The 3M (Monday Morning Men’s) Club met Monday in the Campus Center at Ohio Living Cape May. The guest speaker was Brian Shidaker, Wilmington’s Service and Safety Director, who covered a variety of subjects involving the city of Wilmington.
“We are still battling the Corps of Engineers when it come to how much the city must pay for water from Caesar Creek,” he said. “The bill they presented us contained charges for ridiculous items such as bird seed, etc. We are now paying them a much smaller amount and waiting for them to make the next move. We feel that we have a solid argument, as do most Ohio elected officials we have talked with.”
Bob Holmes, who at one time held the same city position as Shidaker, brought up city water problems from years past. Shidaker referred to Holmes as his mentor.
Shidaker stated that all firefighters must be trained in paramedic skills and that 95 percent of their runs — averaging 16 runs per day — are paramedic runs.
“The two biggest problems we face are drug-related and homelessness. We have over 300 homeless people in Wilmington and we recently broke up numerous homeless camps. We also found out that most homeless people are homeless because they choose that type of life.”
Shidaker said, “Paving the city streets is an ongoing job. We break up the city into quadrants and work a quadrant at a time. Vectren is replacing gas lines throughout the city and many streets are torn up, but things should be back to normal sometime next spring. We also are strongly looking to replace the sanitation (wastewater) plant and will expand the the landfill, which is expected to last another 75 years.”
The 3M Club meets at 9 a.m. in the Campus Center at Ohio Living Cape May on the first and third Mondays of each month. All senior men are invited. For more information about the 3M Club call Abby Ellsberry, Director of Business Development at 937-382-2995 or Bob Holmes at 937-382-3673.
