Councilman calls for termination of department head

By Ryan Gauthier | Monday, February 1, 2010, 04:25 PM

Trouble appears to be brewing at the Middletown City Building, with newly-elected 2nd Ward Councilman A.J. Smith calling for the termination of Planning Director Marty Kohler.

In an e-mail sent to City Manager Judy Gilleland, Smith criticized Kohler’s comments at a January Planning Commission meeting regarding a proposed Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“Once again, we have alienated developers and businesses that are interested in bringing jobs to this city by making recommendations that enforce ‘stringent’ ordinances,” Smith wrote. “We need to learn how to be more flexible.”

Planning Commission members voted 4-1 in favor of the 18,670-square-foot medical office building, which will occupy a 3.83-acre lot in 4300 block of Union Road.

The commission approved a combined preliminary and final development plan for the center with several modifications: relocating commercial trash containers and a smoking shelter to the west side of the building; the construction of temporary access to Union Road until it is widened; and mounding and landscaping along the east side of the property will be confined to a 15-foot strip between the parking lot and right-of-way.

Smith said he did not understand why staff members recommended not granting variances that would allow the smoking shelter and dumpster to remain where developers proposed them. He said it is a “prime example” of Middletown being unfriendly to businesses.

“Marty Kohler, in my opinion needs to be let go,” he wrote. “He is a detriment to this city and it’s [sic] future!”

Smith, 20, was elected to Middletown City Council just last November.

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City, FOP reach tentative agreement

By Ryan Gauthier | Friday, January 29, 2010, 05:21 PM

The city of Middletown has reached a tentative agreement with its police department for labor contracts running through 2012.

While the deals still need to receive approval from City Council members Tuesday, Feb. 2, they would see patrol officers, sergeants and lieutenants receive a wage increase of close to 3-percent every year.

Fraternal Order of Police members would get a 2.5-percent raise effective Jan. 1, 2010. They would then get a 3-percent raise on Jan. 1, 2011, an additional 2.5-percent increase on Nov. 1, 2011 and another 0.5-percent five months later on April 1, 2012.

Salary increases for the contract would typically go into effect on Nov. 1, however the first two raises were delayed until Jan. 1 to “minimize the impact to the 2010 budget,” according to Assistant Law Director Sara Mills.

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More than $1.2M in cash seized from Middletown bar Wednesday

By Ryan Gauthier | Friday, January 29, 2010, 10:40 AM

Approximately $1.2 million was reportedly seized from a popular Middletown bar during a search for illegal gambling machines on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

Julie Hinds, spokeswoman with the Ohio Investigative Unit, said law enforcement officials were “surprised” to find such a substantial amount of money inside of Bill’s Open Door Cafe, located at 2715 Burbank Ave.

“We honestly were not expecting to find that much money,” Hinds said.

Hinds said five electronic gambling machines were taken from the bar during Wednesday’s search. Owner Michael Wieser faces 25 gambling-related violations. Wieser did not return calls for comment Thursday, Jan 28.

A combined $30,000 cash was confiscated from the other 13 area bars involved in two separate sweeps executed by local and state officials, according to Hinds.

The breakdown on machines seized from area bars Wednesday is:

Jenny B’s Hillbilly Heaven - 1

Lakeside Inn - 2

Bill’s Open Door Cafe - 5

Madison Inn - 5

Ye Ole Dutch Tavern - 1

Buster’s - 1

Lefferson Inn - 1

The Hot Spot - 1

Third Base Cafe - 1

Mutts Main Bar - 1

The Brewery Inn - 2

The Blue Goose - 1

Click here for the rest of the story.

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Candidates, issues to be discussed tonight

By Ed Richter | Thursday, October 29, 2009, 12:12 PM

MIDDLETOWN — The Second Ward Community Council and the Middletown unit of the NAACP will host a candidates forum at 6:30 p.m. today at the Middletown Community Center, 800 Lafayette Ave.

Middletown City Council candidates and city issues will be featured during the forum. The public is invited to attend.

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Welcome to Middletown politics

By Ed Richter | Thursday, October 29, 2009, 12:02 PM

A.J. Smith, a candidate for the 2nd Ward seat on Middletown City Council received an expensive lesson in local politics.

Several weeks ago, his opponent John Soppanish, filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission concerning the use of photographs in Smith’s campaign literature.

While a probable cause panel rejected Soppanish’s complaint, Smith ended up getting billed nearly $1,200 in legal fees to defend himself and his campaign.

In these hearings, the person filing the complaint has the burden of proof to convince the panel there was a violation of the elections law. However, Soppanish was not at the hearing and was not required to be there, although it was strongly encouraged. Soppanish was at a meeting with The Journal’s editorial board to discuss the Middletown city charter amendment.

If anything, it goes to show folks that candidates need to be prepared financially for setbacks or potential legal challenges.

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Timing is everything

By Ed Richter | Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 04:17 AM

Councilman David Schiavone raised a concern Tuesday, Oct. 20 during the board meeting of the Middletown Public Housing Agency about the amount of money that would be spent to hire a firm to do inspections of the city’s Section 8 housing.

While the funds would come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Schiavone believed the costs were as much as 2.5 times the costs that were presented a year ago. In his comments, Schiavone said he didn’t “feel comfortable this was the best price.” He also inquired if the contract was bidded out.

Doug Adkins, the city’s community revitalization director, said he was comfortable with the contract and price, $140,000 a year, that was negotiated with The Inspection Group of Westerville, Ohio. He also pointed out that there were several types of inspections that needed to be done, each with a different price.

The proposal was slated as an emergency ordinance so the inspections could be switched from CONSOC Housing Consultants of Columbus, the city’s Section 8 program administrator, to the new vendor by Nov. 1.

City Manager Judy Gilleland reminded council they were dissatisfied with the Housing Quality Standards inspections that were being done by CONSOC and this was the solution to ensure quality housing.

During council’s business meeting, she also pointed out that the city already negotiates professional services contracts without going through the competitive bidding process.

Gilleland also noted it would delay the process by a few months if the city went back and put the proposal out for bidding.

Councilman Tony Marconi may have pointed out the real reason for council’s apparent reluctance — “we don’t want to mess this up.” That would be a pretty good reason as well — right before election day on Nov. 3.

Council gave the proposed ordinance a first reading with a second reading slated for the Nov. 3 meeting. They also asked Law Director Les Landen to have two versions of the ordinance ready, one for a second reading that would take effect 30 days after council approval, and another for emergency legislation that would take effect immediately after passage by council.

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Voter rejected shrinking council in Toledo

By Ed Richter | Thursday, October 8, 2009, 12:53 AM

State Sen. Gary Cates passed along a clipping from The Toledo Blade in which a proposal to restructure its City Council from 12 members to nine was defeated in a close election last month.

The Blade said the defeat kept intact Toledo’s council of six at-large and six district (or ward) seats. Toledo also elects a president of council in addition to a mayor.

Middletown voters will make a similar decision on Nov. 3.

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