Photo By: Randy Lewis

Weekly Update to City Council
from the City Manager
January 24, 2010

Annual Council Retreat

A reminder that we will hold our Annual Retreat on Saturday, January 30 in the conference room at the Chamber office located at 1500 Central Avenue beginning at 8:30 for coffee; “activities” start at 9:00 a.m.

Fire and Police Training

The Middletown Firefighters and Police Division undergo continuous training as budgets allow. This week the Fire and Police Divisions trained on Rescue Operations. Integrated within the training was the new Butler County 800 MHz Radio System. Classroom and hands-on training took place involving both the Fire Department and Police and Fire Dispatch…much was learned and the experienced recognized as a success.

Chief Schwarber

I am pleased to report that Chief Schwarber is recovering from injuries sustained in a multiple vehicle crash involving 8 people on Thursday, January 21. Fortunately the Chief was wearing his seat belt and is lucky to have walked away from the accident based upon the amount of damage to his car. Best wishes to him on a speedy recovery!

Team Fastrax Hangar Expansion

The City entered into an agreement with Team Fastrax last month to expand the existing Wedekind Hangar to accommodate their relocation from Warren County to Middletown Regional Airport/Hook Field. The City’s commitment towards this project is not to exceed $350,000 for the building of the two-story expanded hangar shell. Staff has been working with Team Fastrax to develop the plans and specs for the hangar expansion, and preliminary numbers indicate that a single story addition would be more cost effective overall, but place more of the new costs onto Team Fastrax.

As a result, staff has recommended that we pursue the single story option and modify the existing contract to allow the construction of the partition walls and mechanicals (plumbing, HVAC) with the new hangar shell. The City’s commitment remains capped at $350,000 as outlined in the agreement, but we wanted to make City Council aware of the modification.

In addition, Team Fastrax has agreed to eliminate the credit for the interior improvements that they will be making to the existing portion of the hangar (as outlined in the agreement), thus adding an additional $150,000 to the Airport fund over the life of the contract. This change also reduces the hangar expansion cost payback from approximately 5 years to 4 years. This does not require any action by City Council, but we wanted to make you aware of the slight change in the terms. If you have any questions regarding this modification, please call Dave Duritsch at 425-7960.

Parking Garage Demo

Staff is working on getting engineering done so that the project can be bid out. We will bid the demo of the parking garage with an option to also demo the old Swallen’s building. Due to the engineering that needs to happen to separate out the common wall between the structures, we are looking at the cost for both options. We should be ready to bid by the 2nd quarter.

Bike Path/Multi-Use Path

We are forming a bike path committee to assist staff in decision making about the amenities to be included on the bike path and to make plans for the connection to Franklin. The amenities are 100% funded through the Community Foundation and the Miami Conservancy District. We have received a 100% grant for a 2 mile extension of the path, which will be constructed this year, and we will be working with MCD and the City of Franklin to seek funding for the final connection to the Miami Valley bike trail system.

An update on the fire damage at Weatherwax

Our insurance adjustor has all the info on costs of repair. We have a $5000 deductible. The cost of the air handler repair is $6200; there are other repairs as well that will be estimated. Our staff has washed walls and cleaned carpets; thankfully the smoke odour has been removed. The ceiling repairs will be done in-house as well. Thanks to Dave Tieman and our golf course staff for their hard work to get through this incident.

H1N1 Update

The Middletown City Health Department conducted a H1N1 clinic Tuesday, January 19, 2010 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Sonny Hill Jr. Community Center. Turnout was very low. We are visiting the area schools to administer booster shots for students and are working with the Shalom Project to make the vaccinations available for the homeless population.

Help us spread the word: Vaccinations are available to businesses and organizations at no cost. To arrange a clinic or if you have any questions please contact the Health Department at 513.425.1818.

Upcoming Events

January 25 Middletown City Schools Board of Education business meeting – Rosa Parks Elementary School 6:30 p.m.

January 28 Ribbon Cutting/ Open House- BioLife Plasma Services, 2850 Towne Blvd (in front of Walmart) 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

January 30 City Council Retreat - Chamber Conference Room, 1500 Central Avenue, 8:30 a.m.

February 1 Park Board Meeting - 2nd Floor Room 2C City Building 5:30 p.m.

February 2 City Council meeting –Council Chambers 5:30 p.m.

February 3 Airport Commission meeting - @ FBO Hangar (B&B Aero) 2nd Floor conference room 5:00 p.m.

February 3 Board of Zoning Appeals – Council Chambers - City Building 5:30 p.m.

February 4 Monthly Chamber luncheon – Middletown Area Senior Citizens 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

February 9 Board of Health meeting – 2nd Floor Room 2C - City Building 7:30 a.m.

February 10 Planning Commission meeting – Council Chambers - City Building 6:30 p.m.

February 15 Presidents’ Day – City Building Closed

February 16 Middletown Public Housing Agency meeting –Council Chambers 5:30 p.m.

February 16 City Council meeting –Council Chambers 6:30 p.m.

Links for additional information:

City Manager’s Weekly Update: www.cityofmiddletown.org

Middletown Community Calendar: http://www.calendarwiz.com/middletowncalendar (copy and paste in your web browser)

Pothole Patrol: www.cityofmiddletown.org or call 727-3691 (Option 2)

Have a great week!

Judy