BLUF 

• I feel obligated to try and bring back those procedures that led to 4 years of projects coming in on time and on budget

Expanded essay 

Debate organizers and ballot guides often ask candidates, “why do you want to be elected?".  The better question is, “why should you be elected?”.

My Issue 25 article plays into the conversation.  It can be found here:   Council can increase police manning even if you vote No on Issue 25
Here are other some of my other recent articles

TIF discussion - again -

Road improvements on Old Troy before Riverside, Office Building vs Gas Station, Executive Session

Purpose:
The main reason for this post is to expose you to what…

Paul Scheaffer, someone whose Facebook page "Huber Heights Community Forum" should be a daily look, endorsed the other candidate that is running to represent Ward 6 on city council. 

One of the strains in our relationship is the negative perception he had of me prior to ever engaging with me.  That perception appears to be largely formed from misinformation spread by those that support other city…

Earlier today I posted
 

This article explains my logic.

To ensure my reputation as a terrible politician stays intact, I start by talking about the significant reasons voting…

All the way back in 2012 I started trying to explain TIFs to Huber Heights Residents.  I will start this article by exposing you to a post by Mr. Paul Schaeffer who manages the Facebook group Huber Heights Community Forum.  Currently this page is the most comprehensive "paper" for the Huber Heights community. 

Generally, you can expect that the things he writes are reasonably logical.  If you go…

I am sure that if I had listened closely to the Aug 8th Work Session I could come up with more items to address.  However, I was scrubbing walls and didn't catch everything.  You might know that I am running for council and will be on the ballot in November.  Here are a couple take aways from what I heard while listening this morning. 

I don't know why council is wasting staff's time discussing…

We don't have to pass the renewal levy this year because it does not expire until 2025.  Lets use our vote to make sure council starts to provide the details about big projects like the purchase and revitalization of the strip mall on Brand Pike.  

I often listen to the recording of City Council meetings while driving.  The one nice thing about the pandemic was I didn’t drive to work and often did not subject myself to the frustration that…

Latest on City wide watermain line maintenance. 

The Dec 6^th Council Work Session ended with Council planning on increasing the budget for Water Line replacement from $1.3 million to $4.5 million and increasing water rates by 7.5% (approximately $2.66 a month per costumer) immediately, with the promise of raising rates at least an and additional 7.5% a month in March.  This combination of increases…

Monday City Council will vote either to verify or not verify that the city is able to provide City Services to property that is proposed for annexation.  This article addresses the lack of due diligence by the city in verifying that adding these properties will not cause bigger deficits than we already experience.

Remember the city originally provided this certification back on Sept 13, 2021. …

Many of you probably didn't know that I withdrew my lawsuit against the city after the judge made a decision on my motion for summary judgment.  Even though my effort did not result in a clear and unambiguous legal ruling about the Open Meetings Act I am pleased to see the the City Attorney adopted one of my contentions and implemented a useful change during the last work session.  


The…

If you didn’t realize it, there are two coalitions fielding candidates in the City government races. 

Is there an advantage to backing one of the coalitions?

…

Jeff Gore and I got into a Facebook back and forth the other day.  Here is the Readers Digest Version (I post the whole conversation with analysis later so you can confirm this version is accurate).

The original post asked why we don’t get better police enforcement.

I respond because council decides to spend money on Veteran memorials instead of police officers

Jeff Gore says that even if council…

 It may come as a surprise to some but a reason I went to the Marigold Festival this year was because I wanted to let Glenn Otto know that I planned to write an article that said he was not as good a candidate as his opponent.  Before I got to tell him, we started talking about my desire to have him attest that the videos of the City Council meetings on the City Website are more accurate records…

Some of you may be aware that I filed a lawsuit against the City hoping to compel them into complying with the Ohio Sunshine Laws.  I identified multiple violations over the past couple of years.  All the Court filings to date can be found at https://pro.mcohio.org/pro/ then inputing 2021 CV 01213 as the case number.  Find the "Docket" in the top menu and this will pull up all the documents.…

I listened to the 4 August work session. At the end they went into executive session. with the stated reason of "considering options in purchasing property for public purposes". This of course is not listed as one of the Permissible Discussion Topics found in the Ohio Sunshine Laws, Open Government Resource Manual.

Turns out the discussion led to the hiring of a real-estate consultant at an outrageous…

I thought I would take a minute to post links to the original complaint Mr. Otto made about the Mayor because Mr. Otto believed that Mr. Gore did not fulfill his responsibilities in regaurd to Mr. Morgan's residency issue.

Here is the link to the complaint.

Here is the link to Mrs. Bryge's investigation and recommendations. 

I am not going to add a lot of commentary in this article but will add…

I thought I would talk a little bit about the Aquatic Center contract with the YMCA.  The main points are that council had the opportunity to go back and compare the cost of the current contract with the YMCA with the fixed price bid we got from Dayton Pool five years ago.  This comparison would have given us confidence in our current arrangement.  But no one on council asked for that comparison,…

Twenty minutes after telling us about the project; City council spent $3.7 million dollars to purchased 51 acres of property.  At the time they told us they were going to purchase the property, they authorized the City Manager to spend up to $250,000 to hire firms to figure out what they want to do with it. Hidden in the City Manager report of the October 8 work session are all the public details…

…

This discussion from this week's work session should be the most talked about city issue of the last 2 years.  It is 45 minutes long and if you care about your personal finances and the services the city can provide you will listen to it.  I am not providing commentary now but I hope after you listen to it you will join the discussion on Facebook.   Tell me your thoughts and take aways.

Click here…

Council went into executive session Sept 17, 2019 to discuss comments made by Judge Piergies about Huber Heights City Manager Rob Schommer’s negotiating ability.  The comments Judge Pierges makes in the audio file below are inflammatory but not a legally approved reason for going into executive session. 



When they came out of executive session, they announced that they would be extending the…

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…

Should Glenn Otto be removed from Office for writing this Email?
Good afternoon Don,

I wanted to reach out to you concerning the “yard issue” at 7019 Shull Rd.

I have spoken with Mrs. Lisse and gone to the property to review the situation. Mrs. Li…

During Monday night's council meeting there was a 40-minute discussion[1] by council to decide if they want to spend money and hire a lawyer to investigate whether they want to try and invoke Section 13.08 (2)[2] of the Charter where is says an official can be removed from office for “Intentional violation of the prohibitions set forth in Section 4.06 of this Charter”.

This is how Section 4.06…

This Monday Council will vote themselves a pay raise.  Though I believe these council members are grossly overpaid for the quality of work they perform, I argue that they are not raising it enough to pay for the quality we need. 

In what range should we set pay for a city council member?  First, I will address my friend and city podcaster, Matt Truman’s contention that dedicated public servants…

I was beginning an article about the corruption indictments that made the news the other day when I decide to document another example of deceptive spin to reference in that article.  This incident occurred during council’s discussion on blackmailing the school system.
 

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