Defiance, OH is Named One of the Smart21 Communities of 2024

The City of Defiance has been named one of the Smart21 Communities worldwide in 2024 – the second year the city has been honored with distinction. 

“It is a big deal,” Defiance Mayor Mike McCann professed. “There is no doubt it is a big deal, not only for our community, but for the whole area. (The honor’s) about not only what’s going on in our (city) boundaries but around the area.”

The Smart21 distinction is one of many the city has received in recent years. The city also was named one of the top 10 micropolitan areas by Site Selection magazine in 2024. It has been named a top micropolitan area several times throughout the years. The ICF designation, however, goes beyond the nation's borders. 

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named Defiance among their top Smart21 Communities. Other communities on the list include: Assai, Curitiba and Ponta Grossa in Brazil; Coquitlam, Durham Region, Fredericton, Grey County and Markham in Canada; Coral Gables, Fla., Doral, Fla., Hillard, Ohio; Fairfield/Jefferson County, Iowa, Warner Robins and Woodstock in Georgia; Greater Geelong in Australia; Izmir in Turkey; Las Rozas de Madrid in Spain; and Pingtung County, Taitung County and Yunlin County in Taiwan.

ICF is a global network that includes a central think tank that researches how communities use information and communications technology to help solve social problems, build prosperity and enrich quality of life. According to ICF, each of the communities in the Smart21 have applied six principles – broadband connectivity, knowledge work, innovation, sustainability, digital inclusion and community engagement – to aid in their community’s economic prosperity, social health and cultural richness.

McCann credited the city’s MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) coordinator Jennifer English with leading city officials to the projects and programs that were credited by the ICF for the city’s designation. 

“Jennifer deserves a lot of credit,” McCann said, adding that she makes sure city leaders know about programs and opportunities that can be beneficial. “She comes in and says, ‘we need to do this, this and this.’”

English said overall the city was recognized thanks to its partnerships and collaboration on multiple projects.

“There are some cool things we are working on,” she stressed. “They (ICF) break their applications up into six areas.”

English added that many people may not know what all the city is doing.

“We do all this great work, and we don’t stop and take the time to share what we’re doing. That is what this (designation is),” she pointed out.  

In the ICF application for the Smart21 distinction, several of Defiance’s projects that were highlighted dealt with water quality. English said the area of sustainability is where most of the water quality projects were focused, which include “many great partnerships” including ones with Defiance College and the City of Fort Wayne.

One such project is the Defiance Research Alliance, which targets high school and college students. The “overreaching goal of the Defiance Research Alliance is to address the issue of excessive nutrients in the Upper Maumee Watershed through education and research” by students, staff and faculty at Defiance City Schools and Defiance College in collaboration with water quality experts at Defiance City.

The project has various objectives including to establish a Maumee River Watershed Research Center in Defiance County. The center will provide educational experiences for students and in addition will focus on the collection and analysis of watershed research data. 

The alliance also will help establish the Maumee River Watershed Council, which will serve as a “permanent, sustainable agriculture-academic-conservation-focused working group.” The coalition will work toward watershed education, research and development activities in the Upper Maumee Watershed. It is to bridge the gap between the research center and the community. The alliance is in the early stages. 

Another watershed project is the Upper Maumee Smart Watershed Pilot Project, which is comprised of many components. The project includes source water protection for the watershed, the Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership (a locally-led, 13-member board of citizens and organizations that work to improve water quality and the management plan), the Maumee Watershed Alliance (a collaboration of tri-state groups that work to understand what government and other agencies are doing to help water quality issues) and the Maumee River Basin Partnership of Local Governments (MRBPLG). MRBPLG is a consortium of “cities, towns, villages, townships, counties, watershed management groups and regional communities” that span from Fort Wayne to Toledo. 

As part of the pilot project, the area’s first denitrifying bioreactor is in operation in Defiance County’s Mark Township. The bioreactor is an experimental project that uses a large rectangular filter bed filled with wood chips to capture nitrogen from the water in drainage tiles before it enters the local waterways. Tyler Miller of the Defiance County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) designed the bioreactor, with the goal to treat 15 percent of the water coming through the area. The project is a partnership between the landowners, SWCD, City of Defiance and Great Lakes Commission.

Another water quality project is real-time intake monitoring at the Defiance City’s water treatment plant. This has helped provide real-time sensors to monitor nutrient levels in the Upper Maumee River as well as help improve management at the municipal reservoir. 

Another water-quality initiative is Land to Lake, which began as a way to meet regulatory compliance for the City of Defiance’s municipal storm sewer system in 2012. It has grown to help with comprehensive and integrated planning that complement the Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership and help with community outreach.

Land to Lake’s public education outreach uses clean water messages through rain garden workshops, billboard and social medical campaigns, events (such as RiverFest) and a mini-grant program to incentivize clean water projects. 

The initiative currently is working on the Maumee River Riparian Restoration with a grant from the Ohio Lake Erie Commission. They are assessing the riverbank on the Maumee River for riparian restoration efforts near Pontiac Park. It also is working on the East River Drive wetland and Auglaize River Urban Forestry Initiative. 

English said the city’s innovative work with water resources is not done. 

“Right now, we're working with some organizations that are much broader outside of the local community and looking at innovative ways to work with local farmers to give them more autonomy with decision making,” she stated. “We are working with a group out of Canada. It’s a farmer-led initiative. It’s an innovative way to implement conservation practices.”

She added some things residents may not think are innovative but are, include the Smart Water metering program where customers can not only pay bills electronically but monitor their own water usage in real time. There is also a water workforce development. This is where high school students can take field trips to look at what it would be like to work at the city’s wastewater and water treatment plants. 

English said not all the credit for the Smart21 distinction goes to the city.

“The county gets a lot of credit with the broadband initiative and getting more connectivity with Defiance County,” she offered. “I think that helped push us over the top (for the Smart21 designation). They have spent a lot of resources. They wanted to give the community overall more connectivity.”

The broadband coverage allowing high speeds and greater adoption in the county is a county-wide initiative. 

The county-wide initiative has the goal of having 85 percent of the population having broadband by 2033. The goal of the broadband initiative is to connect residents who are not served or underserved with high-speed broadband that is timely and cost efficient. By doing this, the community will help improve access to education, help make a transition to employment and help individuals establish needed skills. Another project pointed out to the ICF is the: Defiance Public Library Systems' Northstar Digital Literacy Website (which works to improve county residents’ digital skills).

Another aspect described to the ICF is the Defiance Comprehensive Plan and community action plan. The plan looks at community survey responses, city plans and initiatives and more. The goal is to improve the community’s “economic prosperity, social health and cultural richness.” 

Both English and McCann credited funding from state and national sectors as well as public and private partnerships and grants in helping establish many of the projects and programs the city is involved in currently. 

McCann said he’s proud of what the community has accomplished and looks forward to the future.

“With that (the ICF award) and all the other accolades we’re receiving, it’s a pretty exciting time to be around Defiance City Hall,” McCann said. “Frankly, we won’t rest until we’re number one (on the Smart 21 list), and we’ll get there.”