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Michael D. Pitman reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Michael at Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > December > 09
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
EMA gives raise to embattled director
The Butler County Emergency Management Agency governing board expressed unanimous confidence in the agency’s embattled executive director Tuesday night, Dec. 9, and gave him a pay raise.
This followed criticism of EMA Director William Turner by two county commissioners and the Butler County Chiefs of Police Association in a pair of letters sent to the board Monday, Dec. 8.
After a nearly hour-long closed-door discussion, Butler County Commission President Charles Furmon made the motion of confidence in Turner. He said he believes Turner’s relationship with local law enforcement can be repaired.
EMA Chairman Dennis Conrad said the board plans to improve communication with area police chiefs by creating a new seat on the board for one of them.
“Hopefully, we can solve some of the problems that they had,” he said.
At the same meeting, the board approved the agency’s 2009 budget, including a pay raise for Turner from $79,295 to $81,674.
Turner said he was honored for the board’s support, and that he believes the police chiefs have a misunderstanding of what his role is in an emergency.
“(EMA board members) know the scope of the position and the limits of EMA director during times of disaster,” Turner said. “They understand EMA director does not become the incident commander of all local agencies during a disaster.”
Hamilton County EMA Director Michael Snowden and Keven Clouse, a liason from the Ohio Department of Public Safety, both spoke in support of Turner Tuesday night.
But both said a county EMA needs to have a good relationship with law enforcement.
The letter from police chiefs sent to the county commission Monday said a “vaccum of leadership” exists at the EMA and vaguely referenced a “litany of concerns” local police chiefs had with Turner before and during his response to September’s massive windstorm.
This spurred county commissioners Donald Dixon and Gregory Jolivette to ask the EMA board to “consider a change in the management of the EMA…before another significant and serious even jeopardizes the livelihood of our constituents.”
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Emergency Management Agency
TweetPolice, fire chiefs split on support for EMA director
On Sept. 18, one week before every police chief in Butler County unanimously voted that they have no confidence in county Emergency Management Director William Turner (see previous post here), local fire chiefs had a meeting of their own.
At that meeting, the Butler County Fire Chief’s Association unanimously voted “to express our support of the Butler County EMA to the (county) commission.”
“The Butler County Fire Chief’s feel the Butler County EMA and its Director Bill Turner have been unjustly criticized for their response to the wind storm and blackout conditions that affected all of Butler County the week of 9/13/2008,” says a letter to commissioners from the fire chief’s association.
See that letter below, as well as numerous others from local and state officials lauding Turner’s performance after the windstorm and after other emergencies in recent years.
For more on the recent controversy surrounding Turner, go here.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Emergency Management Agency
TweetObama’s plan could create dozens of local jobs, maybe
What do you think of President-elect Barack Obama’s massive infrastructure initiative? Learn more about it here.
Here’s some of what it could mean for Butler County (from this story):
President-elect Barack Obama’s plan to help the nation literally pave its way out of recession with road projects which could include funding six local projects totaling $6.4 million.
This includes a $2.2 million project to upgrade 54 traffic signals in Fairfield and a $3 million rehabilitation project on portions of U.S. 27, U.S. 127 and Ohio 122.
These are examples of the “shovel ready” projects totaling $2.2 billion that Ohio officials told Obama are ready to go if included in an economic stimulus package, according to Ohio Department of Transportation spokeswoman Sharon Smigielski.
There’s no guarantee these would be the projects funded.
“These are just examples of what could be a growing list of investments, as we learn more about the federal stimulus plan.
“The goal here is to identify investments that can be made today to get people working tomorrow,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (305) | Post your comment | Categories: National issues
TweetPromised water rate reduction in question
Despite aggressive budget cuts at the Butler County Water and Sewer Department, the national recession could make it hard for the agency to hold to its promised rate reductions next year.
The Water and Sewer Department outlined a budget to county leaders today, Dec. 9, that included a nearly $1.9 million reduction in the agency’s budget for next year.
This, despite a $493,398 increase in the cost of water purchased from Hamilton and Cincinnati — mostly Hamilton, under a contract county officials have long lamented as too expensive.
Water and Sewer Director Sue Vance said her department made the biggest cuts in personnel and electric costs. The agency has eliminated 16 positions over the past year and has plans to cut more in coming months, Vance said. Personnel costs alone are going down $1.4 million alone next year.
County officials said they still hope to reduce water and sewer rates in the first quarter of 2009 as promised, but “maybe not in the percentages that were stated previously, because we have to be cognizant of the recession,” said County Administrator Tim Williams.
Vance presented a plan in May that would lead to a 10 percent drop in water bills and a 15 percent cut in sewer bills.
But that was before the full breadth of the nationwide recession was clear, officials said. The county is estimating 355 new water customers next year and 530 new sewer hook-ups, down from 1,275 water and 1,664 sewer hook-ups in 2004.
This is a revenue drop of millions of dollars that is used to replace aging systems and pay off debt on expansions made when the county’s growth was booming, Williams said.
The Water and Sewer Department serves 36,564 water customers and 41,552 sewer customers in Monroe, New Miami and West Chester, Lemon, Liberty, Fairfield, Hanover and Ross townships.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Water and wastewater
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