Regulars at MAZU have grown accustomed to Van Ward’s warm greeting, often before they’ve fully crossed the restaurant’s threshold.

Speaking with the News this week, Ward said she’s built relationships while working behind the bar kitchen at MAZU: She knows who comes in on Thursdays and remembers what people order, which specials they liked. After nearly two years behind the counter, she figures she knows “75% of the people at least” who walk through the door.

“You get so much of that at MAZU,” Ward said. “You get to really be there and talk to every person that comes in. We can share stories.”

Those customers won’t see Ward working regular shifts at MAZU anymore. But they’re likely to keep encountering her presence there as she continues to offer weekend specials and events via Taproot, the vegan private dining business she operates with her wife, Bee Ward.

Ward described Taproot as a vegan “mobile kitchen” with no storefront, traveling into clients’ homes, to special events and back into MAZU, where much of Ward’s cooking life took shape.

“Taproot and MAZU are collaborating a lot together now,” she said.

Within the last month since launching Taproot, Ward has developed themed dinners and custom menus, cooked for families and taken on events where vegan diners want the assurance that every course fits their needs. In mid-July, Taproot made a public appearance at the Vegan Market event hosted at the YS Brewery Barrel Room, and reported that she sold out of a number of items within an hour of the event’s opening.

With all that in mind, Ward said she’s still working out how to concisely describe the wide range of work she hopes Taproot will encompass.

“I’ve noticed, out of all the things I’m doing, what feels good to me and what feels good to other people,” she said. “People want intimate, connecting activities to do. People want to gather in groups; it’s a very natural thing for people to do.”

Ward has had a lot of time to observe how folks converge around food and drink, having spent most of her working life in restaurants, bars, catering and wedding venues. Her first job, at age 15, was doling out soft-serve and milkshakes at Kelley’s Cafe in Jamestown, where she went to high school. She went on to work in Dayton’s Hope Hotel, where she said tending bar became her craft.

“I was heavily, heavily involved in bartending,” she said, but added that her focus started to shift once she stopped drinking.

“Sobriety comes to a certain point when you’re getting older where you’re like, ‘I actually just have to remove myself from the environment,’” she said. “There’s a behavior that comes with all of it that’s really hard to displace.”

MAZU, however, offered another route into the culinary industry: Ward, who became vegan seven years ago after she met her wife, found herself with a burgeoning desire to work in a vegan restaurant. She said she was drawn to MAZU’s menu, which, rather than only foregrounding veganism, tends to emphasize the food traditions and cultures represented in its dishes as a matter of course.

“Veganism, to me, is harm reduction — and that’s not to diss on anybody else’s life choices or food choices, but that’s it across the board for me personally,” she said. “It’s not just about animals. There is a lot that goes into play — the earth, the people who have to work in it. There’s a lot.”

When Ward joined the staff, MAZU’s Angie Hsu called her the restaurant’s “mixologist,” and Ward took off applying her bartending instincts to alcohol-free drinks: fresh raspberry puree and white pepper with rosewater; “cortisol cocktails” of coconut water, aloe vera, pineapple and lime juice, spirulina and Tajin; her beloved wellness shots of fresh juice, ginger, turmeric and cayenne. From there, she said, Hsu encouraged her to begin creating food specials and special events, and each one opened another possibility.

“I used to craft really cool drinks,” Ward said. “I still do, but now, I manipulate that into food, too.”

Ward said Hsu continued to support her as Taproot began taking shape — even though an independent vegan chef could reasonably be viewed as a future competitor. On the contrary, the two businesses have blossomed into regular collaborators, and Ward said she’s felt embraced by both MAZU and the wider community.

“I should almost be her competition, but Angie has really just backed me,” Ward said. “Feeling so loved and passionate about something, and being in such an inviting environment that is also about sustainability and community and love and connection, it just made me feel my true connection to it.”

Ward and her wife Bee, who is from Vandalia, spent several years moving around. They camped in Colorado in a converted SUV, participated in the farm-stay program World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms and lived in Asheville, North Carolina. When they wanted to come back to Ohio, it was important to the couple that they find a place where they felt like they belonged.

“There’s something about the comfort of home, even if we never have really felt like that — Ohio is not always kind to the kind of people we are,” Ward said. “But we both had always dreamed of living in Yellow Springs. This was a safety space for both of us. And so we were like, ‘If we’re gonna live in Ohio, we’re living in Yellow Springs.’ So it really is a gift; I used to go camping with my dad here, and that’s my connection to nature, which is huge, because it connects me to my veganism, which connects me to my food.”

And her food, she said, leans into a kind of playful reinvention; she noted an upcoming MAZU special which she said will feature a vegan “Cuban” sandwich with mojo mushrooms, pressed and marinated tofu, seeded mustard and citrusy pickles. Ward added that she has a particular affection for sandwiches, which are often a limited vista for vegan eaters.

“Sandwiches are so much easier to get when you’re not vegan,” she said with a laugh. “I was grumpy every time I went somewhere and they wrapped hummus in a tortilla and said, ‘Here’s your sandwich.’ I’m like, ‘I would love more than this.’”

Thus, Ward has been creating sandwiches aimed at delighting the taste buds — and, sometimes, the eyes: MAZU regulars may recall her Pride-weekend “Pretty Patty” special, which featured a patty fashioned from soy curls, walnuts, mushrooms and onions with hibiscus ketchup, turmeric mustard and beet “mayo,” all on a bright-blue spirulina bun.

And, of course, she’s ventured well outside of sandwiches; a recent “local and foraged” dinner event at MAZU featured, among other dishes, fried squash blossoms filled with tofu ricotta, tofu “salmon” with greens, dandelion-root and chicory ice cream, fermented cashew cheese and pickled berries. Ward said she asked diners to attend in “garden party” attire.

“I love a dress code — people want an excuse to dress up,” she said.

Taproot’s work is shared between the Wards; Van credits Bee with teaching her to cook vegan food, and said her wife prefers to stay mostly out of view handling the alchemical precision inherent to baked goods.

“She does it all with me — she’s the baker,” Ward said. “Desserts are not for me; they’re too meticulous, they’re too calculated. For me, I like a little bit of this, a little bit of that, just kind of throwing it in there until it feels right — you cannot do that with baking.”

Ward said she doesn’t expect everyone who eats her food to be vegan, or to become vegan; her aim is to make plant-based food generous and interesting enough to invite people in. 

“The world is built on food — community is built on food,” she said. “I think it’s a really intimate thing. Everything, every holiday, is surrounded by a meal.”

“Taproot” then, as a business name, gives a concrete image  to what the couple have been aiming toward: A taproot is the central root that grows downward from a germinating seed, anchoring the plant as smaller roots extend outward. To Ward, it suggests food at its source, but also strength and origin.

“It’s the core root. It goes the deepest. It’s strong. It’s powerful,” she said. “It’s where the life began of that vegetable — its taproot.”

After years of moving, Ward said she’s found a place where she wants to remain, and good, meaningful work that lets her put down her own roots without standing still. Taproot can travel to a dining room or event space, then return to MAZU, where Ward’s own growth was nourished rather than contained, and where the relationships she’s formed have helped that growth come into view.

“Living in Yellow Springs has really just changed a lot,” Ward said. “I walk out and people know who I am and they tell me I’m doing something that’s real. I’ve had imposter syndrome to the max, and now I’ve started feeling like it’s true — I am really doing this.”

Taproot will provide specials at MAZU July 23–26 and July 30–Aug. 2; will make an appearance at YS Food Truck Rally at Antioch College Mondays, July 27 and Aug. 3; and at the YS Barrel Room Thursday, Sept. 10. Outside the village, find Taproot at Cincinnati Vegan Fest on Sunday, Aug. 16, and Dayton Vegan Fest on Sunday, Sept. 20.

For more information about Taproot, email vanward.taproot@gmail.com search “Taproot. Rad Food, Deep Roots” on Facebook or follow @taproot_radeats on Instagram.

On Tuesday, July 21, American aerospace company Electra announced plans to construct a new aircraft production facility to be sited at AirPark Ohio, adjacent to Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport and three miles north of Yellow Springs.

The planned 96-acre, $850 million facility will produce nine-passenger, fixed-wing, hybrid-electric aircraft — a model dubbed the EL9 Ultra Short — capable of taking off and landing in small spaces.

According to a press release from Gov. Mike DeWine, design work on the new facility will begin immediately, with construction to start next year. The first phase of development will support production of up to 400 aircraft per year, with a second phase planned to boost capacity to 800 annually.

Once completed, the Electra facility will be a site for an estimated 1,975 jobs.

“Ohio is where flight began, and the Dayton-Springfield area has become the national epicenter for advanced air mobility — the place where the next generation of aircraft is being designed, tested, and now built at scale,” wrote DeWine in the release. “Electra’s decision to bring nearly 2,000 new jobs to Springfield will be transformative for Clark County, demonstrating Ohio’s unique ability to lead America into aviation’s next era.”

The release notes that Electra’s EL9 Ultra Short model aims to meet demand for “direct aviation,” an emerging genre of “point-to-point” travel between places such as parking lots, barges and sports fields. The model’s propulsion and blown-lift technology allows the aircraft to take off and land in as little as 150 feet.

According to Electra’s website, Springfield was selected from among 140 potential locations in a year-long competitive bid; it was favored in criteria that included workforce availability; infrastructure readiness; long-term expansion capacity; state and local partnerships; incentives; and proximity to aerospace, defense and advanced manufacturing.

Electra’s contracted customers include the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and NASA along with over 2,200 letters of intent from more than 60 commercial customers, including both airlines and helicopter operators.

Miami Township Trustees voted 2–1 Monday, July 6, not to seek additional legal advice on whether the Township can reimburse Township staff and officials for health insurance premiums, likely closing a months-long dispute over the legality and propriety of the practice.

During their regular meeting, Trustees Marilan Moir and Lori Askeland voted against moving ahead with a tax attorney consultation, while Trustee Chris Mucher voted in favor. The vote came after trustees reconsidered action taken at their June 15 meeting, when the board had initially voted 2–1 to accept Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David Hayes’ recommendation that the Township consult an attorney experienced in tax law before approving any premium reimbursements.

The issue dates back to April, when trustees voted to discontinue the Township’s practice of reimbursing health insurance premiums for elected officials who opted out of the Township’s group health insurance plan. Mucher said at the time that he had accumulated about $6,700 in unreimbursed health insurance costs for his family under the prior practice, and trustees agreed to ask Hayes to review whether there were any legal options for reimbursing premiums already paid in 2025 and 2026.

Hayes’ May 14 written opinion, obtained by the News via public records request and reported last month, pointed to ORC 505.601, writing that Ohio law allows townships to reimburse employees or officials for health care premiums “with no danger of a legal action” if the township “does not offer a healthcare plan to its employees.”

“Alternatively, the Township may continue to offer healthcare coverage to its employees, but may not offer premium reimbursement,” Hayes wrote.

Hayes also wrote that Miami Township could offer both a group health plan and premium reimbursement if trustees passed a resolution authorizing reimbursements, but that doing so could “potentially violate provisions of the Affordable Care Act and subject the Township to penalties by the IRS.” He advised trustees to consult an attorney experienced in ACA and tax law before proceeding with such a resolution.

At a May 18 meeting, Mucher moved that the board seek that additional legal advice, but the motion expired without a second. At the June 15 meeting, Hayes appeared before trustees and restated his advice in person, telling them that his office’s role was to provide its best reading of the law.

“The policy decisions are yours to make,” Hayes said. “They’re not the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office’s to make.”

Hayes told trustees that the safest course would be to offer employees a group health insurance plan without premium reimbursements, or to not offer a group plan and instead provide reimbursement for employees who obtain health insurance elsewhere. If trustees wanted to continue the Township’s past practice — or authorize a retroactive reimbursement — he said they should first consult a tax attorney who could better assess potential exposure under federal law.

“Stay away from it, because it is unknowable,” Hayes said of the potential risk of ACA violation and IRS penalties.

Moir argued June 15 that the question of retroactive reimbursement was not only a tax question, but also a question of whether the reimbursements had ever been properly authorized by the board. Askeland raised similar concerns, while Mucher said past boards had understood the practice to be lawful and cost-saving.

Ultimately, Mucher and Askeland voted in June to seek advice from a tax attorney on “those items referencing medical reimbursement” that Hayes believed merited further review. Trustees then voted unanimously to expand the prospective consultation to include how the Township handles insurance matters and pre-tax premium issues.

On July 6, after two residents raised concerns during public comment about Township spending and the prior reimbursement practice, Moir revisited the issue. She said the practice of reimbursing Medicare premiums had not been unusual among Ohio townships and, in Miami Township’s case, had saved money, as paying Medicare premiums was less expensive than paying coverage under the Township’s group plan. She added, however, that the Township had not approached the practice “properly.”

Mucher objected to public criticism of the practice, saying it had begun about 10 years ago by board action and had been used by several former trustees. He said the purpose had been to save taxpayer dollars while providing coverage comparable to what the Township offered employees.

“I am personally offended that someone is going to say that I personally took advantage of the board of trustees financially or for coverage that I was not supposedly entitled to,” Mucher said.

Askeland said she believed the trustees who began the practice had acted in good faith, and that Hayes had acknowledged that advice from county prosecutors on the matter had changed over time. But she also said the legal landscape had shifted and that the Township’s more recent motions and resolutions had been unclear.

Moir moved to reconsider the June 15 vote, saying she had reviewed prior records and found a 2018 resolution that referred only to reimbursement for Medicare Part B premiums, while the Township had also reimbursed Part D and supplemental coverage. She also noted that trustees had already voted earlier this year to end health insurance premium reimbursements for elected officials.

If the board asked a tax attorney whether it could reimburse past premiums, Moir said, “we’re going to run into thousands of dollars worth of legal fees,” and added that she would not vote to approve reimbursement she believed was not lawfully authorized. To that end, Askeland said the amount not reimbursed to Mucher ahead of voting to end the repayment of premiums — about $6,500 — would likely be matched or exceeded by the cost of additional legal advice.

Mucher opposed the reversal, saying no legal or fiscal authority had previously told trustees a resolution was required.

“Neither the fiscal officer of Miami Township, nor the prosecuting attorney, nor the county auditor, nor the state auditor, nor the state attorney general ever told the board of trustees that a resolution was required to reimburse for Medicare,” Mucher said. “Never, never, never.”

Data center moratorium approved

Later in the meeting, trustees voted unanimously to approve a 12-month moratorium on any new data center seeking to operate or locate in Miami Township, waiving a second reading of the resolution.

Askeland read the resolution aloud, defining data centers as facilities that primarily house infrastructure for “building, running, delivering, or transmitting technological applications and services” or storing associated data.

The moratorium is intended to give the Township time to study potential effects on “health, safety, utilities, and infrastructure,” and directs the Zoning Commission and Zoning Administrator Bryan Lucas to develop a section of the Township Zoning Resolution addressing data centers during the moratorium.

MTFR update

Fire Chief James Cannell reported that Miami Township Fire-Rescue has logged 677 runs so far this year, an average of 3.6 runs per day. Trustees approved the hiring of Anessa Stamper as an as-needed part-time member of the department; Cannell said the department has recently been able to fill three daily staffing positions 88% of the time, and that additional part-time personnel are needed to support that goal.

Cannell also reported that MTFR shift personnel have begun a trial 48/96 schedule — working 48 hours on and 96 hours off — while maintaining a 56-hour work week. Trustees also approved a contract with Fire Manufacturing Innovations LLC for custom shelving and tool mounts for Engine 82, at a cost not to exceed $21,320.28 from the department’s capital fund.

 

Gov. Mike DeWine has announced the dates for this year’s sales tax holiday: midnight Friday, Aug. 7, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9.

“Ohio’s Sales Tax Holiday comes at a time of year when families are getting ready for back-to-school,” DeWine said in a press release, and the sales tax break is meant to provide savings for families as they buy school essentials for the new school year.

The following items qualify for the sales tax exemption during the three-day break:

• Clothing priced at $75 or less per item,

• School supplies priced at $20 or less per item,

• School instructional materials priced at $20 or less per item.

More details, including commonly asked questions and guidance for consumers and retailers, are available on the Ohio Department of Taxation website.

For additional assistance, taxpayers may contact the department at 1-888-405-4039 or by email through the website.

The YS Senior Center reported this week that the planned sale of its Livermore Street property has fallen through, leaving the nonprofit with what it described in a press release as a “critical, $325K shortfall” as a deadline approaches for its purchase of 108 Cliff St.

According to the press release, the prospective buyers of the Livermore lot withdrew from the $325,000 contract just days before the sale was expected to close this week. Reached via email this week, Executive Director Caroline Mullin said the nonprofit is not identifying the buyers, who “had no issues with the land, but had to make a business decision.” 

The $325,000 in proceeds expected from the sale of the Livermore lot would have provided the remaining amount needed to purchase the former lumberyard property on Cliff Street. Mullin said donations already received, combined with the expected sale proceeds, would have been enough to complete the Cliff Street purchase. The Senior Center’s contract for that property expires Sept. 1, and Mullin said the organization does not expect the sellers to extend the agreement.

As the News reported in March, the Senior Center signed a contract earlier this year to purchase and rehabilitate the existing Cliff Street building, changing course from an earlier plan to construct a new facility on a half-acre lot at 722 Livermore St.

The nonprofit purchased the Livermore property from Antioch College for $300,000 in December 2023. According to an email Mullin sent to campaign donors, the Senior Center has since paid off its loan on the Livermore property.

The Senior Center’s Capital Campaign Committee has been soliciting donations in recent months toward an initial fundraising goal of $850,000. According to the press release, that amount, in addition to the sale of the Livermore property, would help cover the cost of purchasing 108 Cliff St., as well as engineering assessments and design work by Dayton-based LWC Inc.; the press release stated that the “design studies and cost estimates are essential for the final design and construction phase.”

The Cliff Street property emerged as a potential alternative last year after Senior Center leaders heard concerns that moving to the Livermore site would take the organization away from downtown. The former lumberyard is located along the bike path and within the village’s central business district.

A space usage study completed by LWC identified a need for about 11,000 square feet — roughly three times the size of the Senior Center’s current 3,700-square-foot building at 227 Xenia Ave. Senior Center leaders have said the Cliff Street building could accommodate the needed space on a single level.

The Cliff Street site would include as many as 30 on-site parking spaces, with more public parking spaces available within a block. Senior Center leaders have also said that rehabilitating the existing single-story structure would be more cost-effective than the two-story design developed for the Livermore property, allowing for more efficient use of space and eliminating the need for an elevator.

The press release stated that the Senior Center will continue seeking a buyer for the Livermore property while raising funds to complete the Cliff Street purchase. In her email to donors, Mullin wrote that another sale is unlikely to be completed before the Sept. 1 deadline.

Mullin also reported that Antioch College has made plans to correct utility-line connections that remained beneath the Livermore property after it was sold to the Senior Center. She said the related plumbing work is expected to be completed by the beginning of September.

Information about the Senior Center’s Capital Campaign and ways to donate is available at http://www.ysseniors.org/newbuilding.html

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