Here is a look at some of the top stories of 2020.
New leadership
Carlisle Deputy Mayor Brad McIntosh resigned his seat in March citing I no longer have the time to meet this commitment due to growing personal and professional obligations. McIntosh was elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017. He was replaced by local businesswoman Kim Bilbrey who will complete McIntosh’s unexpired term which ends Dec. 31, 2021.
Franklin Schools treasurer Jana Bellamy submitted her resignation in August. Bellamy, a 35-year veteran in school finance, had worked for the Franklin district for nearly 28 years. She had retired from the position and was rehired in 2015. Robert Guiffré was appointed as interim treasurer.
In January, Carlisle appointed Will Rogers; a former Middletown police sergeant, as the village’s new police chief succeeding Michael Bruck. Bruck, a former Middletown police chief, served as Carlisle’s police chief for 10 years.
Carlisle superintendent Larry Hook took a similar position in Springboro last fall. Hook was replaced by former Miamisburg superintendent David S. Vail who agreed to a one-year contract.
Franklin City Manager Sonny Lewis announced his retirement in early October ending 47 years of service to the city. Lewis started as a trash hauler for the city in 1973, rose through the ranks to public works director in 1985, before becoming interim, then permanent Franklin city manager in 2011.
Franklin City Council recently appointed fire chief Jonathan Westendorf as the new city manager beginning Jan. 1, 2021. Westendorf has been the city’s fire chief for the past 20 years.
Also retiring from Franklin were Jane McGee, longtime council clerk and administrative assistant for 39 years; and Ross Coulton after 43 years of service to the city first as a police officer rising to the rank of captain, and for the past eight years as assistant safety director.
School facilities
It may look smaller than the former Carlisle High School on Jamaica Road, but the new pre-K through 12 building is much larger than what it appears to be. The new building opened Sept. 8 and has replaced the four former buildings, most of which have been demolished on the district’s campus.
For nearly two years, between 120 and 200 people worked on the construction of the new building, a $49 million project that is two stories and 208,000 square feet.
Across the river, voters in the Franklin City School District approved by a 60% to 40% margin a 6.52-mill bond issue in the November general election for the construction of a new high school and to renovate the current high school into a new middle school as well as local initiatives. The new high school will be designed in 2021 followed by two years construction, with the opening planned for fall 2023; the new middle school is slated to open fall 2025.
The bond issue is expected to generate $66 million of the district’s share of the overall $130 million project. State funding is expected to sent to Franklin for the construction of three new elementary school buildings. In late November, the Franklin School Board approved a resolution to decrease the bond issue millage from 6.52-mills to 4.94-mills that will be due in 2021.
Other top stories
In April, a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge denied the administrative appeal by the Franklin strip club New York, New York Cabaret that was seeking to have its state liquor licenses renewed, to which the city of Franklin filed objections. Franklin City Council issued objections to the renewal of the club’s liquor licenses for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 due to the state investigation that resulted in two arrests and several citations against its liquor permit in 2017.
After years of discussions and plans, work finally began on the final 1.4-mile bike trail connection between Franklin and Middletown along Ohio 73. Construction on the $2.4 million project began last fall and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2021.
On Feb. 2, Archie Cheesman was driving the 2003 Bluebird Bus for the Franklin Church when he was killed in a two-vehicle crash at Dixie Highway and Manchester Road in Franklin Twp. The driver of the other vehicle was treated for minor injuries. The bus was owned by the Franklin Church and had 25 to 30 people on board, ranging in age from two months to 41 years, at the time of the crash, according to state troopers.
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