General

Council thinks they are that much smarter than you

What have they done this time?  See what I discovered as a result of listening to Agenda item 3E of this week’s work session. 
Item 3E is a resolution scheduled to be passed on Monday that waives the competitive bidding requirements for professional services needed to implement the program associated with the 51 acres the city is buying for $3.75 million dollars. 

The resolution they plan on

Ward 5

I have been distributing a flyer with condensed  statements on the candidates for office.  Here are my expanded thoughts on the Ward 5 candidates. 


 
 

  Flier Thoughts   Expanded Thoughts
Linda Morin Positives:  Decent work experience, independent, down to earth, willing to talk issues and provide insight into her analysis

Negatives:  Inexperienced in government, brings novice

The Mayoral Race -

I have been distributing a flyer with condensed  statements on the candidates for office.  Here are my expanded thoughts on the Mayoral candidates. 


 

  Flyer Thoughts   Expanded thoughts
Dave Wilson Positives:
Enough experience as former council member and current committee member to gain insight into the inner working of the city, but too independent to be considered an insider

Why are the Lane Park and Family Dollar TIFs irresponsible?  

I  decided to explain why the Lane Park TIF district on Bellefontaine road is an irresponsible TIF.  I hope you will join my call to ask council to convert this TIF to a Non-School TIF. If we are successful it will result in the Huber Heights City Schools getting $1.8 million more over the next 10 years.  With that I'll start with a little background on the Montgomery County TIF. 
 
 
The Montgomery

Clarifying TIF by examining Mr. Gore's misunderstandings

When I listened to Mr. Gore's interview with Matt Truman on Inspired and Admired, I thought this interview would be a perfect opportunity to address a lot of misconceptions about TIFs.  Specifically, Huber Heights TIFs.  Mr. Gore was way off track on almost everything he said.  In the table below, I have analyzed the 10 minutes that was spent discussing TIF districts.  I highly recommend listening

Message and Thanks from Mayor Tom McMasters

McMasters Family

Swing for the fence

In this article I 

Swing for the fence      with a long shot proposal that will take a lot of quick work.  
Those of you that really want to see this city improve, here is an opportunity
to hit a home run for Huber Heights
 
 
Last election the residents of Huber Heights confirmed they know a Chief Administrative Officer that lives in the city will be invested and committed to making that

Vote no on 11 to vote yes on transparency

Vote no on issues 4, 10, 11I recommend voting no on Issue 11 because it reduces resident’s ability to check the actions of Council.  Currently, if residents do not like a piece of legislation they can challenge that legislation through the referendum process.  If this amendment passes…

Issue 7;  Residency requirement Yes or No

The question on Issue 7 is whether you believe the person running the city should be a resident of the City.  In Huber Heights, the Chief Executive Officer is the City Manager.  Currently, the City Charter requires the City Manager to be a resident within six months

Do half the job now.  Do half later.  Costs 2 times as much.  

We have a member of council that tells us "By passing legislation at last night's City Council meeting, Council moved forward to begin the process to increase and level the water pressure in Huber Heights, in the portion of the city North of Interstate 70."  During the council meeting he also told us he wanted to fix the water pressure problem for all of the city.  The first picture shows the area

If council messes up your water pressure will you pay to fix it?

This article is a call for you to help me find council members capable of critical thinking.  Before I get there let me explain the headline. 
 
Monday, council will vote to get started on the water pressure project (this is NOT the water softening project).  After the project is complete the average water pressure in this new pressure zone will be 80 psi [1].  The typical water pressure for a home

City issues or Summer Fun?

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

Apply for the open City Council Position or convince your neighbor…

There is an opening for the Ward 5 City Council position.  If you have lived in Huber Heights Ward 5 for at least one year and have been registered to vote in Ohio for at least one year you can apply by submitting a cover letter and resume to the Clerk of the Council, Mr. Anthony Rodgers.  I'd appreciate a courtesy copy or at least notice that you are interested.  The target date for submission is on or before Feb 10,…

Anatomy of a Newspaper Article

One of the interesting parts about being in politics is the interaction with the media.  It is always important to realized that somehow the reporter will have to squeeze what you provide into a very short space.  I thought I would provide you a non-controversial interaction so you get an idea of the translation process.  The interactions that took place for an article published today (Monday Jan

Goodbye 2015, hello 2016

This past week saw the last official business of the 2015 council and next week Tuesday the 2016 council will conduct its first work session.  Last week's Special Council meeting was much more chaotic than I expected or desired.  I expect there to be more chaos than desired Tuesday just because there will be a lot of changes not only do we have three new council members but we also will be going to the work session format.

Carriage Trails Supplement Discussion during the Committee of the W…

Last week during the Committee of the Whole meeting there was a good discussion concerning the supplements the City provides to the Carriage Trails development.  To date there have been 16 amendments to the original development agreement.  These amendments get discussed as each of the phases of the development get sold out and so far cover 600 of the planned 1200 houses for that area.  The…

Brandt Pike revitalization, Bike paths and Roundabouts

The City currently has a Request for Proposals out to companies that want to bid on helping to develop a plan for revitalizing the Brandt Pike Corridor.  The bids are due Dec 3rd so if you know of a company that does this kind of work have them look at the proposal criteria.
 
One idea that I heard from a resident awhile ago was to try and make the interior residential neighborhoods between…

Election is over.  

New page has will turned.

Now that the election is over I'm looking forward to the next two years.  I know I've been lax in posting to the Mayor's blog this last couple years.  It is my intention to going back to writing at least weekly.  I'm hoping these next couple years many of the articles I write will have a positive tone and others will explore the pros and cons of different ways to approach how the city does…

Recent videos from Local 2926 interviews

The original post is  below and also the original controversial video.  Watching the full interviews are more informative so if you are time limited skip the write-up and the first video and watch the full interviews first.  They can be found below the first video. 

Original with updates ————–
The Executive Committee of Local 2926 invited the candidates to speak to their members.  They video…

Update  15  Oct  –  Another $579,000 wasted by Council

There was a decent discussion on this subject.  I recommend watching the video on the City's Website.  The discussion starts at 58 minutes and 48 seconds.  I thought I would  produce a table below based on the numbers provided to show how much would be collected if the developer were to sell 30 houses per year and the city netted $53,000 per house (we don't provide any supplement) versus…

Update $651,651 (not $1 Million) dollar deficit in City Budget

6 Oct 2015
Tonight we had an administration committee meeting and further discussed the 2016 budget.  Let me first say it has always been my objective to have informative discussion at committee and general council meetings.  When I am successful there will be many times when we will start with preliminary numbers and facts and they will be honed as we get deeper into the discussion.  So a…

Family Disc Golf Day August 9th

I have been talking about a Disc Golf event since the beginning of the summer with a couple of different concepts. With the help of the Parks and Recreation Board and DDGA this idea of a introductory Family Disc Day emerged. For more information; direct registration or to volunteer to help go to Family Disc Golf Day in Huber Heights.  

Last week I took Irvin out to play disc golf for the first

The pictures make it obvious a no bid contract for the new Fire Hou…

Sometimes when you know something is wrong you have to take actions that are painful.  I fully expect that these pictures of Mr. Campbell and Mr. Conaway will get distributed over and over again this election cycle.  I should not feel bad about spreading them myself, but I do.  However, it's incredible that Councilman Ed Lyons and Councilwomen Jan Vargo and Lu Dale don't realize that incidents…

Updates:  Zoning of old Lamandola School to allow Private Residenti…

Updates - 23 June 2015
Too much going on to post all the updates but I'll get some now and I'll post others as they occur.

The most important is that the Applicant withdrew the application before the Jun 22 council meeting.  The paper tells us that the intention is to make a new application so  it can be heard by the planning commission on July 14, 2015.  

From the news article and from the…

Fire Pits and Campfires

Yesterday a resident asked me about the need for a permit for small fires in their back yards.  I'd like to thank Chief Ashworth for providing this response:

Mayor,
Open burning is regulated in three areas; The Ohio Fire Code,  the Ohio Administrative Code (Chapter 3745-19 Open Burning Standards) and RAPCA which is the Montgomery County Regional Air Pollution Control Agency.  We also post on the Fire Division’s web site those laws pertaining to the guidelines.

Say hello to the Mayor at the Chamber of Commerce Business Expo

Thursday evening Jun 4th from 5 to 8 pm at Wayne High School, 5400 Chambersburg Rd the Huber Heights Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Community and Business Expo.  I will be there and have a booth so that we can talk about City business and the community.  I learn the most when you tell me what you're thinking and what is important to you.
 
We can also talk about the things that I know people are already talking about.  For…

Election Day Tuesday - Matt Truman - Video - Council at Large

Matt Truman started Brick City Town Hall a Facebook page designed to talk about City issues.  You can see his campaign Facebook page here.


 

 

A short video for you this morning. Thank you all for your support and well wishes, as the election is just around the…

Posted by Matthew Truman for Huber Heights Council At Large on Tuesday, April 28, 2015

And don't forget to check out the…

Election Day Tuesday - Glenn Otto - 30 Minute Q &A - Council at Large

Sunday at 6:00 pm Glenn Otto will be doing a live YouTube Question and Answer session.  

 You can pass him questions before hand via his Facebook site

Put it on your schedule.  You will also be able to watch the reply at the same You tube address:





And don't forget to check out the other council at large candidates:


 

Election Day Tuesday - Jaclynn Shook Flier - Council at Large

I spoke with Jaclynn Lee Shook today.  I really like the idea of having a contracting officer on Council.  Here is a copy of her flier. 



Jaclynn Lee Shook Flier
Jaclynn Shook  Jaclynn…

Early Voting has started, I won't be voting for Ms. Vargo - even th…

Although she is my favorite council member, I can't vote for Jan Vargo in the primary election May 5th and is underway now in Early Voting.  Here is one reason why.
 
In 2002/2003 the City spent about $8 million dollars to build the Carriage Trails Parkway Connector. In 2007 the City entered the initial Development Agreement with DEC Land Co, LLC.  One of the objectives of that agreement was…