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




----------------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…

----------------- 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.
------------------------------------------------
The discussion on Energy Aggregation continues with the second reading of…

The problem with Issue 29 is simple.  Politician's judgement can't always be trusted so the City Charter needs to be written to make sure resolutions are on the agenda for more than one meeting before they become law.  I ask 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…

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.…

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?
…

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…

I thought I would share some of the items I pulled out of the Mayor's Mailbox this evening.

First I was looking at "The Prosecutor" the newsletter from the Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney Mat Heck Jr. and found this announcement about free cab rides from July 1st at 6:00 pm until July 5th at 6:00 am.  The program is meant for those that drink too much to drive and the phone number is…

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…

Recently the pictures below were shared on Facebook. I’m sure I’m not the only member of council that hears questions and discussions about out buildings.  In my couple years as mayor I've heard discussion by residents who believed they were only allowed one shed and that it had to be 8 foot high or less.  This conclusion is very understandable if a resident used the Search Feature found within…

Quick Thoughts on the proposal to Increase the Water Pressure North of 70:

• I don't know how most members of council decided they have enough understanding of the issue to say that it definitely is needed and they are willing to spend more than $2 million dollars to fix it.
  • I believe council needs a complete report on the scope of the problem for residents
  • I believe council needs a complete analysis on how it effects possible development and current businesses

 
Last Monday Council passed another supplement for the developer of Carriage Trails.  There are two points that could be made if I decided not to sign that legislation.  The first is that I’m still looking for staff to provide more information about the economic input this development provides for the City.  The second would be to address some deceptive information people keep bringing up whenever they want to say the mayor is wrong.…

Monday evening will be the first readings of 3 possible ballot measures for November's election.  Read the chicken ballot measure.  Look and see if this covers everything you think a chicken measure should cover.  No, we won't take your suggestion to allow roosters.  We already know this will ensure the measure is voted down.  

The water pressure measure is the one I think will get the most discussion…

Below is the email message that I sent regarding the missing page that made the news yesterday.  The original email was composed by Councilmember Lyons.  There is quite a long email trail that I did not copy and paste but would be available as a public records request.  In the email below the date referenced in this sentence "Without checking the record, I believe that meeting was the May 3, 2016…

I've read through the first posting of the recall team and pasted it below.  My initial read is they won't actually ever give any specific examples of the allegations they make.  This is because if they do it will allow debate within the community about; the facts on how items actually made the news, the circumstances that cause the conflict, and the progress we made in the city these past few years.  …

Take a look at the agenda for the March 3, 2011 Huber Heights Administration Meeting.  Now take a look at the agenda for the March 14, 2011 Huber Heights Administration Meeting.  These are the work sessions that just preceded the Council Meeting that first revealed Council had finished making all the major decisions about the building of an Aquatic Center and the one that authorized Council to spend…

We have new financials for the music center posted on the City Website:

Look for the new numbers on the bottom of this page.

Or go to it directly here


It is much more complete than anything we've seen assemble previously.  Look it over and start a discussion in the comments below.  

Update - April 16, 2016

How is everyone coming along with their review of the Financials?  When I started to…

We had a very good discussion about the Carriage Trails Investment/Subsidies at the Council Work session last night.  Looking at the social media discussions I see there are still a lot of questions.  I'll start with one of the basics:  Where do TIF dollars come from?

Then I'll talk about some of the other items I've been asking staff to provide for more than 6 months.  
1.  Is using the TIF dollars…

The first reading of the 17th amendment to the Carriage Trails development occurred at the last council meeting.  There is much interest on this subject from all over the city.  If you don't have any background you can start by reading the Summary that the Assistant City manager and I worked on to document some of the financial benefits we see as a result of the development.  Read the Summary.  You…

The agenda for the Work Session,  this Tuesday at 6:00 pm at City Hall, has good read ahead materials for every agenda item.  I'm very happy council and staff have come together to provide this service for you.  The objective is for the City's website to become the one stop place for residents to reference when they need complete information about the issues of the city.  With the…

Tuesday March 1st, I sent two letters to all members of City Council.  I've posted them below.  


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Council,

I thought I would provide an update on the ongoing search.  I was attempting to reach out to the elected representative to inquire if she would consider resuming her position.  She declined to contact me personally but…

Update:

The Facebook discussions that occurred today didn't even come close to addressing the point of the original article which was that behind the scenes politicking has for years been stressful on members of council  and a blight on getting good decisions from our city government.  Nor did it achieve the goal of getting our new council members to commit to driving more of these types of discussions…

We’ve had a couple of work sessions now with the new council members in place.  We’ve seen some positive and some negative results.  The one item I plan to talk about today is the discussion with the director of the Huber Heights YMCA.  That discussion is on video.  It is the 5^th agenda item and starts about 1 hour 30 minutes into the meeting.  Before I start that discussion let me point out that…

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,…

We made the newspaper again today.  For those of you that might not know the City hired retired State Senator and former judge Neal Zimmers to lobby for Huber Heights in Columbus.  I think a chronological posting of email messages is a good way for you to understand all the contention surrounding the lunch meeting that took place Jan 7th at TJ Chumps.
 
From: Neal Zimmers
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 4:31…

We made the newspaper again today.  For those of you that might not know the City hired retired State Senator and former judge Neal Zimmers to lobby for Huber Heights in Columbus.  I think a chronological posting of email messages is a good way for you to understand all contention of the lunch meeting at TJ Chumps.
 
From: Neal Zimmers
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 4:31 PM
To: McMasters, Tom
Subject:…

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…

Update:  Information available on the Huber Heights City School Website about the application process being used to fill the vacant School Board seat:

http://www.huberheightscityschools.org/News/1274#sthash.xl8VCZvE.dpbs

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm having the hardest time finding information on the Huber…