Findlay Advances Flood Mitigation: Into a New Era

The Historic Flood of 2007

Over the course of two back-to-back rain events, extreme rain – as much as 10 inches in some locations – fell on the Blanchard River watershed. The flood caused more than $100 million in damage, 1,860 properties were impacted, and more than 500 families were evacuated. The city and state declared a state of emergency, and Hancock County was declared a federal disaster area.

At the height of the flood, people became isolated. The only passable road to get across town was I-75. Emergency vehicles struggled to serve those in need. People couldn’t make their way to the hospital, get to work, or were stranded at work. Rowboats and kayaks replaced cars and trucks on the roads, transporting people to safety. Findlay’s mayor, Tony Iriti, had moved in 2006 to renovate The Cube to have functionality as an emergency shelter for natural disasters; it served about 150 families in the days that came. Central Middle School, which housed Findlay City Schools’ district offices and 400 students downtown, was severely damaged, delaying the start of the school year. Downtown Findlay was under about three feet of water, destroying businesses and splitting the community in two.

At the dealership, LaRiche said the water department has always called him if floodwater might affect his business. They move cars away from the river until after the crest, celebrate, clean up, and move them back. But a second crest that night caught everyone off guard.

“From what I had heard, water had never gotten to the dealership before. We thought the river had crested and we’d dealt with the worst. Then I got a call at maybe 3 or 4 am. They said the water was rising too fast, you can’t get downtown, there’s nothing you can do and that’s all there is to it.”

LaRiche got in his car, took I-75, and parked near Wilson’s Sandwich Shop. He made the rest of the way down Main Street on foot, toward the dealership.

“When I got there the water was probably up to mid-ankle deep, walking in the middle of Main Street. By the time I got to the corner by the dealership, the water was up to my waist. The current was really cranking. I saw boats going by. It wasn’t quite daylight yet and I called my dad. I told him, ‘I think we lost every car.’”

They did. Along with his buildings that sustained damage, the dealership lost 200 new cars, 90 used cars, 60 body shop cars and 70 service cars.

Dean Wittwer, superintendent of Findlay City Schools at the time, remembers the day of the flood and its aftermath “like it was yesterday.” He received a call from Iriti at 2 or 3 am that night. The bus garage and buses on Blanchard Avenue were in danger and the district offices were underwater at Central. Iriti needed Wittwer to open Findlay High School for the use of EMS and warned him to get proper gear. Wittwer stopped at Walmart on the way to buy boots, and opened the high school at 3 am for EMS to set up.

Once the sun rose, district officials, accompanied by emergency workers, took a boat to survey Central Middle School. The basement was filled with 15 feet of water; the student cafeteria, 8 or 9 feet; and the district offices, 2 feet. The start of school was one week away, 400 students in grades 6-8 would be displaced, and they would need to find an alternate way to run the district.

“I remember going in on maybe the 23^rd or 24^th at night and I was by myself in the basement of Central,” Wittwer said. “I was just leaving to go home. It had to be 10 or 12 at night, and I remember standing there thinking, ‘God, is there a reason I’m standing here doing this?’ The answer was, ‘I’m here for a reason.’ Once I understood that, I was fine. You get put in the places you’re supposed to be.”

Like LaRiche and Wittwer, Gary Heminger, former chairman and CEO of Marathon Petroleum Corporation, remembers the flood “vividly.” His whole subdivision was engulfed in water, “there was no way out and no way in,” and several of his neighbors’ homes were damaged. He was scheduled to go overseas for work that day but couldn’t get to the airport. And Marathon – one of the largest oil refiners in the U.S. – was shut down for a week. The company’s entire U.S. pipeline control center operates out of the office 24 / 7, 365 days a year, and employees couldn’t get in to work.

“The storm that came, it didn’t happen overnight, and it was raining a long time,” Heminger said. “I could tell there was probably going to be some big damage – an event that would affect the whole city. …When you see things like this happen with a very large company like Marathon it becomes all about safety, ‘What do we do at our refineries? What do we do at our pipeline stations? How do we manage big events like this?’ We put a team in place to study this on a much bigger level than what had been done in the past.”

Dave Blatnik, manager of state and governmental affairs for Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois for Marathon, said the basement of Marathon was filled with water, with 3 feet on the first floor, and resulted in millions of dollars in damage to the building and property inside. Marathon set up temporary offices for pipeline operations.

The biggest reason Heminger stayed with Marathon his entire career of 45 years working up the ranks, was the people, the culture of Marathon employees to work hard and care about their shared community. And so, beyond what the company experienced, Heminger and Blatnik said the 2007 flood led to a strong desire to fix flooding once and for all— for Findlay.

It was a resolve shared by many.

Finding a Way

One reason Findlay’s flood woes have endured for so long is that, “We are topographically challenged,” said Steve Wilson, former Hancock County Engineer from 1993-2012, who has been directly involved with flood mitigation for more than 40 years “in one fashion or another.” Wilson is currently project manager of the Hancock County Flood-Risk Reduction Program through the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), the governing body that oversees flood mitigation efforts for the Blanchard River Watershed. MWCD has a three-member board of directors. Its territory includes 15 counties, and its court is made up of a common pleas judge from each county. All flood mitigation projects must be approved by the court; the MWCD wields the power of eminent domain. Wilson serves as a liaison between the MWCD and Hancock County Commissioners.

“There is very little elevation here, so when water tries to move through Hancock County, it just spreads and sits,” Wilson said. “Places like Columbus and Dayton don’t have that problem – after the flood of 1913, they assessed their residents and built dams and flood walls 100 years ago. It has taken time for the technology to be there to solve our problem.”

Going through the necessary channels as required by the MWCD, the City of Findlay and Village of Ottawa had requested in 2006 that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) determine a plan to reduce flood risk that would be eligible for federal assistance. A formal agreement was not signed until late in 2007—after the flood.

In response to the flood in 2007, Heminger brought a group of local businesses together to begin working out a solution and formed the Northwest Ohio Flood Mitigation Partnership. The NWOFMP assisted the USACE study and provided political support, with former Mayor Iriti as its CEO. Heminger assigned Dave Whikehart, a talented engineer at Marathon, to assist as well. Companies involved in the partnership were Marathon, Fifth-Third Bank, Whirlpool, Cooper Tire, National Lime & Stone, Blanchard Valley Health System, Pro-Tec, P&G Pet Care, W.C. Wood Company, and The Community Foundation.

The NWOFMP obtained two $3 million grants from the State of Ohio, money used to perform environmental surveys and acquire and demolish 30 repetitive flood loss properties in Findlay. It dissolved in 2010, but it also lent its support to a crucial piece of the flood mitigation funding puzzle.

That piece was a 10-year, 0.25% sales tax for flood mitigation, authorized by the Hancock County Commissioners and approved by voters in November of 2009. It fulfilled a requirement for funding by the MWCD and over 10 years, raised $32 million for flood mitigation. The commissioners at the time were Ed Ingold, Emily Walton and Phillip Riegle.

“That was critical – that was the backbone of it,” said Bill Bateson, who has served as a Hancock County Commissioner since 2021. During the flood of 2007, Bateson experienced flooding as he’d never seen before on his property in Eagle Township along Eagle Creek, and his wife’s dental office on West Front Street was destroyed.

“If we would not have gotten that funding, if the residents of Hancock County would not have taken it upon themselves to solve this problem, the federal and state governments would not have supported flood mitigation,” he said. “They needed to see commitment to come up with dollars to match. The county residents need to be applauded. It took a lot of faith, because at the time that was passed, there weren’t even any drawings on the table.”

Remarkably, during the same election, voters passed a school bond levy that elevated Findlay’s educational system and paved the way for the construction of Millstream Career Center and new Glenwood and Donnell middle school facilities. Voters also passed an income tax for the city, all after taking the hit from the flood and amid a significant economic recession.

“From this whole disaster, what really came out of it was exactly what you see in Findlay,” Wittwer said, reflecting upon the election that was a turning point in Findlay history. “Findlay was always a bright star to us when would we pass on I-75, and when my wife and I moved there, we really understood why. We used this challenging time to come up with a plan, and people approved it during one of the worst economic times. The flood gave the community focus on what could be done.”

Findlay would not be kept down.

And in the private sector, pivotal decisions were quietly being made at Marathon.

“We had first started talking about, in 2008 and 2009, the separating of Marathon Oil, with Marathon Petroleum becoming a separate company,” Heminger said. “But my board certainly had questions on, ‘Look, we were shut down for a week during the flood. Can you really manage a business of this size, as a separately traded company in Findlay, Ohio?’ And in my mind at that time, that’s where our headquarters needed to remain, but we needed to have sustainability, and we needed to be able to illustrate that we can operate no matter what is happening.

“I always had in the back of my head that I’m going to have to be able to answer this question, and the question did come from the board. ‘Are you confident that you can operate in a city like this?’ And I wanted to be able to stand up and emphatically say, ‘Yes.’ And that’s what we went to work on.”

In 2011, Marathon Oil Company split into two publicly traded companies – Marathon Oil in Houston, and Marathon Petroleum, whose headquarters remained in Findlay. By 2013, the company not only stayed in Findlay but expanded, bringing positive momentum to the downtown landscape through the Marathon Petroleum Logistics building, an administration building, an office building, two parking garages, an outdoor plaza, and the Hancock Hotel. At the time, it was Ohio’s fourth-largest company.

“Having a Fortune 50 world headquarters on your South Main Street is really going to have a dramatic positive impact on our downtown,” Iriti said in 2011 as quoted in the Toledo Blade. (To put it lightly.)

Iriti became director and Tim Mayle assistant director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development in 2011. And for their newly structured office, flood mitigation remained of critical importance.

“When we designed our economic development plan, the No. 1 priority was retention and expansion, but you can’t retain or expand companies if they flood,” Mayle said. “Or, you can’t expand and retain companies in a community that, even if the business itself doesn’t flood, their employees’ homes flood, or they can’t get to work, or they can’t get to the hospital, or companies can’t get materials to their plant for their supply chain because roads are closed. We had strategies to attract companies, but it’s tough to attract companies when all the headlines are ‘All you do is flood.’ It was a huge component and very important to our work.”

In 2014, the USACE submitted their final report, which recommended a diversion channel southwest of Findlay that would send flood water from Eagle Creek around the community and connect to the Blanchard west of the city. Leaders knew however, that because of the cost-to-benefit ratio, the project would not be selected by the USACE for funding.

The USACE also recommended an $8 million project for Ottawa’s flood mitigation. The MWCD Court approved that project, and it was completed in 2018 through grant funding awarded by the Ohio General Assembly.

For Hancock County however, it was back to the drawing board.

In June of 2016, the MWCD and Hancock County Commissioners executed a Memorandum of Agreement where the MWCD agreed to a comprehensive review of the USACE study. The MWCD required that Hancock County provide the funding and take responsibility for any necessary property acquisition. In July, Stantec was chosen by the commissioners and MWCD to conduct the review and recommend alternatives.

In April of 2017, Stantec recommended the beginnings of the plan that is under implementation today: the construction of the Eagle Creek Flood Basin, Phase I and Phase II benching of the Blanchard River in the downtown area, and the widening of the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge downtown. That same year, Blanchard River Watershed Solutions (BRWS) was formed, a non-profit comprised of many of the same companies that made up NWOFMP. BRWS began the monumental task of attaining the substantial funding and property that would be needed to fix flooding.

Board members were: Mayle, as director of economic development; Dave Blatnik, from Marathon; Tom Lause, Richard Kirk, and Jereme Kent. Kathleen Cindric, representing Cooper Tire, joined later. Over time, Jim Heck, a downtown business owner, and most recently Kim Thomas, chief legal counsel for Blanchard Valley Health System, took the places of Kirk and Kent. After a few years, Cindric moved out of town.

BRWS began conversations with landowners and farmers in the area targeted for the basin with the goal of building something the community agreed with and could support. A group of farmers and landowners assembled HUBB – Hancock United for a Better Blanchard – and in the beginning, the group was generally against flood mitigation.

Mayle and Blatnik said BRWS met with HUBB repeatedly, many times standing around grain elevators to discuss concerns. They took input from those conversations back to Stantec to review and incorporate in their design of the basin. A key turning point was when BRWS was able to take an agreement document between BRWS and HUBB to The Courier’s editorial board and explain, “this is where we agree 90 percent of the time.” After that, headlines in The Courier became more positive toward the project.

Final design of the basin was completed in 2023, incorporating community input and only after all of the land needed was acquired.

Gaining Momentum

Funding obtained for flood mitigation is generally used in three categories: Environmental surveys, project engineering, and design; payment for land acquisition and demolition; and construction.

The most common way to fund flood mitigation is through property tax assessments placed upon properties located within the affected floodplain, and sometimes beyond. Going back to those dams and floodwalls in Dayton and Columbus 100 years ago, it was assessments that funded that work. Leaders in Hancock County, however, didn’t want to place that burden on landowners.

“What we have done here is extremely unusual,” Wilson said. “I’m not aware of any place else in the state of Ohio with a conservancy district that has done it this way and there are, I think, 15 or 20 different conservancy districts throughout the state.”

The most direct way to mitigate flood destruction, for the sake of safety and financial gain, is to acquire property; it takes people out of harm’s way and removes the things that can be damaged. The properties acquired along the river by the City of Findlay – 190 total – have been properties along the river that flood repeatedly.

Twenty-one additional properties (and six flowage easements) making up 872 acres were needed to build the Eagle Creek Storage Basin. And in another rare standard, community leaders wanted to avoid the use of eminent domain if possible. They entered into fair and empathetic negotiations with landowners, and of the 221 properties acquired, it was needed for just one along the river.

There is a process for property acquisition, and an official appraisal is required prior to an offer being made. Properties purchased from landowners for the flood basin were appraised at the commercial rate per acre versus the rate for farmland, which was nearly three times higher. Yet as BRWS negotiated, Mayle said they knew it was a complicated, personal, and life-changing request and for some things, there is no price tag. They spent several years over multiple visits, meetings and meals, building trust and listening to the stories and considerations of the landowners to acquire the 21 properties needed for the basin. Once acquired, ownership was signed over to the MWDC. Total cost was $27 million.

“It was very difficult; it’s not really easy to go in and tell people, ‘Hey, we need your family farm and need to bulldoze your house,’” Mayle said. “I hated doing it. But we just worked very hard to build trust and tried to take away that idea of things being about city vs. county, or business vs. farmers. We’re all people, we’re all a community, and we all need this problem to be solved.”

As negotiations continued, exciting progress forged ahead in other areas.

In September of 2018, Helms and Sons Excavating was awarded the construction contract for Phase I benching. Most of the work was completed by early 2020. When the single eminent domain case was settled, the final piece of construction was completed in March of 2025.

On a fall day in 2018, Blatnik had a chance opportunity to speak candidly with Ryan Smith, who was speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, and Scott Ryan, chair of the finance committee for the Ohio Senate at the time. Blatnik explained Findlay’s need for flood mitigation funds to support the basin and benching, and reiterated the devastation of the 2007 flood. They were sympathetic. Through their support, the Ohio General Assembly awarded $15 million toward the project that year.

Blatnik, Mayle, Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn, and Ohio Development Director and former Findlay Mayor Lydia Mihalik next presented the project to Gov. John Kasich, then Gov. Mike DeWine and worked with other legislators to obtain subsequent grants awarded by the Ohio General Assembly of $15 million and $30 million – for a total of $60 million from the state. Reps. Robert Sprague and Jon Cross, and Sen. Rob McColley were also key supporters of the funding. The funding is administered through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

In 2021, a Federal Railroad Administration grant was approved to provide $7.1 million for the Norfolk Southern Bridge — and the first property needed for the basin was acquired and assigned to the MWCD.

In 2023, more pieces came together in this massive puzzle. Final design plans for Phase II benching, the NS Bridge and the basin were completed by Stantec. Inflation caused construction costs to rise considerably, and the City of Findlay submitted an application to FEMA for $24 million. The grant was approved in 2026. Findlay’s chunk was part of an overall $715 million and was one of 197 projects across 25 states that received an award during the grant cycle.

Because construction of the Eagle Creek Flood Basin would require the vacation of Township Roads 49 and 77 within the basin footprint, some roadway changes needed to be made in the area for nearby residents. To provide access to U.S. 68, a plan was developed to connect Eagle Township Road 80 into the U.S. 68 / SR 15 interchange through a roundabout. Working in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Transportation, funding was supplied through $500,000 from the Hancock County Commissioners; $2.3 million for 80 percent of the cost through a federal grant obtained by ODOT; and $500,000 from the City of Findlay, for the remaining 20 percent of the project. The $3.3 million project was completed in November of 2024.

In 2024, a Work Agreement was executed between the MWCD and Norfolk Southern for the construction of the railroad bridge, estimated to cost $16.7 million. NS required a local commitment to provide funding for the bridge. The Hancock County Commissioners committed $5 million, the City of Findlay $4.6 million and the FRA grant obtained in 2021 will supply $7.1 million.

The Projects and Remaining Timeline

Groundwork for the Eagle Creek Flood Basin began in September this year and the project is slated for completion in 18 to 24 months. It is located in Eagle Township about four miles south of Findlay, and is bounded by U.S. 68, County Road 45, Township Road 76 and Township Road 80. Under normal circumstances, Eagle Creek will flow as usual. A control structure (spillway) will be built across Eagle Creek so that, according to Wilson, when water reaches a certain level, it will be routed into the basin. A normal flow of water will continue to pass through the spillway and down Eagle Creek, keeping the creek in its banks.

The basin will look similar to the Findlay Reservoir when full, but will almost always be dry. During a flood the 700-acre structure will be able to hold approximately 1.6 -2.6 billion gallons. For comparison, the City of Findlay’s Reservoir 1 holds 1.4 billion gallons and Reservoir 2 holds 5 billion gallons. The basin will not be as tall as the reservoir, which stands at 40 feet. Its dimensions will range from a height of 12.5 feet (about the height of a basketball backboard) to 30 feet at its highest point.

After construction is complete, the MWCD will hand ownership of the basin to the City of Findlay, and the city will maintain it as they do the reservoirs. Mayor Christina Muryn said it will be a giant prairie, with a wetland area and walking paths. Plants assessed to have the greatest ecological benefit will be installed.

“I think it’s going to be beautiful,” Muryn said. “We will be looking to maximize the benefit for the least cost. Hancock County naturalists and the Boy Scout Camp will be able to use it. It will be an amenity that everyone can enjoy.”

Phase I benching, which was completed by Helms & Sons Excavating of Findlay, used funding from the 0.25% sales tax. It was completed in March of 2025 and focused along the Blanchard River west of downtown Findlay, near Swale Park. The project entailed widening the floodplain bench between Broad Avenue and the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge. Four low-head dams and related structures downstream of Lye Creek were also removed.

Phase II benching by Helms & Sons Excavating has begun along the north bank of the Blanchard River in downtown Findlay and entails widening the floodplain bench between North Cory Street and the CSX Railroad, demolition of the existing pedestrian bridge, and the installation of two in-river riffles. The project site covers about 19 acres.

The benching, to be completed this fall, will be a continuation of the floodplain bench created in Phase I and will prepare the area for the upcoming Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge replacement. Additional storm sewer improvements will be completed in the spring of 2027 to round out the project. Phase II benching will cost $5 million, which includes the estimated cost to dispose of waste at the Hancock County Landfill.

The Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge crosses the Blanchard River west of Cory Street. The current bridge was constructed in the early 1900s and serves as a barrier to waterflow when the river level rises above the riverbank. A new, $16.7 million bridge will be constructed. The bottom of the bridge will be raised, increasing the span of the bridge from 150 feet to 300 feet, with a floodplain bench to be excavated beneath the new span on the north bank of the river.

To protect the roosting habits of Indiana Bats, a near-endangered species, no trees can be removed between April 1 and September 30. No construction can take place in the river between April 15 and June 30 to protect fish spawning. Wilson said Kraemer North America, the company selected for the project by Norfolk Southern out of Eau Clair, Wis., will begin clearing trees in the spring of 2027, likely in February or March, to get the project started.

To improve road access in the event of a flood, Martin Luther King Parkway has been elevated to a level that traffic will be able to pass even in the event of another 100-year flood, Wilson said.

To combat another flooding event at Hunter’s Creek subdivision, at the intersection of SR 568 and CR 180 (Bright Road), a second culvert pipe was installed at a higher elevation. As the lower pipe becomes inundated with water, the upper culvert will be able to take additional flow and keep water moving. Sloped grates that can be cleaned and cleared were added on the ends of the pipes to collect debris and keep water moving.

And finally, at U.S. 224 and CR 223, Wilson described a dip in the road where a culvert for a ditch passes underneath, that has caused US 224 to be closed during the 2007 flood and several times since. Working with ODOT, officials determined the culvert was sufficient for waterflow, but the pavement profile of the road was raised enough to remain open and prevent water from pooling on the adjacent property, even during a 100-year flood.

The Gamechanger: A Findlay without Flooding

When Findlay flooded in 2007, it lit a fire.

People helped each other. They rescued each other in boats and kayaks, gave each other a place to stay and something to eat, helped pump water out of basements and carried damaged belongings to the curb. They came together to figure it out and they worked hard.

“I’ll never forget my administrative team in shorts and t-shirts in the middle of water and the hot sun figuring this all out, like many around us,” Wittwer said. “And the most interesting and tremendously positive thing – anytime you called somebody, they were ready to help. I remember Nate Weihrauch, our athletic director, teams and coaches went neighborhood to neighborhood to help people get things out of their houses. The University of Findlay football team did the same. We had kids displaced from Central and we figured it out; we set up temporary offices for the district; our bus routes had to be changed because there was so much debris piled in the streets; but we never missed a beat.

“People from everywhere just came together, and it was incredible.”

After the flood, many downtown businesses were severely damaged or closed. John LaRiche remembers getting a call from Mike Mallet – each are property owners downtown. The City of Findlay was going to resurface Crawford Street, and Mallet suggested downtown business owners could pay for curbs, lights and music, and “really make it look nice.” With the help of Ed Hartman and other downtown business owners, they created and funded a Downtown Improvement District.

“It’s still alive to this day,” LaRiche said. “That was one of the beginnings of the revitalization of downtown.”

Voters passed the 0.25% sales tax for flood mitigation, an income tax for the city and a bond issue for three new schools­—all in one pivotal election.

Marathon stayed and expanded.

Heminger knew the 113-year-old problem would not be fixed overnight.

“It took 20 years to correct something that started in 1913. That’s worth it,” he said. “We had to put the right team together who tirelessly worked together to solve the problem. We all worked together and figured it out. I’m very happy this is finally coming to fruition.”

Landowners living along the river and in Eagle Township made a sacrifice, recognizing the overall benefit to the community. A memorial plaque will be part of the basin’s design, recognizing those who sold their property for the basin.

“To them I say thank you,” Muryn said. “I know those two words can’t really sum it up. They saw the big picture and put the community above their own private needs. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Leaders persevered through the seemingly endless “next steps” to get to today.

“The complexity of this is pretty dramatic, it’s hard to explain to someone,” Blatnik said. “People have asked me, ‘Do you realize what you’ve done? Do you realize the impact of this?’ At the end of my career, I haven’t been doing this for that – I’ve been doing it because it’s the right thing for our community. When you saw the devastation to people’s homes it was one of those things. We had to fix this. We could not continue to let the flooding go on.”

Also reflecting upon the complexity of the problem, all that happened before he became commissioner and all that has happened since, Bateson described flood mitigation as requiring “the patience of Job.”

“Many people put blood, sweat the tears in to this to get this done, a lot of cooperation, phone calls, trips to Columbus, to DC, to get where we are today,” he said. “…That day after the flood in ’07, the streets were filled with trash. People were out helping. It was really something to be part of because I was downtown on Front Street taking stuff out myself. To see ODOT come in and use their front-end loaders along with the city and county cleaning up the streets, and just to see everyone put their effort together like that. I’ll never forget it. All of this is so that people never have to do that again. That’s the goal.”

Muryn remembers waking up in her mom’s house during the 2007 flood, trying to move everything off the floor, evacuating, and feeling trapped. She is thankful for the hard work put in before and during her tenure, and knows that, once construction is complete, the community will be able to “breathe a huge sigh of relief.”

“The word I would use for flood mitigation is grit – not getting this done is not an option,” Muryn said. “Every time there has been a setback, we have adjusted and said, ‘Here’s how we get through it.’ Now we can look at the river and approach it in a different way. There are a lot of ways to improve the river and make it something we can get excited about. Overall, this has brought the community together and made us stronger – and in the long-run we’re going to see the dividends of that.”

Because he has always wanted to see the community succeed, Mayle continued flood mitigation work through BRWS after leaving his role with economic development in 2022 for a new position. He had to see it through and is thrilled at its near completion.

“It is incredible to reflect on the past 20 years full of highs and lows—collaboration, partnership, disagreements, frustration, patience, belief and focus,” he said. “The singular focus to design, fund and construct a solution that was fair and cost effective has resulted in something we can all be proud of. Not all communities could pull this off; we are very blessed with exceptional public servants and community-minded business leaders.”

It may take time, but rain can once again be a sweet sound in Findlay.

It is a new era.