Shenigo, Old retain leadership positions

PERKINS TWP. — To continue unparalleled progress in Erie County, elected officeholders want to keep its leadership hierarchy in place. By a recent 3-0 vote, incumbents Pat Shenigo and Matt Old received their seventh-consecutive one-year terms to serve as board president and vice president, respectively. In addition to voting for themselves, the third commissioner, Steve Shoffner, reaffirmed both selections. Largely a figurehead position, the president position carries few executive powers. For instance, the president can set up public meeting times as well as topics and speakers for those sessions. The vice president fills this role when the president, for whatever reason, can't. Neither the president nor vice president boasts special voting privileges. People in these positions effectively stand on equal footing with their commission counterparts. Each spoke about their nomination and what it means for county operations • Old: I look forward to serving as vice president of the commission. Last year, we saw unprecedented investments in roads throughout the county. I expect more infrastructure investments to be made this year. The land bank has been revitalized and is actively cleaning up dilapidated buildings in our community. These improvements, and others, are possible due to solid financial management. We continue to make infrastructure improvements, pay down debt, provide essential services — all without raising taxes. • Shenigo: Over my tenure as commissioner, we have reduced costs and dramatically paid down enormous debt while maintaining overall services to our citizens. We will continue these best practices in the future. A new era of business Voters initially elected Shenigo in fall 2008, and he began serving in 2009. Voters initially elected Old in fall 2016, and he began serving in 2017. The Republicans most recently won re-election in fall 2020, and their individual four-year terms span through 2024. During their time together, both have worked on several pieces of groundbreaking legislation, namely trimming Erie County's debt, which totals about $50 million today — the lowest amount since 2001, years before either began serving in office. Old and Shenigo managed to lower the debt while still pursuing many new projects over the past several years. Most notably, commissioners committed funding to: • Resurrecting a pair of long-dormant water lines, once owned by NASA. Work at a plant near Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve, which: — Ensures Sandusky water customers have a safe and reliable backup water system — Offers endless marketing opportunities, as raw water is a crucial ingredient to lure manufacturing companies into the region Erie County's in-house utilities team performed the work at a cost of $350,000. It came in at a fraction of the cost as compared to estimates collected by Sandusky officials, ranging between $8 million and $20 million. • Supporting various programs and initiatives related to the area's addiction recovery movement; Most notably, commissioners financially supported the region's first detox unit and Becky's House, a women's sober-living facility. Both entities exist at the Erie County Health Department's campus in Sandusky. • Overhauling The Meadows at Osborn Park, the Erie County-owned nursing home near Osborn MetroPark, with modern facilities to attract more residents • Implementing many changes at the Erie County landfill, which included installing a new scale to improve weight accuracy and creating an eco-friendly system to convert methane gas into electricity • Securing grants, totaling $24 million, with a majority coming from the federal government, to pursue many safety-related upgrades along U.S. 6 in the coming years; Erie County also • Backing the Erie County land bank, which has demolished dozens of properties and brought many of them back onto the tax roll