If this passes, I'll move it to P&C.  A photo of the town hall is on the photo link colored red.  From the 10/11/05 Toledo Blade:

 

PHOTO: Village administrator James Mehaffie looks up at the decaying, 111-year-old town hall in Bluffton, Ohio. He said he hasn't gotten a feel for whether the 0.25 percent income tax issue for renovation will be approved by voters on Nov. 8.  ( THE BLADE/ALLAN DETRICH )

 

PHOTO: If the renovation proceeds, the familiar brick exterior and clock tower of Bluffton's town hall would be preserved, while a garage added on to the rear of the building in the 1950s would be removed and an elevator would be installed.  ( THE BLADE/ALLAN DETRICH )

 

BLUFFTON, OHIO

Tax issue is sought to fix up town hall

Measure would yield $3.25 million

 

BLUFFTON, Ohio - Fred Steiner figures the image of Bluffton's 118-year-old town hall is printed on at least 10 different items, including the local newspaper he edits.  Voters will decide whether to put into place a 0.25 percent income tax that would generate some $3.25 million over 10 years to renovate the stately, three-story town hall.  Its familiar brick exterior and clock tower would be preserved, although a garage added on to the rear of the building in the 1950s would be removed.  An elevator would be installed in that part of the building.

 

The initiative was prompted in the spring when City Council indicated it was evenly split between building new or renovating the old town hall. Mayor Fred Rodabaugh, who would have broken the tie, said he would likely vote in favor of building a new structure, but he preferred to have voters make the decision.

 

The building's third floor has been condemned, and the local American Legion post rents the second floor. Village offices, which feature paneled walls, dropped ceilings, and uneven floors, are packed in with the village police department.  A local architect gave the village estimates this year that put the cost of renovating all three floors of the old town hall at $2.7 million.  Building a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building was estimated at $2.4 million.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051011/NEWS17/510110360/-1/NEWS

 

Bluffton voters OK renovating town hall

By DAVID TRINKO

11/09/2005

[email protected]

 

BLUFFTON — The iconic clock tower will continue to rise above the downtown skyline of Bluffton.  Voters narrowly approved a 0.25-percent income tax to pay for renovations to the 1887 town hall, which requires an estimated $2.7 million in renovations for three floors.  “We’re really pleased that the people of Bluffton also want to keep the landmark,” resident Bob Amstutz said.  “I’d just heard the news and it was passing. My wife and I are really thrilled about this.” 

 

Mayor Fred Rodabaugh said the village will move “quite rapidly” to begin renovations to the structure.  He said he’d hoped the margin could’ve been larger, to avoid future debates about the wisdom of the project.  “It’d be nice if we could’ve had a 5-percent spread,” he said. “That’d make it easier than one or two votes deciding it. There’s always second-guessing if there’s any time you have issues that are emotional or controversial. We have to say, ‘OK, the majority has spoken. Let’s go ahead.’”

 

Rodabaugh said the village already has $750,000 set aside for whatever town hall project it needed to begin.  It will set aside an additional $130,000 per year from the income tax.

 

MORE: http://www.limaohio.com

A couple of years ago, I worked on a rehab of an exact duplicate of this building.  Ours was the Greenfield City Hall.  We put council chambers, police station, jail, city offices and courtroom inside.  It is one of my proudest projects.  I don't have any after photos handy, but here is our rendering used for fundraising.  When we started, the building was covered in permastone.

Yay!

permastone.

 

You know about permastone? What is the process of removal/restoration of brick?

From the 12/14/05 Findlay Courier:

 

Village hall ad hoc committee formed

By ERIC SCHAADT

Staff Writer

 

BLUFFTON -- An ad hoc committee has been formed in Bluffton to look at options for renovating the village hall.  Bluffton voters in November approved an income tax increase to fund renovations to the village hall, built in 1887.

 

Bluffton Mayor Fred Rodabaugh has appointed Councilmen Mitch Kingsley and Dick McGarrity to assess renovations plans.  Village Administrator Jamie Mehaffie also will take part in meetings with this committee.

 

Preliminary estimates indicated the renovations could cost $2.7 million.  Voters accepted a .25 percent increase in the village income tax for a 10-year period, which would generate $325,000 each year.  Council already has set aside $700,000.  Neff and Associates, a Bluffton architectural firm, has been working with the village to develop renovation designs.

 

MORE: http://www.thecourier.com/issues/2005/Dec/121405.asp

 

From the 6/13/06 Lima News:

 

Details worked out in renovation

By HEATHER RUTZ

06/13/2006

[email protected]

 

BLUFFTON — It’s down to details such as floor coverings before work on renovating the village’s Town Hall can begin.  The renovation committee made those decisions Monday preparing for bids to be solicited on the building, built in 1887.  In November 2005 voters approved a 0.25-percent income tax to fund the $3 million renovations.  Amid council discussion about renovating the current building or constructing a new one, village resident Fred Steiner got an issue on the ballot that proposed the tax to save the building.

 

The project architect will present a revised timeline in about two weeks, but the work remains mostly on schedule, Councilman Dick McGarrity said.  Demolition should begin late this year and construction next year.

 

The village had saved about $700,000 in recent years to fund either a renovation or new building and started to collect in January income tax for the project.  The village will issue bonds to pay for the renovation initially and pay off the debt with the income tax, McGarrity said.

 

MORE: http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=26628

 

From the 2/11/07 Blade:

 

 

PHOTO: The Bluffton town hall is 120 years old. Citizens circulated an initiative petition to raise funds to preserve it.  ( THE BLAE/ALLAN DETRICH )

 

BLUFFTON

Village hall prepared for $3.5M facelift

New tax will pay for renovation

By JENNIFER FEEHAN

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

BLUFFTON - When Village Council couldn't agree on whether to build new or renovate the old town hall, a group of residents took the matter into their hands.  They got an initiative petition on the ballot to save the 120-year-old building and asked voters to pay for it with a 10-year, 0.25 percent income tax.  It passed, much to the relief of people like Bob Amstutz, who wanted the best-known building in Bluffton to remain standing.

 

"It's a landmark in Bluffton," Mr. Amstutz said. "It had been on our telephone book cover. It's just a unique building for Bluffton, and it would've been a shame to lose it."  More than a year after the measure was approved, architectural drawings for the renovation are now complete.  Mr. Mehaffie said he expects the renovation to cost around $3.5 million - a bill that will be paid for with revenue from the new income tax as well as about $750,000 that the village had saved over the past several years in anticipation of either building a new town hall or renovating the old one.

 

More at http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/NEWS17/702110310/-1/RSS08

 

From the 5/24/07 Blade:

 

Staff vacating Bluffton town hall for renovation

 

BLUFFTON, Ohio — Village employees began moving out of the village’s old town hall this week to make way for a $3.5 million renovation of the local landmark. 

 

Village offices will be housed for the next year or so at Bluffton’s emergency medical services building on Washington Street behind the fire station.  Village Council plans to hold its twice-monthly meetings at the Bluffton Public Library.

 

In November, 2005, voters approved a 10-year, 0.25 percent income tax to pay for renovations to the three-story building. Village Council had wanted to tear it down and build a new one.

 

MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/NEWS17/70524020/-1/RSS08

 

Grob Systems create 200 jobs with $25M expansion for EV producers

 

https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2023/11/30/grob-systems-creates-200-jobs-with-25-million-expansion-for-ev-producers/stories/20231130107

The GROB is my favorite little skyscraper ever!

That GROB tower is one of my little personal landmarks whenever I drive back up 75 to my parents' house in Toledo. It always gives me a chuckle that they decided to build an office "tower" in the middle of nowhere. Being in flat as a pancake NW Ohio, the view from the top floor can probably see all the way to the cooling towers of Davis-Besse nuclear plant.

Edited December 1, 20231 yr by OliverHazardPerry