News archive
Wait to Renew the Income Tax Levy
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. Â
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McMasters for Council?
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Latest on City wide watermain line refurbishment.Â
Latest on City wide watermain line maintenance.
The Dec 6th 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…
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Will annexation be approved again without due diligence?
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. …
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City Attorney implements improved Executive Session Procedure
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…
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What to know about the two coalitions
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?
…
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Mayor Gore Honest? or Smart? [candidate comparison part 2]
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…
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Rating the 2021 Mayoral Candidates part 1
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…
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Open Meeting Act Lawsuit - Summary Judgment
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.…
Inappropriate Executive session leads to more wasted money
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…
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Complaint about the Mayor - the investigation
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…
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Another no bid contract.
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,…
This is why I am voting against the incumbent for Council at Large
Budget Discussion
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…
Inappropriate Executive Sessions - Could they cause us to lose our…
When they came out of executive session, they announced that they would be extending the…
Council thinks they are that much smarter than you
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
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…
Councilman Otto investigation
This is how Section 4.06…
Raise Council Pay by 560%!
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…
Deceitful Spin – or outright lies, whichever.
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Councilman Morgan thinks blackmail works
Importance of Timing when creating TIF
Residential TIFs expire 30 years after creation so the city will want to time the creation correctly to maximize the amount of money collected. In the examples below I show that in general building too late costs a lot more than building too early. For instance,…
Council discusses blackmailing the school district out of $400,000
Reducing traffic congestion on Old Troy Pike
Some Ideas for imporving traffic flow you might suggest once your council decides it is important enough to start the planning:
How about connecting the access road that runs in front of Gander Mtn over to Bridgewater Rd. This is only about 1/2 mile. A half mile of road cost about $1.25 million dollars. This would allow some Huber and Vandalia residents to access businesses in the North Heights Plaza while avioding the area around the interstate interchange.
It would not be impossible to improve Wildcat road to include a bridge over the interstate. The bridge would be expensive but the I-70 TIF is a big fundraiser and with more development there is the possibility of more funds.
Reducing traffic congestion on Chambersburg and Fishburg Rds
During the recent Ward 1 community meeting a resident asked about improvements to the west sides of Chambersburg and Fishburg Roads. Your council members correctly remembered…
City Manager's complaining about my blog post
The City Manager and Mayor made references to two of my earlier posts (Rose Music Center Financial Reports & Deceitful Spin - hiding a $5,000 fee increase) during the Feb 5th discussion on the Rose Music Center update. You should watch that discussion not only because it will help you understand why I addressed council on Monday, but also because there are some other points made during that discussion…