City of Wapakoneta Organization

The City of Wapakoneta, the county seat of Auglaize County, is located on the banks of the Auglaize River in west-central Ohio. It is approximately fifteen miles southwest of Lima, fifty-five miles north of Dayton, and ninety miles northwest of Columbus. Interstate 75, a major North-South highway, and U.S. 33, an equally important East-West route, intersect at the southeast corner of the City. Four major highway interchanges are located within two miles of this intersection. Over twelve million non-commuters pass through Wapakoneta each year. Wapakoneta compromises five and one-third square miles and is located eight hundred ninety-five feet above sea level. Two-thirds of the nation’s population and almost 70 percent of the nation’s purchasing power are located within six hundred miles of Wapakoneta.

Operating under the Council/Mayor form of government, the citizens of Wapakoneta elect eight members of council (including the president, three council members-at-large, and four ward council members), a mayor, auditor, treasurer, and law director. "It is the mission of Wapakoneta City government to provide for and promote the general health, safety, and welfare of all residents of the City by delivering services in a professional, impartial, and cost-effective manner and planning for the long-range development and improvement of the City residents, with an awareness of all the City's collective needs".

The City's service responsibilities are administered by a number of different divisions and accounting entities, including police, fire, emergency medical, street maintenance, parks and recreation, engineering (including planning and zoning), electric, water, sewer, storm sewer, and refuse (including recycling), and various support staff, as well as a waste minimization committee and the tree commission. These divisions form the primary administrative unit of the City, responsible to City Council and the Mayor.

The City's reporting entity has been defined in accordance with principles established by Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 14, "The Financial Reporting Entity". The reporting entity is composed of the primary government and component units. The primary government consists of all funds, departments, boards, and agencies that are not legally separate from the City. Component units are legally separate organizations that are fiscally dependent on the City or for which the City is financially accountable. There were no component units of the City of Wapakoneta in 2002.

ECONOMIC CONDITION AND OUTLOOK

The City, incorporated in 1848, has been situated as a hub for commerce beginning with its history in 1780 as the capital of the Shawnee Native American Nation led by such recognized leaders as Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, and Blackhoof. Through rail service, the City became a center for shipping grain throughout the country. At present, the City of Wapakoneta is highly aggressive in drawing commerce to the area and maintaining many small and mid-sized industries, retail establishments, and antique dealers.

Industrial tool and die companies and machine shops have been a part of Wapakoneta history. In addition, several general contractors are located in the area, as well as food processing plants, and several firms specializing in furniture and decorating. With recycling being a high priority nationwide, Wapakoneta has two industries dedicated to recycling. There are nine industrial/commercial park sites in Wapakoneta alone. All of these activities together have joined to create a rise economically in the past several years, and the City is committed to the continual rise and revitalization of existing resources while always on the lookout for new ways to improve the economy and community.

In 1991, the City annexed the six hundred eleven acre West Central Ohio Industrial Park (WCOIP) located south of U.S. 33 and west of I-75. It is intersected by the main track line for CSX railroad with spur lines available for companies. City utilities, electric, water, and sewer lines, have been extended to the entire six hundred eleven acres. Curbed streets and service roads were partly financed with a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation. The WCOIP is now leasing and is aggressively contacting new industry to occupy more space in this location. Amcast Automotive Corporation, an automobile component manufacturing industry, has been a thriving entity since 1997. Other businesses which have constructed buildings and are currently occupying the industrial park are Millers Laundry, CTL Engineering, and On Time Machine.

The City hosts many and varied retail and professional businesses which are of an outstanding quality and commitment to the community. Our "downtown" area is comprised of many specialty shops: antiques, toys, flowers, books, furniture, and crafts to name a few. With the renovation of our downtown, many offices and apartments round out the tree-lined streets.

The City issued one hundred seventy-seven building permits during 2002, including twenty-nine for new residences, thirty-nine additions to current residences, and ten commercial permits. The City addresses local issues, enhances economic development, provides optimism, and anticipates potential for its citizens in an effort to keep our future on a path for growth.

MAJOR INITIATIVES

Again in 2002, the City of Wapakoneta continued to improve its facilities and infrastructure to serve its citizens. This includes the continuation of the sidewalk, curb, and gutter program and construction and reconstruction of streets within the City. The following street projects were completed in 2002:

1. Mechanic Street - reconstruction of water, sanitary and storm sewers, streets, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks
2. Silver Street - reconstruction of sanitary and storm sewers, streets, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks
3. Gardenia Street - reconstruction of water lines and storm sewers, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks
4. Perry and Willipie Streets - reconstruction of storm sewers, streets, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks
5. Benton Street - reconstruction of water, sanitary and storm sewers, streets, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks

The City has implemented a program, in conjunction with the sidewalk program, whereby Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) monies are used to construct Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements. Grant money this year went to update the restrooms in the water plant and the fire department building for handicap access.

For the Year The City negotiated a contract with a local landowner for a parcel of land that is in excess of twenty-five acres on which to build a satellite water treatment plant. In 2001, the City purchased land adjacent to this land and drilled for two new wells, each of which should pump approximately one million gallons of water per day. The City has entered into an engineering contract with Poggemeyer Design Group of Bowling Green, Ohio to design a new 2.5 million gallon per day ion-exchange water plant.

In 2002, the City hired an engineering staff to work with our engineering firm to create a computer model of our electric, water, sewer, and storm sewer systems. In early spring, the Engineering staff began a program to GPS survey points at street intersections, corners, and centerline alignments to have reference points for a grid system to better track infrastructure. Along with an aerial photo, the engineering department will redraw a map of the city in an accurate scale.

During 2001, the City completed the wastewater biosolids facility; however, the Ohio EPA has brought to our attention a concern that wastewater currently overflows storm water into the river in times of excessive rainfall because our plant has a combined collection system. This means that during normal operation, the lines transport raw wastewater, and in the event of rainfall, these same lines transport storm water to a point of discharge. The combined collection system incorporates three overflow structures that permit excessive and diluted flows to go directly into the Auglaize River without treatment and the stored wastewater is then brought into the plant for treatment after such rain. There are many components to this issue and plans are in the works for an improvement to the wastewater plant. The plans are pending approval by the Ohio EPA.

For the Future The City of Wapakoneta continues its commitments to such programs as Tree City, the maintenance of our sidewalks, curbs, and gutters, ADA improvements, etc. The City provides a variety of information online, including the codified ordinances, income tax forms and information, administration information, and access to utility bills. Along with this new online information and the ability to use automatic debit for bill paying, we feel the City is growing and changing to try to accommodate the needs of our customers.

The City continues its relationship with its Sister City, Lengerich, Germany. This is an ongoing partnership, which was formally signed in July 1994.

The City of Wapakoneta is committed to keeping the City healthy and beautiful. We received the distinct award of "Tree City" for the thirteenth year. To keep this an ongoing program, the City supports Arbor Day festivities each year with the teachers and students to educate our youth in the importance of trees.

The Administration had determined that benefits of outsourcing our utility bills and EMS bills would exceed the costs and increase our effectiveness and efficiency. This will continue in 2003. The City will also be implementing direct deposit for payroll. The City of Wapakoneta will always strive to stay as current as possible with technology; increasing our effectiveness without the need to increase staff, while still keeping costs low and not sacrificing public service and personnel contact with the customer.

UTILITY SERVICES

The City of Wapakoneta purchases electricity from the Ohio Power Company and from American Municipal Power - Ohio (AMP-OHIO), distributing the power through its own system. The distribution system includes eight substations owned and operated by the City, 9.92 miles of 69,000 KV transmission lines, 16.21 miles of 7,200/12,470 KV lines, and 72.59 miles of 24,000/4,160 KV lines. System usage is 18-24 megawatts per day (MWD) serving 5,107 users; 4,485 residential, 611 commercial, and 11 industrial.

The City's waterworks system operates five wells at all times, with two stand-by wells employed during peak demand. Well capacity is 3,020 gallons per minute. Combined storage at the City's three water towers is 1.52 million gallons, with 400,000 gallons stored in seven underground deep wells. Wapakoneta's water treatment plant currently operates at 1.614 million gallons per day. The City's water system serves 4,228 customers; 3,806 residential, 403 commercial, and 19 industrial.

The capacity of the City's wastewater treatment plant is four million gallons per day, with an average dry weather flow of 2.6 million gallons per day. Built in 1984, the plant has approximately 220,000 feet of pipe and serves 4,094 customers; 3,705 residential, 371 commercial, and 18 industrial.

The City of Wapakoneta also operates its own refuse collection department, offering the service to all residents of the City as well as to many commercial and industrial establishments. The City serves 4,055 customers; 3,840 residential and 215 commercial; fifty-seven dumpsters were placed at resident's homes and special events. The City had sales of approximately $223,455 for trash bags in 2002. The City is hauling garbage to Waste Management in Lima, Ohio.

The City of Wapakoneta currently provides curbside recycling service to all residential refuse customers, including those living in apartments. The City has been able to provide this service as a result of two grants received from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Several years ago, the State of Ohio mandated the percentage of collected refuse a community has to recycle. In 2002, the City's recycling percentage was 27 percent, which is 1,473 tons of recyclables. Approximately 2,400 gallons of used motor oil was collected and recycled by using it to operate the furnace in the public works building. In 2002, 3,953 tons of refuse was collected and 982 cases of large white and small red refuse bags were sold and distributed. The compost farm had 4,365 vehicles come to discard composting materials and sold two hundred eight loads of mulch.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Development of the City's accounting system included consideration of internal accounting controls. Internal accounting controls are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance regarding (1) the safeguarding of assets against loss from unauthorized use or disposition and (2) the reliability of financial records for preparing financial statements and maintaining accountability for assets. The concept of reasonable assurance states that internal controls should be evaluated to insure that the expense associated with providing internal controls does not exceed the benefit expected to be derived from their implementation. This evaluation involves estimates and judgments by the City administration and members of the finance office. The administrative and financial management personnel believe the City's financial controls adequately safeguard existing assets and provide reasonable assurance of the proper recording of financial transactions.

Budgetary control is maintained by the encumbrance of purchase amounts prior to the release of purchase orders to vendors. Purchase orders are not issued when insufficient appropriations preclude the encumbrance of the amount of the purchase. Each department head is furnished monthly reports showing monthly transactions and summarizing the balances available to be spent from the appropriations for goods and services.