Welcome to the Village of Monroeville

Mayor Galea presented the annual State of the Village Address at the 1/14/25 regular Council meeting:

Good evening, Madame President Pro-Tem, Members of Village Council, Madame Fiscal Officer, Mister Village Administrator, Mister Chief of Police, staff members, and members of the public present tonight.

Tonight, it is my honor, at the first official Council Meeting of 2025, to advise you all on the state of our Village of Monroeville as set forth by the Ohio Revised Code, for my first time as your Mayor.

2024 was a year of remarkable progress in our Village. It was a year of exciting and memorable events, and a year where we accomplished many long-standing goals. But our work has only just begun. Each milestone achieved, each project completed, each event celebrated, serves to remind us that we are always striving to make our Village a better place to work, a better place to visit, a better place to do business, a better place to live, and a better place to raise our families. Our Village has an unmistakable energy right now. For those of us who serve the Village in a legislative, executive, or administrative role, it is our job to keep that energy level high, and to channel it into continued improvement and growth.

I am pleased to report that our Village ended 2024 in a strong fiscal position, which we can no doubt attribute to the wise stewardship of Council and the efforts of our Fiscal Officer Bonnie Beck and her staff. We received $2.9 million in revenue into our general fund, and spent just under $2.4 million, resulting in a $500,000 surplus.  This has resulted in a total Village cash position - made up of our checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and our STAR Ohio money market account - of over $6 million.

I want to note two important fiscal items. First, our Village savings of about $5 million earned $175,482.58 in 2024. Bonnie made sure that the Village benefited from higher interest rates by moving funds to STAR Ohio and negotiating favorable CD rates with Croghan Colonial Bank. Thank you for that. Second, we took in $1,117,308 in income tax revenue in 2024. Not only is that great news for our financial position, but it also means that Village residents and employers are enjoying prosperity, too. Here’s hoping for a repeat in 2025.

As a Village, we completed some much needed projects in 2024. We built a new salt shed to store our road salt, which permits us to store the salt in an environmentally friendly way and reduce loss. Then, right before the final buzzer sounded for 2024, we built a downtown “muni lot” for public parking. Both projects were paid for by grants, and both projects represent significant improvements to our Village infrastructure. Continuing on this theme, we re-started the sidewalk rehab program. Additionally, on the utility side of the house, we obtained a $9,885 EPA grant for water leak detection, and closed the books on our ARPA funding, which included the purchase of a much-needed backup pump for the water treatment plant. Finally, we entered into exciting agreements for the installation of floating solar panels on our reservoir, adding to the renewable energy portfolio powering the Village. Thank you to our Village Administrator Tom Gray and staff for all of your hard work in getting these projects, and many others, completed. I hope to build off the momentum of these projects in 2025 by laying further groundwork for a renewed street repair program and for sidewalk reconstruction downtown. 

2024 was a good year for our Village utilities, too. Our water, sewer, and electric utilities end the year on sound footing. We continued to upgrade and maintain our physical plant, and thanks to some timely lobbying by our Village Administrator, we obtained a $266,000 grid resiliency grant from the federal government. I am proud of our reliable electric grid, which supports residents and energy-intensive industries alike. Thank also to our utility department employees and superintendents for your efforts this year in keeping things running smoothly. I am especially appreciative of the holiday cheer our electric department brought through a beautiful light display throughout the Village, which drew many compliments from locals and visitors alike. Thank you for making sure Monroeville put its best foot forward this holiday season. Additionally, although not a retirement, I’d like to thank Wes Brewer for his years of service to our utility department. Your expertise will be missed.

2024 was a year of change for our public safety. We said goodbye to Police Chief Gary Lyons this summer, who took his well-deserved retirement after a half-century law enforcement career, and 13 years of service as Monroeville’s police chief. We welcomed Chief Jon Earl from the City of Whitehall to be our new police chief. Chief Earl has done a great job integrating with our existing officers while raising the department’s standards and setting new goals. Among the department’s 2025 goals are the purchase of a new police cruiser, and the addition of a school resource officer. I look forward to working with Chief Earl and Council to achieve these goals. And I am excited for the continued professional growth of our officers.

Besides Chief Earl, 2024 also saw the addition of new employees to the Village. Ashley Hankins joined our administrative office, Sean Crosby joined us as a street employee with valuable utility cross training, and Joseph Brass became our newest part-time police officer. We are glad that you all joined our Village family. 

I mentioned that we experienced some notable events and achievements in 2024. Monroeville was within the path of totality - a phrase few of us knew before 2024, but one we became very familiar with - of an amazing total solar eclipse. We were well-prepared for the event thanks to lots of planning from staff. The April 8 eclipse came and went, leaving nothing but lifelong memories. Thankfully, concerns of crowds and traffic jams did not materialize, and our Village was treated to a once in a lifetime celestial display–and the weather even cooperated! Another major event was the opening of a new track facility by our Monroeville Local School District. Although not a Village project, we were proud to play a small part in this tremendous community achievement. We continue to work with the Schools and associated organizations to improve Clark Park and Marsh Field, including a Marsh Field stadium renovation project now in progress. Thank you to the Schools and booster organizations for your efforts to improve our amenities. We all felt a sense of community pride when our Monroeville Eagles volleyball team brought home a Firelands Conference Championship, when our football team electrified our Friday nights with a Firelands Conference Championship and first-ever second round home playoff game, and when our softball team became the first team in Huron County history to reach the state final four in that sport. Thanks to our young athletes for giving us something to cheer for, and for putting our Village on the map. And there is one event very personal and notable to me—my wife Alysha and I welcomed our daughter Audrey Jane, who became our Village’s newest resident on December 30. We are so proud to raise our daughter here in our beautiful Village.

During 2024, we made several efforts to beautify the Village. Our shade tree commission continues to add to our urban forest, planting new trees along Village streets and at Clark Park. With shade tree funds and private donations, planter boxes were filled with a beautiful array of flowers for spring and summer, and evergreens for winter. Landscaping and a trellis were added to the corner of Main and Monroe Streets. Veterans were honored on Village light poles with the help of the American Legion Post’s Hometown Heroes program. The American Legion also generously donated professional cleaning of the war memorials in our Commons Park. And the Village Flea donated a beautiful Welcome to Monroeville mural which will soon be hung in the Village. Not only are these efforts, big and small, pleasing to the eye–they also build on the sense of place our historic Village holds, and bolsters the pride we all feel in our hometown.

All in all, I am pleased to report that the State of our Village is rock solid. We have sound finances, reliable and well-performing utilities, improving infrastructure, and experienced, hardworking, and dedicated employees.  And upon that solid foundation, we will continue to grow and progress our Village, piece by piece and brick by brick.

It’s not uncommon for folks to reminisce about what Monroeville once was. In a Village that is 156 years old, with 50 years of settlement even before that, looking to the past is inevitable. People become nostalgic for what we used to have. Certainly, Village life has changed dramatically during most of our lifetimes. Lots has changed about small-town rural life, just as lots has changed about life in the industrial Rust Belt on whose edge we sit. Forces we will never be able to control cause businesses and people to come and go at times. Thus, our time and energy is always best spent looking forward, and not backward. We could not have lasted for over 156 years by simply wishing for what once was. I am optimistic that our community’s best days lay ahead of us. In closing, I hope you will join me in making that optimism reality.

Council recently came to the difficult decision that in order to increase needed revenue, the credit given to those who have taxes withheld in other municipalities will be 75% rather than the 100% that has been credited in the past. This change will be effective on 1-1-25, with the tax filing for fiscal year 2024. This is not a tax increase, as Monroeville’s tax rate will continue to be 1%.

Council has heard the growing concerns about the condition of our streets, the need to replace our downtown sidewalks, address the condition of the community’s sidewalks, and to construct a much-needed downtown parking lot. Council has seen the decline in state and federal financial support, and are currently noticing the rising costs of supplies, maintenance, and operating materials. Council has given consideration to the enhancement of the overall efficiency of all village operations, as well as financial stability over the long term, and concluded that in order to address these concerns, this income tax change is necessary. Council firmly believes that this change will allow them to provide vital resources to improve the strength and foundation of the community.