north coast business journal | october 2014

Focus on Tiffin & Seneca CountyINSIDE

THIS MONTH

LOCAL CHAMBERS: Rodney Dangerfields? .......2

ESTATE: Active vs. PassivePortfolio Management ........5

TAXES: Year-End Tax Planning .........9

SALES: Accountability ....12

LEGAL: What is a Disclaimer? .........15

INSURANCE: General Liability andData Breach LiabilityCoverage? ...........18

CHAMBER CALENDARS .........22

IT: Time to Say Goodbye to Windows XP? .....................24

Standard Mail U.S. Postage Paid Tiffin, OH 44883

Permit #88

Published and Owned by Schaffner Publications, Inc.NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 20 No. 11

“The Business Voice of Erie, Huron,Ottawa, Sandusky and Seneca Counties”

POSTMASTER: TIMELY MATERIAL. PLEASE EXPEDITE.

Celebrating19 Years of

Service

We’re a proud member of the following:

By Holly M. StacySeneca County Commissioner, Board PresidentAs November arrives in full color of fall foliage,

in excitement of the final season football games and with eyes ahead on the holidays to be kicked off with the much anticipated day of thanks, Thanksgiving - you cannot help but begin to think about what lies ahead for the new calendar year.

The perspective of anticipating 2015 from the Seneca County Board of Commissioners is easy, as we are doing just that with budgeting upon us. A collective list of statutory and community based responsibilities lie on any Board of Commissioners, however none more important than anticipating the revenue certification from the County Budget Commission and adopting an annual budget that determines just exactly how those tax dollars will be spent in the next year.

County services are important to the nearly 57,000 citizens of Seneca County. Safety services are always at the top of everyone list . . . and under this sub-title we have mandated and un-mandated financial needs that we address. The Seneca County Sheriff’s Office and the County Community-based EMS system, along with the services of the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) are the safety dollars that we allocate.

In addition the county’s general fund takes care of the offices of the County Auditor, Treasurer, Prosecutor, Examiners, Data Processing, Board of Elections, Maintenance, Recorder, Insurance & Pensions of County employees, Common Pleas Courts, Probate Court, Clerk of Courts, Public Defender, Tiffin & Fostoria Court, Juvenile Court, Youth Center, Coroner, County Jail, Court House Security, Tax Map Office and Veteran Services. In addition we pro-vide some funding for other non-mandated services in the county including economic development in Tiffin and Fostoria, Seneca County Fair, Attica Independent Fair, Regional Planning, OSU Extension and Seneca Conservation District.

Needless to say, there are a lot of entities that the county finan-cially supports through the tax dollars received, primarily from the

property tax and 1 ½ % of the sales tax collected in the county. This is why it is very important for those of us utilizing these many ser-vices provided to understand that spending your dollars locally does make a difference.

Another important aspect to county budgeting is that there are limited resources that also come into the county that make special projects possible. Grant opportunities that various county depart-ments might be eligible for based on identified needs of the county, through federal or state programs; help improve county services without drawing from the local dollars. The court systems receive some state dollars and the County Engineer is funded through a por-tion of the gas tax that comes back to the county vs. the general fund.

This is why, as the county continues to debate and research the best way to spend county dollars, save for future capital projects such as a court house, and participates in activities that assist or

An Exciting Year Ahead for Seneca County

See SENECA, Page 6

Bellevue Area Chamber of CommerceChamber of Commerce

of Sandusky CountyElmore Chamber of Commerce

Erie County Chamber of CommerceFostoria Area Chamber of Commerce

Genoa Chamber of Commerce

Huron Chamber of CommerceHuron County Chamber of CommerceKelleys Island Chamber of Commerce

Marblehead Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

Milan Chamber of Commerce

Oak Harbor Area Chamber of CommercePort Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce

Put-in-Bay Chamber of Commerce

Seneca Regional Chamber of CommerceVermilion Chamber of Commerce

Willard Area Chamber of Commerce

2 November 2014 North Coast Business Journal www.ncbj.net

205 S.E. Catawba Road, Suite G, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452

419-734-4838 • Fax 419-734-5382

Publisher JOHN SCHAFFNER Editor JEFFREY H. BRYDEN [email protected] Director of Sales KRISTA CHEEK [email protected] Accounting Manager ROBIN QUESADA [email protected] Layout & Graphic Design ADAM JANES [email protected] MARK SCHAFFNER [email protected] Circulation Manager BRUCE DINSE

North Coast Business Journal is owned and published monthly by Schaffner Publications, Inc., and is mailed free to chamber of commerce members in a five-county area: Erie, Huron, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Seneca counties. The editorial deadline is the 25th of each month, with the advertising deadline the end of each month. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-mitted in any form without the expressed, written consent of the Publishers. We welcome submissions from readers in the form of letters, articles or pho-tographs, although we reserve the right to edit and condense any articles sub-mitted. Submissions should be sent to the editor at the above address. Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you would like an item returned. We prefer material (copy & photos) to be submitted electronically.

“The Business Voice of Erie, Huron, Ottawa, Sandusky and Seneca Counties”

by Chris Mead

At this time of election campaigns, many local chambers of commerce make news via candidate forums, endorsements, and more. But after the first Tuesday in November, the silence returns. The U.S., however, would be almost unrecognizable if the million acts of 7,000 local chambers could somehow be removed from its past. Here are a few reasons why we’ve forgotten what chambers have done and continue to do:

1. They tend to avoid taking credit. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”

2. They don’t have overt power and so they must share credit for accomplishments with those who have the final say, even if the project was the chamber’s idea. This inability to control the whole thing makes poor news copy. “The chamber was 40 percent responsible for the new convention center” is a headline none of us will ever see.

3. Individuals, not groups, capture our attention. Do we think about the 600,000 shivering French troops outside Moscow, or the short, charismatic man responsible for it, with his hand inside his vest?

4. Chambers, by design, start things and spin them off. Many festivals, transportation projects, and civic improvements began at chambers but went on to be managed by other groups. Years later, we forget where it all started.

5. “Rich boy makes good” or “rich boy does good” makes boring copy. Yet most chamber members aren’t rich. And sometimes these individuals, rich or poor, put their heads together and change their communities in fascinating ways.

6. The business of business people is business. Entrepreneurs are lionized for the way they line their wallets. We don’t usually think of their other lives, in which they may eclipse their business achievements.

7. “It was inevitable.” Of course if you put influential people in 7,000 cities and towns together, for a dozen or more times a year for 10, or 50 or 200 years, something’s going to happen. But the real question is, why do some chambers hit it out of the park, while others hit themselves on the head – sometimes repeatedly?

8. Government organizations and nonprofit groups have proliferated, frequently with the support of chambers of commerce. It’s not hard to get lost in these many-thicketed woods.

9. Local chambers aren’t ideological. They often lean to the right on general economic and business issues, but when it comes to getting that bridge funded or a bond issue for a much-needed school, they can veer to the left faster than a speeding politician. Not being easily classified politically, chambers are not easily grasped by students of history.

10. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1912, is often seen as the leader of local chambers; in some ways it is, but there is no hierarchy or unified governing body in the American chamber universe. Local chambers are not “chapters” under the national chamber. The U.S. Chamber, often involving the loose federation of local chambers, has played a major role in American history. And so, too, have thousands of local chambers, plugging away with on policy, politics, and place-making since the first one emerged in New York in 1768.

11. Most chamber members are neither saints nor villains. They aren’t ashamed of profits but they want to help their community. Where’s the hot story in those intertwined goals?

12. Chambers of commerce depend to a significant extent on something you can’t touch. What is the “Atlanta spirit” or the “Spirit of St. Louis”? While we’ve toned down the boosterism of a century ago, chambers of commerce still rely on bonds among individuals within the chamber, and within the community, to make things better than they are. Whether it’s a “rah-rah” spirit or a buttoned-down, urban, noblesse oblige-inspired caring for the community, it can be very real.

13. Local chambers are “just local.” Where’s the sweep of history and the path of armies? Where’s the glamour of Main Street? What’s the glory in changing a street-sign ordinance? And yet, as Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.” Jerusalem, Florence, and Athens are local. From comparatively little places, big things can happen.

Chris Mead is senior vice president of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and author of The Magicians of Main Street: America and its Chambers of Commerce, 1768-1945.

Local Chambers: The Rodney Dangerfields of History?

EDITOR'S NOTE:

(I’m “passing” on this month’s column to make room for this article sent to me by Angie Morelock of the Seneca County Regional Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau. The North Coast Business Journal knows that the business vitality of our 5-county coverage area is enhanced and nurtured by the more than seventeen Chambers serving the area. We salute them!

Remarks from John DetwilerChamber President

Good evening and welcome to our 100th annual meeting of the Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Services. This evening, we gather once again as did our predecessors 100 years ago to celebrate individual and collective achievements in our community and review the accomplishments of our organization. At this time I’d like to call Ronald Schumacher, Chairman of the Board to lead the annual meeting of the corporation.

2014 was once again a busy and successful year for our Chamber and affiliate business units.

We’ve now been in the tourism business for three years operating under the Destination Seneca County brand. Our year-over-year results as measured by gross hotel rents and lodging tax revenues have been off the charts. On any given night it is difficult if not impossible to find lodging in Seneca County. We’ve made significant strides in positioning Seneca County as a destination location. We’ve produced and distributed nearly 50k Visitor Guides in each of the past three years across the state; we’ve been featured on Neil Zurcher’s One Tank Trips as well as WBGU’s Scenic Stops. Our 30 - second commercial appeared over 2500 times on various cable networks throughout the state. Our website and facebook pages have attracted over 10,000 visitors each through September; we’ve answered 1500 calls and responded to an additional 1000 inquiries.

We are the lead organization responsible for the Artistry in American Glass Show, now in its second year. Ten of the top national glass dealers in the country, from as far away as Louisiana and Texas will be in attendance on November 8 and 9 at the St Joseph Activity Center. Last year, we reported that we were working on attracting a major national glass show to Tiffin. This evening we are pleased to announce that the National Depression Glass Association has chosen Tiffin as the site of their 2016 convention which will take place July at the Heminger Center. This is only the fourth time in the past 40 years that this prestigious show will be held east of the Mississippi River. We are anticipating over 1,000 visitors to our community in July, 2016

Our other affiliate business units, the Seneca County Human Resource Association, the Seneca County Industrial Management Council and the Tiffin Area Safety Council also continue to grow and prosper. Recently, our Safety Council purchased a $10,000 automatic CPR device for the Tiffin Fire and Rescue Division, which has already saved countless lives.

We continue to nurture potential new business owners. Our monthly Business Basics seminar has attracted nearly 60 individuals interested in owning or operating a business.

While our manufacturing sector has witnessed significant growth, 30 of our retail and services sector businesses also celebrated significant milestones as

our Ambassadors joined with them for ribbon cuttings and other congratulatory activities. We continue to stimulate local purchasing by initiating several Cash Mobs as well as dispersing nearly $20k in our Chamber Cash gift certificate program. .

We cannot forget our pledge as The Education Community. We continue to advocate for the development of career-based curriculum. Our manufacturing community, while growing, continues to face the challenge of hiring qualified employees - a point evidenced at our Seneca County Job Fair.

To further honor our pledge to education, we recently completed our annual welcome back program for Heidelberg and Tiffin University students as well as co-sponsored the second annual Tiffin Welcomes the World Program where over 200 international students were welcomed by our business community.

Finally, in August we capped the opening of the school year by recognizing Tiffin’s University’s own Dr. John Millar as our Outstanding Educator at our annual New Teachers and Administrator’s Welcoming Breakfast.

Last Saturday we completed our fifth Downtown Tiffin Farmers Market season. This event, held the second Saturday June through October has become

one of our signature events, drawing hundreds to each of our 6 markets.

Throughout our history, the Chamber has represented the business interests of our community: taxation policy, transportation, infrastructure, industrial attraction and retail and civic activities. While much has changed in the past 100 years our core Chamber continues to be dedicated to advancing business & developing community through economic

www.ncbj.net North Coast Business Journal November 2014 3

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Seneca Regional Chamber 100th Annual Meeting

Cooper Family (left to right): Jenny Cooper, Ty Cooper, Barb Cooper, Kelli Dariano. Charles (Chuck) Cooper was entered into the Hall of Fame. The plaque was presented to his family

See MEETING, Page 4


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MEETING, from Page 3development, education & workforce development, government affairs and more than 70 events and programs annually. But we’re more than your average Chamber! Through our Destination Seneca County brand, we serve visitors through countywide travel and tourism; we assist with the development of downtown Tiffin’s center city, nurture potential business owners, develop lifelong leaders with a mind toward community trusteeship, strive to attract, retain and engage young professionals and put safety first and foremost in the workplace.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our members for partnering with us and continuing to make our Chamber the premier business organization in our area. For 100 years, leaders in this community have joined together as the Chamber of Commerce to represent the interests of business. This evening, we begin the celebration of our centennial year. Tonight we recognize Chamber members that have given their time and talents to this organization. Over the next year the Chamber will host other special events and share stories and photos of the wonderful history of this organization and our members.

We are pleased to have you join us as we continue our journey. Together, our future is bright and our possibilities are limitless.

Michael L (Mitch) Felton, United Insurance Service, Outstanding Citizenship Award winner

Featured Speaker: Gary Heminger, President and CEO of Marathon Petroleum

Douglas GildenmeisterSenior Vice President, InvestmentsRaymond James

One of the longest-standing debates in investing is over the relative merits of active portfolio management versus passive management. With an actively managed portfolio, a manager tries to beat the performance of a given benchmark index by using his or her judgment in selecting individual securities and deciding when to buy and sell them. A passively managed portfolio attempts to match that benchmark performance, and in the process, minimize expenses that can reduce an investor’s net return.

Each camp has strong advocates who argue that the advantages of its approach outweigh those for the opposite side.

Active investing: attempting to add valueProponents of active management believe that by

picking the right investments, taking advantage of market trends, and attempting to manage risk, a skilled investment manager can generate returns that outperform a benchmark index. For example, an active manager whose benchmark is the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) might attempt to earn better-than-market returns by overweighting certain industries or individual securities, allocating more to those sectors than the index does. Or a manager might try to control a portfolio’s overall risk by temporarily increasing the percentage devoted to more conservative investments, such as cash alternatives.

An actively managed individual portfolio also permits its manager to take tax considerations into account. For example, a separately managed account can harvest capital losses to offset any capital gains realized by its owner, or time a sale to minimize any capital gains. An actively managed mutual fund can do the same on behalf of its collective shareholders.

However, an actively managed mutual fund’s investment objective will put some limits on its manager’s flexibility; for example, a fund may be required to maintain a certain percentage of its assets in a particular type of security. A fund’s prospectus will outline any such provisions, and you should read it before investing.

Passive investing: focusing on costsAdvocates of unmanaged, passive investing--

sometimes referred to as indexing--have long argued that the best way to capture overall market returns is to use low-cost market-tracking index investments. This approach is based on the concept of the efficient market, which states that because all investors have access to all the necessary information about a

company and its securities, it’s difficult if not impossible to gain an advantage over any other investor. As new information becomes available, market prices adjust in response to reflect a security’s true value. That market efficiency, proponents say, means that reducing investment costs is the key to improving net returns.

Indexing does create certain cost efficiencies. Because the investment simply reflects an index, no research is required for securities selection. Also, because trading is relatively infrequent—passively managed portfolios typically buy or sell securities only when the index itself changes--trading costs often are lower. Also, infrequent trading typically generates fewer capital gains distributions, which means relative tax efficiency.

Note: Before investing in either an active or passive fund, carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses, which can be found in the prospectus available from the fund. Read it carefully before investing. And remember that indexing--investing in a security based on a certain index--is not the same thing as investing directly in an index, which cannot be done.

Blending approaches with asset allocationThe core/satellite approach represents one way to

employ both approaches. It is essentially an asset allocation model that seeks to resolve the debate about indexing versus active portfolio management. Instead of following one investment approach or the other, the core/satellite approach blends the two. The bulk, or “core,” of your investment dollars are kept in cost-efficient passive investments designed to capture market returns by tracking a specific benchmark. The balance of the portfolio is then invested in a series of “satellite” investments, in many cases actively managed, which typically have the potential to boost returns and lower overall portfolio risk.

Proponents of active portfolio management believe that a skilled investment manager can generate returns that outperform a benchmark index. Advocates of passive investing argue that the best way to capture overall market returns is to use low-cost index-based investments

Caution: Bear in mind that no investment strategy can assure a profit or protect against losses.

Controlling investment costsDevoting a portion rather than the majority of your

portfolio to actively managed investments can allow you to minimize investment costs that may reduce returns.

For example, consider a hypothetical $400,000 portfolio that is 100% invested in actively managed mutual funds with an average expense level of 1.5%, which results in annual expenses of $6,000. If 70% of the portfolio were invested instead in a low-cost index fund or ETF with an average expense level of 0.25%, annual expenses on that portion of the portfolio

would run $700 per year. If a series of satellite investments with expense ratios of 2% were used for the remaining 30% of the portfolio, annual expenses on the satellites would be $2,400. Total annual fees for both core and satellites would total $3,100, producing savings of $2,900 per year. Reinvested in the portfolio, that amount could increase its potential long-term growth. (This hypothetical portfolio is intended only as an illustration of the math involved rather than the results of any specific investment, of course.)

Popular core investments often track broad benchmarks such as the S&P 500, the Russell 2000® Index, the NASDAQ 100, and various international and bond indices. Other popular core investments may track specific style or market-capitalization benchmarks in order to provide a value versus growth bias or a market capitalization tilt.

While core holdings generally are chosen for their low-cost ability to closely track a specific benchmark, satellites are generally selected for their potential to add value, either by enhancing returns or by reducing portfolio risk. Here, too, you have many options.

Good candidates for satellite investments include less efficient asset classes where the potential for active management to add value is increased. That is especially true for asset classes whose returns are not closely correlated with the core or with other satellite investments. Since it’s not uncommon for satellite investments to be more volatile than the core, it’s


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See ESTATE, Page 6

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aid any of the communities across the county that it’s not done over night. The county has some bonding authority, but just as your family financially plans, we don’t want to carry a great deal of debt that isn’t manageable in the future.

There are a lot of considerations that as stewards of the public trust we need to be cognoscente of, and we certainly hope that we utilize the best information we can gather to make the best decisions possible as we work on behalf of the citizens of Seneca County.

That said; let me invite you to a County Commissioners meeting. We meet every Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Commissioners Board Room located at 111 Madison Street in Tiffin. We also meet the last Thursday of the month at 10 a.m. and then on a quarterly bases we hold one of our Tuesday meetings in the evening somewhere out in the county, vs. in Tiffin. If you have never been to a meeting consider attending, we would love to have you. Our jobs are to serve you, but to do that well we need to hear from you. Too often we hear from a small group, but not the majority.

There are lots of exciting things going on across our county, from Attica to Fostoria, we promise we will do our best to keep Seneca County fiscally sound and do our part for community development.

SENECA, from COVERimportant to always view them within the context of the overall portfolio.

All investing involves risk, including the potential loss of capital, and there can be no guarantee that any investing strategy will be successful.

Tactical vs. strategic asset allocationThe idea behind the core-and-satellite approach to

investing is somewhat similar to practicing both tactical and strategic asset allocation.

Strategic asset allocation is essentially a long-term approach. It takes into account your financial goals, your time horizon, your risk tolerance, and the historic returns for various asset classes in determining how your portfolio should be diversified among multiple asset classes. That allocation may shift gradually as your goals, financial situation, and time frame change, and you may refine it from time to time. However, periodic rebalancing tends to keep it relatively stable in the short term.

Tactical asset allocation, by contrast, tends to be more opportunistic. It attempts to take advantage of shifting market conditions by increasing the level of investment in asset classes that are expected to outperform in the shorter term, or in those the

manager believes will reduce risk. Tactical asset allocation tends to be more responsive to immediate market movements and anticipated trends.

Though either strategic or tactical asset allocation can be used with an entire portfolio, some money managers like to establish a strategic allocation for the core of a portfolio, and practice tactical asset allocation with a smaller percentage.

This information was developed by Broadridge, an independent third party. It is general in nature, is not a complete statement of all information necessary for making an investment decision, and is not a recommendation or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Investments and strategies mentioned may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC does not provide advice on tax, legal or mortgage issues. These matters should be discussed with an appropriate professional.

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ESTATE, from Page 5


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Tiffin City Schools to Open Pre-School for the 2015-2016 School Yearby Dr. Vicki Wheatley, Superintendent

Tiffin City Schools will open Lincoln Pre-K for the 2015-2016 school year. Educationally, we believe this to be a sound move. By law, Tiffin City Schools must identify and educate our three, four, and five year old students with disabilities. For nearly twenty years we have contracted with NCOESC as our service provider for this purpose. We have maintained a positive relationship with NCOESC and the leadership and staff have been skilled and helpful with our youngest students. However, with the changes that have taken place with the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and how preschool is now funded, we believe it is a time for Tiffin City Schools to educate our students who reside within Tiffin.

Many reforms have taken place over the last 20 years. Most significant and recent is the fact that we are entering an era with more accountability and higher educational expectations. Our educators have been asked to raise academic standards to the highest level in the history with common core standards. These standards are so rigorous and challenging that the cognitive demands are now aligned with the highest international benchmarks.

Our teacher’s evaluations are tied to the performance of our students. By educating our youngest students, we have the control over the curriculum and who will educate our students. This is something we currently do not control. Our program currently aligns with Pre-Kindergarten Content Standards recommended by the Ohio Department of Education in language arts, math, science and social studies. ODE adopted the standards that encompass language arts, math, science, social studies, motor development, speech and languages

skills, self-help skills, and cognitive development. Children practice and explore these skills in age appropriate activities developed by our staff.

New with the 2014-15 school year, is the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment. The new assessment includes ways for teachers to measure a child’s school readiness. In order for our students to meet the standards required, it is essential that we know and understand where our students need to be. Their progress will be monitored and interventions applied when our students show weaknesses or gaps.

During the 2013-2014 school year, Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee (TGRG) became a state requirement. The TGRG is a program to identify students from kindergarten through grade 3 that are behind in reading. Tiffin City School students will be provided the help and support to make sure they are on track for reading success by the end of third grade. If a child appears to be falling behind in reading, the school will immediately start a reading improvement plan.

Ohio will have new assessments for grades three through eight and new high school exams, which will be required for the first time for the class of 2018. Each new state test has two parts, the first is called performance based and the second is called end of year. The student’s scores on the two are combined to create a final score for each subject. Therefore, it is critical to start the educational relationships with our youngest students and their families.

As for the building itself, students were removed from Lincoln Elementary School during our consolidation in 2012 yet the building has remained open for trainings, meetings, and professional development. The District

maintained the building and kept up with the daily needs. By utilizing our building again, we will save the fee we pay NCOESC for renting Sentinel. The District has approved a proposal with Virtual Design Architectural Firm. The architect will advise us on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. We want to ensure the building is handicap accessible. Once the design has been completed, the projects will be drawn up and sent out for the bidding process. Once the bidding process has been completed, we will have a better picture as to the cost. This will occur some time in December. As soon as the District approves the bids, the work will begin on the building. Our plan is to be completely finished with the building in May. At that time, the Special Education Department will move to our Lincoln Pre-K Building.

We will develop Open Houses and walk throughs to show off our new school. Information will be forthcoming. We will create a site on our webpage, which will provide regular updates as they happen. Please visit us soon at http://www.tiffin.k12.oh.us to stay updated with our improvements and happenings.


State leaders toured NASA’s Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility, nicknamed “B-2”, located in Sandusky (Erie County). The Ohio Development Services Agency approved a $2 million grant to Sierra Lobo Inc. of Fremont, Ohio to inspect and refurbish pumps used for rocket testing. State officials were able to see the how the project at NASA Plum Brook Station benefits Ohio, the nation and companies who are developing the next generation of rocket engines.

NASA Plum Brook Station’s B-2 facility is the only place in the world to both test complete upper stages in space conditions and then to fire their engines in simulated high-altitude conditions. This “test-as-you-fly” environment reduces the likelihood of flight failures, making space exploration both safer and less expensive. Additionally, Plum Brook Station also uses another facility, the world’s largest space test chamber, to offer full-scale spacecraft five different environments they endure in space.

“Ohio continues to make advances in the technology sector,” said David Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency. “This exciting project keeps Ohio competitive and underlines the importance of NASA to both Ohio and the nation.”

NASA Glenn Center Director James Free said, “This investment continues the State of Ohio’s financial commitment since 2007 to testing at Plum Brook Station. These funds, when combined with NASA funding, create a world-class testing facility.”

AT RIGHT: NASA Mechanical Test Engineer John Zang shows Assis-tant Director Ryan Burgess and Director David Goodman of the Ohio Development Services Agency how state money is being put to use at NASA Plum Brook Station.

Ohio Supports NASA Research FacilityWorld-Class Test Facility Receives $2 Million Business Assistance Grant

ProMedica Memorial Hospital Announces New Fremont Cancer CenterProMedica Memorial Hospital is establishing a full-

service cancer center on Enterprise Drive, off of State Rte. 53 North in Fremont.

The $7 million cancer center project is in the planning stages, and should be completed in approximately 18 months. The hospital is constructing the new center within an existing 12,500-square-foot building and offer more convenient access, enhanced privacy and improved comfort for patients.

Pam Jensen, ProMedica Memorial Hospital President, explained that the hospital is creating the cancer center to meet a tremendous community need, and improve the lives of the patients and families served by Memorial.

“Many local cancer patients must travel great distances for regular treatments and check-ups, which is a costly, life-consuming hardship during already difficult circumstances,” she said. “Our new, state-of-the-art facility will ease this hardship, and ensure our community can receive first class cancer care locally, in Fremont.”

The center will offer the latest protocols for medical oncology as well as the newest technology in radiation oncology, including a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. Many important cancer-care services will also be offered, such as genetic, dietary and family counseling, rehabilitation services, on-site pharmacy services and much more.

“In addition to the comprehensive services we will offer, the Fremont cancer center will also benefit from being a fully-integrated member of the ProMedica Cancer Institute,” added Jensen. “This ensures great coordination of care by respected professionals throughout the cancer journey.”

The ProMedica Cancer Institute is nationally recognized for providing high-quality care to oncology patients throughout Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan and has a strong, multidisciplinary team of physicians and caregivers who specialize in the treatment all forms of cancer. The cancer institute has also created the largest cancer registry in northwest Ohio. This helps medical experts assess

and maintain standards of care, improve patient outcomes and compare data to national cancer centers.

“Navigating cancer can be a physically and emotionally exhausting experience, strewn with anxiety and stress,” added Jensen. “With the establishment of this center, we want to help our patients and their families maintain the quality of their lives as much as possible throughout treatment.”


Year-end Tax PlanningBy: Jeffrey J. Rosengarten, CPA, CFEPayne, Nickles and Company

Year-end tax planning is especially challenging this year because Congress has yet to act on a host of tax breaks that expired at the end of 2013. Some of these tax breaks may be retroactively reinstated and extended, but Congress may not decide the fate of these tax breaks until the very end of this year (and, possibly, not until next year). These breaks include, for individuals: the option to deduct state and local sales and use taxes instead of state and local income taxes; the above-the-line-deduction for qualified higher education expenses; tax-free IRA distributions for charitable purposes by those age 70-1/2 or older; and the exclusion for up-to-$2 million of mortgage debt forgiveness on a principal residence. For businesses, tax breaks that expired at the end of last year and may be retroactively reinstated and extended include: 50% bonus first year depreciation for most new machinery, equipment and software; the $500,000 annual expensing limitation; the research tax credit; and the 15-year writeoff for qualified leasehold improvements, qualified restaurant buildings and improvements and qualified retail improvements.

Higher-income-earners have unique concerns to address when mapping out year-end plans. They must be wary of the 3.8% surtax on certain unearned income and the additional 0.9% Medicare (hospital insurance, or HI) tax that applies to individuals receiving wages with respect to employment in excess of $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly and $125,000 for married couples filing separately).

The surtax is 3.8% of the lesser of: (1) net investment income (NII), or (2) the excess of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over an unindexed threshold amount ($250,000 for joint filers or surviving spouses, $125,000 for a married individual filing a separate return, and $200,000 in any other case). As year-end nears, a taxpayer’s approach to minimizing or eliminating the 3.8% surtax will depend on his estimated MAGI and net investment income (NII) for the year. Some taxpayers should consider ways to minimize (e.g., through deferral) additional NII for the balance of the year, others should try to see if they can reduce MAGI other than net investment income, and other individuals will need to consider ways to minimize both NII and other types of MAGI.

The additional Medicare tax may require year-end actions. Employers must withhold the additional Medicare tax from wages in excess of $200,000 regardless of filing status or other income. Self-employed persons must take it into account in figuring estimated tax. There could be situations where an employee may need to have more withheld toward year end to cover the tax. For example, an individual earns $200,000 from one employer during the first half of the year and a like amount from another employer during the balance of the year. He would owe the additional Medicare tax, but there would be no withholding by either employer for the additional Medicare tax since wages from each employer don’t exceed $200,000. Also, in determining whether they may need to make adjustments to avoid a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax, individuals also should be mindful that the

Taxesadditional Medicare tax may be overwithheld. This could occur, for example, where only one of two married spouses works and reaches the threshold for the employer to withhold, but the couple’s income won’t be high enough to actually cause the tax to be owed.

Year-End Tax Planning Moves for Individuals•Realize losses on stock while substantially preserving

your investment position. There are several ways this can be done. For example, you can sell the original holding, then buy back the same securities at least 31 days later.

•Postpone income until 2015 and accelerate deductions into 2014 to lower your 2014 tax bill. This strategy may enable you to claim larger deductions, credits, and other tax breaks for 2014 that are phased out over varying levels of adjusted gross income (AGI). These include child tax credits, higher education tax credits, and deductions for student loan interest. Postponing income also is desirable for those taxpayers who anticipate being in a lower tax bracket next year due to changed financial circumstances. Note, however, that in some cases, it may pay to actually accelerate income into 2014. For example, this may be the case where a person’s marginal tax rate is much lower this year than it will be next year or where lower income in 2015 will result in a higher tax credit for an individual who plans to purchase health insurance on a health exchange and is eligible for a premium assistance credit.

•Consider using a credit card to pay deductible expenses before the end of the year. Doing so will increase your 2014 deductions even if you don’t pay your credit card bill until after the end of the year.

•Take an eligible rollover distribution from a qualified retirement plan before the end of 2014 if you are facing a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax and having your employer increase your withholding is unavailable or won’t sufficiently address the problem. Income tax will be withheld from the distribution and will be applied toward the taxes owed for 2014. You can then timely roll over the gross amount of the distribution, i.e., the net amount you received plus the amount of withheld tax, to a traditional IRA. No part of the distribution will be includible in income for 2014, but the withheld tax will be applied pro rata over the full 2014 tax year to reduce previous underpayments of estimated tax.

•Estimate the effect of any year-end planning moves on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for 2014, keeping in mind that many tax breaks allowed for purposes of calculating regular taxes are disallowed for AMT purposes. These include the deduction for state property taxes on your residence, state income taxes, miscellaneous itemized deductions, and personal exemption deductions. Other deductions, such as for medical expenses, are calculated in a more restrictive way for AMT purposes than for regular tax purposes in the case of a taxpayer who is over age 65 or whose spouse is over age 65 as of the close of the tax year. As a result, in some cases, deductions should not be accelerated.

• Take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA or 401(k) plan (or other employer-sponsored retired plan) if you have reached age 70-1/2. Failure to take a required withdrawal can result in a penalty of 50% of the amount of the RMD not withdrawn. If you turned age 70-1/2 in 2014, you can delay the first required distribution to 2015, but if you do, you will have to take a double distribution in 2015-the amount required for 2014 plus the amount required for 2015. Think twice before delaying 2014 distributions to

2015-bunching income into 2015 might push you into a higher tax bracket or have a detrimental impact on various income tax deductions that are reduced at higher income levels. However, it could be beneficial to take both distributions in 2015 if you will be in a substantially lower bracket that year.

• If you are eligible to make health savings account (HSA) contributions in December of this year, you can make a full year’s worth of deductible HSA contributions for 2014. This is so even if you first became eligible on Dec. 1, 2014.

Year-End Tax-Planning Moves for Businesses & Business Owners

•Businesses should buy machinery and equipment before year end and, under the generally applicable “half-year convention,” thereby secure a half-year’s worth of depreciation deductions for the first ownership year.

•Although the business property expensing option is greatly reduced in 2014 (unless legislation changes this option for 2014), don’t neglect to make expenditures that qualify for this option. For tax years beginning in 2014, the expensing limit is $25,000, and the investment-based reduction in the dollar limitation starts to take effect when property placed in service in the tax year exceeds $200,000.

•A corporation should consider accelerating income from 2015 to 2014 where doing so will prevent the corporation from moving into a higher bracket next year. Conversely, it should consider deferring income until 2015 where doing so will prevent the corporation from moving into a higher bracket this year.

•A corporation should consider deferring income until next year if doing so will preserve the corporation s qualification for the small corporation alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption for 2014. Note that there is never a reason to accelerate income for purposes of the small corporation AMT exemption because if a corporation doesn’t qualify for the exemption for any given tax year, it will not qualify for the exemption for any later tax year.

•A corporation (other than a “large” corporation) that anticipates a small net operating loss (NOL) for 2014 (and substantial net income in 2015) may find it worthwhile to accelerate just enough of its 2015 income (or to defer just enough of its 2014 deductions) to create a small amount of net income for 2014. This will permit the corporation to base its 2015 estimated tax installments on the relatively small amount of income shown on its 2014 return, rather than having to pay estimated taxes based on 100% of its much larger 2015 taxable income.

•If your business qualifies for the domestic production activities deduction for its 2014 tax year, consider whether the 50%-of-W-2 wages limitation on that deduction applies. If it does, consider ways to increase 2014 W-2 income, e.g., by bonuses to owner-shareholders whose compensation is allocable to domestic production gross receipts. Note that the limitation applies to amounts paid with respect to employment in calendar year 2014, even if the business has a fiscal year.

These are just some of the year-end steps that can be taken to save taxes. Tax planning for 2014 could take a drastic change if Congress revives expired tax breaks. Be sure to consult your tax advisor to ensure that you are employing the best tax strategies for the rest of the year.

(Authors note: This article is not intended to offer professional tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor.)


The Sisters of St. Francis is a Franciscan religious community founded in 1869 by Father Joseph Bihn and Elizabeth Schaefer. These two heroic and virtuous people set their hearts to responding to the words of Christ, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” –Matthew 25:40

The ministries of the Sisters of St. Francis focus their energies in four areas: contemplation/action, peacemaking, care of creation, and concern for the poor.

The Franciscan Earth Literacy Center (FELC) is a hands-on, environmental education center and demonstration facility designed to promote an appreciation for and an understanding of our relationship with the natural world and to encourage sustainable living practices. We are also home to Seeds of Hope Farm, which grows and sells chemical-free produce and have community garden plots that are available to rent. The Center offers interactive experiences for children and adults, programs for students throughout the school year, summer day camps, badge programs for Cub Scouts and Brownies, monthly programs for adults September-May, and summer internships.

The St. Francis Spirituality Center welcomes people of all faiths and offers retreats for individuals and groups. The Center also hosts programs run by other groups, including those for marriage enrichment, confirmation classes, high school retreats and

training for ministers. Our peaceful, lovely setting is conducive to prayer and meditation. There are 30 guest rooms, four conference rooms, kitchen and dining facilities and prayer and meditation areas. The

air conditioned facility is also available for meeting space. The Center is handicapped accessible and have an elevator that goes to all floors. We also have Spirit Space Gallery & Gifts, a unique shop with giftware that enhances the spiritual dimension of life, which sells works by artisans who live nearby and far away. Proceeds from Spirit Space support the ministries of the Sisters of St. Francis, in the United States and Mexico.

St. Francis Home opened in 1869 and continues to focus on senior housing and health care services. Today, it is now a part of Senior Ministries, which includes Elizabeth Schaefer Apartments, St. Francis

Villas and Friedman Village at St. Francis. We also operate Angel Academy at St. Francis Home, a day care for infants and children. We offer Independent Living, Assisted Living, Short and Long Term Care Services, Home Care Services, Support Groups, Educational Seminars, Child Care, and Rehabilitation Center.

The Sisters began an orphanage and a home for the aged at their present location in Tiffin, Ohio. Further works of charity led to sisters in schools, hospitals, parishes and other ministries throughout Ohio and the United States and later in Chiapas and Cuernavaca Mexico. We embrace St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi’s way of life, serving with a spirit of hospitality, simplicity and joy. Our ministries reflect the Franciscan values of care for creation,

peacemaking, a love for the poor and the integration of action and contemplation. This year we celebrate our 145th Anniversary and continue our mission to serve others. In and with God’s grace, the Sisters strive to live the message of the Gospel.

To learn more about our community, visit www.sfctiffin.org. You can also find us on Facebook.

A Tiffin Area Institution Marks 145 Years

Submitted by Steve GulasMedicare Advantage Plans generally offer a

premium saving alternative compared to taking your Medicare Benefits from Original Medicare along with a Supplemental plan and a separate prescription drug plan. Medicare Advantage plans can be a great value, however they are not for everyone and Plans available to you vary by the county you live in.

Here are 5 things to know and consider if a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plan is right for you.1. When you enroll in a Medicare Advantage

Prescription Drug Plan (MAPD) the company you enroll with becomes your Primary Insurance. Plans that include prescription drug give you all the coverage of Medicare Part A and B as well as the Part D all wrapped up into one plan. The plan does not pay after Medicare, it pays instead of Medicare. The company you choose to enroll with will process and pay all your claims and you will pay the amount you are responsible for as defined in the plans “Summary of Benefits.”.

2. Medicare Advantage Plans are Managed Care Plans and are mainly PPO or HMO Plans. PPO stands for Preferred Provider Organization. A PPO will

cover you whether you use in-network or out-of-network providers; however you will save money in medical costs by using in network providers. HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization. With an HMO one must use contracted providers only in order to be covered with the exception of emergency services. Finding a plan that covers the doctors and hospitals important to you is a very important step in selecting a plan.

3. Some MAPD plans include additional benefits that you do not get in Original Medicare. Some examples of these benefits include limited dental or vision coverage. Health Club Benefits… Silver Sneakers is a popular benefit offered by many plans. Some plans even provide the ability to purchase some over the counter medicines and supplies and provide a fixed amount of money that can be used towards these items.

4. People enrolled in Medicare Advantage Plans typically will typically have more out of pocket costs for medical services compared to someone enrolled in a Medicare Supplement. Most MAPD plans have Deductibles, co-pay, Coinsurance payments, and all plans also include an annual out

of pocket maximum. Details can be found in the plans Summary of Benefits. At the end of the day a person’s medical utilization ultimately determines what Medicare Plan would have been the better value. Unfortunately we never know what each year will bring so knowing your potential medical costs you could incur and being comfortable with those figures is important.

5. Medicare Advantage plans are Community Rated. This means everyone pays the same premium regardless of age. Thus the premium savings for someone older changing to a Medicare Advantage plan that has supplemental coverage is generally greater for someone whom may be 85 compared to someone whom is 65. This is because most Medicare Supplemental plan premiums are based upon age and typically are more expensive for someone older.

If you would like some help selecting a Medicare plan can call Steve Gulas or Chuck Devore at Bolte Insurance Agency. They are authorized to represent AARP (United Healthcare), Anthem, Gerber, Forethought Life, Paramount Elite, Humana, Medical Mutual, and Cigna.

Is a Medicare Advantage Plan Right For YOU? Five Things to Know and Consider Before You EnrollGuest Editorial


The Sandusky County Safety Council held their second annual “Above and Beyond” competition recently and awarded a total of $3,450.00 in cash awards to winners at their October meeting held at Elmwood HealthCare Center at the Springs, Green Springs. First place winner Sandusky County EMS received a prize of $1,500.00. Second place award of $1,000.00 went to Carmeuse NA of Millerville. Motion Controls Robotics, LLC, Fremont, was recognized as third place winner and received a prize of $750.00. A $200.00 check was awarded to Honorable Mention winner Bemis Company, Fremont, for their safety project.

“Above and Beyond” is a safety improvement challenge designed to recognize safety council members’ “commitment to occupational health and safety that is more than just the minimum requirements”. Criteria for judging, which was done by the safety council members in attendance, included: a clear presentation of the project; a demonstration that the project reduced injuries or had the potential

to reduce injuries; an increase in safety awareness throughout the facility; the project was cost effective; productivity/efficiency was improved.

The mission of the Sandusky County Safety Council, a committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Sandusky County, is to prevent and mitigate personal injury to employees and economic losses to member businesses and the community that arise from preventable safety and health incidents. The Sandusky County Safety Council seeks to accomplish its mission by providing a forum to Increase safety awareness by examining current safety and health issues and to encourage its members and the business community at large to put into daily use rules, procedures and practices that result in a safe and healthy working environment for all their personnel.

For further information on the Sandusky County Safety Council contact Jim Miranda at The Chamber at 419-332-1591.

(Left to right) Tony Catalano, Bemis Co., honorable mention; Jeff Jackson, Sandusky County EMS, first place; Matt Rogish, Carmeuse NA, second place; Dawn Rhodes and A. J. Potter, Motion Controls Ro-botics, LLC, third place.

Awards Given at Sandusky Safety Council Meeting

Firelands Regional Medical Center was recently recognized for excellence in spine surgery, vascular surgery, orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery by Healthgrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make an informed decision about a physician or hospital.

Among the ratings received are America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Spine Surgery™ and is the only hospital in Ohio to receive this honor for 3 years in a row. Firelands also received America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Vascular Surgery, Vascular Surgery Excellence Award, Spine Surgery Excellence Award, Neurosurgery Excellence Award and a Five-Star Recipient for Hip Fracture Treatment.

The report, Healthgrades 2015 Report to the Nation evaluates hospital performance at over 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 33 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions based on data reported from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from 2011 through 2013.

Specifically, Firelands Regional Medical Center received the following Healthgrades 2015 awards, ratings, and rankings:

Spine:• One of Healthgrades America’s 100

Best Hospitals for Spine Surgery™ 3 years in a row (2013-2015)

• Ranked among the Top 5% in the Nation for Spine Surgery 3 years in a row (2013-2015)

• Ranked among the Top 10% in the Nation for Spine Surgery 3 years in a row (2013-2015)

• Recipient of the Healthgrades Spine Surgery Excellence Award™ for 3 years in a row (2013-2015)

• Five-Star Recipient for Back and Neck Surgery (Spinal Fusion) for 10 Years in a Row (2006-2015)

Orthopedic:• Five-Star Recipient for Hip Fracture

Treatment for 6 Years in a row (2010-2015)

Neurosciences:• Recipient of the Healthgrades 2015

Neurosurgery Excellence Award™• Named among the Top 10% in the

Nation for Neurosurgery• Five-Star Recipient for

Neurosurgery

Vascular:• One of Healthgrades America’s 50

Best Hospitals for Vascular Surgery™

• Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Vascular Surgery for 6 years in a row (2010-2015)

• Recipient of the Healthgrades Vascular Surgery Excellence Award™ for 6 Years in a row (2010-2016)

• Five-Star Recipient for Peripheral Vascular Bypass for 5 years in a row (2011-2015)

• Five-Star Recipient for Repair of Abdominal Aorta for 2 years in a row (2014-2015)

Firelands Regional Medical Center,

together with the Neurosurgeons, Orthopedic Surgeons, and Vascular Surgeons on the Medical Staff of Firelands Regional Medical Center achieved these high quality rankings.

“Firelands Regional Medical Center has a history of consistent excellence in vascular surgery, orthopedic surgery, spine surgery and neurosurgery,” said Martin Tursky, president & CEO of Firelands Regional Medical Center. “This means that patients are receiving care from some of the nation’s best

surgeons and that they don’t have to travel far from home for top-rated care.”

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare-patient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 33 common conditions and procedures. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically better than expected), 3-star (statistically as expected) and 1-star (statistically worse than expected) categories. Detailed performance information, such as cohort-specific outcomes data and quality achievements, as well as more information on the Healthgrades 2015 Report to the Nation, including the complete methodology, can be found at healthgrades.com/quality.

To learn more about Firelands Regional Medical Center’s 2015 Healthgrades ratings, please visitfirelands.com/ratings.

Firelands Regional Medical Center Receives Quality Ratings from Healthgrades for 2015

By Roger BostdorffB2B Sales Boost recently had a

consulting engagement where the company wanted to increase their competitiveness and profitability. We discussed how we could determine our best options. I suggested that we identify a subset of their employees to talk with. Who to better make suggestions as to how to improve a company’s competitiveness and profitability than the employees working for the company? To the credit of the President of this company he decided to not talk with a subset of his employees but rather to talk with each and every one of his employees. He recognized that they would have the best ideas and observations since they are in the trenches every day. It was a very good decision on his part and represented a significant investment of his employee’s time. However, it also showed that he valued ALL of his employee’s views and opinions.

Some of the feedback from the team was that the majority of the employees were significant contributors. However, there was a perception that some small number of employees were not contributing like they could or should be.

Let me ask you a question. What happens to the morale of a company if the employees feel that some are carrying the cargo and others are not? That some employees must work extra hard or extra hours to cover for the employees that are not doing their job? What happens to the work habits of the good workers if nothing is done regarding discipline of the slackers? Is the throughput/productivity of the entire team negatively impacted even more severely over time? You bet it is!!

We put in place an evaluation process where each employee would be evaluated on every job by the job supervisor. They would be evaluated on a 1-5 range.

1 = Results achieved far exceeded the requirements of the job in all areas

2 = Results achieved consistently exceeded the requirements of the job in all key areas

3 = Results achieved consistently met the requirements of the job and exceeded the requirements in many areas

4 = Results achieved consistently met the requirements of the jobUnsatisfactory

5 = Results achieved did not meet the requirements of the job

Like Golf the lower the score the better the evaluation.

If the employee worked for multiple job supervisors they would be evaluated multiple times and the evaluations would be averaged.

The results of these evaluations would have an impact on potential raises (someone rated a “1” would receive a larger raise and in less time than someone rated a “4.”)

Without management doing these evaluations the slackers keep on slacking. Worse, the good workers performance ends up moving in the direction of the slackers since they see there are no negative repercussions for doing so. Therefore, not only are we now holding all of the employees accountable, but we

are rewarding the ones that are most contributing to the competitiveness and profitability of the company. Isn’t that the way it should work?

Is your company as competitive as it should be? Which way is your profit margin headed? What are you doing about it?

Roger Bostdorff is the President of B2B Sales Boost, LLC. He spent over 30 years with IBM in sales and sales management. B2B Sales Boost is a consulting company helping organizations improve their sales and overall business processes. You can find more about B2B Sales Boost on the web at www.b2bsalesboost.com or calling 419-351-4347. If you would like to receive the B2B Sales Boost Newsletter please send an email to [email protected]


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Firelands Regional Medical Center has a long-standing record of top performance as compared to all hospitals in the nation: � Only hospital in Ohio to receive 100 Best Hospitals

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� Vascular Surgery Excellence Award, 6 years in a row (2010-2015)

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� Spine Surgery Excellence Award, 3 years in a row (2013-2015)

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By Jeff RothIf you were named in a will or

trust to receive an inheritance and the attorney asked if you wanted to disclaim or refuse the gift, you would probably say that was a bad idea. There are times when a valid disclaimer is the best course of action.

WHAT IS A DISCLAIMER?A disclaimer is an irrevocable and unqualified

refusal to accept an interest in property. The effect of a disclaimer is to pass the asset to those who would have inherited if you had predeceased. This is not a gift from you. You have effectively skipped a generation and passed the asset to the next generation.

WHY WOULD ANYONE WISH TO DISCLAIM AN INTEREST IN PROPERTY?

Generally, disclaimers are exercised to redirect property to the next generation. For example, if a parent died leaving all of his or her property to a child who is terminally ill, it may be to the advantage of that terminally ill child to disclaim the property so that the

property would go directly to his children, rather than pass through his estate. The same result may be desirable in the case of a child whose estate is already substantial. The child may prefer to have the property pass directly to his or her children. There is a generation skipping tax but only for very large estates.

WHO WILL RECEIVE THE PROPERTY IF IT IS DISCLAIMED?

Basically, the people that would inherit are those next of kin set forth under the law of intestate succession. This is statutory and absolute. One needs to be very careful before any disclaimer is filed to be sure that it legally goes where they want it to go.

CAN A PARTIAL DISCLAIMER BE FILED?Yes. If you receive all of the estate, you can elect to

have a portion of the estate pass to your direct legal heirs. For example, if your spouse had the family farm as an asset in his estate, you could identify the property, file the disclaimer in the probate court and the recorder’s office and have the farm pass directly to your children without being a part of your estate.

A disclaimer can be a valuable estate planning tool. At the estate planning stage, this subject should be

discussed and a plan put in place for its possible use. If you are administrating an estate or trust, the subject of disclaimer should immediately be discussed with any potential heir to allow the correct decision to be made. A disclaimer cannot avoid nursing home expenses unless it is made more than five years before Medicaid is requested.

This is another planning tool that can be very beneficial for the right factual situation. You will need the assistance of an attorney to perfect the process.

Jeff Roth is a partner with David Bacon and associate Jessica Moon of the firm ROTH and BACON with offices in Port Clinton, Upper Sandusky, Marion, Ohio and Fort Myers, Florida. All members of the firm are licensed in Ohio and Florida. Mr. Roth’s practice is limited to wealth strategy planning and elder law in both states. Nothing in this article is intended for, nor should be relied upon as individual legal advice. The purpose of this article is to provide information to the public on concepts of law as they pertain to estate and business planning. Jeff Roth can be reached at [email protected] (telephone: 419-732-9994) copyright Jeffrey P. Roth 2014.

LegalWhat is a Disclaimer?


Terra State Receives National Science Foundation GrantTerra State Community College has

been awarded a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop its manufacturing curriculum.

The grant is part of the NSF Advanced Technology Education Program (ATE) and will be used by the faculty to conduct a comprehensive review of the existing curriculum and develop new courses where necessary to prepare students for the new and changing jobs in manufacturing.

The program is called Integrated, Application-Based Curriculum in Advanced Manufacturing (IACAM).

Three faculty members will be working on the project; Jim Perlberg, Assistant Professor of Robotics and Manufacturing, Jeff Hamilton, Assistant Professor of Electricity, and Mike Smithback, PhD, Associate Professor of Chemistry.

“This is a significant achievement for Terra State,” Perlberg said. “It provides funding for faculty to evaluate and review the current curriculum, and develop a program to make the college more responsive to the changing manufacturing environment of the 21stcentury.”

The grant provides funding for faculty

members to research, evaluate, and develop new curriculum courses and evaluate and update existing courses. It does not provide funding for capital equipment.

“A grant of this nature can dovetail with grants being sought from related federal agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy and others by providing Terra State with recognized credentials in the field,” Smithback said.

The program goals include: (1) develop

an integrated manufacturing curriculum model; (2) create a “real world” manufacturing environment learning lab; (3) provide opportunities for college faculty to mentor secondary teachers and counselors on careers in manufacturing; and (4) develop a student-centered program to recruit, retain and complete the program. Students who complete the program will be asked to provide follow up data on employment.

This is the first NSF grant the College has received. An internal committee of Terra State faculty and staff developed the proposal. That group included Perlberg, Hamilton and Smithback in addition to Dr. Sue Babione, Andy Carroll and Amy Below.

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Assistant Professor Jim Perlberg, right, helps student Bob Hackenburg, of Bellevue, program the robot in the foreground during an Introduction to Robotics class


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It’s time to talk to Payne Nickles.Payne Nickles provides broad expertise in federal, state and local tax matters, specializing in complex business and individual situations. Through thoughtfultax planning, we aim to minimize taxes for all of our clients and, for our business clients, maintain the objective of encouraging business development.

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InsuranceDo you Know the Difference Between General Liability Coverage and Data Breach Liability Coverage?Submitted by: Mark T. Reilly

Most business owners do not know the difference between

Commercial General Liability Coverage (CGL) and Data Breach Liability Coverage. The most alarming thing about not knowing the difference is that a large majority of insurance agencies don’t know the difference either. Even worse, many insurance agencies don’t even have protection in place for themselves. Does your agent have important information about you or your business in their files? Information like driver’s license, Social Security number, Federal Tax ID, and bank routing numbers. If they do have this information, you not only are exposed at your home and business, but also at their place of business.

In May of 2014, the Insurance Services Office, which is an organization that supplies the industry with policy language, made changes to the General Liability Policy that excludes any loss from data breach and cyber liability. Please read on to get a better understanding of the difference between the CGL policy and specialized cyber coverage. One last note is that most cyber coverages are not standardized and the coverages can vary dramatically.

Commercial General Liability Insurance The only way to protect the assets of your business is to carry adequate Commercial General Liability Insurance. A CGL policy protects your business from damages caused by bodily injury or property damage for which your business is found to be legally liable. CGL is usually triggered first in the event of a loss, so many business owners don’t feel an additional endorsement or stand-alone policy is necessary.

A typical CGL policy contains three coverages: 1. Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability (BI/

PD) – the duty to indemnify and defend the insured for claims made due to bodily injury or property damage.

2. Personal and Advertising Liability (AI/PI) – same framework as Coverage A, except it insures claims for personal injury and advertising injury.

3. Medical Payments – insurer promises to pay emergency medical expenses for bodily injury for the uninsured or its employees as a result of an accident on the insured’s premises. It pays regardless of who is at fault.

Coverage B for Intangible AssetsIf the threat exists that your company could be sued by a

competitor for infringement or intellectual property theft, or you do not have the funds to cover legal fees associated with defending your patent or trademark, this coverage is vital. Defending infringement litigation can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, not including the cost of damages and prejudgment interest. In patent infringement cases, attorney’s fees can easily top $1 million. Budgeting and planning for the protection of intellectual property rights

may not only save your company a significant amount of capital, it may also help keep your business viable when legal bills accumulate rapidly.

Any act by the insured that somehow violates or infringes on the rights of others (referred to in the policy as an offense) is the subject of personal and advertising injury liability coverage, although only those acts that are specifically listed in the policy are covered. The coverage under the “advertising injury” provision is limited to those injuries that are directly related to the advertisement. Therefore, the policy covers debts owed by the insured party due to claims filed against it.

Coverage B policyholders are sometimes covered in cases relating to trademark infringement; however, copyright claims are only successful when directly related to advertising, and patent claims are rarely covered under the “advertising injury” provision. The cases that allow for coverage in a patent infringement suit are generally limited to instances in which a court finds contributory infringement or inducement to infringe through an advertising medium. Since the advertising injury provision in a standard CGL is limited, many businesses consider additional coverage to protect their intangible assets.

There are three important exclusions in the AI/PI coverage that outline the need for additional intangible asset coverage:

• Excludes AI/PI arising out of the infringement of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights.

• Excludes AI/PI committed by an insured whose business is:

» Advertising, broadcasting, publishing or telecasting

» Designing or determining content of websites for others

» An Internet search, access, content or service provider (ISP)

• Excludes AI/PI arising out of an electronic chat room or bulletin board the insured hosts, owns or exercises control.

There will be a large coverage gap in a traditional CGL policy if you are a media company, technology company or any other company that does business predominantly on the Internet.

Specialized Cyber Liability CoveragesBecause of the increase in the number of intangible

assets companies possess, and the number of companies doing business on the Internet, new types of liability coverages have emerged to meet specific needs.

Errors & Omissions (E&O) E&O insurance, also known as professional liability

insurance (PLI), helps fill gaps in traditional CGL policies by protecting professional advice- and service-providing companies from having to bear the full cost of defending against a negligence claim that a service the company provided did not have the expected or promised results.

An E&O policy can cover intellectual property losses due to copyright infringement and plagiarism while also protecting a business against a data breach or identity theft. For example, if an IT specialist at a company makes a mistake with the company firewall and allows malware to spread through the company’s network, an E&O policy would help cover the losses from the exposure.

An E&O policy can be customized with several other coverages, such as:

Electronic Data Loss - A fire or virus could lead to a business losing all of its data. An Electronic Data Loss

policy covers against this data loss and helps replace lost income due to the incident.

Data Breach - This coverage is becoming more popular as the number of expensive data breaches increases around the globe. Data Breach coverage can help a business cover the costs of customer notifications and any associated defense costs.

Media Liability – This coverage protects media-related firms from claims arising from defamation, invasion of privacy, plagiarism, copyright infringement, etc.

Directors’ & Officers’ (D&O)A D&O policy insures upper management against claims

of securities fraud, breach of fiduciary and other types of liability. For example, shareholders of a company could sue a company’s directors and officers for not putting the proper measures in place to stop a data breach.

Claims Made vs. Occurrence PoliciesWhen purchasing CGL and cyber liability coverage,

businesses have two primary policy types to choose from—claims made and occurrence. A claims made policy covers claims while the policy is in force, while an occurrence policy provides coverage for when the act occurred. Both types offer distinct advantages and disadvantages, so it is wise to do research to determine the best type of policy for your business.

Cost - Claims made policies are generally cheaper than occurrence policies. Premiums for claims made policies start low but increase each year to reflect the increased likelihood for claims in the future. While occurrence policies are generally more expensive, there is only a one-time cost with no additional fees.

Selecting coverage – With a claims made policy, coverage limits are easier to choose because they can be increased annually. You run the risk of being underinsured with an occurrence policy because the coverage you selected 10 years ago might not be able to cover expenses from a claim made today.

Pre- and post-coverage options – You will need to purchase “nose” and “tail” coverage with a claims made policy because if you are sued in 2006 for services provided in 2004, you will only be covered if your policy has an Extended Reporting Period (ERP), or “tail” coverage. Tail coverage can be expensive, but it is often included for free if you have been insured with the same company for a certain amount of time or it can also be offered as an incentive for switching to another company. Similarly, a “prior acts” endorsement, or “nose” coverage is needed when switching insurers to cover claims that occurred before the new policy was purchased. With an occurrence policy, no nose or tail is needed. It is easier to change insurance companies with an occurrence policy because no pre- or post-coverage endorsements are necessary.

Long-term protection – An occurrence policy will give you better long-term protection because you are insured from a claim no matter how long after the event the claim was made. For example, if a software company was sued for a security problem in one of its programs that led to a customer suffering a data breach 5 years after the product was released, the software company would be covered by the occurrence policy in place at the time of the breach.

Mark Reilly just earned the designation cyRM, which is for the study of Cyber Insurance Risk Management and he has been lecturing extensively on this significant exposure. If you would like him to speak at a local business or community event, or have him offer an evaluation of your exposures and coverage, contact him at [email protected].


Ribbon Cutting Held for Buckeye Tech Solutions

Port Clinton, OH – A ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the grand opening of Buckeye Tech Solutions located at 304 Madison Street, Suite C in Port Clinton was held on October 14.

Representatives from the City of Port Clinton, Main Street Port Clinton, and the Port Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce congratulated them and thanked them for opening their business in Port Clinton.


1. Evaluate your Part D prescription drug plan. This is much easier than most people think. It is important to make certain your existing medications will still be covered on your present plan for 2015. Also check to see if there are other plans that may offer a lower premium and out-of-pocket drug cost savings. You can do this by going to www.bolteinsurance.com and click compare medicare health and drug plans. This tool will allow you to make an easy side by side com-parison of your present plan. Presently there are about 30 Part D prescription drug plans to choose from.

2. Re-shop your Medicare Supplement Plan. Although coverage is the same for similar plan letters from company to company, pric-ing can be significantly different from one company to the next. Many people have Plan F or C which are the two most benefit rich plans. For many people these plans may be overkill. You may be wasting a lot of money in premiums and could save money by con-sidering if Plan G, N or even High-Deductible Plan F might be a better value.

3. Consider if a Medicare Advantage Plan is right for you. Many counties have plans avail-able that have little or $0 monthly premium. These plans are typically PPO or HMO style plans. These style plans are not for every-body, however they can be a great value and provide both medical and prescription drug coverage and offer considerable premium savings compared to Medicare Supplemental plans. In 2013 there were 8 plans available in Ottawa County through 3 different compa-nies. Some of these plans even include extra dental and vision benefits and health fitness center membership through the Silver Sneak-ers Program. You can view plan benefits at www.bolteinsurance.com and click on Compare Medicare Health and Drug Plans.

If you need help in finding a better plan, local independent agents are available that can help you with this process. Contact Steve Gulas or Chuck Devore at Bolte Insurance Agency, 419-732-3111. They represent multiple Medicare plans and will put your interests first.

134 E. 2nd Street Port Clinton

Get Your On-Line Health InsurancePricing at www.bolteinsurance.com

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PLAN IN 2015

ANNUAL OPEN ENROLLMENTIS OCT. 15 - Dec. 7

When President Rob Huntington arrived at Heidelberg University in 2009, he put into motion an ambitious strategic plan that has transformed the campus and in turn, enhanced the overall student experience.

Through Heidelberg’s 164-year history, there has never been a period of such growth in such a short time span. Eight new or renovated facilities have been completed in just five years.

“Four years into our Strategic Action Plan, our progress is a source of pride and motivation,” Huntington said. “Our goal to make Heidelberg a better, bigger, stronger and smarter university continues to evolve in positive ways.”

Since 2010, Heidelberg has built or renovated the following facilities, primarily through private support:

• Adams Hall (School of Business) – complete renovation

• Media Communication Center – complete renovation

• Talmage Residence Hall – new construction• The University Commons and Fireside Café Pub

– new construction• Saurwein Health & Wellness Center – new

construction• Beeghly Library – major interior and exterior

renovation• Bryenton Honors Center – major interior and

exterior renovation and a new terrace

The latest -- Hoernemann Stadium & The Fox Den Alumni Center – is a big win for Heidelberg. Named in honor of Heidelberg’s iconic football coach, Paul Hoernemann, the $5.1 million facility debuted to fantastic reviews when it was officially dedicated Oct. 10-11.

“From the beginning of this project, I’ve thought of this facility as a ‘gateway’ – for alumni, prospective students and current students to always be inspired, invited and included,” Huntington said at the dedication.

Chilly fall temperatures didn’t deter about 500 people, who gathered for the dedication. Jane (Hoernemann) Hieronymus, Heidelberg class of ’64 and daughter of the late coach, represented the Hoernemann family.

“Never in my dreams could I have imagined this spectacular complex fitting so seamlessly into the campus landscape,” she said.

“I often wonder and think, ‘What would my father have felt if he had strolled through this facility?’ He would have been thrilled for the students and all of the possibilities for engaging alumni and the community. But most of all, he would be so proud of all of his former players who kept Heidelberg in their hearts as he always kept you in his.”

Heidelberg’s New Stadium/Alumni Center: A ‘Gateway of Possibilities’

See STADIUM, Page 21


The permanent stadium was a long time coming. The weekend Huntington was inaugurated in November 2009, Heidelberg played its first football game on campus since 1945 following the installation of an artificial turf field.

“The reaction to having football back at home was more positive than any of us imagined,” Huntington recalled. “I knew from that moment that Heidelberg football was back on campus to stay.”

The potential of Hoernemann Stadium & The Fox Den Alumni Center far exceeds helping student-athletes

succeed on the field. It opens a gateway of possibilities that will be a driver for all students to engage in the life of the university, for alumni to reconnect with the traditions of their alma mater, and for the campus and community to prosper together at exciting indoor/outdoor events and milestone gatherings such as commencement.

The stadium seats a crowd of 1,300 with the potential to add additional capacity in the future. It is built into a hillside on the edge of the campus. The Fox Den Alumni Center features a reception area, exhibit

gallery and private viewing deck with access to reserved seating on the 50-yard line.

Other features include an upper press box, ticket windows, concessions and restrooms, locker rooms and athletic training room for wrestling, softball and baseball. The Adams Academic All-American Plaza greets guests and pays tribute to 12 of the most accomplished ‘Berg student-athletes, with room to add more in the future.

STADIUM, from Page 20

Students in four science areas will have an easier path to transfer between Terra State Community College and Heidelberg University after agreements were recently signed by both institutions.

The Pathways to Degree Completion agreements aid Terra State students whose ultimate goal is to earn a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry or Biochemistry from Heidelberg. Pathway guides have been created to help students select appropriate courses to maximize transfer credit while completing the Associate of Science.

Former Terra State president, Dr. Marsha Bordner, became an advocate for the agreements after she retired in 2012 and joined the Heidelberg University Board of Trustees.

“In that process, I became more acquainted with the academic programs that Heidelberg offers,” she said. “I didn’t realize at that time that the science curriculum at Heidelberg is a jumping off point for students who wish to go on in medicine and other programs at the graduate level. The science

curriculum is a real source of pride for Heidelberg. “At the same time, I already knew about the high

quality of the science programs and the faculty at Terra—also a real source of pride for the college and community. I certainly encouraged a greater level of articulation between our two organizations—primarily because I believe that such agreements are in the best interest of our collective students. I am ecstatic that those agreements have been worked out and are now available to our students.”

Professor Cathy Chudzinski was also instrumental in the agreements.

“We have had several students successfully transfer to Heidelberg to complete a bachelor’s degree over the years,” said Cathy Chudzinski, “Formalizing the process with the bi-lateral transfer agreement will ensure future students have a clear pathway to complete their studies.”

Students who have earned an Associate of Science from Terra State will be admitted to Heidelberg with full junior status and will have met all of the

university’s general education requirements.While enrolled at Terra State, students can choose to

enroll in the Dual Admission and Enrollment Program through Heidelberg to complete courses that may be applied to the bachelor of science and/or associate of science requirements.

“This is a real benefit to the students because it helps make a clear pathway for them to obtain a four-year degree,” said Sister Patricia Carter, Director, Academic Service Center and Coordinator of Transfer and Articulation at Terra State. “And the first two years are at a lower tuition rate, saving them thousands.”

Terra State has articulation agreements with 25 public universities in Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey. They include 2+2, 3+1, dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment agreements.

“We also are in the process of exploring future transfer degrees between Heidelberg and Terra State,” Chudzinski said. “It’s been a great experience working with the people there.”

Terra State, Heidelberg Ink New Transfer Agreements


CHAMBER CALENDARS for NovemberBellevue Chamber of Commerce

15 Nite at the Races Bellevue Rec Club & Chamber Bellevue Eagles Hall, 215 East Main Street. Doors open 5:30 p.m.; Dinner is at 6:00 p.m.

Erie County Chamber of Commerce

5 Ambassadors meeting 4:00 p.m., at Vine & Olive

11 Business Services Committee 8:00 a.m., Chamber

12 Business After Hours J.Bistro, 5:15 p.m.

13 Governmental Affairs Committee , 7:30 a.m. Chamber

17 Executive Committee 4:00 p.m., Chamber 20 Board of Directors 7:30 a.m., Perkins Restaurant

Huron Chamber of Commerce

20 Thanksgiving Party After Hours 5-7 p.m. Crawford Insurance Group 304 Williams St., Huron, OH RSVP [email protected]

Huron County Chamber of Commerce

6 Program Committee, 8:00am, Chamber office

12 Membership Committee, 8:00am, Chamber office

13 Board of Directors, 4:00pm, Chamber office

19 Education Committee, 8:00am, Chamber office

Business After Hours, Cameo at the Creek, (Eagle Creek Golf Club) 5:00-6:30pm

20 Safety Council, 7:30am, Norwalk High School, RSVP

Regional After Hours, Bierkeller, Bellevue, 5:00-7:00pm

Marblehead Chamber of Commerce

6 Directors Meeting 7:00 pm Danbury School Library 20 Business After Hours Bassett’s Market 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce

13 Business Over Breakfast Ottawa County Resource Center 7:30am-9:00am Topic: Customer Service

20 Board Meeting 7:30am Chamber Building

Port Clinton AreaChamber of Commerce

3 Communications Committee 8:30am

4 Administration Committee 8:30am

6 Economic Restructuring Committee 8:30am

Business After Hours Edgewood Manor, 5pm-7pm

10 Chamber Board 8:30am

12 Design Committee 1:00pm

13 Organization Committee 8:30am

14 Benefits Committee 8:30am

18 Ambassadors Committee 8:30am

19 Walleye Festival Committee 8:30am

20 Main Street Board 8:30am

Sandusky CountyChamber of Commerce

5 Membership & Marketing Meeting, 3 p.m.

6 Property Meeting, 8:00 a.m.

18 Health & Wellness Meeting, 2 p.m.

Ag Committee Meeting, 7:30 a.m.

19 Safety Council Meeting, 11 a.m., Elmwood Healthcare Center at The Springs

20 BAH-Bierkeller Pub, 5 - 7 p.m., 600 Southwest Street, Bellevue

25 Ambassador Meeting, 8 a.m., Chamber of Commerce Seneca County Chamber of Commerce

4 Seneca County Industrial Management Council Meeting (IMC) 5 pm. RSVP 419-447-4141. “Behavioral Health”

6 Ribbon Cutting Spirit Space 4:00 pm. St. Francis Spirituality Center, Francis Ave., Tiffin.

8 Northwest Ohio Glass Assoc. 2nd. Annual Artistry in American Glass Show Calvert Elementary School Admission: $5.00 Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 10-3

12 Small Business Basics Seminar 9:30 am to 11:30 am A free, two-hour seminar Contact Bill Auxter at 800-826-2431 After Five* & Ribbon Cutting Southside Laundry *Special time 4:30 -6:00 pm. 114 Melmore St., Tiffin. RSVP to [email protected] or 419-447-4141.

13 Ribbon Cutting/Open House Mental Health & Recovery Services 3:45 pm.

17 Ribbon Cutting Gem Yoga & Life Enrichment 3:15 pm. 215 S. Washington St., Tiffin.

20 After Five & Ribbon Cutting Scrap Happy/The Sweet Shoppe 5:00 - 7 pm. 2445 W. Market St., Tiffin.

21 Ambassador Meeting Noon , Chamber of Commerce

25 Tiffin Area Safety Council 11:30 am at Moose Lodge


Law You Can Use:

What Does Ohio Law Say about Campaign Contributions?

Q: Does Ohio law regulate my campaign contributions?

A: Yes. Ohio l w regulates the amount of money you can give in certain races, primarily in state legislative and statewide campaigns. The law also requires the candidate to report contributions. The goal is transparency, which applies to both the candidate and the contributor.

Q: What must be disclosed?A: Candidates and their campaign committees

must disclose the campaign contributions they receive. This usually includes the amount of money received as well as the contributor’s name and address. The value of an “in kind” donation of something other than money must also be disclosed.

Q: Can’t I remain anonymous?A: No. Neither a candidate, nor the committee

supporting the candidate, is allowed to accept anonymous donations. If, for example, a candidate’s committee receives an anonymous donation and does not know the contributor’s identity, the committee must make a reasonable attempt to determine who the donor is. The committee or candidate must disclose the donor’s identity if it is discovered, and must document the steps taken to identify the unknown contributor.

Q: It’s my money. Can’t I give as much as I want?A: No. Ohio limits contribution amounts to

campaigns for statewide offices or legislative seats. Ohio’s Revised Code sets the amounts, but allows the Ohio Secretary of State to adjust those for inflation in odd-numbered years. The Secretary of State currently caps individual donations in these amounts:

$12,155.52 to a candidate’s campaign in the same election cycle, including primary and general elections;

$18,233.28 to a legislative candidate’s election fund in the same calendar year;

$12,155.52 to the county party’s fund for the election of political candidates (“county party statewide fund”) in the county where you live;

$0 to any county party’s statewide candidate fund in counties where you do not live;

$36,466.56 per calendar year to a state party’s fund for the election of political candidates (“state party’s statewide candidate fund”) in a county where you live.*

$12,155.52 to the same the political action committee in a calendar year.

$3,600 to a candidate for Supreme Court of Ohio justice or chief justice per election period, if the candidate has a contested primary election. If the candidate does not face a primary election opponent, the maximum is $3,600.

Visit the Ohio Secretary of State’s guide to current contribution limits at

w w w . s o s . s t a t e . o h . u s / s o s / u p l o a d /candidates/2013limitchart.pdf.

*State and county political parties operate independently; each may maintain funds specifically designated for electing candidates to statewide office.

Q: Can my child give?A: Ohio law prohibits children under age seven

from contributing, but children age seven or older may contribute within the limits described above. Also, unlike some other states, there is no statute limiting the total amount a family can donate.

Q: Can my company donate?A: It depends on the type of company.

Partnerships, limited liability companies and other unincorporated business entities are allowed to donate to candidates, but Ohio law restricts corporations from donating directly to a candidate’s campaign committee or a political party. However, restrictions that previously applied in Ohio were affected by a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling called Citizens United. Now, corporations (for profit and non-profit) and labor unions are allowed to donate more freely to election campaigns. These organizations, as well as any individual or group of individuals, are allowed to sponsor advertising—without financial limits—that endorses candidates, as long as the entity does not directly contribute to, or coordinate with, the candidate or the candidate’s campaign committee.

Q: Can I contribute freely to the local race for dog warden?

A: Ohio law puts no restrictions on local or county races, but local governments are allowed to create their own regulations about campaign contributions, and some have done so.

Q: Are candidates restricted in how they use their campaign funds?

A: Yes. Candidates must use their funds for ordinary, necessary and verifiable expenses. This means that candidates may not use their campaign funds for business or for clearly personal needs. However, these rules are broad and allow for spending that might not seem like campaigning. Candidates have been allowed to use their campaign funds for certain meals, trips and even to pay fines related to campaign law violations.

Q: What about contributions to candidates for federal office?

A: Federal law applies to campaign spending for candidates running for Congress and President. Contribution limits are set in the following amounts:

$2,600 to a federal candidate or the candidate’s campaign committee in each election period (primaries and general elections are considered different election periods);

$2,600 per presidential election period; $5,000 to a political action committee (PAC) in the

same calendar year;$32,400 each calendar year to a national party

committee.

Q: Can anyone contribute to federal candidates?A: No. A citizen of another country is not allowed

to contribute to any U.S. candidate, unless that person is a permanent resident of the United States. Additionally, anyone considered a government contractor—even consultants—may not contribute to federal candidates. For more information about federal campaign laws, visit www.fec.gov.

This “Law You Can Use” consumer legal information column was provided by the Ohio State Bar Association. It was prepared by Columbus attorney Paul Aker. Articles appearing in this column are intended to provide broad, general information about the law. Before applying this information to a specific legal problem, readers are urged to seek advice from an attorney.

NCBJ Readers are decision makers:Almost nine out of 10 (87%) "make or have influence over purchasing decisions" for their company


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ITBy Lyle Ebinger

There are many people out there that would see this title and say, “We’ve had Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 for years, what is he talking about?” There are a surprising

number of Windows XP machines still in use in corporate America. BusinessWeek states that 95 percent of all ATM machines are still running XP. AppSense, a Microsoft Gold Partner, claims that 45 percent of organizations are currently using Windows XP. Why should we consider upgrading, and why should we be concerned?

Microsoft has stopped updating Windows XP as of April 8, 2014. What does this mean, and how does it affect a company? Since April 8th, Microsoft is not publishing any updates for Windows XP. XP will still run just as it has done for years, but without security

updates to plug the holes that hackers eventually find. XP is now a sitting duck. A hacker can work on the vulnerabilities of XP without concern of getting that entry point fixed. It will be like a brute force attack on a password. A brute force attack is a repeated attempt at guessing a password until it is eventually stumbled upon, and access is granted. Hackers will eventually find those vulnerabilities in XP, and will exploit them, without any cures coming from Microsoft.

Small companies with a few XP machines will feel a bit of a financial crunch and the IT Department’s overtime to make the switchover. But consider medium to large enterprises with hundreds or thousands of XP machines in use, and the problems grow exponentially to upgrade the end user machines and all of the peripherals as well. As with any other program deployment, the recommended option is an incremental retirement of the Windows XP machines, replacing them with Windows 7 or 8, depending on your individual metrics. A suggested deployment

plan would be to use a small quantity of machines as a test batch. Replace an end user machine from each department, and debug those until satisfactory benchmarks are achieved. At that point, upgrade the most critical machines, as the budget will allow. Windows XP is like a potential sinkhole. The longer you have XP, the more likely that a security sinkhole will open up enough to engulf your internetwork, and cause you to lose data, time, and money to recover from an event that is avoidable. Windows XP has been a work horse and a good friend for many years, but the time has come for XP to step aside and let siblings take the reins.

Lyle is a Computer Technician with Information Technologies and Information in Norwalk. His certifications include: Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching, CompTia A+, Network+, and Security+. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions on upcoming articles, please email me at: [email protected]. I’ll be glad to try to help you.

Windows XP: When is it Time to Say Goodbye to an Old Friend?

The Professional Independent Agents Association of Ohio (PIAA) honored Elmore insurance agent, Mark Reilly, with the 2014 Community Service Award. The Community Service Award goes to agents who are outstanding examples of commitment to community.

Mr. Reilly has demonstrated his commitment to community service by

developing a summer reading program in Elmore nearly 25 years ago that has since grown to include four libraries in Northwest Ohio. The library program has turned into the Right to Read program and Diversified Insurance Service, of whom Mr. Reilly is an owner, provides the award t-shirts to the children who reach their summer reading goals.

Following the PIAA award ceremony, Diversified Insurance presented Mr. Reilly and the four libraries with commemorative quilts that were made up of t-shirts from the last 25 years.

Local insurance agent receives Community Service Award for library reading programs

Mark Reilly presents Summer Reading Quilt to Jennifer Fording at the Harris-Elmore Library


Guidance Counselors Tour Local BusinessesLate last month several local manufacturers opened

their doors to high school and middle school guidance counselors and principals this month for the 4-County Career Showcase —a unique event that puts workforce development, career preparation and skilled-trade opportunities front and center. The four counties include Erie, Huron, Ottawa, and Sandusky. Each county has tailored their events a little differently, but all have a student career-focus.

Sandusky County’s event is organized by Sandusky County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) with sponsorship from AEP-Ohio and The Bellevue Hospital. The Showcase took place Friday, October 24th, 2014. Guidance counselors and principals were escorted by a charter bus to six locations. They had the opportunity to meet with employees, directors, managers, and HR representatives to discuss a wide variety of employment opportunities that companies are recruiting for…as well as gain a first-hand understanding of how manufacturing has evolved into a cutting-edge industry starved for the right people.

The bus tour included stops in Bellevue (Mitsubishi Chemical Performance Polymers, Inc.), Clyde (Revere Plastics System and Whirlpool – Clyde Division) and Fremont (Freeman Company and Green Bay Packaging Inc.). The participants’ lunches were prepared and served by the culinary students of Vanguard Career Center. Following lunch, a representative of Sandusky County Human Resource Managers’ Association addressed interviews skills and the school will provide actual tours of the electrical, mechanical and welding student labs.


Seven Messages for a Seamless, Hassle-Free Marketing Campaign

If you’ve been avoiding creating an email marketing campaign for your business because you just don’t have the time, Mark Satterfield has some good news for you. He explains how to put your email marketing on autopilot.

In a day filled with putting out fires, dealing with employee issues, and sweet talking customers, the last thing any small business owner wants to have to do is squeeze in time to run to their office to send out an email to their prospects and customer list. Finding time to sit peacefully in front of your computer each week and craft a thoughtful marketing message just isn’t in the cards. The good news, says Mark Satterfield, is that with a little work up front, you can “set and forget” your marketing efforts.

“Autoresponder systems are great marketing tools that every small business owner should be taking advantage of,” says Satterfield, author of The One Week Marketing Plan: The Set It & Forget It Approach for Quickly Growing Your Business (BenBella Books, August 2014, ISBN: 978-1-939-52978-7, 24.95, www.gentlerainmarketing.com). “They allow you to reach out to prospective and current customers who have opted in to receive emails from you. Autoresponder systems are great because they’re very inexpensive; they allow you to create a personalized series of messages and then schedule them to go out over a period of time. The best news is that you can automate the entire process so that it runs completely on autopilot.”

The hard part, of course, is knowing what to put in these messages. Satterfield explains that first and foremost they should be “evergreen” or “timeless.”

“You want to focus on client problems that were problems yesterday, are problems today, and are likely to be problems for the foreseeable future,” he says. “If you’re a financial planner, an evergreen topic might be the fear of running out of money during retirement. That’s a concern that people have had (and will have) forever. You also want to give your readers a sense of both your expertise and your personality. You want them to believe that you know what you are talking about and that you would be a pleasure to work with.”

In his book, Satterfield provides autoresponder email templates to make creating these messages even easier. Read on for an overview of the seven emails needed for a successful email marketing campaign:

Message 1: In The One Week Marketing Plan, Satterfield teaches readers how to build a marketing campaign one day at a time during the course of a work week. The campaign is centered around creating a free report to use to entice prospects to receive more information from you and eventually become a paying

customer. So the first message template offers the recipient the link they can use to download your free report.

“In an autoresponder system, ‘day’ refers to the length of time that has passed since a prospect signed up to get your free offer,” explains Satterfield. “So the first email in the sequence is sent immediately, on what is referred to as ‘Day 0.’”

Mark’s Message 1 Subject Line: “Here’s the (Title or Your Subject Matter) Report You Requested.”

Message 2: This message will go out on what the autoresponder calls Day 1, which is one day after your prospect signs up. “It should be a quick follow-up message to make sure they received email #1,” notes Satterfield. “Make sure you include the link to access the free information again.”

Mark’s Message 2 Subject Line: “Quick Follow-up.”Message 3: In the third message, you’re going to

focus on a particular section contained in the free report. Thus, the first step is to review what you’re sending your subscribers and pick something that you will want to talk about. It might be a particularly interesting story that you tell in the report—or the one nugget of information that you think is the most relevant to your particular niche audience. That’s what you will refer to in this email.

“An important point as you’re writing this email is to make sure to describe specifically where the nugget can be found,” says Satterfield. “Also, anyone who emails you with feedback is beginning to engage with you on a personal level. When a prospect writes back, it’s an indication that they are starting to know, like, and trust you. Not surprisingly, these are the people most likely to become your clients. If people send you feedback, regardless of whether you agree with it or not, the polite thing to do is acknowledge their comments. At the very least, write back something such as ‘Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate your taking the time to share your ideas.’”

Mark’s Message 3 Subject Line: “A Quick Question, (First Name).” (You are more likely to convert a prospect into a client if they read your report, so this is another way to motivate them to look at it.)

Message 4: In this message you’ll be telling a story about someone who has used the information in your report. “You don’t need to mention a specific name or company,” explains Satterfield. “The idea is to communicate that others who are similar to the reader solved their problems by following your advice.”

Mark’s Message 4 Subject Line: “How (Name) (What He or She Accomplished).” (e.g., “How Sarah Made Her First Real Estate Sale” or “How Alice Got Her Kids to Stop Fighting”)

Message 5: This is a message where you will share something that you “forgot” to include in the report. In your message, you’ll offer an additional tip or idea that was not included in your free report. You’ll, of course, have to come up with a good topic. Here are

some questions to ask yourself to help do so:• What benefit or result do your clients or

customers want that you might not have mentioned yet?

• Can you make a list of dos and don’ts?• What’s a big mistake people often make with

your topic or product that they need to avoid?• What success stories do you have that you

haven’t used yet? Is there one with a lesson you can add that would be helpful to your prospects?

“Once you’ve selected something to write about, take a few minutes to jot down some notes,” advises Satterfield. “When you’re ready, you can craft your message. Keep it short and sweet. Let them know you want to share something important and then introduce the topic.”

Mark’s Message 5 Subject Line: “(First Name), I Forgot to Mention This.”

Message 6: Use this message to answer a question that a client asked you recently. If you don’t have clients yet, you can just think of a question that prospective clients would likely ask. “Ideally, you want to either show off another benefit that comes from working with you, answer a question that overcomes a typical objection that stops people from working with you, or pick something that adds to your credibility as an expert,” says Satterfield.

Mark’s Message 6 Subject Line: “A Question Many (in This Niche) Are Asking.”

Message 7: It’s important to think about marketing as a sequence. For most service businesses, the next step after your prospects get to know you through your emails and your report is to speak one-on-one with them. So, in your final message, you’ll offer a free 30-minute consultation.

“The reason we hold off until now is that a certain amount of trust and credibility needs to be established before you offer the consultation,” explains Satterfield. “After 20 years of testing various sequences, I’ve found that asking for the consultation in this sequence results in the highest percentage of acceptances.”

Mark’s Message 7 Subject Line: “Of Potential Interest to Some.”

“After you’ve created your series of messages, all you have to do is load them into your autoresponder,” says Satterfield. “It’s quick and easy to do.

“If you have any reservations about using this method to stay in front of prospects, know that I practice what I preach, not only with my business but also with my wife’s,” he concludes. “She is a clinical hypnotherapist and success coach. When I set up her autoresponder sequence, we bit the proverbial bullet and created two years of timed messages that go out approximately every ten days. At the end of two years, we just reschedule the person back to Day 1 on the assumption that no one remembers an email they got two years ago. Talk about a ‘set it and forget it’ approach to staying in touch!”

Set It and Forget It:


Lake Erie Shores & IslandsRecognized for Marketing Efforts

Lake Erie Shores & Islands®, the destination marketing organization for travel and tourism in Erie and Ottawa counties, was recently awarded for their advertising and marketing campaigns. RUBY Awards were presented to the organization’s leaders at the recent Ohio Conference on Tourism, held October 15-17 in Springfield. MIDDY Awards were presented at the Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus’ Annual Awards of Excellence, held September 24 in Columbus.

The annual RUBY Awards competition

is the Ohio Travel Association’s way of honoring those who have found the most innovative and creative ways to market their destination, attraction or services. RUBY stands for Recognizing Uncommon Brilliance. Nearly 200 entries were submitted by OTA members and travel and tourism entities within Ohio in 16 different categories.

Entries were judged by three professionals representing marketing, printing and branding firms.

At the RUBY Awards Lake

Erie Shores & Islands was awarded three Citations of Excellence for their 2014 marketing campaign, television advertisement, and promotional video, which all featured the “Lake Erie Love” campaign and popular Walker Hayes song. The organization also received two Certificates of Achievement for their 2014 travel guide and social media campaign.

The MIDDY Awards are presented by

the Ohio Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus and its name reflects our region of the country. Recipients are recognized for excellence in objective, results, creativity, and originality. 121 award entries were received in categories including print, advertising, promotion, TV/Video, Internet related, strategy, graphics, radio commercial, and more. Entries were judged by a team of experts in the communications, advertising, public relations, publications and/or tourism from outside the OACVB membership.

Lake Erie Shores & Islands was

awarded a first place MIDDY Award for its 2014 “Lake Erie Love” summer television commercial.

The awards were accepted by Lake

Erie Shores & Islands East Executive Director, Joan Van Offeren, and Lake Erie Shores & Islands West Executive Director, Larry Fletcher.

###*Caption for attached photo: Joan Van

Offeren and Larry Fletcher accept the MIDDY Award from Master of Ceremonies Amir Eylon, former Ohio Tourism Director and current Vice President of Partner Engagement for Brand USA.

Local Destination Marketing Organization Enjoys Over 100,000 Facebook Followers

Lake Erie Shores & Islands, the

destination marketing organization which promotes travel and tourism to Erie and Ottawa counties, celebrated a milestone over the weekend when its Facebook page reached over 100,000 “likes.” The Lake Erie Shores & Islands Facebook page now has the benefit of more followers than any other Ohio CVB destination.

The page has seen 345% growth

since April 1. Early in 2014, Lake Erie Shores & Islands set a goal to reach 40,000 likes by the end of September. Working in partnership with Ron Foth Advertising of Columbus, the organization began a social media marketing campaign that included increasing community engagement and offering regular sweepstakes to both engage and increase followers. 40,000 likes was reached by May 7, beating the original goal by 147 days. In addition, the overall engagement

(people who like, share, and or comment on the Facebook pages posts) of the LES&I Facebook followers has more than quadrupled during the course of the campaign.

In commemoration of this landmark

occasion, Lake Erie Shores & Islands hosted a celebration giveaway featuring fantastic prizes including an overnight getaway and tickets to several attractions. The giveaway was a huge hit, bringing in over 154,000 impressions, 3,600+ shares, 560+ comments and over 6,600 post likes. This was one of the most popular posts in the history of the Shores & Islands Facebook page.

The Lake Erie Shores & Islands

Facebook page, as well as a number of other social media sites including Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest, is administered by Social Media Specialist Abby Miller. Join the more than 100,000 fans and followers of Ohio’s Lake Erie Shores & Islands at Facebook.com/shoresandislands.

Lake Erie Shores & Islands Marks Social Media Milestone

Coming Next Month:Focus On Western Ottawa County

Elizabeth Fox, RN has accepted the position of Director of Nursing at St. Francis Home. She has been employed at St. Francis Home for over seven years and started as a Nurse’s Aide. Fox received her degree as a Registered Nurse from Owens Community College. She is a graduate of Columbian High School, and is the daughter of Russell and Beverly Fox. Fox resides in Republic, OH with her son Kayden.

Fox to Director of Nursing at St. Francis


A Simple Year-End TacticBy: Steven J. KrisfalusyBeringer Group, LLC Sr. Management & Human Capital Consultant

The end of the calendar year brings many things like tax evaluations, reviewing the sales for the year and overall a time to reflect back. That also includes conducting an annual review of your people. A huge problem that also affects accuracy is that we don’t take notes throughout the year to help us remember. Remember what? Not just the bad things or most recent but the small wins that people create more often than we choose to recognize.

Let me start by saying those of you that do not conduct an annual review are missing a great opportunity to help your greatest asset – your people. Your people also want and need a review if for nothing else to hear how they are doing. I strongly suggest you adopt this as an annual policy.

Probably the number one mistake (2nd only to not having a review) is that we fail to make notes of what has transpired with your people over the course of the

past 12 months. The end result is that we forget many of the details and the review ends up being what has transpired over the last 90 days or what you can remember. That limited vision often does not really paint the best or entire picture. Also, the employee often leaves with the mind set of “what have you done for me lately” from the management team. Furthermore, we have a tendency to more easily remember bad things versus good.

People love hearing about what they have done right, even if it is small. They also want to succeed and guidance for their personal development can pay big dividends. This aspect of a review is often overlooked and brushed off in short order. Especially for part time employees.

Statistically small businesses with 10 people or less are the worst offenders and that is especially true in certain industries such as retail & food. Even though these people are on the front lines with your customers and critical to your success, the focus is on getting the task done and little emphasis on improving that asset and ultimately your business.

What can you do? Here are 3 basic steps that anyone can apply:

• Establish not only a date/time when you will conduct a review but let people know ahead of time what you will be reviewing them on.

• Have or create a personnel folder for each employee and start jotting down notes throughout the year so that you have better data come time for the reviews. In addition, for every bad note make sure you add a good one but you have to look for them.

• ALWAYS end the review on an up note! Ideally that dovetails into some help or guidance as to what you would like to see further improvement in or on. Don’t stop there! Don’t just tell them to get better at something, be specific and give detailed examples so they have a crystal clear idea.

I suggest you take this yearend opportunity to take a step back and ask yourself these questions: “How do my people impact my customers and my business’s bottom line? How important are they even if the job or task seems mundane?”

I hope you will come to the conclusion that your people are a greater asset than you previously realized and what you get out of them directly relates to what you put in. Good Luck!

Human Resources

Small Business Basics seminars set for NovemberThe Ohio Small Business Development Center at

Terra State Community College is offering free, two-hour seminars, “Small Business Basics,” that will answer questions about starting, buying or expanding a small business.

This seminar will take the confusion out of your

efforts and help you avoid costly mistakes and unnecessary steps. Learn the basics of: name registration, licensing, taxes, zoning, business entities, employees, insurance, financing and business planning.

The November schedule is: • Wednesday, Nov. 5 – 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Ottawa

County Improvement Corporation (conference room), 8043 W. S.R. 163, Oak Harbor

• Wednesday, Nov. 12 – 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce (conference room), 19 W. Market St., Tiffin

• Wednesday, Nov. 19 – 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Erie County Chamber of Commerce (conference room), 225 W. Washington Row, Sandusky

• Tuesday, Nov. 25 – 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Terra State Community College (Building A, Room 314), 2830 Napoleon Road, Fremont

These events are free and open to the public. There will be no seminars in December.

To register or for more information, call Bill Auxter,

Director of the Ohio Small Business Development Center at Terra State Community College, toll-f r e e 8 0 0 - 8 2 6 - 2 4 3 1 o r 419-559-2210. Or contact him by email at [email protected].

BaumannRibbon Cutting

Members of the Seneca Chamber helped Baumann Chevrolet Buick GMC celebrate the completion of their newly remodeled Tiffin facility at a special Chamber ribbon cutting and After Five event last month.

Chamber members and non-members toured their new facility. Appetizers, refreshments were provided.


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Allison Schoch is a 2014 graduate of the University of Akron, where she earned a master of science in nursing. She joined New Beginnings Pediatrics in September and works in collaboration with Glenn J. Trippe, MD, FAAP. Schoch is a member of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates and Practitioners.

She lives in Sheffield with her husband, Chad and their two dogs. In their spare time, they enjoy traveling and watching movies. When the winter weather arrives, they like to ski.

New Beginnings Pediatrics adds Schoch

Brandon Barr has joined First National Bank as Loan Administration Officer with over 19 years of financial services experience, ranging from Customer Service Manager/Loan Officer to various positions handling residential workout cases. He brings extensive experience with servicing secondary market mortgage loans.

Barr graduated from Bellevue High School and

attended Ashland University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from The Ohio State University. He and his wife and two children recently relocated back to Bellevue.

First National Bank Adds Barr

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Christopher D. PalmerBranch Manager/Sales

Fidelity National Title Insurance Corporation402 Columbus Avenue | Sandusky, Ohio 44870phone: 419-626-4475 fax: 419-626-8333toll-free: 800-442-7767 mobile: 419-656-1209email: [email protected]: www.sandusky.fntic.com

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Account & Financial Reporting u Bookkeeping and Payroll

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Let us know how we can help your business. Visit our website at pncpa.biz or call one of our two convenient locations.

Norwalk: 419-668-2552 Sandusky: 419-625-4942

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Call Ted Kastor

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The Leader in Roofing Serviceswww.JBRoofingCo.com • [email protected]

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS1480 South CR 594, P.O. Box 520 • Tiffin, OH 44883

419.447.1716 • 800.472.0969BRANCH OFFICE

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Derek SprouseCertified Insurance Counselor, Commercial & Farm Specialist

SprouseAgency.comCell: 419-680-2082

Call Ted Kastor

(419) 465-4611

CONSTRUCTIONQUESTIONS OR NEEDS?

employee owned

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Membership Eligibility Required Federally Insured by NCUA

Business Advisory Services u Business Valuation ServicesLitigation & Accounting Fraud Support u Tax Return Preparation

Account & Financial Reporting u Bookkeeping and Payroll

Payne Nickles & CompanyPNcertified public accountants & business advisors

Let us know how we can help your business. Visit our website at pncpa.biz or call one of our two convenient locations.

Norwalk: 419-668-2552 Sandusky: 419-625-4942

Christopher D. palmerBranch Manager/Sales

Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation402 Columbus Avenue | Sandusky, Ohio 44870

phone: 419-626-4475 fax: 419-626-8333toll free: 800-442-7767 mobile: 419-656-1209

email: [email protected]: www.palmerltic.com

The Leader in Roofing Serviceswww.JBRoofingCo.com • [email protected]

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS1480 South CR 594, P.O. Box 520 • Tiffin, OH 44883

419.447.1716 • 800.472.0969BRANCH OFFICE

8185 W Green Meadows Drive N,Lewis Center, OH 43035

Derek SprouseCertified Insurance Counselor, Commercial & Farm Specialist

SprouseAgency.comCell: 419-680-2082

Business MarketplaceTo advertise call Krista at 419-734-4838


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north coast business journal | october 2014

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