Instead, fire Chief Christopher Johns told the Journal-News the levy failure “will changed the trajectory we head in.”
“There will be difficult conversations ahead,” he said. “We might not have educated the public enough on the issue or our need.”
Trustees have time to make decisions, including at considering another attempt at passing a levy in the spring. The current 3-mill levy expires at the end of 2026, and the 2.75-mill levy was renewed last year.
Voters in Hanover Twp. also rejected a 3.5-mill levy Tuesday, voting 53.56% to 46.44% against the levy. If the levy were approved, it would have had the same rate as the expiring levy, but would have been based on 2025 appraised Butler County property values.
The levy set to expire is based on 2016 property values, the year it was passed.
Hanover Twp. Administrator Bruce Henry called the failure a “temporary setback” and said the township will have a “slight overlap” with funds to operate for several months until an alternative strategy can be developed.
“There aren’t a lot of options besides cutting operations or finding an additional source of revenue since this levy failed,” Henry said.
Henry could not specify at this time what operations might be cut or what an additional source of revenue might be.
Henry also said the wording of the levy may have been misunderstood.
It stated an “additional” levy — language which is required by law — but the levy was a free standing 3.5 mill issue.
West Chester Twp. Trustee
Mark Welch’s bid for a fourth term as a West Chester Twp. ended on Election Day when Amanda Ortiz, a veterinarian earned the most votes in the four-candidate race for two seats.
Ortiz received 27.1% of the unofficial vote totals with Trustee Lee Wong earning the second of two seats with 26.1% in his re-election bid. Welch finished third with 24.3% and Alyssa Louagie received 22.5%.
This was Ortiz’s first attempt at seeking a public office.
“My vision has always been West Chester making decisions that are resident focused — better roads, better intersection, becoming more walkable, better parks and working with our schools,’’ she told the Journal-News.
Credit: Amy Burke
Credit: Amy Burke
She will join Trustees Ann Becker and Wong on the dais in January. Wong, who won re-election Tuesday, will finish his fifth term on the board at the end of this year.
Welch said though he was surprised by his loss, he’s okay with leaving the board in December.
“I worked hard at that job and I did my best to do in-depth research on the issues,” Welch said. “Loss is a fact of life. We have to be able to take the loss to be a better person. I’ll serve up the rest of my time here and see how it goes.”
Lakota Bond
Voters in the Lakota Schools district rejected a bond issue Tuesday that would have funded a multi-year master facilities plan.
The 4.99-mill bond issue and .95-mill permanent improvement levy was rejected 60.81% to 39.19%, according to final, unofficial results from the Butler County Board of Elections.
It will now be up to the five-member board of education to determine whether the issue will be resubmitted to voters in 2026, said Betsy Fuller, district spokeswoman. Kelley Casper, Alex Argo and Benjamin Nguyen were elected to the board Tuesday night.
“The board will decide the next steps,” Fuller said.
Had it been approved, the bond issue would have raised $506.4 million to help fund the district’s plan to replace some of its oldest school buildings with new ones for its 17,000-plus students in West Chester and Liberty townships.
Ross Twp. Trustee
Andrea Hatten and Don Bennett, won the two open seats for Ross Twp. trustee. This was the first time either had run for an elected office, but both have decades of experience working in government.
Hatten, the Hamilton County Coroner’s chief administrator and Bennett, the former Fairfield fire chief and acting city manager, received 32.15% and 32.07% of the vote, respectively, and separated by just two votes.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Trustee Dave Young was voted out of office on Election Day, receiving 22% of the vote and finishing third. The loss comes a couple of months after he made a controversial Facebook post this summer using a racial slur. Hatten and Bennett said that wasn’t why they ran, but it was why Anil Lukhi sought office. He finished fourth in the four-candidate race with 13.8%.
Hatten and Bennett said they won’t go into office with the intent of invoking change. However, they will be tasked with addressing the fire department fiscal issues given Ross Twp. voters rejected the levy request Tuesday.
Middletown City Council
Joe Mulligan and Paul Lolli won seats Tuesday on Middletown’s city council.
Mulligan returns to the council chambers for a third term after having served two non-consecutive terms on city council (2012-2016; 2018-2022). He told Journal-News he was “honored and humbled” by the election.
When Mulligan is back on council in January, he said his first focus is “building consensus” during strategic planning with fellow councilmembers.
Lolli, who was appointed to city council in October 2024 following the resignation of Councilman Zack Ferrell, told Journal-News he was “so appreciative” of Middletown voters “having confidence in me to continue.”
Lolli previously worked as city manager (2022-2024) and for the Middletown fire department for 32 years, rising the rank of fire chief.
Mulligan will join Lolli, Vice Mayor Steve West, Councilwoman Jennifer Carter and Mayor Elizabeth Slamka on council. Councilman Paul Horn, who was appointed in December 2023, did not seek election.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Hamilton City Council
While who will be on Hamilton City Council come January was decided on Election Day, where everyone will sit on the dais was not.
The top vote-getter of each local election will serve as the city’s vice mayor for two years. They sit to the left of the mayor. That will be either Lauren Copas Smallwood, who received five more votes than Joel Lauer.
However, with dozens of votes still to count during (both provisional and late-arriving mailed-in ballots) the Nov. 25 official run of the election, the position of vice mayor won’t be known until days before the election.
Smallwood received 23.5% of the vote with Lauer earning 23.47%, which earned him a second term on council. Councilman Tim Naab earned a fifth consecutive term by receiving 21.3% of the vote.