McClintick to leave top Harrison Twp. post after 23 years in township government

Longtime administrator resigning to take economic development post in Clermont County near Cincinnati

Credit: Ken Jarosik

Credit: Ken Jarosik

Harrison Twp. Administrator Kris McClintick has announced his resignation from township government after 23 years, effective Friday.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said Monday. “I’ve been there for a long time.”

McClintick accepted a position this month as community and economic development director for Clemont County, just east of Cincinnati, the township said Monday.

Working more than two decades in the township of about 22,000 people along the north and northwest edges of the city of Dayton, McClintick has seen plenty of changes.

He and the township navigated at least a trio of big challenges: the 2019 Memorial Day tornado outbreak, a collapse of property values after the Great Recession and a steady effort to reduce the number of adult businesses along North Dixie Drive.

Township property tax values dropped about 25% in a three-year period as state funding cuts were simultaneously being felt, McClintick recalled in an interview. The township relies on property tax levies for revenue.

“We had to implement some changes about the year 2014 or so,” he said.

When he started with the township in 2000, there were perhaps 8 to 10 adult businesses along North Dixie. Trustees and residents wanted to change that. Today, a lone adult bookstore remains.

A blend of savvy zoning and regulatory changes — such as new set-backs from neighborhoods and libraries — since 2005 has slowly winnowed the number of adult businesses.

“We worked hard with Miami Valley Regional Planning, our attorneys, staff, the board, the community, to come up with regulations that we thought would (remove them), he said. “We couldn’t get rid of them immediately. But as time went on, they would start to diminish.”

McClintick started with the township in 2000 as assistant director of community and economic development. He was promoted to township administrator in 2014.

“I have worked for Harrison Township almost 24 years,” McClintick said in a statement released by the township. “I am blessed to have worked with amazing township staff, community leaders and businesses over the years.”

Prior to working for the township, he worked with the cities of Xenia and Sidney. McClintick holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

McClintick said issues in Harrison Twp.’s future involve shepherding the image of the township, making thoroughfares more attractive to developers, preparing to remake what he calls a “traffic circle” at Interstate 75 and Wagner Ford Road — and more.

“It is a gateway into the community,” he said of the interchange. “So we’d like to have something that’s a regional impact, that would draw folks into the community.”

The Management Advisory Group will support Harrison Twp. in its search for a new administrator, the township said.

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