By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Crawford Regional Planning Commission had been looking at ways to save money and how to move forward for a while now, but a tough decision finally came to a head last Wednesday. The CRPC’s Executive Committee voted unanimously to place its Director, Mike McBeth, on layoff effective Aug. 16.
John Rostash, the City of Bucyrus CRPC Representative and a member of the Executive Committee, clarified Thursday that the decision to layoff McBeth had been due to the organization’s financial position. “We could not sustain a full-time director,” explained Rostash.
The future of the CRPC is still a bit murky. The organization has a meeting scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Crawford County Engineer’s office, where it will discuss what direction it will take as well as unemployment compensation for McBeth. Rostash said he had a few ideas on where he would like to see the CRPC going but would not comment on any specifics at the time.
The CRPC began with funds on a per capita basis from all political entities in the area, from the townships and the county to Bucyrus, Galion, and Crestline. The organization also received some funding from grant administrator dollars but, due to this no longer being a part of the CRPC’s responsibilities, those funds no longer help to fill the coffers. Rostash credited the loss of those dollars as part of the reason of the CRPC’s current financial situation.