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August 2009
Large field of candidates certified for November
Greene County voters will see contested races in most of the larger municipalities for seats on city or village council, township trustee and school board. Greene County elections officials released the names Wednesday, Aug. 26, of candidates who filed petitions with enough certified signatures to be on the November ballot.
Six filed for three open seats on Beavercreek City Council, a body that has seen large pools of hopefuls in past years. Scott Hadley is the lone incumbent to file with current Councilman Brian Jarvis, who was appointed to replace State Rep. Jarrod Martin, seeking a first full term. Past recent council candidates Linda Borgert, Tony Corvo and Debborah (CQ) Wallace join Steve Stratton on the ballot. Incumbent Thomas Leonard did not file for a second full term.
In Bellbrook Mayor Mary C. Graves is seeking another term as are council members Mike Schweller, Pat Campbell and Denny Bennett who will face Jon Martin for three open seats.
Two will vie for the mayor post in Xenia. Marsha Bayless and Dale Louderback will compete for the post after Phyllis A. Penewitt announced she would not seek another term. Seven candidates, incumbent Jeanne Mills and challengers Mike Barley, Jackie Fuller, La Shann Latimore, Danny McClanahan, Phillip R. Shaw and Wesley E. Smith will compete for two open seats. Dennis R. Propes, now council president, did not file for re-election.
Fairborn residents have until Sept. 5 to file for mayor or three open council seats, according to the city charter.
Beavercreek school board drew the most attention early with more than a dozen people pulling petitions for the three open seats. Only five returned petitions by the deadline including incumbent Peg Arnold, Joyce Carter, who was appointed recently to a vacant seat, Donna P. Demsey, Robert W. Dotson and Kim Grant.
Only two filed for as many open seats on Fairborn school board. Tom Swain is seeking re-election and Robert C. Carico is running for the post now held by Drew Pringle who was appointed after the resignation of John Peterangelo who died last year.
Click here for a full list of candidates.
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TweetSugarcreek schools earn top state rating
BELLBROOK — The Sugarcreek Local School District was rated excellent with distinction, the highest rating possible, on the state report card released today, Aug. 25.
In the nine-county area surrounding Dayton, 14 of 73 districts (or 19 percent) garnered the EWD rating.
Sugarcreek also saw an increase in its performance index, a measure of all test scores in the district. Sugarcreek’s performance index (105.7) ranked No. 3 of those 73 districts, trailing only Mason and Oakwood. That performance index ranked Sugarcreek 33rd of the 610 school districts in the state.
Sugarcreek had been rated excellent the past four years.
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TweetPoliticians join business owners in opposition to interchange removal
BEAVERCREEK — Add State Representative Jarrod Martin’s voice to the growing chorus of people opposed to the removal of a partial U.S. 35 interchange in the city.
Martin wrote Paul Nartker, an engineer for the Ohio Department of Transportation, Aug. 20 to say he is against removing the partial interchange at Dayton-Xenia Road and Linden Avenue. Plans are to widen U.S. 35 from Steve Whalen to Interstate 675 and possibly remove the ramps in western Beavercreek.
“Simply put, removing the flow of traffic by closing these ramps would be devastating to the area’s businesses,” Martin wrote.
Members of the Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce have already came out against the idea, citing a reduction in traffic flow near Dayton-Xenia businesses and a possible increase in congestion along North Fairfield Road, the city’s next highway interchange to the east.
City officials will vote on a resolution tonight, Aug. 24 opposing the ramp removals. The city is in the midst of a $4 million project to widen Dayton-Xenia near the ramps. The lion share of construction cost is funded by state and federal grants and city officials and local business owners hope the construction could spur new investment in an older part of the city.
Plans to widen U.S. 35 and possible remove the interchange are in their infancy, ODOT officials said earlier this month, adding partial interchanges are good candidates for removal. Residents are invited to discuss the plans Thursday, Aug. 27 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Carroll High School, 4524 Linden Avenue.
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TweetRoad to be designated for fallen airman
JAMESTOWN — Friends and family of Senior Airman Kenneth Hauprich will gather Thursday, Aug. 20 at Greeneview Middle School to dedicate a stretch of Ohio 72 in his honor.
Hauprich was killed in November 2007 when the Black Hawk helicopter he was a passenger in crashed near Treviso, Italy while on a training mission.
The 22-year-old left behind a wife, Kara, and a 3-month-old daughter Emma. Hundreds of community members turned out for ceremonies and a funeral honoring the fallen airman.
Hauprich joined the Air Force after graduating from Greeneview High School in 2004. He has three siblings who also are enlisted.
The stretch of Ohio 72 through Jamestown was designated Sr. Airman Kenneth Hauprich Memorial Highway by legislators last year, said Brad Ingraham, a spokesman in State Sen. Chris Widener’s office.
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TweetPolice sign deal similar to firefighters to save jobs
XENIA — City police are takingg the firefighters’ lead and agreeing to pay cuts to save jobs.
The police union has tentatively agreed to pay cuts to save three from layoffs — similar to the 5 percent across-the-board salary decrease firefighters OK’d last week, said Brent Merriman, assistant city manager. Two positions, one already vacant and another soon to be empty, will not be filled, he said. Exact specifics of the police deal are pending union ratification.
City officials announced 20 possible layoffs last week because of a looming $1.5 million deficit in 2010. Deals with firefighters and now police to accept pay cuts reduced the number of layoffs to nine city administrative personnel.
City officials are expected to ask voters to approve a public safety levy early next year to help fund services, including fire and police. Other city services are likely to be cut, officials have said, because of declining revenues.
Voters overwhelmingly approved a 3.5 mill public services levy renewal Aug. 4 that will bring $409,000 into city coffers after rejecting an earlier larger request.
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TweetFirefighters take pay cut to save jobs
XENIA — The city’s firefighters’ union has agreed to pay cuts and a salary freeze that will save six from layoffs.
City council has signed off on the deal, but some technical issues with the union contract still must be worked out, said Jim Percival, city manager. The city continues to work with its other unions to try to avoid losing another 14 positions, a combination of five police and nine city workers, that were targeted for cuts because of declining revenue.
Joe Mullikin, firefighters union president, said his union agreed to five percent pay cuts and to postpone a 3 percent raise from 2011 until 2012.
Percival told the city’s unions earlier this summer a five percent pay cut for all employees was needed to make up a projected $1.4 million deficit in 2010. Negotiations continue, but 20 workers were notified Tuesday they could lose their jobs in the city couldn’t make up the funding gap. Percival said he hopes to announce more deals next week week.
“Things are looking much brighter,” he said. “There is still work to do.”
A public safety levy to raise money to pay firefighters and police is planned for next year, Percival said. Economic development efforts also continue.
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TweetXenia schools officials unveil smaller building plan
XENIA — School board members voted Monday, Aug. 10, to put a smaller tax request before voters in the fall to build and renovate schools, a move officials say is a response to two past defeats at the ballot box.
The plans eliminate a new high school, which Superintendent Jeffrey Lewis said community members made clear they did not feel was needed. The $34.6 million bond request is less than half the size of past requests.
It will be the district’s third trip to the ballot box and strong voter support of a recent operating levy for city services has school district leaders hoping electors will also recognize a need to replace some half-a-century old schools.
The city’s recent 3.5 mill levy won the support of 72 percent of city voters Aug. 4, according to unofficial results from the Greene County Board of Elections. “I think it was a good sign for the city,” said Jeffrey Lewis, superintendent. “People have pride for this town. They don’t want a situation that is dangerous or problematic.”
But if the district’s five elementary school aren’t replaced soon, and with the state’s help, the aging buildings could cost taxpayers serious problems. The buildings roofs, boilers, windows and other infrastructure are on their last legs. “It’s a case of don’t look too close because if you do you’ll see what’s there,” Lewis said.
District members finalized levy plans Monday, for the $34.6 million bond issue, the local share of a $60 million building project, that will be paid for with the help of the Ohio School Facilities Commission. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $98 annually.
School officials listened to the past two resounding defeats at the ballot box and responded with a smaller building plan, Lewis said in a Monday news release.
If passed, the new taxes would be collected over a 38-year period beginning after construction on the five schools finishes in 2013. “I can’t look for a better plan to offer for the community,” Lewis said.
Xenia won’t be the only district asking voters to build a new school. Cedar Cliff board members also recently voted to ask voters to approve $13 million, the local share of a $25 million project, to replace a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade building with the help of the school facilities commission.
When Yellow Springs school board members meet Aug. 13, they could approve asking voters to renew a five-year operating levy set to expire.
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TweetSuspect in Bellbrook church theft faces new charge
Nickolas Williams, the man charged in connection with a July 11 theft from Bellbrook Community Church, is now in Franklin County jail facing a separate breaking and entering charge out of Columbus.
Bellbrook police Chief David Helling said Williams, at just 28, has one of the longest criminal histories he’s seen, with charges in Ohio, Florida and stretching up the East Coast.
Williams is suspected of stealing Bellbrook Community Church’s credit card, then using it to buy $800 in merchandise at Columbus-area stores. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of receiving stolen property in that case.
Williams was in Greene County jail on the two receiving stolen property charges until being taken to Franklin County on Aug. 3. He’s due back in Xenia for a trial Sept. 21.
In the meantime, Williams is being investigated by the Licking County and Fairfield County sheriffs as well as Granville police for theft-related offenses in those jurisdictions, many of them involving churches. Helling said there might be charges from a Xenia theft as well.
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TweetChamber begins search for new program coordinator
BEAVERCREEK — The city’s chamber of commerce is launching a search to replace Toni Weilding, its current program coordinator who is leaving the agency to take an executive director post with the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance.
Weilding will leave Beavercreek in the coming weeks, said Clete Buddelmeyer, executive director. The post Weilding is leaving is a hybrid of an administrative assistant and program coordinator responsible for maintaining records and being “customer service oriented,” Buddelmeyer said in a new release. Applications can be submitted to the chamber, 3299 Kemp Road.
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TweetFour to run for three Bellbrook Council seats; mayor unopposed
Mary Graves, Bellbrook’s mayor for the past 14 years, will run unopposed again in the Nov. 3 election, but the other three City Council members on the ballot will have one challenger.
Incumbents Denny Bennett, Pat Campbell and Mike Schweller have served on council for more than 10 years and are running for re-election. They will be challenged by Jon Martin.
Martin has been chairman of the city’s board of zoning appeals and property review commission.
Adam Panstingel, chairman of the area’s Open Space Advisory Committee, also planned to run for council. But the county board of elections said only 49 of the 57 signatures Panstingel turned in were valid, one short of the 50 required.
Council seats have a four-year term and pay $4,000 per year, except for the mayor, who holds a two-year term that pays $6,000 per year. The jobs do not include benefit eligibility.
The terms of the other three city council members — Bob Baird, Joe Ritzel and Ralph Fussner — don’t expire until the end of 2011.
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TweetPlan outlines airport expansion options
BEAVERCREEK TWP., Greene County — Most of the interest in the Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport is in the site’s potential.
The small collection of hangers and runways south of U.S. 35 was in the sights of Beavercreek and Xenia city officials last year when both proposed joint tax agreements with the township in order to bring services — water and sewer — to the property.
Officials from both municipalities hope to have their foot in the door when the property around the airport, now mostly farm fields, begins to develop. Thanks to a long-range plan for the facility presented to county commissioners, area officials will have a better idea about the future of the airport.
“Our county airport is strategically located. It’s a real jewel,” said Commissioner Rick Perales, after the plan was present in late July. “This gives us a foundation to work from.” Developed by University of Cincinnati master’s degree students for $15,000, the plan lays out a step-by-step agenda for expanding the size and scope of what is now a small commuter airport.
The Avionics and Knowledge-based Master Plan lays out a runway extension, research facilities and technology park, even a community center . “This plan is actually bigger than the airport at this point,” said Homer Smith, airport board member. “But the airport is going to expand and this makes it more compatible with the surroundings.”
The first step is to expand the runway another 500 feet to accommodate larger aircraft, something that may be difficult to do in a weak economy. “It’ll be difficult in this economy,” Smith admits, “for the FAA and the county. It’s probably not in the near term. I think in the five-year range we can get to the point to extend the runway.”
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TweetSugarcreek schools levy vote is today, Aug. 4
Bellbrook and Sugarcreek voters will decide today, Aug. 4 whether to approve a continuing 5.5-mill replacement property tax levy to fund school district operations.
If the levy passes, residents’ property taxes will go up about $89 annually per $100,000 of property value, and the schools’ budget should be in the black for June 2010 with no more cuts.
If the levy fails, residents’ taxes will go down by about $45 annually per $100,000 of property value, and the schools will make busing cuts and raise sports fees to get the budget in the black for June 2010.
The Sugarcreek Schools levy is the only issue on the ballot in Bellbrook or Sugarcreek today. Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. If you have voting questions, call the board of elections at 562-7470. If you have school questions, call district administration at 848-6251.
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