Candidates Forum

At tonights council debate meeting I brought along my beautiful fiancé and in all the madness she realized that I am a big dork. Allow me to explain; A few months back I attened my very first meeting and when I returned home I told her how boring it was. But tonight as I walked around shaking hands with everyone I knew from the Mayor to Mr. Paul Nagy I realized I was in my element. I looked over and she was smiling at me and later told me I was dork or a giddy school girl. I prefer dork! lol 

 

Ok, now my thoughts on tonights meeting. I do my best to not pick sides, but in the end I am a voter in this town and that makes it hard. I will not speak of the ward I live in or the candidates running  but I will say in my opinion Josh Laubach was the clear winner for his ward. Again My opinion. I was very inpressed with Mr. Paul Nagy as well, I do think it will a tight race for him against Mr. Picard.

 

I want to hear who you feel won tonight and why? 

Excellent overview Mike. Your evaluation of the night's festivities is spot on. I was at the forum and have a few observations to add:

Barge and Laubach did look nervous as you stated. I agree that the confidence started to improve for both of them as the forum progressed. Marconi kept bringing up experience, not mentioning he had none when he first started on Council. I think the confidence (gained by the experience) will grow in Barge, Laubach and Nagy as they learn the specifics of the job. Given time and with staying true to doing the right things for the city and people, they will be just fine. If they give in to Gilleland's agenda for the city, they will find themselves as popular as the current council is on this site.

I liked Mr. Nagy's delivery on his answers. His "hesitation" is, at times, noticable, but it is difficult answering in an impromptu fashion for everyone in general. He gives the outward appearance of being genuine and thoughtful and I liked his "must take care of the basics and eliminate the pet projects " theme. Excellent!

Mr. Picard had a great delivery. He kept repeating the "we only have a certain amount of money and we can only do a certain amount of things with that money" routine. Beat that one to death. Also pounded on the "economy is bad right now and we must be ready when it returns". Said that several times. Could be wrong but there is something about Picard that tells me he's an "inner circle" member and if elected, would cater to the current power crowd rather than do right by the people. Might be bad for the city's "regular" citizens. Kinda like Mulligan. No proof- just an uneasy feeling about him. Seems like he could be a sneaky little ----! (Just like Mulligan.)

Armbruster- I have never been so proud of the Jimster as I was last night. You could actually see him breathing and "come to life" right before your eyes as he espoused the virtues of his time in the Ward 1 seat. He showed some levity as he commented on the special projects comments made by others and the "hidden agenda" suggestions. Yep, 'ole Jimmimatic was close to being as entertaining as Chuck Barris on the Gong Show last night as he yuked it up for a change.He got very animated- well kinda- when he said no new taxes for the streets and when he said now was not the right time for reducing Section 8 because people needed help in this poor economy. I'm beaming with pride for J Master 'Bruster and his rap last night! Problem is, he still won't make a good councilman the second time around. Goodbye Jim

Marconi- good god- where to start with him.

When discussing the jobs in town, he got this crazed "pit bull" look in his eyes and said that he didn't understand all the talk about the city not enticing jobs to town. He cited Paychex and Pac National as examples of job opportunities. Note to Marconi: These jobs don't pay enough unless both husband AND wife are working there to provide a decent standard of living with today's gas prices, grocery prices, utility prices, taxes, insurance premiums, car tag increases, building supply/home improvement increases, appliances, etc. AND- what is the percentage of the employees that work at these companies you cite that live in the city and what percentage commute to the job? If a person has a job in Middletown, but lives elsewhere, the city isn't getting the full benefit of the job brought in.The employees need to live here too. Need to shoot higher than Paychex and Pac National Tony. Need to shoot for research, communications, wind turbine and solar panel technology companies. A step or two up from your standard industrial park jobs like you mentioned. Bottom line- the jobs you mention aren't good enough to provide a decent standard of living in today's world. Question to Mr. Marconi- if these jobs are so great, would you give up your current job, work for them and still maintain your current standard of living. NO, you couldn't. Still a pathetic attempt at procuring jobs here in Middletown as compared to surrounding towns like Mason and West Chester.

AJ Smith- seemed polished. Working on the national level has helped his confidence. He has grown from that experience. Didn't like the "I'll support a tax" comments. Wrong time with the bad economy for any tax increases plus the people in this town feel they are being beaten on by the city and the schools for more money on a continual basis. City and schools would do well to lay off the people at this time.Also didn't like the Section 8 comments from AJ. Disagree with retaining the program at the current level. Must be reduced to the lowest allowed. It hurts the city economically, image wise and lowers the quality of the town.

Tyus and Andrew- why would anyone give these people their vote? Why would you vote for two people who looked the other way while Price was finishing the job of destroying what was left of a once proud competitive school district? Why would you vote for two people who have condoned the performance of the schools on the proficiency tests? OR. if not condoning, certainly not treating the problem with any sense of urgency to correct it. Unfortunately, they will still be on the school board, but they'll play hell getting my vote and I hope yours. They are not good for our schools in an administration role. Only Sauter and Fiora have given a glimpse of ability as being competent enough to stay on the board. The rest are just occupying space.

All JMO. Thought I'd see more USA bloggers there. Hopefully will see all of you at Marconi's 3rd Ward Community Forum at the Seniors Center on OCtober 14th. Was that you sitting there Pac?

Spider:

Spider:

spiderjohn wrote:   His take on MMF is totally contrary to his prior comments, and only confuses the issue on this "organization" that most on Council and Admin fail to recognize existence. So--which way is it, city leaders? Who is a member of MMF? When are there meetings? Where are their minutes? What is their agenda?

Vivian Moon wrote: Ward System – Without the Ward System the 2nd Ward will have no voice at all. I'm sick to death of hearing that the 1st & 2nd Wards have gotten all the money in recent years...well ya better take a better look at what is really going on in this town. The majority of that money was spent on "their downtown area." Council Meetings once a month – The last several workbooks for the council meeting have been about 135 pages and these were made available on Friday afternoon. I have called several council members with a question on Tuesday afternoon only to be told they had not read their workbook yet. How will they be able to read 270 pages, a small novel, before a monthly council meeting? I do not believe that many of the current council members are reading the workbooks or doing any research on the issues they are voting on that evening. And then we have the current problem of all this emergency legislation every council meeting. If they meet only once a month this problem will only increase.

And what voice does the second ward have now? DO think AJ or John are gonna fix all these issues ? Do you htink you can save your vault or even care about it

I have to agree with Spiders assessment. Based on the forum, we as a city are in trouble. We need folks with vison and experience. Didn't see much of that last night. While some seemed nervous, I would say that is lack of public speaking. Those folks will get better in time. Mr Marconi, its time to go. Babbling is no way for a city leader to speak when asked questions. Armbruster, the same, been around a long time and time has passed you by. 2nd ward good luck. Mr Soppanish woud be the choice based on life experience. While I admire AJ's ambition and desire, at 20 years old you are not ready to lead a city. Get some life experience and then come back in 10 years. Who knows in 10 you might be a winner, Good Luck.

Forget the ED Director. The City Manager can do the job. She is the one that should be working businesses to come her. Is that not one of her responsibilities? To promote this city? Oh wait a minute, she does what the MMF tells her to do!

wasteful wrote: Expecting to wake up tomorrow morning and seeing 250 new jobs announced in t he paper is not realistic or reasonable, no matter who the ED Director is.

Maybe not, but don't be surprised to wake up some morning soon and seeing that another local firm with over FIFTY well-paying jobs will be gone.  And as with AK's offices, council will be caught with their pants down on this one, too.

Mike I am not surprised to see any business leave Middletown under Middletown's current circumstances.

And what voice does the second ward have now? DO think AJ or John are gonna fix all these issues ? Do you htink you can save your vault or even care about it

pattyinohio

    Ms Ford has never answered an email or returned one of my phone calls concerning problems in the 2^nd Ward. To be honest I’m unsure of where she stands on most issues.
    Yes. if elected I expect Mr. Soppanish or Mr. Smith to listen to my problem and inform me of what steps need to be taken to solve the problem.
    The Middletown Cemetery is located in the 1^st Ward. I would hope that all of City Council would support caring for this historic cemetery and those buried there.

wasteful- "I see no police on the roads here" (referring to the 3rd Ward)- I see cruisers now and then on Rosedale around Rachel when I'm walking the perimeter with cigar in hand in the evenings. A cruiser parks in the driveway of a house on Rachel periodically. You are correct when you say people take care of their property here. Folks usually do a good job at maintaining their property. Had a street light out several months back at the corner of Rosedale and Rachel. Called my councilperson for info. He said the city didn't take care of street light change outs. Referred me to the Duke website- recorded the outage and bulb was replaced in two days. They even came out several months ago and flushed the fire hydrant in front of my house. Hadn't seen that in the 4 years I have lived in this location. It would appear that most people in this area of town don't rely on the city services or have city service "issues" like the other sections of town. I guess there are alot less "issues" with the city in this area than in other wards. Dunno-

VietVet wrote: I guess there are alot less "issues" with the city in this area than in other wards. Dunno-

Vet, I wonder if that could be because FOUR or FIVE council members living within a MILE (as the crow flies) of your house???