JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP · 2018. 7. 11. · JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP AGENDA JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, March 21, 2017 — 7:00 p.m. I. Welcome / Pledge of

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP

AGENDA JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP

BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, March 21, 2017 — 7:00 p.m.

I. Welcome / Pledge of Allegiance, President of the Board of Trustees, Trustee Roy Mann

II. Moment of Silence To Honor the Military, Firefighters, Road Workers, and Sheriffs Deputies that serve our community here and abroad.

III. Call to Order / Roll Call: Roy Mann ( ) James McGuire ( ) Russell Back ( )

IV. Special Presentations: (if any)

V. Review/Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes • None*

* If Minutes are Approved / Trustees will sign them during this Regular Meeting adopting these Minutes as part of the legal record *

VI. Fiscal Officer Report, Tracey Edwards • Finance Report

VII. Resolutions for Consideration

♦ Resolution No. 17-038 Appointing Jeffrey Sexton as the Part-Time Operations Manager for the Road and Cemetery Department

♦ Resolution No. 17-039 Authorizing the Administrator to Appoint a part-time Code Enforcement Officer

♦ Resolution No. 17-040 Extending the Moratorium on the Jefferson Township Expand A Lot Program until December 31, 2017. (Could be shortened by Resolution of the Trustees)- Attached Resolution No. 16-118 .

♦ Resolution No. 17-041 Announcement / Release of Request for Proposal (RFP) for the 2017 Vacant Lot Maintenance Program with the Request for Proposal (RFP) due date being April 4, 2017.

♦ Resolution No. 17-042 Authorizing the Trustees to purchase 16-foot lawn-care equipment trailer and optional accessories for the Road Department

♦ Resolution No. 17-043 Purchase of a 14-foot Dump Trailer and Optional Accessories for the Road Department

♦ Resolution No. 17-044 Adoption of the Compensation Plan for the Road, Bridge, Cemetery, Property and Maintenance Department for 2017

*Once Resolution is approved / Trustees will sign during the Regular Meeting *

Jefferson Township Board of Trustees Regular Meeting 3/21/17 Page 1 of 2

VIII. Department Reports • Sherriff's Department • Road Department • Fire / EMS Department • Administration

IX. Trustees' Reports I Comments • Trustee Roy Mann • Trustee James McGuire • Trustee Russell Back

X. Comments by Citizens: Citizens wishing to address the Board of Trustees "MUST" Complete a Speaker's Form Comments are limited to 3 minutes. Speakers must also sign the sign-in sheet

XI. Executive Session I. (if needed) ORC 121.22 (G)(1) To consider the appointment, employment, demotion, or compensation of public employees or officials, or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee, official, licensee or regulated individual.

Roll Call: Roy Mann ( ) James McGuire ( ) Russell Back ( )

XII. Adjourn

Note: The next Work Session is scheduled for April 4, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for April 4, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.


JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP

BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 — 7:00 p.m.

I. Welcome / Pledge of Allegiance, President of the Board of Trustees, Trustee Roy Mann

II. Moment of Silence

To Honor the Military, Firefighters, Road Workers, and Sheriff's Deputies those that serve our community here and abroad.

III. Call to Order / Roll Call: Roy Mann (yes) ) James McGuire (yes) ) Russell Back (yes ) Trustee Mann turned the Regular Meeting over to the Administrator, Mr. Woolf

IV. Special Presentations: (if any)

• Mr. Woolf opened with greeting everyone with a good evening. Commenting that it is like church and repeating good evening everyone. Adding that he is glad that everyone could come out today. It is beautiful weather, although it is raining now. There will be a short presentation. Mr. Woolf said that he wants to address all of you. Many of you have been coming to meetings since

he got here about October, and the biggest thing that he saw right away as the newest person to the team, was that the general fund was failing. The general fund, for those that don't know how the financing works in a Township, you vote a levy like you do for fire or you vote for the Sheriff,

or you vote for road; that money can only be used for that reason. When you have beyond

operations that are beyond the daily like mowing the grass, or the gas for the dump trucks or

snow plows or salt, at the present time, Jefferson has little to no general fund. Mr. Woolf noted

that Tracey informed him right away that at the end of the year you barely have any savings

account left in the Township. Noted that he doesn't know about any of the audience members but we are all pretty tight with our finances. Woolf stated that he doesn't know anybody that doesn't save a little bit of money back. The problem is that the money has not been there from

the prior elected officials plus the current, it hasn't been there. They haven't asked for money on the general fund levy for over 46 years, and that came from the Board of Elections downtown. That is a fact check that he did. Forty-six years that you never built a savings account for the

community. So when you have something like a fire engine fall apart, or something that is major

like a roadway cave in on a bridge, you have a situation where the regular funding that you voted

in for the fire, police or road will take care of the day to days but they won't take care of the big

capital improvement problems. What do you do, you go without repairing it. Sometimes that is

not an option. So then you have to borrow money. Adding that no one like to borrow money. Mr. Woolf said the reason why he says that is the Trustees thought it would be a very smart prudent to go to you and ask for a levy. It is a general levy on the general fund, it's called Issue 16, and they just issued the number. Here is the focus that they are using for that money, asking how many, by show of hands, are worried about the grass, the high weeds and the vacant homes here in Jefferson Township. Adding that it is a mess in agreement with a resident. Woolf stated

that it is a problem, it got here over 30 years, and it did not happen within one. It has been

building and it has gotten to be worse of a problem as the economy has failed and General

Motors left town, a lot of homes were vacant. Dayton has over 20K, we have about 450 - 500. The average tear down of a home, if it doesn't have asbestos or environmental problems is $15K

just to tear down one building. If it has been burnt out, and we have houses sitting around the

Township that have been burned up, those are more expensive because the soot and the result of that fire has caused a hazardous material site and now the soil has to be removed. Now you are looking at a home of about $20K. Mr. Woolf continued to say that on top of that you now have the legal fees to try to get a hold of that home through foreclosure, which takes about 13 months,


if you are lucky. Here is our problem, we can't, Mr. Woolf explained that we symbolizes you, you

can't tear this stuff down fast enough. There was some grant money and the Trustees went to

bat and they saved us from losing it. We are going to be tearing down at least 15 homes this

summer. That is a start, it is a dent, and that was free money. A lot of times there is grant money

out there but it takes a match. In other words, they ask the local community to match this much

money to get this much money. Right now, Woolf said, the Township does not have that money

to match. They are not allowed to use the money out of the road fund, fire fund, or the police

fund for those matches; it has to come from the general fund. It is not easy to ask for a levy. Mr.

Woolf implied that he hates levies; he flat out doesn't want to pay any. Adding that he can't

stand them. But the thing is, when you think about 46 years, and you think about what you have

today in the neighborhood, which is your blighted houses that are there, if we get anymore, and

the ones that are already there aren't torn down, where is Jefferson Township going? It's not

about going like your neighbors and looking like your neighbors, it is an environmental problem, a

safety hazard for our children that go in and out of these places, you've got vagrants, and you've

got drug abusers going on in these homes. Mr. Woolf stated that we've got to do something with

this. The second problem that you all have is that you have high grass and high weeds. Mr. Woolf

asked how many people know at least one lot that wasn't mowed last year. A whole bunch of

you. There was a little bit of money last year, something in the range of $4,600 to mow grass.

That only lasted roughly, half of the year. Soon as they ran out of money, they couldn't mow

grass anymore. The Trustees have a plan and they are going to talk about it later on tonight to try

to counteract some of this stuff with what little money they have to work with. The reason for

this levy that we are requesting is to clean up Jefferson. Mr. Woolf added that he is going to read

off the wording that you are going to see on the ballot because it just doesn't say for general fund

purposes. Some people think that the general fund is a cash cow and that the elected official

gets to go home with a big pay check. Woolf said that he will be honest, it is not. If you don't

have that savings account and your community suffers one big blow, you are really going to be

hurting for a long time to come.

Mr. Woolf stated that here is sort of the wording that the Board of Elections allowed us to file the

levy at: 3.75 Mil to the general fund purposes, for the purpose of tearing down blighted and

vacant properties, cleaning up trash and dumping sites and for the beautification of Jefferson

Township. The money if focused for those three things. They have barely enough money to hire a

Code Enforcement Officer, adding that tonight; Mr. Woolf is putting through a resolution to at

least hire a part-time person, that is a police officer that can go out into the field and actually start

working on these properties that are vacant, blighted, and all the above. Also that person is part

of the FBI, so that talent will help us, even though we don't have an officer or policeman

department here, it will help tie with the County Sheriff and they have programs that they have

been wanting to bring into Jefferson for a long time to help with blighted properties and they

weren't permitted, according to the Sheriff, to come here. Mr. Woolf added that we are going to

be working on these options. They are doing what they can with what limited budget they have.

The same Code Enforcement Officer that we are going to bring forth is also a dual role. They are

going to also mow grass, so they are not going to sit in here with a suit on all day; they are going

to be out there mowing grass in the neighborhood and citing the blighted property that are right

next to it. Woolf stated that it is really a smart move to share money and share duties. That gets

that person in the field instead of sitting in the office. The levy itself, there are about 8-9 things

that Woolf has spoken about and he wants to highlight what it's going to be used for. Grass and

excess weeds that are on properties, vacant / nuisance properties, and code enforcement issues.

Woolf asked how many know a junk car lot that has been abandoned in the Township

somewhere. As far as we can tell nobody has taken action on these places. This does take legal,

and the help from the Sheriff's office and our attorneys, it does not happen overnight, and

sometimes you are just darn unsuccessful. But if you don't try, you will never clean it up. Mr.

Woolf continued by saying trash and dumping. One of the biggest problems that Jefferson has is


people coming into the Township and dumping. Even though we are only 1 — 2 miles from a

landfill, they dump here because they may have a criminal record and the dump sites have cameras and they now watch the people coming into the dump site. People with a bad history don't dump at the dump site for $1. They do it in Jefferson and other Townships that are

available to do it. General fund problems, as Woolf mentioned, there is no rainy day fund, the

money is flat. The Trustees here have not overspent the money; the prior Trustees did not overspend the money as far as he can tell for the last couple of years. It is flat. Adding that it is not your fault either folks, it is that property values went down, the economy went down, so the collections on your levies go down. Every time you get a neighbor that leaves the neighborhood, leaves a house vacant, that one more tax non-paying property that you have to make up for. The Trustees will confirm with me, we have one house that is $103K in back taxes on it, believe it or not. Why that happened, Mr. Woolf said, he has no idea, they have not had time to investigate, but that shouldn't have gone 2 — 5 years, that house should have gone into

foreclosure. Instead it has gone on for years. That house has no windows in it, it is vacant, and

the trees are growing up through the floor inside. When you talk about the fire department, Chief would confirm, we put all of our people, our males and our females, we put them in harm's way

to go out here and attack fires on vacant homes. There are some drug incidents where they set up booby traps, you might have heard the story they do this around the country, they go in and actually get hurt or whatever, and it is innocent firefighters going into a building to save "what". If we can get those things off the ground, again it takes a long time, and if we don't get the wheels

spinning, you are never going to be able to do anything to clean up. Those who live in the rural areas, those that have farms, you wonder why your Current Agriculture Use Value (CAUV) continue to go up. There is combination of good soil, you have

great soil here, and a combination of high yields in the past, and you all know that reason. Woolf continued to say, also, your property values are going to flat line here in the next year or two

when they do the new CAUV evaluation because the other property values in the Township here

have gone down. That may sound good to you but when you lose property value on your

buildings, in short-term you pay less taxes, long-term is that your land isn't as valuable anymore.

Woolf stated that we have issues. We got slapped with the Ohio EPA Storm water program which is brand new. It started at Washington, DC with the cities, then it went to the villages and now it's knocking on the door of all Townships. They are requiring Townships like Jefferson, to manage the storm water run-off of

all properties. That's every tube, every ditch, every swell, if you've got a swell in your yard where you cut it, that's controlled by the EPA now. We are stuck with a $10K bill per year and we don't

know how we are going to pay for it. There is no way to get out of it. We have a Township in

Montgomery County that challenged it, now they are being sued by the EPA for non-compliance.

This was a 10-year requirement, 10 years ago and it never really got addressed here in

Montgomery County and now all of the Townships are being faced with this problem. Woolf said

we went out, and the Trustees had faith in him, as he got this deal done with the Montgomery County Soil & Water District to be our manager of our run-offs. They are located up on Diamond Mill Road. If we were stuck with a consultant that the EPA was telling us we had to use, we would

have been stuck with close to $35K per year. Noting that our general fund, confirming with Tracey, with the new money every year is about $200K to run everything in the Township and now $10K goes out the window. That is another reason why this levy is truly needed. It is not

something that we want to get into your pocket books at all, Mr. Woolf said.

The biggest thing is in what direction you want Jefferson Township to go. As many people are so involved with the land use plan with Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, and so many

people participated in the school meetings, many of you are here are very responsible for that

plan. You have got to institute that plan to make the community better no matter where you live,

north, south, east or west, if you don't balance the community somehow financially, you are subject to more annexation. It's not right or wrong for those that do it, but every time you lose


an inch off of your Township, there is less money that they can operate your services at. That

means less coverage for your fire department, less road work, because you have less people

paying into the pot. In a nut shell, Mr. Woolf said, there will be a meeting coming up, that we are going to invite all of you to come to, if you would like to come. This is for you to voice your

concerns, or give your support. It is very important that this levy gets looked at very closely. Go home and look at your own pocket book and realize that it is not and inexpensive offer but at the

same time is it worth investing in Jefferson. And you have to make that personal decision

yourself. The community truly needs this money not that they like to paint a pretty picture, they

need it. Woolf said that we have all raised our hands about specific issues but you can't get it all

done overnight because it's something that has happened over 20 years, we can at least get

started. Concluded that is his presentation tonight. Mr. Woolf thanked the Trustees.

V. Review/Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes

Mr. Woolf asked if there were any minutes to approve for the night. Tracey responded that there were none for the night. * If Minutes are Approved / Trustees will sign them during this Regular Meeting adopting these Minutes as part of the legal

record*

VI. Fiscal Officer Report, Tracey Edwards

Tracey began by saying that she provided reports on the table, most likely they are out. She provided the

Trustees with a report and asked if they have any questions. Added that she doesn't have anything besides

that. Trustees commented that they did not have any questions.

Motion by Trustee McGuire to approve the fiscal officer report and payment of bills; seconded by Trustee

Back Roll Call: Roy Mann (yes) James McGuire (yes) Russell Back (yes)

VII. Resolutions for Consideration

Resolution No. 17 -038 Appointing Jeffrey Sexton as the Part-Time Operations Manager for the Road and

Cemetery Department

• Mr. Woolf stated that some of you may not know but our current Superintendent is off on sick

leave for an extended period of time. There was snow that was pending the last couple of times

and we needed to get some help. We found Mr. Jeffrey Sexton, the retied Road Superintendent /

Cemetery Department from the City of Clayton. He was also, prior to that with Randolph

Township when they merged into the city. Prior to that he has worked for another Township.

Those gentlemen came on part-time to help us during this time. Although we have to make an

official hiring. Mr. Woolf asked for a motion on this resolution.

Motion by Trustee McGuire to approve Resolution No. 17-038; seconded by Trustee Back.

Roll Call: Roy Mann (yes) James McGuire (yes) Russell Back (yes)

Resolution No. 17 -039 Authorizing the Administrator to Appoint a part-time Code Enforcement Officer

• Mr. Woolf added that the Code Enforcement Officer position is also involving part-time road. So as

when he is not doing code enforcement, the person will be mowing the grass and also in the winter

time be an extra person for snow plow driving or working with the road department. The person

that has agreed to come here and go to work will also agree to wear all of those hats.

Motion by Trustee Back to approve Resolution No. 17-039; seconded by Trustee McGuire.


Resolution No. 17 -040 Extending the Moratorium on the Jefferson Township Expand A Lot Program until

December 31, 2017. (Could be shortened by Resolution of the Trustees)- Attached Resolution No. 16-118.

• Mr. Woolf stated that he discussed in the work session today about this. Presently those that didn't

know in the community, the Township had an Expand Your Lot Program and we found that many

issues that were legally, and other mistakes that were made with the program. So we put a

moratorium on the program. We didn't end it, we put a moratorium on it until we could work with


legal counsel to correct or fix those legal issues. There are some that are outstanding as well and

some that are present. They have not all been resolved because it takes time. Because of all of that,

the Trustees felt like they should extend this until they got all legal activity taken care of and to protect the tax payers before they decided what to do with the program. This moratorium is just

extending the existing one until the end of the year or until you Trustees decide that you want to go

back to a new normal or whatever you want to do. Woolf asked if anyone wanted to put forth this resolution.

Motion by Trustee Back to approve Resolution No. 17-040; seconded by Trustee McGuire.


Resolution No. 17 -041 Announcement / Release of Request for Proposal (RFP) for the 2017 Vacant Lot Maintenance Program with the Request for Proposal (RFP) due date being April 4, 2017.

• Woolf: In the past there has been some request for quotes to mow your yards and your lots in the

Township. They have not been extended to everyone. This is a Request for Proposal where any

contactor with a certain criteria like insurance paper work or workers compensation, there are a lot

of requirements, they get to bid on this. They don't bid, they just give a proposal. The Trustees then

can choose from multiple proposals, they can hire them all, they can hire some, or they can hire

none. That is part of an RFP, which is different from an RFQ which is where you have a bid or quote

and you can only pick one person. It's not healthy only to have one contractor because you run in to

issues where that contractor didn't finish the job because they are busy or on vacation and the yards

continue to grow. With an active Code Enforcement Officer managing this program, out in the field

with the mower himself, there is going to be better control over what gets mowed ad what doesn't. Woolf stated that one of the things he noticed while driving around as he has been on every road in

the Township, a lot of them have big trees that are up through the middle of the vacant lots. That

means that they haven't been mowed. They should have been knocked out and mowed a long time

ago. That little seedling has become a big tree. Part of this here is putting a bid out to ask any

contractor to come on, those that have helped us last year, and give everybody a chance for a Fair

proposal for the Trustees to decide. This is a pro-business program and Woolf thinks that the

Trustees are in favor of that.

Motion by Trustee McGuire to approve Resolution No. 17-041; seconded by Trustee Mann.


Resolution No. 17 -042 Authorizing the Trustees to purchase 16-foot lawn-care equipment trailer and

optional accessories for the Road Department

• In evaluation of the equipment, the Trustees looked at the equipment to see what is needed today

and down the road at what is needed at a later date. Presently there are no trailers in the road

department. They were sold last fall, so we have no way of transporting a lawn mower to a job site.

• Trustee McGuire commented we put a roundabout number there so that there is no GSA pricing to

buy a trailer so we have to work off of what is available. Just in case we don't have enough this gives

us plenty to get the trailer and get us going with that. There is one amendment that dump trailer

should be lawn trailer. Motion by Trustee McGuire to approve Resolution No. 17-042; seconded by Trustee Back.


Resolution No. 17 -043 Purchase of a 14-foot Dump Trailer and Optional Accessories for the Road

Department

• Mr. Woolf added that this resolution is a two- fold use as Trustee Back and his wife were out

there with other community members to do the neighborhood clean-up. We used the dump

trucks to throw our items into. It is a lot easier when you have multiple volunteers to help clean

up the neighborhood and have some type of dump trailer so that you can dump the product and


the tires and the furniture or whatever. This is a multiuse vehicle that could haul a lawnmower, tree limbs can be put into it, or it can be used as trash pickup.

Motion by Trustee McGuire to approve Resolution No. 17-043; seconded by Trustee Mann.


Resolution No. 17 -044 Adoption of the Compensation Plan for the Road, Bridge, Cemetery, Property and Maintenance Department for 2017

• One of the things on our Audit Review for 2015 said that we need to declare our salaries for our employees. Something that the Township didn't know it should be doing, assumed Mr. Woolf. That is one of the things that will meet our criteria of many things that the Auditor says we need to improve on. As part of this resolution we are establishing what the rate scales are. Up until

now, there were no rate scales so you kind of picked out of the air on what you wanted to hire somebody at. The fire departments had a scale, or at least a starting pay level but the other

departments have not. We are trying to make things uniform and to meet the code.

• Tracey asked how the different levels of road employees are determined. Is it by years of service or experience? Mr. Woolf answered level of experience; also there will be job descriptions for each of those. There is also certain criterion. Adding that when you come to a job somewhere, you want to see progression as we have talked about that in the fire department a lot. When you are hired part-time for the smaller wages, you can afford to pay here verses the cities around us, for us to be competitive and find a good employee to come here we have to show some type of progression. Even if they never become the superintendent someday, it is a motivation for the

worker. Up until now, Mr. Woolf said, there hasn't been those opportunities. There hasn't been a scale or a step, so we lose our employees. We probably lost maybe 20-25 employees that

haven't stayed here with the road department. Woolf stated he is hoping to slow that down to

reduce it to little or no exits out of the road department by giving people fair pay with a good track of what they can do career wise. The best of all worlds is somebody stays here forever. Woolf stated that he things the world and jobs change every day. Notes that he appreciates Tracey bringing that up.

Motion by Trustee McGuire to approve Resolution No. 17-044; seconded by Trustee Back. Roll Call: Roy Mann (yes) James McGuire (yes) Russell Back (yes)

Resolution No. 17 -045 Appointing Miami Valley Lighting to install an additional street light on Kimmel Ln.

• Trustee Back said that it was brought to his attention that the lighting wasn't sufficient in that

particular area. There is a little valley in the street; there are cars that are parked along the road

like a blind spot. Noted he assessed the area and felt like it needed a street light.

• Mr. Woolf added that one of the other things that he and Trustee Back did was to meet with the Miami Valley Lighting Company who owns all street lights in the Township. The Township owns

no street lights, it's all owned by the company. They used to be a division of DP&L. They have been sold off and own their own entity. They own the street lights in almost 100% of all the communities in Montgomery County. You have to negotiate with them and are pretty much stuck with their rates. There is not a lot of negotiation. Woolf stated we have a lot of dark areas, as Trustee Back noticed that, in some parts of the Township, some areas that have crime. And

because there is no street light, or someone has shot the street light out, we can't protect the

other residents in that neighborhood. The Sheriff has suggested, in due time, that we evaluate

where street lights are, should we add more, and again the money for that would normally come

from your lighting fund but that general fund levy can help support that to help brighten up

Jefferson. Not only do you have a blight issue, you have a light issue in a lot of the

neighborhoods. Motion by Trustee Back to approve Resolution No. 17-045; seconded by Trustee McGuire.


*Once Resolution is approved / Trustees will sign during the Regular Meeting *


VIII. Department Reports • Sheriff's Department — Mr. Woolf stated that the Sheriffs was not able to attend.

• Road Department — Mr. Woolf added that Craig is out and our new Operations Manager is at a County Engineer Meeting tonight getting caught up on spring mowing rules.

• Fire / EMS Department — Chief Larry Sexton

-Chief began by saying there is a flyer from the Premier Health Department on Friday, April 7 th, from 9am — 4pm, they will be bringing the mobile mammography lab to the parking lot of Jefferson Township Administration Office. If anyone hasn't done their yearly mammography you

can come over here and get it done right here in the parking lot. There are flyers in the back if anyone would like to have one. - Chief said that he has the Ford Taurus, the Battalion Chief's car, finally went defunct on us where it just wouldn't go any longer. Noted that they stripped it down and took it across the street to Cohens, just a note, they have had that vehicle for two years and paid $500 for it, and got $266 back from across the street. Adding that is wasn't half bad for $266 for two years of service.

• Administrator—Steve Woolf

- Noted he has a couple of things to share to the Trustees and the public tonight. Asking if anyone lives in the Taft Area. Tomorrow will be day two of the clean-up. Montgomery County is bringing

out the Juvenile Court to kids and they have been there once, and they will be there again

tomorrow between 1:00pm — 3:30pm. If you want to see some clean-up going on, just drive by. Woolf added that it is a heck of a program and Jefferson pays $0 for them to come here. We are sending our road department gentlemen out with the dump truck to help them but we are getting those programs focused on Jefferson right now. Woolf said that he was in a meeting today down at the McMuff Building in Moraine and they talked about 6-7 programs that could come here to help us try to clean up our trash. There is a lot of it; unfortunately there is a lot of it in the thicket

areas like fish that get caught in the fish net. We have to figure out how to cut down some of that residuous stuff. If anybody wants to see the clean up going on, just drive by Taft, and be careful

because they are bringing out about 35 kids. Woolf commented that it is really a neat program.

- Woolf stated to the Trustees that he would try to find areas that maybe there is money available

to reimburse you for different services. He found out that, for a long time, the insurance

company that we have has been offering a service that will pay up to $25 for our drug testing. Chief knows that he sends his staff from time to time for random testing we were baring 100% of that cost. Now Woolf said he has been able to find a way to save $25 toward every one of those

costs. - We utilize the Sheriff's Department for every one of the driving records but they do reimburse us for $8.50 for every driving record that we would run on a new hire. That's something to

consider keeping our cost down when we are trying to interview new employees here.

-Woolf stated that we have good news from our Workers Compensation Group; the State of Ohio

is going to be returning up to $1 Billion dollars back to Ohio employers for 2017. He states he

doesn't know what our percentage will be that we get back, but we are going to get a refund

because we put in for it, it's almost like a grant. And we were rewarded money back on our BWC. This is a onetime opportunity, but any money paid into the State that we can get back is a bonus. -Mr. Woolf said he wants to thank the Neighborhood Association. They applied for a grant in favor of Jefferson Township under the Montgomery County Beautiful Grant. It is up to $1K to buy

planting, plants and flowers, to plant at our facilities here. They have chosen the Township building here and Station #59. Sheila Back,(Mr. Woolf acknowledged her) adding that she is very

instrumental in getting this grant applied and Woolf stated that he heard we are probably going to receive it. Noting that they talked about the grant in the middle of the meeting that he

attended.


-Mr. Woolf passed out information to Tracey saying that the company wants some information

and things like our Tax ID#. Concluding that is all he has this evening for his Administrator report.

IX. Trustees' Reports / Comments

• Trustee Roy Mann — Passed on reports for comments by citizens

• Trustee James McGuire — Noted that he has nothing tonight

• Trustee Russell Back — Announced in light of the rain event that is supposed to happen this weekend, we are going to have to postpone our Township clean-up. Another date will be set and flyer will be sent out of the new date that it will take place.

-Mr. Woolf said there are flyers on the table and flyers on the wall of the Montgomery County

Commissioners have called for a Public Township Hall meeting about the Fairground Project. They as well as the Fairground Board will be sending representatives to talk to you and give a

presentation. This will be held at Jefferson High School Gymnasium, help on Thomas Jefferson

Birthday, of all things, Mr. Woolf mentioned. Thursday, April 13 th , 6:30pm. This is your chance to

come and listen to what has already transpired and what they are going to be moving into. The

Trustees here can't really comment much because they are not involved. This is something that

was early on, and that is why the Town Hall meeting was called by Joe Tusck, the Administrator,

as well as the County Commissioner. Woolf said that he doesn't know who all is coming from the

County for the meeting, they just said the County Officials. Invites all of you to come that evening.

For some reason that it would be cancelled, you can be notified by looking at our website. Look at

that website that is where the announcements are. Mr. Woolf said take a flyer, if you have

neighbors, friends, and church friends, please take a whole stack. We just want everybody to

have a chance to listen to what they have to say about the project.

X. Comments by Citizens:

Citizens wishing to address the Board of Trustees "MUST" Complete a Speaker's Form Comments are limited to 3 minutes. Speakers must also sign the sign-in sheet

1. Mr. Woolf noted that we have 10 speakers tonight. Starting with Charles Payne that lives at 8475

Stacey Road, Jefferson Township resident and the form states that he wants to talk about roads.

Reminding that the floor is open for 3 minutes.

Mr. Payne started by saying he doesn't care how many new vehicles JT gets or what they get, if you don't

replace Craig Howell, you are wasting your time. He has spent more money and threw more things away

in this Township than he has ever made. If he stays on, you guys won't be able to get enough money to

keep your business. He does as much damage to the roads; if Payne says they want to ride he will show

them.

No comments by the Trustees. Mr. Woolf thanked Mr. Payne for his comments.

2. Mary Johnson, 4925 Tenshaw Drive. Was hoping that you would be able to elaborate on the Miami

Valley Regional Planning Commission Award that was collaborating with Jefferson Township.

Trustee Mann stated that we are glad to have been in the mix of receiving this award. What we decided

as a Board was that from a money stand point, we don't have the funds to pay for Trustees to go to New

York to receive that award. So we choose to not go and let them bring that award back. They are going

to be sending two individuals.

Mary said that you are actually saying, one of the most prestigious award that any MPO could receive in

the nation of the United States because the director stated in his 28 years, talking about Director Brian

Martin, they have never been a party to receiving such a prestigious award. So you are saying that there


will be no representative from Jefferson Township by any ways to be present when they are presented with this award in New York. So that's what you are saying.

Trustee Mann replied, yes, that is what we are saying.

Mary said that she wants to elaborate a little bit. Because a lot of you here, were participants in the

strategic land use plan that was in 2014. And the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission worked

with us, they sent their experts to assist us, they helped us to convene all types of meetings that you all

participated in, you came here, you went to the church of St. Peters on Kimmel Lane and you also

participated on West Third Street at the Lutheran Church. Where we determined what we were going to

do to create the vision of the Township. And they worked very hard with us sharing all of that and it did

not cost the Township one red cent. The only thing it took was elbow grease from us to get together, participate, make a decision as to what we were going to do as community and move forward. And they

moved forward, they helped us complete it, it took a year. Then when the opportunity came for them to

apply for recognition for this work, it was finally granted. So you are saying there is not going to be a witness.

Trustee Mann said you know it cost money to go to New York.

Mary responded that it is only 24 hours. You go up on Saturday and come home on Sunday don't you.

Apologizing for interrupting, adding that she is sure if we passed a hat, we can accumulate, if each person

gave $5, you would have enough to assist with going to that event. So that you can be a witness to this

prestigious award.

Trustee Mann: there are some other days that are going to be involved. Began by saying there again,

Jefferson Township (interrupted by Mary Johnson)

Trustee McGuire said that Mrs. Johnson, your three minutes are up.

Mary Johnson said she has another question, who are the partners to represent Jefferson Township with

the fair board? (Asked to explain the question by Trustee McGuire) Johnson said the fair board has an

interest of putting the fairgrounds in Jefferson Township. What are the benefits for Jefferson Township

and how are they detailed, is there any revenue affiliated or associated with this plan? What will happen

to the Fisher Park if they decide to put the fairgrounds there? What are the entrances and the exits of the

roads? Will the roads be repaired? What are the benefits? What is the fine print on the documents that

says they are considering this proposal?

Mr. Woolf said that he will comment as the Trustees have had him contact the county. There has been no

plan brought forth. There has been no firm hired to do the plan by the fair board. The county is just now

surveying the land before they decide how they are going to distribute the land.

Mary Johnson: Is there some partner, with Jefferson Township to also assist with the best interest of the

Township?

Woolf: Yes, the legal counsel the Trustees are talking about trying to hire legal counsel to represent the

Township in that case. So all your interests are protected. The hiring of a legal firm that specializes to

defend the community on these issues. Mary Johnson asked as in a development firm? Woolf answered

no, it is like an attorney firm that represents communities when it comes to any development. It doesn't

matter if it is the fairgrounds, it could be a factory, it could be a tool & die shop, it could be a distribution

warehouse, or it could be a restaurant. Our legal counsel with the county can only provide us with so

much, and when you have the legal counsel also doing possibly the sale of land of a park they own 100%.

The Township owns nothing of Arthur Fisher Park. You have to have a third legal counsel to protect the

residents in this Township.


Woolf: One of the things that the Sheriff does is, this is a different division than the Sheriff's that respond to our houses when there is a call; they team up with the Montgomery County Combined Health District.

They have a criminal division as well where they send out investigators and they actually get in to the

water protections and all of that. Officer Dingy can bring that person out with her and at least examine

what you have. Today, drones are allowed to be used and they own a drone. It might be able to fly over

the property and see what is there. Said that he will have Officer Dingy call Madonna as her telephone

number is on the speakers request form. It might be the first of next week when she calls because you

will recognize her name. It's Officer Dingy. (Madonna added that she will add her cell phone number)

Madonna Marable: Wanted to add to what Mary said, she lives on Dayton Liberty Road and they are really confused when they turn on the TV and heard Mr. McGuire say that, almost like it was the best

thing since apple pie or sliced bread, that the fairgrounds are going to be moved to Judge Arthur Fisher Park. A couple of weeks ago she heard and read that there were properties like Trotwood, out there by

Hara Arena, Vandalia, or Jefferson Township, and then when she saw McGuire on TV she was shocked.

There was no process, no proposal, no communication, it was like a disregard. She said that she is going

to tell you all what we want and need. Said that she is a lifelong resident out here. And she was really

taken back on that and really confused. Said that she is like Mrs. Mary, what is the process? It's almost

like it is kind of backwards. She is confused about the flyer, how can we have an information meeting and

it's something that is a done deal, stamped, done. It seems like the process was disregarded here

because she has followed this for the last few years and every other community had the respect and

regard for their citizens to bring it to them first before you just announce this is what is happening. This is

not fair, there is a sanctuary down the street where we walk, there are mature adults and children play.

You have Nicholas Treatment Center, what about those children out there. How is it going to impact them? You have the fishing pond, you have the buildings that people rent.

Woolf: It is not. It must go through the Board of Zoning Appeals process so there is some confusion out

there. That's why when he attended the meeting today; he told them that we have to have a meeting for

the people. If there is any confusion, it should be settled that day, whether it is good, bad, or ugly. You

will be able to ask all of the questions, vent all of the concerns, and everyone will be able to speak. Ask

questions, all of them will be sitting there to answer your questions. You have got to realize he is not

defending anyone on the fair board or anyone, but you have got to realize these folks have been looking

around for at least three years. But now he is told this story that this started 42 years ago. They started

looking for sites over 42 years ago. The fact of that it was a longtime Board member that told him that.

Even if it has been 15 years ago, they have been venting these questions well before now. So when they

think they have decided on a place, they are going to be excited. So the media is going to jump all over it

because they have got nothing else to report. You have a process, every community has a process and

they must follow that process.

Woolf said he doesn't mean to be disrespectful but he needs to say something, these folks have never

seen a proposal yet. These Trustees have no idea. They don't know what it is going to look like, all these

questions you are asking, they also want to know. (Discussion of going to the media about the

fairgrounds being a done deal)

Trustee McGuire: Responded what are you going to say, no I don't want a $15 Million dollar

development? Having been involved with the strategic land use project, that 100 citizens sat in on, there

were citizens that wanted the fair here, it's in this report. (Holding up the Jefferson Township Strategic

Plan) They want agritourism, they want to attract new businesses, they want to give a reason to clean-up

Jefferson Township and gets at least enough economy going out here to cover our tax base. (Citizen

mumbles Amen) This project, the way that he sees it, in his opinion, it's probably going to take care of 30

items in this document and take care of two major goals.

Madonna Marable asked what it that document and do we have the ability to have access to that as the

citizens out here. Knowing the pros and cons as Mary said about the access points, what are the risks and


Mary Johnson: Asked if Jefferson has already retained someone?

Woolf: No, they have not yet because there has not been a proposal brought to Jefferson Township.

Mary you know there is a BZA process and they have not even contacted the Township about that

process. So you can't speculate, you shouldn't speculate, you can think in your own mind what you are worried about, as we are all worried about things.

Mary Johnson: Let me just interrupt you here, says that she is not here to be confrontational. Said that

she is here to represent and to understand the rumors. Because the only thing she got is when someone

called her up and said did you hear what they said on TV. Which she had not heard. Then the next thing

she saw was an article thinks there were two articles, in the newspaper. So she thought, in her mind, that

if there was this entertainment of working with the fairground board, that the people would be notified, if that was such the case and that we could talk about it in some way about how it would be in the best

interest of the Township. Adding that because she did not have that she said well let her go ask her

questions.

Woolf: Stated that he is glad she did and stated that he respects that. That's why the Town Hall meeting

was called. He made the suggestion that they should consider that because they need to be as

transparent and clear about what they want to do. Stated he is not speaking for the fair board but they

are very good people. He wanted to say they are not in that process yet. The newspapers like to

speculate. They have been at 12 different sites and he has seen this movement from community to

community and there is never a 100% plan put forward. So you hear from the paper and the paper wants

to sell papers. Adding that he is not for or against, he is simple saying, Mary there is nothing saying to

this Board of Trustees legally and there is a process to follow. Answering the question from Mary

Johnson, will we be informed of the process? Mr. Woolf said the process is already set and they have to

approach the Board of Zoning Appeals and then the process starts. You know that as a former Trustee.

Mary Johnson: Saying because she didn't find out anything from our leaders. There was no way for her to

know anything that had been done.

Woolf: They can't make a comment on something they don't know anything about.

Mary Johnson: If they have a process, then they can say this is the process, we are going to approach the

board and the Zoning Board.

Trustee McGuire: Informed Mrs. Johnson that there is a meeting being held and they can address her

questions there.

Mary Johnson: Stated sir, you represent the people of the Township and you are an elected official and

she is here to find out questions about answers that will affect all of us in the Township. Thinks the

questions that she is asking are legitimate.

Trustee McGuire: You have had the floor for 10 minutes. We have 10 people that need to speak.

Mary Johnson: Thank you very much sir.

Mr. Woolf: Thank you Mary. Jana Fischer, 2100 Liberty Ellerton Road

Jana: You kind of addressed my question when you talked about the houses before. Because where are

the houses that are on your list. Between Union Road & Liberty Ellerton on Dayton Liberty, there are four

houses within that block that are literally caving in every day. Are they on your list for attention or what's

going to happen with those?


Mr. Woolf: Drove by them today. Added that he is going to address that because it has been one of his biggest jobs since he got here. Trying to inventory what we have. There was no inventory here of what was vacant, what was owned by the Township already, and what needs to be torn down. We are putting this list together. Prior to his arrival there were two areas of the Township for federal money that they call declared NIP Zone. National Improvement Project Areas. Those areas get the funding. So when the Land Bank came along with some money to tear down the homes, they had the stipulation that they had

to be inside of those areas. What he is exploring now is something that he really can't say anything about

until he knows. He has asked them to take an NIP Zone for the whole Township. So if you are out on Diamond Mill Road and there's a house out there or on Union Road and it's in the middle of a rural area,

you should have the same opportunity to tear that one house down as we have up here around Taft or one of these other roads. We have close to 500 homes that are vacant. So when you talk about your four, multiply it times 100. If you think about a thirteen month process, to get one into yours hands to tear down, we are talking about a long arduous process. To answer your question, those properties are

on the list. Those are the easy ones to see. What happens is if somebody, say that $103K home, we want to foreclose on, if they pay $1, the process starts all over again and the County accepts that $1. That's why that property continues to amass taxes on it. It's not a commercial property it is a home. Again, to answer your question, it is on the list, but when the Township can get to it will be dependent on federal

money and if you folks invest in your community through the Levy, it can start walking that way. It's not

going to tear them all down, and in our lifetime we may not see them all down, but if you don't try, you

will have five or six there because it will be people that don't want to live next to them.

Jana Fischer: That is the problem, that whole area is getting so...there are a couple of houses there for sale but who is going to want to buy a house when every house in that area is falling apart.

Woolf: One of the things is when a house goes into probate, all projects where you are trying to get the property is off. So in other words, we had one that they were working on, have been working on before Woolf got here, and they were almost in month 12, all threw to getting it, and it went into probate. So all

that work went out the window. Added that he is not trying to be difficult folks or trying to give you bad

news, just saying these are the things and it is not as easy as going out there and hiring a contractor to

tear them all down. He would love to say let's go hire someone and tear them all down. But the minute

we get on a property and we don't have the authority to be there, we are trespassing and we can be sued

by the bank or whoever holds the property. They may be happy we tore it down and now they have a free lot, clean, we did all of the work, your tax dollars did it all, but they get to retain the property and continue to stay in foreclosure. Stating that he knows which four Jana are talking about, they are on the

list.

Trustee McGuire: There is a house next to Mrs. Shackleford, can't think of the address, it is a burned out

shell. Noted that he met with her and it is on his list of submittals that he would like to see come down.

He sees that one that is collapsing in all of the time. He doesn't like the one that is by the garage at the

corner by the fire station, something needs to be done with that.

Jana Fischer: That one is really bad with the fire station being there and when you talk about the

community and paramedics that looks terrible. And the caving in garage. Added that she didn't even

count that one.

Woolf: You said something that is very crucial, very important, who wants to buy those other two homes

on Union when you have four of them there. As visitors come through this community, they may buy, but if they see that, they are not buying. So we have another two properties that will not get there. It's a

tough thing but thanks for bringing your concerns and those are on the list.


Our next speaker is Madonna Marable, 5145 Dayton Liberty Road (apologizing if he mispronounced name) asked if she could start out with the illegal dumping and then go to her topic for discussion of the fair, if she doesn't mind.

Madonna Marable: Good evening everyone. Spoke about her and her next door neighbors for almost 60

years. Mr. Toles and herself. She lives at 5145 Dayton Liberty Road and they are at 5071 Dayton Liberty Rd. They are shortly a little ways down the street from her. There is an illegal dump that has been there

across the street from she and Mr. Toles and they have watched it for years and years. She wants to know when and what somebody is going to do about it. It is not a big lot but people go in and out of there all of the time.

Woolf: He is new, is this the first time you have brought this issue to the Trustees?

Madonna Marable: For her, this is the first time. Except for when she put it on the website in the

comments and no one has gotten back to her last week. States she is sure this isn't the first time that somebody has mentioned it.

Trustee McGuire: He knows one reason why is because there is the reply address that goes to somebody

that is no longer with the Township and he has put in a request to get that fixed. He went through and was looking at the website and noticed the reply in the comments section went back to our previous administrators email. That is probably why you haven't gotten a reply.

Madonna Marble: thinks that Mr. Yarborough in the community, not sure if he owns the property now or not.

Woolf: Here is what we can do, again, this has been programs that Montgomery County has offered for a

long time and claims they have never been utilized. There is a full-time Sheriff Deputy that is assigned to

illegal dumping. They put up cameras, they do all of the prosecution, strictly this person is only in charge

of catching dumpers. We can put them on that problem immediately. She can be out there next week and she can come visit with you. Her name is Officer Dingy. She was at the meeting today. Her sole job is to help the western side of Montgomery County clean-up from dumpers and take on dumps. It is amazing where their criminal investigation starts and that's normally how they catch a dumper. They will find a criminal history of who is dumping there and that gets them onto the property legally and then they are

able to try to eradicate the problem. The biggest problem you run into with properties like that is that it is a sixth person that lives out of state that owns the property and these are all somebody that doesn't

even live there are dumping. Stated he can make contact with Madonna and Officer Dingy right away for

her to make a visit if she likes that. The officer came to him the first week that he was on the job and

knocked on the door and came in and said I want to help you guys. He said that he commented that she

(Dingy) should have already been here. She stated that she really never got encouraged to be here. Stating that she had been doing all of the other Townships in Montgomery County but not here. Woolf

said he told Officer Dingy to come on in. And she is part of the reason we have had two prison groups come through and clean-up the neighborhoods. That is where the juveniles are coming in tomorrow. She is totally in charge of those programs.

Madonna Marable: That would be fine. Mr. Toles commented and said that he is the neighbor and that we would really appreciate it. Madonna said she really doesn't know who owns that property because

they have watched for years and years and now that whoever owns it put up a gate and it has a lock.

Under the pretense that years ago they were putting field dirt and rocks to build up so they could build

homes. Stated she has heard that for about 15 years. In the meantime, she is wondering about her

water, if anything is creeping into the water. There are animals, rodents, all of that, so it is a safety and health risk. We are really concerned. Adding that she has grandchildren playing in her yard.


what are the benefits, was a SWAT analysis done. Adds that she needs a whole lot more information. Said

that just because its $15 million dollars, money in hand isn't always good money. All money is not good

money. There might be some other ways to attract businesses out here. Again, in terms of the access points and the entrances, they said it is going to be on Dayton Liberty Road, we have lifelong residents that have been out here 40, 50, 60, 70 years.

McGuire: It is available now on the Miami Valley Regional Planning Committee website. You can

download it, it is a PDF file. We can also get you a copy.

Woolf: Replied, so do the Trustees. Said that he is not defending anyone but how do they know that

when there is no plan. The media speculated six entrances and exits. He called one of them and said

what are you talking about, where are you doing six? Then they said the Township roads are all going to be damaged. Dayton Liberty as well as Infirmary are all County maintained and owned roads and not the township. So they were inaccurate in their report there. Those two major roads have nothing to do with

the Township. And they don't have jurisdiction on the Township roads.

Madonna: Asks who disputes that? Do you just leave that out there? It makes news falsehoods. Woolf

says that if you say anything you are speculating right there with them. You want definite answers that

are clean and clear. You don't want to go out there and fight with the media because they are going to

take what you say and go out there and twist it again. Woolf said, I am defending you. He is only a hired

person here, but he is defending you. Madonna likes how Woolf has been coming across tonight, it is

good to hear that. Woolf responded you have to, he doesn't know any other way about it. The fair board

is excited about their opportunity but it has to be drawn up right, it has to meet criteria to go through

your system that your four fathers set up here, in terms of the laws and regulations. Madonna asked if the place is zoned properly for that. Woolf said those are the things that have to be vetted by the

developer. They have to bring that to the Township. That all has to be decided on in print. Woolf said

that he is not defending the Trustees he is just being honest with you. He has watched this for a long time

and he has been around projects like this a lot. If you get into that speculation mode, you have actually

played into the problem as much as anybody else. Woolf said that he is not saying you are wrong for

asking questions, you and Mary or anybody else, there are 1,000 questions that these folks are asking.

The Fire Chief is asking questions. The Sheriff is asking questions. Mary Johnson said excuse her but that

is the reason they were asking let them know in advance what to expect, give them the process so that

they can walk through this with the Trustees.

Woolf addressed Trustee McGuire by saying that he understands that he only knew at 4:00pm that day,

to come out and represent your community. McGuire responded 4:15pm. Woolf said he got a call while

he was in the hospital with his son at Miami University in Oxford and said can he be there. Woolf said he

asked what is it about. Said that they wouldn't tell him. Woolf said he had to call and get help right away,

and McGuire is in charge of Economic Development so that is the only person that he called because he

was taking care of his son. That is what happened. And you don't even know Mary, so there is no way to

tell the public. Mary said that is why she was asking because she didn't know, and she came here to the

source and asked. What can we do, what can we expect, and what can we find out and how can we move

together on addressing the questions and getting the answers that we need to make a good decision like

the good people of Germantown and Huber Heights and Trotwood?

Woolf: (Called Mary's name several times) They were given plans and given the opportunity in advance

for a long period of time. We haven't got that opportunity yet to see a good development or a bad

development. Said that he understand and that's why we have this meeting for you Mary and everybody

else in the community established with the County Commission on purpose not because it is just a

meeting. We got it so that you can ask your questions.

Mary: That's the reason why I came to the source. Added that she appreciate it.


McGuire: If you sat through that meeting, if you saw all of the huddles and you saw everything going on you would have thought this thing was going to Germantown. The press was driving it in that direction and so he said that he went in there like a public citizen, sat through their similar version of this meeting, then they went into executive session to deliberate that. Said that he is in the back room with the Mayor

of Germantown, for a couple of hours, and then they come back in and conduct some other business, and then they voted it out. Was just as surprised as everybody else.

Madonna replied that is sounds like a motive to her, something is not right. Thanked the Board.

Woolf: Replied, you're welcome. Next is Rose Slaughter, 5257 Dayton Liberty. You asked about the levy, do you have any more questions about the levy.

Rose Slaughter: Yes, stated that she heard Woolf answer her questions about the levy and what it was going to be but didn't hear Woolf say how much it is going to cost. Stated that she heard Woolf say it

would benefit the general fund, but wants to know what it is going to cost the citizens.

Woolf: Sam Braun, he is the Assistant Treasurer of Montgomery under Carl Keith. What you have to do during the process is that you have to ask what it's going to cost a home owner, and then they send it

back to you, and then the Trustees decide in another meeting whether they want to go forward with it. Their estimate on a $100K home was around $79 per year. So again, that could change because they are getting ready to do the reevaluation of all of our taxes here in the County. But that's what was given to us

at that time. When you think about that, everybody that runs these levies thinks well it's a cup of coffee or something like that. Woolf stated he doesn't want to do that. Everybody has to make their own decision if they can afford this or not. But when you think about what your property value is decaying, and going down because that vacant home is not being torn down, you can't afford to at least consider this. The ballot goes forth in May. If you look back in the minutes you will see that he has made multiple presentations here about that levy in preparing it and doing the best that we can. Because it's been such

a short period of time, they made a decision right by the deadline, that what happens a lot of the times,

there hasn't been enough time to get promotional materials out. We are holding a meeting here this

Thursday night, anyone that would like to contribute, please come. It's going to be more of a round table for us to discuss what we are going to do. How are we going to tell the people and what kind of honest, clear message will it be. Replied to a citizen, it will be a one-time continuous levy because, how many times do you have people coming back at you wanting more, more, and more taxes. Citizen asks for a

definition of one-time continuous. Woolf said that its 3.75 Mil stays that way for the lifetime of the community. You may not know this, today as you pass the levy and you are at this evaluation of your homes, if the evaluation of your homes goes down, the collection on the levy on your own property goes

down. It never goes any higher. So let's say we bring the values back up, your taxable value will not go

back up by law. It will stay there where it bottoms out. A lot of times when you see communities say they

have to abolish a tax to put a new one on, it's because they collected so low of money for so many years

that they have a problem. When you commit to tearing down houses like you do and it takes 13, 14, 15

months, and you say I want to tear this house down, and if that levy expires, your community is in bad

shape because it doesn't have the money in the pot from the new levy to pay it. Citizen said that it answers his question and a lot of times it is the same renewals. Woolf said that if you weren't in that

longtime commitment of trying to do this it might be a little different. But in order to get that ball rolling and knocking down homes the best that you can, you need that safety. That's the problem. If they would have asked for money over the last 46 years, a little bit at a time, you may not be where you are at today.

Because there wasn't that forethought of that vision, no one could have predicted this in the 70's that the community was going to go down economically, nobody thought that General Motors was ever going to

leave town, and NCR but still a little bit; Taxes levies are tough for people to go through mentally. They

are tough to say I have another levy to vote for. This is going to be a fixed levy; it cannot go up higher or

charge you any higher than the day it gets incepted. So it is fixed.


Trustee McGuire: To put it in perspective, the last two years, we have done nuisance abatement on about 120 houses per year. Last year the budget was $20K and then we found some money that we could move over so we picked up another $24K. The number one reason why people come to the meetings and dial the telephone is for tall grass, trash, junk cars, and obviously we've got a lot of it. When you have $20K to work with, that doesn't give us a lot and part of that resolution to get a dump trailer tonight is basically a portable dumpster so that when we tap out the money that we have or if the levy doesn't pass, we've got something where we can get people to help us fill it, we can get rid of it for $1 a pound or $1 a ton with the County for very cheap. At least our hands aren't tide but it's also going to help us stretch our dollars. When invoices would come in through the contractors there were a couple of ugly taxes pushes on a house that were about 50 years old that was covering up the house and it just looked bad, it cost us $1,200 just to get rid of those. Somebody could have gone in with a couple of chainsaws and a couple of hours, thrown it in the dumpster and taken it to the dump and we probably could have saved at least a grand. We are trying to stretch the dollars; we are trying to get some other resources to work with to make it work. But also in order for us to satisfy the community demand to clear this back log of debris, we are going to need more dollars to do it and get it done.

Woolf: One of the biggest hits that he failed to tell you and he didn't think about it to just now, we took two hits at every Township and cities also, and the schools. When the state legislature kept 25% or more of what they used to share with us called the Local Government Fund (LGF), they kept it at the state level. They promoted the fact that the state was robust it is in great shape. It has killed all the communities in terms of where they were, not where they want to be but where they were. So you take 25% or so and cut out of your general fund that you got out of every year for the last 20-30 years is gone. The second cut was when they got rid of the inheritance tax or death tax, it's great for us that you shouldn't have to pay taxes twice, and you pay it during your living days so you shouldn't have to pay it when you die. That's what hurt a lot of family farms years ago. They cut that tax completely, unannounced. So the Townships stated that he knows this because he sits on the State Board of Trustees for the Trustees in Columbus, it is the biggest struggle that the Townships have, whether they are big or they are small. So if you take 35-40% of the budget taken away from the general fund, which is very little anyways, and you just took it away, there is no money. Almost every community has to go back to their people locally and ask for more money. There is no other way around it. That is because the State leaders took the money and kept the money at the State level. We have been arguing and lobbying, stated that he goes to Columbus once a month and they lobby. But they keep making their cuts between the State and the Local. You want the same service, you don't want to lose any services you got even if it's flat but how do you do that with inflation going up. But you have flat dollars it's very hard to do. Adding that he hopes it gives a little more background.

Rose: In regards to the Montgomery County Fair, adding that she lives on Dayton Liberty Road, wanted to say that it was not brought to her (citizens) as of the communication. Asks for understanding is it a done deal as the media says or is it not a done deal. What are you saying because you have to talk to the attorney, what is your point in talking to the attorney, you said they don't have anything to do with it.

Woolf: He wants to clarify things, 1) they got the 4:00 call and McGuire went. Right or wrong, somebody they asked has to go. There has been no plan brought forward to the Township. So you can't speculate because legally they represent all of you. Whether you want the fair or don't want the fair. Your rights have to be protected as a whole. You can't jump out there and do something you think is the right thing because it's what you think, right or wrong verses the person that want the fair. You have to wait to the legal process plays out. The reason for legal counsel of our own is because our counsel is the County Prosecuting Attorney. When you are dealing with a County facility that is owned, Arthur Fisher Park is owned 100% by the County, you worry about integrity of you are dealing with the County in trying to defend yourself against the County. But it's not against, it's just a situation you want to make sure every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed. Woolf said that he recommend it to the Trustees to consider on


hiring a firm, we don't know who that is, to try to defend, if there had to be a reason to defend. The fair

board has their people helping them as well, so does the County. Everybody is going to make sure that

the process is followed. Whether the result is what you want, you have got to let the process play out. It is no different than a factory, or restaurant, or a hotel. You are faced with the same process but you have

to let it follow out. They have not approached officially because they don't know yet. The Fair Board is

getting their ideas together, the County hasn't even surveyed the land to figure out what they are going

to give or buy or sell. None of that has been determined yet, as far as he knows.

Rose: Why didn't Trustee McGuire not come back and share that packet of information. He said that it would be a great opportunity for the Township.

Woolf: I don't know if he had that opportunity. There hasn't been any public meetings. What do you do? Said Thank you to Rose.

Trustee Back: Stated he had a couple of citizens ask him if he was told about the meeting. Said that he

was never notified about the meeting, and he was never invited to the meeting.

Woolf: Announced the next speaker, Sheila Back.

Sheila Back: Introduced herself and said she has a couple of things that she wanted to go over. First of all

she said there is a new eating place Five Brothers, located on West Third Street. They have some really

good food. When you get an opportunity, go and support them because they came and opened their

establishment in our community. They are very nice people. Said that she had a resident that asked her

on the Neighborhood Association Facebook page about the Cemetery, added that she is not sure of where

it is, and asked is there a Cemetery over by the Arthur Fisher Park. Woolf said that it is an indigent burial site owned by the County. Sheila said that particular resident wanted to know if the fair took over the

property, what would happen to that Cemetery.

Woolf answered and said legally the county cannot give up the Cemetery. It cannot transfer from public

hands to private hands. Folks that have been buried there for years, all over the County including the

County Home that is right there on Infirmary. They cannot transfer that Cemetery into the hands of

anyone else.

Sheila: Thanked Administrator Woolf, Trustee Back, and Trustee Mann for getting back to her about her

question on the fairgrounds. Stated that she has left several messages for Trustee McGuire, said that she

text and called him. And she has not gotten a phone call back. Whenever you get a chance (McGuire) she

would really appreciate that he calls her back. Wants to go back on the 7 th, the last Trustee meeting she brought up the issue about the fairgrounds. Asked had anybody heard anything about it? At that time

nobody knew anything about it. In a matter of a couple of weeks, we had a Trustee that is on TV speaking

on behalf of what appeared to be a good thing. Added she is neither for or against the fairgrounds, she

does not have enough information as well she has had several people call her and she keeps referring

them to call the Trustees. She can't give them any answers. When it comes to major projects that are

going to impact the Township, what is the board's responsibility to inform the community before they

inform the television channels and radio stations and all of that. Is there a responsibility to first inform

the residents so that they kind of know? Stated she has people on her job asking what is going on with

the fairgrounds. Stated that she doesn't know what to say. Is there some type of responsibility to the

community for them to learn about topics that may be discussed or whatever? Doesn't have to be

specifically this fairground thing or any other major issue.

Trustee Mann: We would inform the community. Said exactly how this happened, what he heard that

happened. The call was made to Mr. McGuire, and this was in the evening to go to the fairgrounds. So

Mr. McGuire went to the fair (meeting). Said that Mr. McGuire did not call him. Mann heard the next

morning from Steve about what happened. Said that he didn't know either. There again sometimes


things happen, somebody has to do something. Steve had problems with his son, stated his wife wasn't

feeling well, so he figured that is the reason Steve called Trustee McGuire. Mann said that he saw it on TV. The three of them (Mann. McGuire, Woolf) had said they want to bring the fair to the table of Jefferson Township. That was all that was said. Jim's comment came after the fair board had made their

decision. That's one of those things that happened.

Sheila: Thanks, that has been explained and she understands that. Wants to find out is there a process to let the citizens know. Understands that it was a last minute thing and they called him to meet immediately. Was there anyone else that was at that meeting with Trustee McGuire? McGuire answered Chip. Sheila asked who is Chip, whom is a resident. McGuire stated Chip was the only one he knew there other than Sheriff Plummer. Sheila said she was wondering because those were a couple of questions that she had. Asked about the flyer. Sheila said she feels like the commissioners should have never put McGuire in that situation, if that is the case. If they call and said get down here and they threw that on you as a Trustee. Said she doesn't believe that is fair to our community because we didn't get the

opportunity as other communities to say yes or no. Knows they haven't made a decision on whether they

want to be here or how they are going to do it and all of that but doesn't think that as County Commissioners, whom she hasn't seen out here in a long time, who are the very people that have that dump out there, making these decisions and not including us in them. Sheila said she doesn't think that that is a very good or neighborly practice for our community. Said she is still dealing with the stench from

that over there.

Woolf: The next person is Zora Brown, 1036 Maiden Place. Said that you have three minutes. Noted that

she left the meeting. She could not stay to talk, no comment made. The last person on the list is Bruce

Rowley, 246 S. Diamond Mill Road, you have the floor.

Bruce Rowley: Has lived in this community since back in 1985, has never heard anything positive about

this community. A man got mad at him from Beavercreek; he was standing there with a Jefferson Township fire shirt on. Bruce said to the man, are you from out there. And he man got mad. Bruce said that he understands the fair, this is the first positive thing that he has heard for this Township. (Audience applauds) There have been a lot of questions that have not been answered, said he doesn't have the answers either. Said that he will be at the meeting and we will sort it out. Before people turn their nose,

let's see how it works. This is the first positive thing that he has heard in this Township.

Mary: Wants the Trustees to understand she is not for or against. She is for information. Stated she

wants to have the information before the media. (Inaudible loud discussion in the background) That is

what is important to us to follow the steps and have questions ready for them. Said that she is not playing a game she is coming to the elected officials and asking them to, when something is coming along the pike

give us the information and say 1, 2, 3, is coming along the pike, come to the meeting so we can tell you

all about it. That is all that she is asking. The strategic land use plan that Trustee McGuire has in hand is

the same document that MVRPC, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission, assisted us as a community

to come together and have a hard copy so when you do things like pull in fairgrounds at Fisher Park you have a document to stand on. It has gone through all the proper processes. The people came, they wrote

down what they wanted, it was put in the document, it was approved by all the bodies, including Montgomery County Board so now it is helpful to you to be able to build. If there was no strategic land

use plan, you would have to start from scratch. All the people were involved, all the people were notified. You either came or you didn't but you were called and people were asked. Let us know that we can represent the Township.

Woolf: This is from Steve Woolf. You are playing a game with the media. Mary, right or wrong, they want

you to respond like that. Answered that you know now there was no chance to go 1, 2, and 3.


Citizen: Said that she called the Trustees and two of them didn't know anything about it. That's what got

her. One returned her call and she thanked him for that. But they had no clue.

Woolf: Apologized for interruption but right or wrong, these folks don't have anything in hand to show

you. They don't have anything. So it's either yes or no, and the answer is no they don't have anything to

give you and no they couldn't have given you anything. Asked what do you do when you get a telephone

call at 4:00pm and they want you there at 6:00pm. What is the answer? How do you tell the whole

world? Mary answered, why are you calling so late. Woolf stated that is all the speakers for the night.

Jana: Has lived in Jefferson Township since 1969. She stated she was the culprit that called these

gentlemen at this. The fair board is not saying that we are going to Jefferson Township; we are pursuing a

chance to work with the Township Trustees and see if it is viable for us to come here. Added that she

called because she is a Jefferson Township resident and she thought they should need to be there. That's

why they were called. The reason she didn't call them any sooner is because she didn't realize, honestly,

that the vote was going to be done that night. When she heard about it, she did call Mr. Woolf and it

came about that he couldn't because his son had been taken to the hospital. So he called Mr. McGuire.

Said that is why it all happened and she apologized that she is the culprit.

Mary: It is a pleasure to meet you tonight. Says thank you.

Trustee Back: Said that going back on what President Mann said about 6 weeks ago, the idea was brought

up about what do you think about throwing Jefferson Townships name in the hat. That is exactly how it

was said. We all said okay. The next thing was that we all agreed that if we were approached by the

media, or by the Fair Board that our comment would be "no comment".

Woolf: No more speakers for this evening.

Xl. Adjourn Administrator Steve Woolf moved to adjourn the regular meeting. Seconded by Trustee Mann.

Meeting adjourned at 8:46 p.m.

Russell Back - Trustee

Adopted: 4th day of April, 2017

Attest)

Tracey M. M. Edwanik, Fiscal Officer

Note: The next Work Session is scheduled for April 4, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for April 4, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.


Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21

Documents

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP · 2018. 7. 11. · JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP AGENDA JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, March 21, 2017 — 7:00 p.m. I. Welcome / Pledge of