessions and case management appointments.

WOCAP is also offering one-day fatherhood workshops.

"We recognize that children frequently imitate their parents. Most of the fathers we've been working with so far are raising their kids exactly the way they were raised. And I don't have to tell you that can cut both ways," Rife said. "There's some really good fathers out there, and there's some people that have had really challenges, challenging upbringings. We're hoping that encouraging fathers to be the best version of themselves can really improve the lives of their children today. The real dividends might be, as those children start to raise their own families in several years. We're hoping that we can really impact generations of families, and in turn, the communities that they are part of."

More information is available at wocap.org.

Councilors also:

• heard that they will be able to accept two pending annexations into the village at their next meeting, which will then go into effect in 30 days.

Village administrator Aaron Rengers advised there is one more annexation in the works after those before they will get things moving on the village's Community Reinvestment Area. He said it's likely the CRA will be in place in February if all things go smoothly, and at worst, March or April.

• heard that Rengers is still waiting on a report on the condition of the pool's leaks.

The Fort Recovery Village Council meets next at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 in council chambers.