My point was not that there couldn't be improvments in the way our city gov't conducts itself but rather, that throwing out suggestions that CSH would risk their busienss reputation and possibly criminal charges over a contract with the city just doesn't make sense.  I have no problem with people questioning their gov't and holding them accountable.  Call me naive that's fine, we can disagree.

Observer wrote: I think it's very unlikely that a quality company like Clark, Schaffer and Hackett would purposefully look over an error during an audit,  Working for a small business I know that no client is worth the decades it takes to garner an excellent reputation, like C.S.H has.  I can only imagine the lawsuits, firings and financial damages that would result from purposefully overlooking errors.  As for unintentionally overlooking something...I would venture to say an out of town group would be equally likely to make the same potential unintentional error.

I'm sure a reliable, known company like C,S,H are behind this massive cover up involving hundreds of city employees, city council, and city administration!

Tell us more Mr. Nagy!

Ahhh Tudor,

Don't cut fire personnel. Maintain the correct level. Cut high paying city building papershuffler jobs, dole out those job duties to the ones who remain behind. Take the salary money/benefits costs used for these high salary jobs and transfer this money over to maintain the 30 firefighter jobs that will be cut. We need fire protection as a basic. We do not need more papershuffling, meeting going, high paying director, manager, asst. manager, supervisor, lead person jobs who are not actually contributing other than to pass information up and down the ladder. Each dept. should have one person who runs it and all report to them. Don't need all these intermediate levels between the boss and the worker. Those "fatcat" days are over. Time to cut all intermediate levels. Lowest qualified level runs department. JMO

We need new leadership in this city these people are clueless about how to lead us through this mess thier main concern seems to be how to keep the meetings out of the general publics view,what the hell is wrong with the people of Middletown to sit back and watch these clueless people keep fumbling around while the city is going down the sh*ter? Time to think out of the box maybe one thing that could be looked at is contracting with the County for Police services? Its allmost like no one has a clue what to do,I offer to send my wife down these to show these people how to budget I am sure that she could straighten this out for them in a few days.

They better put some street lights on my street if they are gonna charge me for the electric bill.

If they start this program, it will be a shame not to see everyone receiving the bill to write the check for $3.50 less than the amount.

If the city is that cash-strapped, they could always turn out the lights!
(The party's over anyway around here) the way the town is being run.

Speaking of turning out the lights.....why don't they do that at One Donham Plaza. Ain't nothin' worthwhile comin' out of that building anyway to keep 'em burning.

Today's Journal...

City to hear tax recommendation
Council subcommittee favors 0.25% public safety continuing income tax

MIDDLETOWN — A council subcommittee will recommend to City Council on Tuesday that it ask voters to renew the city’s 0.25 percent public safety levy in August, but make it a continuing income tax.

Following a series of three public informational sessions, the subcommittee chaired by Councilman A.J. Smith concluded that the residents who attended didn’t want the levy to expire at the end of the year, which would result in potential deep cuts in the police and fire departments

WELL, COUNCILMAN SMITH, YOUR CONCLUSIONS MAY BE WRONG. TO TAKE THE DESIRES FROM A VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE CITY POPULATION WHO ATTENDED YOUR MEETINGS AND CONCLUDE THAT THAT IS WHAT THE MAJORITY WANTS IS PURE FOOLISHNESS. BECAUSE IT IS WHAT YOU AND OTHER COUNCILMEMBERS WANT, YOU TWIST AND TURN THE TRUTH TO ACCOMODATE YOUR NEEDS. TYPICAL NONSENSE FROM CITY LEADERS. YOU KNOW, THERE IS ANOTHER WAY THAT COULD HAVE GOTTEN YOU MORE INPUT AND LARGER NUMBERS FOR YOUR CONCLUSIONS AND OPINIONS FROM A MORE DIVERSE AUDIENCE.......TELEPHONE THE PEOPLE AND ASK THEM POINT BLANK. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED PROBABLY AGREED WITH YOUR LITTLE LEVY. MAKES IT EASY TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS FROM THAT CROWD MAKEUP. IT'S ALSO NOT ACCURATE.

The subcommittee presented residents with several options, including placing issue on the November or August ballot, making it a 0.25 or 0.5 percent tax, and placing a sunset on the tax or allowing it to continue

AGAIN, THIS IS A SKEWED OPTIONS PACKAGE BECAUSE IT DOESN'T ALLOW FOR THE PEOPLE A NO LEVY CHOICE. IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY REFLECT TRUE RESULTS, JUST THE RESULTS YOU WANT TO SEE.

“We can’t afford to cut anymore, and if we can’t pass this levy, we’re talking about cuts that equate to $2.8 million to $2.9 million,” Smith said

WHAT ABOUT THE FOUR FIRE CAPTAINS SOMEONE MENTIONED IN ANOTHER POST? ANY MORE HIGHER ECHELON POSITIONS THAT HAS BEEN CONVENIENTLY LEFT OUT OGF THE EQUATION? DO WE STILL HAVE AN ASSIST FIRE CHIEF? HOW MANY OTHER "ASSISTANTS" DO WE HAVE THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT OFF THE RADAR?

“The citizens get a clear message of what we’re putting out, and our message won’t get intertwined with any of the other political parties,” he said. “I just hope the citizens will continue to support the firefighters and the police officers.”

SMITH, YOUR REAL MESSAGE IS NOT HARD TO SEE. YOU ARE PITCHING THIS LEVY ON BEHALF OF THE FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS IN THE HOPE THAT YOU CAN SECURE A POSITION IN THE POST COUNCIL DAYS. THE THEME HERE IS TO BE A BUDDY TO THE FIRE/POLICE IN THE HOPE OF FUTURE EMPLOYMENT WITH THEM, RIGHT?

The city would have to pay to put the issue on the August ballot, but the total cost won’t be known until after the special election, according to Butler County Board of Elections Deputy Director Jocelyn Bucaro. Based on past votes, she said it could cost the city between $1,600 and $1,900 per precinct; the city has 36 precincts

36 PRECINCTS TIMES 2 GRAND PER PRECINCT. THIS COMING FROM A CASH-STRAPPED CITY, ALWAYS CRYING THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO CONDUCT CITY BUSINESS..........UNLESS IT'S TO BLEED THE PEOPLE DRY THROUGH EXCESSIVE TAXATION OF COURSE. THEN, MONEY IS NO OBJECT.

Today's Journal...

Council considers public safety levy
Continuing 0.25% income tax issue may appear on August ballot

MIDDLETOWN — City Council will vote Thursday morning on whether it will ask residents to renew a 0.25 percent income tax public safety levy in August. According to proposed legislation, a continuing levy instead of one with a sunset provision is being considered.

The current 0.25 percent public safety levy expires at the end of the year, and with it would go an estimated $2.9 million collected annually for the police and fire departments. The police and fire budgets are a collective $21 million.

If we had to lose the $3 million, that’s more police and firefighters that would have to be let go,” said Vice Mayor Dan Picard, a member of the public safety levy subcommittee. “We’re not asking for an increase, we just want to maintain what we have

ACTUALLY, YOU NEED TO REPHRASE THAT DANNY BOY. THE ORIGINAL .25% SAFETY LEVY WAS A NEW TAX, THEREFORE, AN INCREASE IN TAXES. YOU ARE JUST WANTING TO MAINTAIN THE INCREASE IN THIS NEW TAX FROM LAST YEAR. THIS IS THE SAME TACTIC THE SCHOOLS USE. IT STARTS OUT AS AN EMERGENCY LEVY- HELP US OUT JUST THIS ONE TIME. WHEN THE EMERGENCY LEVY IS READY TO EXPIRE, IT IS PUT ON THE BALLOT AS A CONTINUING LEVY, WHICH WHEN READY TO EXPIRE, IS PRESENTED TO THE VOTERS AS A PERMANENT LEVY.....AND THEY'VE SLIPPED ONE PAST THE VOTER AGAIN BECAUSE THEY COUNT ON YOU FORGETTING WHY ALL THIS TRANSPIRED. THE SCHOOLS AND THE CITY HAVE NO INTENTION OF SETTLING FOR A ONE TIME EMERGENCY SCENARIO. THEY HAVE THEIR SIGHTS SET ON A PERMANENT MONEY FLOW FROM THE BEGINNING. THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO DO HERE COUNCIL. GUARANTEED, IF THIS LEVY IS APPROVED FOR A SPECIFIC TIME, WHEN IT IS CLOSE TO EXPIRING, THE CITY WILL PRESENT IT TO THE VOTERS AS A PERMANENT LEVY. PEOPLE, IF YOU APPROVE THIS CONTINUING SAFETY LEVY, THEY WILL NOT BACK OFF YOUR WALLET. THEY WILL PURGE EVERY DIME IF YOU ALLOW THEM TO. VOTE NO AND STOP THIS CRAP BEFORE THEY BLEED YOUR WALLET DRY. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR SAFETY, JUST YOUR MONEY. CAN'T TRUST THEM. THEY SAID THE FIRST LEVY WAS TO MAINTAIN THE FORCE. INSTEAD, THEY CUT PEOPLE....MORE WORKER BEES THAN PAPER SHUFFLER BOSSES. DO YOU REALLY HAVE ANY REASON TO BELIEVE THEM THIS TIME?

Had two firefighters passing out "vote yes" pamphlets on Sunday. Didn't have the heart to tell them my decision. They explained it won't raise taxes. (OK- but it won't guarantee the public won't be lied to again either)

This morning, had to call the squad at 0530 hours. They picked up the wife again with blood clots forming in her legs. When I got to the Emergency Room, talked to one of the medics who transported her. Told him how I felt, that I wanted to show my appreciation for all the times we have used their services and vote yes. Then, told him there was a tendency among many of us to vote no because they promised no reduction in force on police and fire and reduced the numbers anyway, basically creating a lack of trust with the voters and making them liars. He understood when I told him I wouldn't give the cost of the powder to blow the hell out of city hall and the people who reside within and, with a grin, acknowledged the comment. The police and fire people understand it's not them, it's Gilleland and the others who are the problem and NEVER do as they say they will do.

Mike_Presta wrote: Vet,   So sorry to hear about your wife's setback.   Your family remains in our thoughts and prayers.

Thanks Mike. She is due to be released on Friday as soon as they get her blood thinned out enough to prevent clotting. Still doing the Heparin blood clot busting therapy as of today.

C'mon guys..............today's Journal.....

Calls increasing for area fire departments

A rescue vehicle left a fire department in Hamilton and Middletown a little more than once an hour on average last year and calls this year have grown to 32 calls a day.

But not all calls force firemen into burning buildings. More than 85 percent of the calls this year are for calls other than fighting fires. Health-related, hazardous materials, false alarms or other reasons topped 80 percent of their total calls in 2011.


Middletown fire crews are on pace to repeat calls for service last year, but Fire Chief Steve Botts points out this has been done with less firemen.

The city cut six firefighting jobs when balancing the 2012 budget. That was two people per shift and it forced the department to eliminate one fire truck out of service and move an ambulance to a station outside of its service area.

“It’s proving we are doing everything we can with the resources that we have,” he said.

Last year, Middletown went on more than 10,200 calls, but only about 2,000 were for fire calls. Hamilton went on 11,656 calls and more than 2,600 fire calls last year.

In spite of the number of calls, response times in Hamilton and Middletown remain within the national average


Middletown’s response times have increased by about 15 seconds per call since cutting six firefighters.

The city is trying to maintain what it has by passing a 0.25 percent public safety income tax levy in August. If it passes, they will accept a two-year federal SAFER Grant worth $1 million.

Botts said they can’t accept it yet because if the levy fails — which generates $2.8 million — the city can’t guarantee the staffing levels required by the grant

So, the city will get 2.8 mil if the levy passes PLUS applying for the 1 mil SAFER Grant. Think 3.8 mil is enough to maintain a full staff?


I use the medical service quite a bit for my wife. My Anthem and her Medicare pay for the ambulance runs. Middletown charges $732 per run plus mileage to Atrium. Insurance picks up ~ $600 of that.

The medical people, fire and police do a great job and I would like to support them but I question if the money actually goes toward public safety or in one of the "special projects" fund. The city lied to us last time by telling us it was to maintain manpower when they actually cut people. It is a shame the fire and police folks may have to go without because the city has created a no-trust factor with the voters with their constant lying.

Funny, the stories concerning the public safety folks and their beehive of activity always show up right before the old safety levy is to be voted on. Otherwise, don't hear too much from the Journal concerning their activities. Just primin' the pump. Too obvious.