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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 > 2009 > March > 03
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Butler County roundup - county pay and “common sense”
Two Butler County commission stories were in our paper today:
Deep pay cuts begin for county (read more here)
Butler County commissioners say many county employees are overpaid compared to their private-sector counterparts and they are taking the first steps to tighten the spigot at the public trough.
Two county employees took dramatic pay cuts Monday, March 2.
Rhonda Freeze, Records Center manager and also Trenton mayor, saw her salary reduced from $85,772 to $69,899 Monday. Laura Campbell, assistant human resources director, had her pay cut from $92,771 to $76,800.
According to county records, Freeze was making $62,638 when she became records center director in 2004. She was making $40,194 in 2000. Campbell was making $50,740 in 2000.
Commissioner Donald Dixon cited rapid-fire pay increases as the reason many county employees see their pay balloon. Campbell, for example, has seen 14 pay increases since 2000.
County employees generally get a 3 percent cost of living increase most years, an automatic step increase of up to 4 percent some years, and a probationary increase some years. The specifics vary in different departments with different union contracts.
“These are just the first ones, but we’re going to do all of them,” Dixon said. “(We will) do a comparison against the private sector and see how they stack up.”
County’s ‘common sense policy’ under review (read more here)
Butler County commissioners on Monday, March 2, questioned the common sense of a new Children Services policy that allows agency employees to ignore the rules if staff members determine they’re not in a child’s best interest.
Commissioner Charles Furmon said the rules are there for a reason, and leaving it up to employees which rules to follow “leaves the citizens of Butler County exposed to some degree.”
“It’s good to have common sense, but you have to pair it up with rules and regulations,” Furmon said. “If you drive across town once, you’ll see from the other drivers people don’t have much common sense,” he said. “I think you have to make sure you have the right regulations and policies in place. If you can’t handle it yourself, you talk to your supervisor or someone in the prosecutor’s office.”
Any thoughts on either of these?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: County Commission
TweetCombs re-submits animal cruelty bill
Press release from state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton:
State Representatives Courtney Combs (R-Hamilton) and Brian G. Williams (D-Akron) announced today the introduction of House Bill 55. The two legislators re-introduced this legislation from the last General Assembly where it was HB 418.
This legislation would increase the penalties of cruelty to animals, requires mandatory evaluation of minors who torture or abuse animals, and includes pets in court protection orders issued by a judge in domestic violence cases.
“HB 55 will fill the gaps in current law where horrible, and many times avoidable, situations can result in tragedy and mistreatment of animals,” Rep. Williams said. “The legislation accomplishes this through two main components: it assures that proper evaluation and counseling is provided to children that are guilty of abusing helpless animals, and it provides protection for animals caught in domestic violence situations. Research supports that both of these situations occur frequently. I am glad to be introducing legislation that can help put an end to that.”
Studies show that people who commit violence toward animals as children have a greater chance of being violent towards humans later in life. This legislation would require that any child under 18 convicted of cruelty of an animal undergo a mandatory psychological evaluation. If individual or family counseling is recommended by the evaluation it requires the court to order the child to attend counseling and determine the frequency and length of treatment.
“The current penalties for animal abuse in Ohio are no more than a slap on the wrist and do nothing to punish the abuser or prevent future acts,” Combs said. “In addition, current law does not connect the dots between children abusing animals and the potential for future violence.”
Under this bill judges would be allowed to include any companion animal that is in the complainant’s or alleged victim’s residence in the protection order. Five different studies determined that up to 71 percent of battered women reported that their pets have been threatened, harmed, or killed by their partners and that many battered women do not leave a dangerous situation because they fear for their pet’s safety.
“Public outcry and calls for increased penalties from officials across the state have led to this demand for change. This bill would go a long way towards reducing and preventing cases of animal abuse here in Ohio,” said Combs.
Williams and Combs’ bill will be referred to a committee this week and hearings will begin soon after.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Statewide issues
TweetAnd the safe door swung open
Dean Swartz sat cross-legged on the floor in the middle of a dozen breathless onlookers. The only sound was the rattle of the safe’s dial as Swartz turned it, and an occasional click as it settled into place.
The contents of the safe were a decades-old mystery. The concrete and steel time capsule was recovered from the rubble when the Reily Twp. fire house burned down in 1967. It has sat in the township community center ever since.
No one knew whether anything was inside. Township records from 1943 mention a combination that didn’t work; at that time, the fire house was the town hall.
Charles Deneler, 75, was the last one to see it open. He said the township clerk used it, and it sat behind the furnace suspected of burning down the building.
Swartz, who had done security work for the Air Force and General Electric, read in the JournalNews about the safe, and promised he could break in.
Tuesday morning, March 3, the assembled residents’ confidence in Swartz began to waiver.
“I don’t think it will open,” said one man. A woman hushed him, urging him to think positive.
Then with a click, it swung open on its hinges and everyone pushed in to see. On the back of the door was a painted rose with the words “Hall’s Patent.”
Inside, yellow papers bundled with pink thread were neatly stacked. Twp. Trustee Tim Miller carefully unwound them and thumbed through township records from a century ago.
There were receipts dated 1907. An Ohio Farmer’s Insurance policy dated 1919 on the building that burned down; the policy was for $3,000 and had cost $75.
A book apparently listing local tax rolls in 1919 listed Miller’s grandfather, Otis Miller.
“We had no clue,” marveled Twp. Trustee Dennis Conrad, leafing through the forgotten records.
He said the documents will be an asset when the township starts assembling its museum later this year.
“Our historical society is going to go crazy when they see this stuff,” Conrad said. “We’re going to donate the safe to the museum.”
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