New members take fathers’ place on the Osmond Housing board
OSMOND — On Monday, Feb. 24, Kelly Hodson, president of Osmond Housing, Inc., presented certificates to John Schmit and Walter Aschoff for their fathers, Eugene Schmit and Ron Aschoff, who are retiring after 45 years of service with the organization.
New members John, Walter and Ross Stelling, were welcomed to the board that morning. The board oversees business related to Westside Apartments.
Hodson stated in his presentation, “On behalf of the directors and stockholders of Osmond Housing, Inc., we would like to present a small token of our sincere appreciation to Ron Aschoff and Eugene Schmit for 45 years of dedicated service, both men having joined 23 other, local visionaries in 1975 to build a four-unit apartment that has helped meet the need for affordable housing in Osmond. We are also pleased to welcome the sons of these men, Walter Aschoff and John Schmit, to serve on the board of directors so that they may continue the good work started by their fathers.”
Osmond Housing, Inc., was organized in 1975, with the first meeting of the board of directors in September of that year. Original members were Ron Aschoff. Duane Reed, Alton Fuelberth, Eugene Schmit, Ronald Koehler, E. D. Boice, Andrew Weeder, Louis Thomsen and R. E. Adkins. It is a non-profit that offers low-income housing.
Officers elected at that time were Reed, president; Aschoff, vice president; Fuelberth, secretary, and Schmit, treasurer. There were 25 original stockholders in the corporation. Current board members are
Current board members are Hodson, president; Ron Aschoff, vice president (retiring); Fuelberth, secretary-treasurer, and directors Norman Lorenz, Eugene Schmit (retiring), Lloyd Timmerman and Cindy Hoffman.
Construction of Westside Apartments, located on 4th Street four blocks west of State Street, began in November of 1977 and was completed in the spring of 1978. There are three two-bedroom apartments and one one-bedroom apartment, with a shared laundry room.
Sheryl von Rentzell has been the manager of the apartments since 2015. Cindy Hoffman held the position before her, with Chris Adamson holding the position before that.
“Other communities have not been as successful in this type of endeavor,” Hodson said, “We have been fortunate to have managers like these.”
