MINUTES HISTORIC COMMISSION

October 16, 2014
Ms. Romero noted that the property at 115 S. Main did not sell at Sheriff’s Sale and would be readvertised for a lower price. Mr. Dixon asked about the restoration of the Rose Furniture Building. Mr. Kohler said that he is not aware if any work is being done on the property.

It has now been over a year since City Hall wrote the check for this property.
Does anyone have an update on the Rose Furniture Building?
Has anyone seen plans or blueprints for this building?
When are Robinette and Coon going to start work on this building?

Check #214535 for the Rose Furniture Deal was written 10-04-2013 in the amount of $300,000 from the Downtown Fund.
http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5816&title=rose-furniture

    At the last council meeting Mr. Doug was granted the establishment of new positions of assistant managers at a cost of $4,000 each. Their jobs will be to attend meetings and functions that Mr. Doug does not have time for because of his demanding job.
   Then at last night city council approved the establishment of a new position Public Safety Director at a cost of $98,576.
    Once again my three little gray cells are going TILT…TILT… TILT. I seem to be a bit confused with all the above changes.
    So we are paying Mr. Doug $115,000 + to be City Manager. Now we are going to pay all these other people to do part of his job? I thought Mr. Doug already had a big 5 year plan for the city. Wasn’t that what he presented in his 120 page booklet to the city council?
Once again City Hall is adding more jobs to the top of the pyramid.
    Yes sir them boys down at City Hall are doing just a fine job of spending taxpayer money.      

Posted: 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014

City Council to consider diversity commission

By Vivienne Machi

Staff Writer

HAMILTON — 

    At tonight’s meeting, Hamilton’s City Council will hear the first reading of a resolution to create a Diversity and Inclusion Commission dedicated to improving diversity within the city’s workforce.

City Manager Joshua Smith said that the commission — the first to study and work to improve the city’s diversity, according to officials — has been in the works for about four months, since he and Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller attended a community meeting at Bailey Square in the Second Ward this past July.

    “There was a very consistent theme of people asking the mayor and myself why the workforce was not more representative of the city,” he said.

    Southeast Civic Association President Bob Harris, who has advocated for a city diversity commission for at least 20 years, organized that meeting, and called it one of the most effective community meetings he’s seen.

    “They (the city) heard directly from the people that they would never have heard from at City Council, who did not bite their tongues,” he said.

    Harris hopes to be involved with the commission if the legislation passes.

    “I am optimistic…but I do not want to be a part of a committee where people are not sincere,” he said.

    While Smith said that the city has always worked to make itself more representative, “this puts guidelines behind it, and invites more citizens’ participation,” he said.

    The proposed legislation describes the 14-member commission as serving in an advisory capacity to City Council, the city manager and the administration, with the goal “to study internal and external barriers to diversity and inclusion in the City workplace and in the community and make recommendations regarding such barriers.” Each City Council member would select a Hamilton resident to serve concurrently with their term of office and the city manager would appoint the remaining seven members from city staff to serve for three to four years, as well as three nonvoting members of the commission.

    Smith said his members would hail from departments including civil service, law, and the police and fire divisions.

    “It’s important to have them at the table to have a more diverse workforce,” he said.

He said he was particularly interested in ensuring a diverse geographic composition on the commission. City Councilman Archie Johnson, who has pushed for diversity measures in legislation and was involved in the commission’s development, agreed that having residents from all over the city was key.

    “A lot of time we try to ignore that (Great Miami) river, and while it’s not something that divides us, it’s something that defines us,” he said, adding that many residents who live on the east side of the river feel excluded when they feel that much of City Council and city administration live on Hamilton’s West Side.

    Johnson said he thought comments he made at an Aug. 27 City Council meeting asking, “what is Hamilton’s plan when Ferguson comes to Hamilton” and subsequent public discussion helped the issue finally take hold.

    According to the United States Census Bureau, African-Americans moved from 7.5 percent of the Hamilton population in 2000 to 8.5 percent in 2010, and residents of Hispanic or Latino origin increased from 2.6 percent to 6.4 percent in that same time frame.

    Hamilton is seeing a change in age demographics as well. Between 2000 and 2010, residents aged 25 to 34 have jumped from 14.6 percent to 15.3 percent, aged 35 to 44 decreased from 15.3 percent to 12.3 percent, aged 45 to 54 increased from 12.5 percent to 13.7 percent, and aged 65 to 74 decreased from 7.5 percent to 6.3 percent. The city also has seen a decrease in married couple families, and an increase in single-mother households, single households and same-sex couples.

    Should the legislation pass, $50,000 has been budgeted for 2015 to pay for city administration-wide diversity training and a diversity consultant to work with the commission as needed, with $10,000 coming out of the general fund and $40,000 out of the utility fund.

    The city will hear a second reading and vote on the legislation at the Jan. 14 City Council meeting.

Since City Hall seems to follow in the footsteps of Hamilton, will this be the next thing that we see on the city council agenda?

Mike
Can you put that quote on a bronze plaque for us?
Two years from now we can give to City Hall as the perfect gift.

When I read the above article the phrase "monkey see monkey do" came to mind. Once again we are following in the footsteps of Hamilton.

”Smith said in an August press release that the director of public safety position could save the city an estimated $27 million annually. While examples of those savings were not directly available, he said that maximizing existing resources will help run department more efficiently and ultimately save money.”

Will having the new position of Safety Director here in Middletown offer the same type of savings? Mr. Adkins please give us an estimate of the annual savings that we can expect.