Every year our local VFW post provides us an opportunity to remember the solemn reason for this holiday.  The service takes place at Shearer Cemetery, across the street from the post office on Fishburg Rd, from 1 to 1:30 pm.

I 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…

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…

Rick Stan is the best choice for Council at Large because of his knowledge of finances.  Since my appointment of current Council Member Nancy Bryge is the worst decision I have made on behalf of the residents of Huber Heights, it should not come as a surprise that the best result of the May primary would be a November contest between Chase Warden and Rick Stan.
 
Even though Mr. Stan has been…

Council needs to have a long discussion on how much money the city has before they authorize any money for a Parks and Recreation Master Plan.  There is good evidence that spending money on this plan will cause us to lose the ability to pay for more important priorities such as maintaining the park facilities we already own and bring our fire fighter/EMS manning levels closer to an efficient and effective standard.…

In the upcoming primary race for Mayor of Huber Heights, the most promising outcome would be a general election race between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Griggs. 

I had the opportunity to talk one on one with each of the three candidates earlier in the year.  Here are some of my considerations that lead to my desire to see Mr. Griggs and Mr. Wilson advance to November. 

I had a nice hour long conversation…

The Huber Heights Mayoral Debate was 6:30 April 20th at Weisenborn Middle School.  I missed the first 30 minutes because I went over to the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting to hear the discussion on the Parks and Rec Master Plan.  The part of the debate I saw was a good reflection on the LWV's and I am glad they did the work to put on this event.  As always though, it would be nicer if these…

I started writing this more than a month ago.  The ultimate objective is to advocate for more transparency by advocating for fewer executive sessions and better read ahead materials.  The last parts were difficult to write.
 
Although I intend to write about all the Charter Amendments in different articles, this article gives me the opportunity to tell you I recommend voting No on Issues 4,…

I received this public service announcement from the Miami Conservancy District 

 

Private wells – Test for a silent killer  By Mike Ekberg, Manager for Water Resources Monitoring and Analysis There may a silent killer lurking in private wells used for drinking water. Recent groundwater studies in our region show that drinking water in up to 20 percent

…

House Bill 154 went into effect March 21, 2017

Read it for yourself here.

The interesting parts are provided in this summary.

- The new law requires a motor vehicle that is overtaking and passing a bicycle to provide a safe passing distance to the left of the bicycle of not less than three feet. The law states that when a bicyclist is in the roadway or riding on the yellow line along the shoulder,…

I received this request from the RTA.
 

Dear Mayor McMasters:

As a trusted community partner we are seeking the City of Huber Heights’s assistance to help us identify candidates for professional bus operator positions at RTA.   These include both CDL and non-CDL positions which are full-time with excellent pay and benefits.  If you know people with a good work ethic and desire to improve their…

The 19th Amendment to the DEC development agreement will be discussed at Tuesday's work session. 

This is one consideration / analysis that I feel is important in order to be able to judge the “goodness” of the 19^th amendment.  One of the points of trying to write this out is to give you an idea of the kind of information that I am looking for in open meetings so that those with an interest…

Below you will find two emails that point to a very trying episode during my time as Mayor.  Recently, I allowed myself to go through that emotional time again and initially intended to use these emails in a series of articles hoping to get individuals to correct fake news they continue to spread.  Then I thought they would be useful in an article that I hope will finally cause the leaders of…

There are a number of possibilities for good discussion at Tuesday's Work Session.  

There is the 19th Amendment to the Carriage Trails Development Agreement.  I see the calculations of the projected split of TIF revenue the contract formula suggests might be expected were not provided in the read ahead.  These calculations are important in helping to frame how much of a supplement the city…

Last week I detailed a current incident that shows why PS&E should not be considered a viable candidate as the law firm employing our law director.   Some people think that only the individual who was the law director was responsible and the firm should not be held responsible.  They make this argument even though in the next breath they talk about all the knowledge and support the rest of the firm…

Pickrel, Schaeffer and Ebeling (aka PS&E) put in a bid to act as the firm that employees our next law director.  The Schaeffer in PS&E was our former law director.  For the three years I have been Mayor, and the two years I observed council prior to being elected, Mr. Schaeffer provided dubious and politically motivated opinions that promote behaviors that soil the reputation of the city, cost the…

During the work session meeting the other night I was cut off before getting the opportunity to advocate again for the Huber Heights City Schools:

Follow the links from the agenda and it will take you to the 2025 PLAN AND UPDATES / ASSOCIATED REFERENCES AND DOCUMENTS page. Once there you can find a listing titled "TIF Examples and Estimates" 

Look on page the 14th page titled "Montgomery County…

Mayor’s Vision: South of Taylorsville Road
 
Good day.  I was recently asked by Council to provide my vision for the city for this upcoming year.  This is the fourth of five planned installments.  In this section I start with the pragmatic and then allow myself to explore the romantic.
 
The pragmatic Tom:
 
Anyone that has been paying attention to the politics in this city knows that I always…

There is a significant issue with the proposed ballot language for the Section 12 Charter Amendment that requires prompt action.
 
According to the City Attorney, resolutions passed by council can currently be over turned by residents through a ballot referendum.  He tells us the result of the Section 12 Charter Amendment is to take away this right from residents[1].
 
This May, it will be up…

After the Council meeting this evening Council Member Campbell and I had a conversation that lasted until midnight.  That conversation contained about the best news that I could have heard.  Checking the Upcoming Candidate list on the Montgomery County website and seeing who has filed for council seats it may turn out Mr. Campbell will be unopposed this upcoming election.

I am looking forward to…

Some people like to discuss Huber Heights as having two parts; one north of I-70 and one south of I-70.  The line that would show the most difference in thought probably would be the county line.  The different schools and different mailing addresses lead to markedly different community identities.   Consider the city from an economic perspective and the natural line becomes Taylorsville road…

The Huber Heights Citizen Police Academy is a great introduction to your police department and the work they do.  It is meant for every day citizens and consists of a good mix of interesting classes with many guest speakers and hands on drills and demonstrations. The CPA will begin Wednesday Feb 8th.  Register by Feb 1st to get your spot.  You can pick up your application and program packet at the Huber Heights Police Division, 6121 Taylorsville Road, between the hours of 9am to 4pm.  …

Mayor’s Vision and 2017 initiatives; part .2 - .4  Continued from: Mayor's Vision - Part .2  
 
Depending on your background and interests getting the best value for our tax dollars will mean different things to different people.  I start this section of the essay by pointing out the things that attracted my wife and I to Huber Heights. This will help you understand some of my current positions…

Mayor’s Vision and 2017 initiatives
 
Introduction:
A couple of the council members recently challenged me to provide a vision for the city.  I used the word “challenged” in the first sentence on purpose because, admittedly, initially I internally scoffed at the request as being insincere.  From my personal view my vision and goals have never changed and they should be obvious to anyone that has…

Last year a member of council resigned.  In the table below you can see how many council meetings Ward 5 residents went without representation under the 1983 version of the City Charter.  The table also identifies who was responsible for Council Member attendance / appointment at each of the missed meetings.
 

Responsible party	Council Meetings without Representation	Total
Council Member

…

Item Q on Tuesday’s agenda is a discussion on Council and Mayor pay.  Currently the Mayor makes $620 a month and a council member makes $300 a month.  Look at the read ahead and you can see some research Councilmember Shaw provided that compares this to cities like Kettering and Centerville.  From my perspective, I ran this first term for reasons that did not involve the pay.  After three years’…

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…

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…

The Wayne Township Christmas Tree Lighting will be 6 pm Monday November 28th at the Huber Center.  The Monticello and Rushmore Schools will provide music.  There will be Free Horse Drawn Wagon Rides and Mr. and Mrs Santa will be there.   See the brochure below for more of the program.  

The Brandt Pike Revitalization project is being documented on http://www.discoverbrandtpike.com 

On November 17, 2016 there was a role-up briefing given.  You can find the Power Point Slides here.  I found the slides to be very useful in creating ideas.  I obviously will be advocating that the next time a brief like this is given that a video to be made so those that do not get to go to the original…