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Welcome to Tom McMasters' blog about being Mayor & life in Huber Heights

Vote NO on Issue 29

Issue 29 is a Charter Amendment that “solves” the problem of Council always passing things by “Emergency” by reducing the required number of public readings for a resolution from 3 to 1.  Today Council is required to let you know what is going on. They want to change it so it becomes voluntary.  

The City Charter needs amended in order to solve the Emergency legislation problem.  Issue 29 is not the solution.  Vote No and demand Council add safeguards that protect our right to know about City business. 

Read more and see the proposed change for yourself.

Tom McMasters
Mayor of Huber Heights
 
Mayor Recommends Vote No on Issue 29
 

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News

Don't trust politicians - But don't shoot them either!

Category: Huber Heights City Government

Even though Council and I will be in a political battle the next couple months over Issue 29 where they will be trying to convince you that politicians should be trusted and I hope you can see we need a system with checks and balances, that doesn’t mean that you should get frustrated or turn to extreme measures.  Unless that extreme measure is to go out and make sure your neighbors are aware there is a political battle and they should be engaged (by the way Vote…

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Energy Aggregation - An important lesson on gathering and documenti…

Category: Huber Heights City Government

----------------- Update - 4 Sept, 2016---------------------
The resolution passed on a 5 to 3 vote.  I vetod the resolution.  Part of that process requires I let council know the reason(s).  The read ahead on the work session agenda contains the required written objections.
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The discussion on Energy Aggregation continues with the second reading of…

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Vote No on Issue 29 - Fix the Emergency Legislation Problem, Don't…

Category: Huber Heights City Government

The problem with Issue 29 is simple.  Politician's judgement can't always be trusted so the City Charter needs to make sure resolutions are on the agenda for more than one meeting before they become law.  I want you to vote No on this amendment to the City Charter because it reduces the number of required public readings from 3 to 1.  This significantly reduces your opportunity to learn about important…

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City Property For Sale - Possible Recreational Facility?

Category: Huber Heights City Government

Update Aug 2, 2016  -  See below the ------------ line for the original post

The City acquired the 80 acres pictured below for about $12,500 a year or so ago because the owner was more than $350,000 behind in taxes.  Yesterday, it made the news that the Fair Board was interested in this piece of property.  Here are my thoughts on making sure the city gets a good value for that piece of property.…

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City issues or Summer Fun?

Category: General

Anybody else thrilled they have tomatoes and peppers in their garden?  Marylin took me out golfing for Father’s day and it turns out I’ve developed a hook.  The parts for the go cart are in the mail.  Wouldn’t it be nice to clean the garage?  With all the summer activities it would be easy to forget your city representatives are making decisions that affect your lives.  Thankfully, we live in a…

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Older news

June 11th 2016, 9:01 AM How is the City Code on Out Buildings interpreted and enforced?
June 7th 2016, 2:29 AM Water Pressure North of Rt 70
May 31st 2016, 7:07 AM Thoughts on Signing of the 18th Amendment
May 21st 2016, 10:05 PM First Reading of the Ballot Measures for November:  Chickens, Water Softening and Water Pressure
May 21st 2016, 11:30 AM Missing page that recently made the news
May 13th 2016, 2:19 AM Vice Mayor Starline missed the point in his opinion
May 11th 2016, 2:50 AM Council needs to strengthen my authority to enforce the requirement for read ahead materials
April 2nd 2016, 6:18 PM Music Center Financials
March 23rd 2016, 7:53 PM Where do TIF dollars come from?
March 16th 2016, 5:15 AM Carriage Trails discussion
March 6th 2016, 7:36 AM Meeting Packet full of information  - Water Softening, Rose Music Center, Carriage Trails
March 2nd 2016, 3:20 PM Update on Ward 5 appointment
February 25th 2016, 6:30 AM Open Letter to Council - It's time to do all of our debate in public
February 9th 2016, 12:05 AM Energy Aggregation on the ballot this election
February 6th 2016, 12:19 PM YMCA discussion and the Feb 2nd Work Session
January 26th 2016, 8:02 PM Apply for the open City Council Position or convince your neighbor to apply
January 17th 2016, 8:24 AM Water Softening Discussion
January 8th 2016, 10:05 PM Controversy, Controversy,  Controversy
January 4th 2016, 6:57 AM Anatomy of a Newspaper Article
January 3rd 2016, 12:53 PM School Board opening Huber Heights City Schools - apply ASAP
January 2nd 2016, 1:05 PM Goodbye 2015, hello 2016
December 19th 2015, 2:59 AM Music Center profit loss discussion - this is fun.
December 13th 2015, 2:29 PM Carriage Trails Supplement Discussion during the Committee of the Whole
November 29th 2015, 11:02 PM What does The Impact Group do for the City?
November 14th 2015, 10:29 AM Brandt Pike revitalization, Bike paths and Roundabouts
November 5th 2015, 11:16 PM Election is over.  
November 1st 2015, 1:49 PM DDN article concerning staff at General Council Meetings
October 29th 2015, 11:10 PM Letter to Ward 6 residents
October 27th 2015, 6:03 PM Fire Station support - yes - but I've never supported the 2025 plan
October 25th 2015, 4:32 PM Recent videos from Local 2926 interviews

Recent Comments

Thoughts on Signing of the 18th Amendment

In regards to your first objective… I think it is reasonable that you ask those types of questions.  But I also think you should ask yourself this… why should the city get to sit back and provide nothing, but reap all the benefits?  TIF is a pretty common thing used all across the country and in the rest of the world.  The whole purpose of it is to encourage develepment.

As for your suggestion to slow down development…. this has already been going on for how many years now and still has many more to go.  How long exactly do you want this to last?

Have you considered what happens if the city stops contributing and the developer pulls out?  The developer is currently paying millions in debt on behalf of the city are they not?  If DEC pulled out…. the city would have to start paying that debt again?  Or find a third developer at that point to take all the risk because the city doesn't want to help.

Your second objective is basically just to prove a point that you have power or to get some revenge on what some council members told the news in the past?  Tell me I didn't just read that.  You should be less concerned about what some PAC is doing and more concerned about the city.  That is just politics.  That PAC failed to even get enough signatures to support their movement 2 years ago.

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Missing page that recently made the news

Why did you send the email to the news?

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Vice Mayor Starline missed the point in his opinion

Mr. Mayor,

Can you please provide the specific rules in which you make the following 2 claims:

1.  The 3 ways that an item on an agenda (.
2.  The mayor can reject any agenda item for any reason

You claim those to be true, but what backs that up?

The rules of council referenced by Starline seem to back up his claim that the mayor has no such authority.  Section N of the document below.

http://hh-cdn.cld3.bitstormweb.com/images/huber/council/rules_of_council_2016.pdf

I have to agree with Starline's conclusion unless you can back up your claims.  All that document says is the Clerk of Council is responsible (consulting with city manager and presiding officer) or an item can be compelled by 3 council members.

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Council needs to strengthen my authority to enforce the requirement…

If the council itself doesn't want this "requirement", which doesn't seem to be anything official, why make such a big deal about it?

If you think the lack of a read aheads waste the council's time… then that is their choice.  It is their own time they are wasting.  The few public people who attend the meetings don't seem to care.  They probably get more information out of it the way it is, because they have to hear all the clarifications.

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Carriage Trails discussion

I am a resident of Carriage Trails and also a resident of Huber Heights, as Carriage Trails is in Huber. With that being said city council is doing their due diligence by gathering as much information on this subject as possible. From what I have seen and gathered over the past couple weeks; are people seem to reacting with a lot of emotion, which in my experience can cloud critical thinking and ideal perception from sound decision making. Looking at this as a big picture standpoint as the City of Huber Heights, not just Carriage Trails, it is imperative to take into account whether or not the government subsistence is needed to further the development of Carriage Trails. The reason being; if the money is not needed to further develop and sell lots in Carriage Trails then the reality is the City could use that money for many other important things such as paying off debt for the aquatic center, the rose music center, and for water & sewer. However, if the research shows the sale of homes will diminish, slow, or stop if the subsistence is not paid then it may be a benefit for the City to pay the subsistence.  With all of that being said, things I would like to know; are there other developers; or has the city entertained the idea, to look at other developers to see if there is any interest to take over the project if DEC pulls out? Is $199,000 the minimum DEC would take to continue to develop the 25 lots or has the city thought about offering a $50,000 or $100, 000 as a counter offer to DEC? That is not to say they can't pay the full asking price of $199,000 but this is simple negotiating tactics. As a citizen who has to manage my family budget if I can save money somewhere I am going to take advantage of it and do it. City council, in my opinion, has the same mentality which is why they are looking into this in order to make an informed decision. Other things I've heard from others representing some of Carriage Trails residents is if the developer pulls out the home values will drastically drop, HOA fees will quadruple, and the current residents will lose horrifically. This could all be true; however, I have not seen any facts to back up those comments. Dry Run LLC is the current company who cuts grass for the HOA, owned by Ken Conaway, who also is a stakeholder in DEC, to my understanding. I would be confident if the HOA were turned over to the residents and the mowing bid was publically open for contracts the free market system would prevail and a company would be willing to cut grass for less; therefore, not quadrupling the HOA fees. These are simply my thoughts and opinions. I do not want to see Carriage Trails fail as I have a vested interest; however, I do not want to see Huber Heights fail because we are all Huber residents. I will stop with this; if the new lots being developed are sold for more money than what earlier residents paid for their lots then in the long run this can/will raise property value for the residents of Carriage Trails. Obviously, this assumes the lots would still be sold at a higher price; however, if the lots would sell then not only does create a higher value for the existing homes already built it increases the revenue stream for the city…

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Site Purpose

I've found that when people talk to our current city council they listen. I also believe council both needs that scrutiny and they don't like it. In fact, they proclaim they want public input but then their actions discourage it. I’ve been trying for a year and a half to get more people to learn about what council is doing because I know with our feedback the city will end up with better government. This website is new online and I have a great vision on where it can go! Right now you can review the beginning of the Aquatic Center or “The Heights” or you can create a profile and start adding content to this site. This is a great project and I look forward to working with you to ensure we get good government here in Huber Heights.
 
Tom

  


Flier

If you've come to this website because of a flier you probably want to see the City Lawyer's opinion paper first. At the very bottom of that page you can find a link to the flier for you to download it and pass it out yourself. 
 
Tom McMasters



Announcements

Web Designers, Authors, Ideas Wanted

This website theme has great potential especially since it is open source and free but I can see I'll need help to make it work. If you believe in the vision and you can write code for a website as sophisticated as this contact me. As useful as this site seems it loads pretty slow so if you know of another open source theme that does the same things contact me.
Also, I think if there are 8 of us willing to rotate through the committee meetings and then write about the key events we can improve this city. Contact me if you are interested.

Finally, if you have pictures of City events, construction, public areas or services I'd like to show them. Send them to me and I'll incorporate them into the site. Tom McMasters

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Great time at Stuff the Bus

I had a great time again at the stuff the bus event.  Looking forward to next year. 

Stuff the Bus


----------------original ------------------

I will be the last person in the dunk tank tonight (Tuesday August 23) for the Every Warrior Plays "Back to School Bash".  A lot of people also call this Stuff the Bus because we are looking for you to bring over school supplies.   It is at Texas Roadhouse on…

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Pokemon Go, Tennis and Volleyball at Thomas Cloud

Thomas and I went over to play tennis tonight.  Even though it was nearly 90 degrees, I was happy to see others using the park.  There were quiet a few trying to play Pokemon Go.  A couple of the players stopped for pictures.  You can see it is a game for all ages.  There were others playing tennis and volleyball too. 

Are there any tennis players out there that have organized a tennis ladder or other group method for getting a game?
…

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Community Dialogue:  Judicial Reform  Thursday, July 14, 2016, 7 -…

Here is an event that I look forward to attending this Thursday here in Huber Heights.  As part of my Congressional Campaign I've been meaning to write about some changes in the Ohio Judicial system I would be willing to work to achieve.  Since Lawyer logic is nonsensical, my proposal would be to eliminate the requirement that judges have a law degree.  In fact, my proposal would limit the number…

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Image of the day

Image of the day

Tax Split

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