LIME CITY – Last year was a good one for
the Northern Regional SWAT Team.The newly-formed 17-person team, headquartered in the township, is
making great strides and is already meeting its goals, said team commander Joe Ball, who is also a
township police officer.Ball made his report on the SWAT team Wednesday at the Perrysburg Township
Trustees’ monthly meeting."We proved our response time capabilities," said Ball. "That’s
kind of what we were all looking at.""I’m very happy with the goal that we met here," he
added.Since its inception in June of 2012, the team participated in one high-risk search warrant in the
28000 block of Bates Road, a narcotics vehicle take-down, and two call-out operations.Among the
operations was a call regarding the July 22 homicide of 22-year-old Leandra Frankum. Jose Moya Jr., 24,
Toledo, is being charged with the crime. His case remains in the court system.The SWAT team was also
called to an "active killer" situation Oct. 16 in the Eastpoint on the Mall development in
Lake Township. Amber Jones, 26, and her 3-year-old son, Jorge Duran III, were killed in the incident by
Jorge Duran Jr., 24, Toledo.Three other people were also shot. Duran was killed in a shootout with
police in a parking lot in the development.The team’s average response time is approximately 25 minutes,
which Ball said is very good for a team which must assemble from a variety of locations across the
county.The team currently trains twice a month for four hours, covering such topics as marksmanship,
individual and team tactics, barricade operations, and other efforts. Ball hopes to add more training
time this year, and work with other area teams to combine training.A feather in the new group’s cap is
that it will be hosting the 2013 Ohio Tactical Officers Association Conference, to be held at Owens
Community College and the Holiday Inn French Quarter May 20 to 24."This is an opportunity for us to
network in that respect, to meet other folks in the same line of work, to pick their brains" and
train with them.Among other goals for this year is to completely outfit a Humvee, acquired through a
state program, and to man, outfit and train a tactical medic team and sniper team."These guys are
very motivated and they’re very excited to have this as part of their law enforcement career," Ball
said of the SWAT officers.In other business, the trustees:• Approved a $1,975 purchase request from the
township fire department to repair a tornado siren near Owens Community College. The siren will also
receive upgrades to its radio band and have an external antenna installed.• Approved the purchase of two
2013 Dodge Chargers from Charlie’s Dodge for $47,094. The vehicles will be used by the police division
to replace two vehicles which have more than 100,000 miles on them.• Approved a nearly $3,441 purchase
request from Zoning Administrator Kelly Hemminger to buy furniture for her office. The former office
furniture belonged to Grant Garn, who took the furniture with him when he recently retired as zoning
inspector.• Heard from Township Administrator Walter Celley that, through a tax-sharing agreement with
Toledo regarding the FedEx hub in the township, the township will be receiving $3,768 in tax monies for
the third quarter of 2012. That will bring total receipts to $81,000 since 2009. The amount received
each quarter through the agreement has reportedly varied widely through the years.• Heard that a plan is
in the works to determine which roadways and intersections in the township should receive signals. The
project is being done through the City of Rossford and other agencies, currently at no cost to the
township. A study will later be completed.• Went into executive session to discuss the purchase of
property.