Scholarships awarded to Allen County graduates
By Trevor Hubert - thubert@limanews.com
LIMA The Allen County Board of Commissioners awarded their annual scholarships to new high school graduates on Thursday. Out of 61 students who applied, 28 received $1,000 scholarships. Twelve Allen County high schools are represented by the recipients.
“We were just so blown away by you with the quality of your applications, the amount of effort that each of you has put into your school and your community, your churches, and we are just so proud,” Allen County Commissioner Beth Seibert told the students. “We would love to see you return to careers here in Allen County because we’re enriched by you today and we want to be enriched by you in the future.”
New year brings new questions for new officials
By Josh Ellerbrock - jellerbrock@limanews.com
Ehora
Winegardner, right
LIMA The coronavirus pandemic forced everyone to adapt in 2020. But what will 2021 look like? And are local leaders prepared for the next round of challenges?
The Lima News reached out to the newest of the county’s elected officials to get their views on what next year will bring.
City of Lima
Two candidates for Lima City Council ended up replacing incumbents in 2020. After tight races in 2019, Peggy Ehora and Tony Wilkerson jumped into their new roles last January, and while their desks in city council chambers have been ready for them, they haven’t spent much time there. Instead, governing in 2020 has consisted primarily of online appearances.
Restaurants now can opt into Q2 sewer rate change
By Josh Ellerbrock - jellerbrock@limanews.com
LIMA Allen County restaurants that shut down this spring might be able to save some money from going down the drain after Allen County commissioners approved a change in sewer rates Thursday.
Under the approved resolution, qualified restaurants can now retroactively reduce what they paid back in April, May and June on their sewer bills if they closed down in the second quarter and didn’t receive CARES Act funding.
Allen County Sanitary Engineer Steve Kayatin, who proposed the change, said the rate reduction would bring each qualified restaurant’s bill down to $99 for each of those months, or the minimal sewer charge for restaurants. For the largest businesses, that could mean a few thousand dollars in savings.