1 1 TRUSTEES MEETING JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 2 * * * 3 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 4 * * * 5 DATE OF HEARING: Tuesday, March 1, 2005 6 Beginning at 7:00 o'clock p.m. 7 PLACE OF HEARING: One Business Park Drive 8 Dayton, Ohio 45427 9 TRUSTEE BOARD: Brice Sims 10 Allen Elijah Angela Jones 11 ALSO PRESENT: Robert Bradley 12 * * * 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 MR. ELIJAH: If we may call the 2 meeting to order and do the pledge of allegiance, 3 please. 4 (Thereupon, the pledge of allegiance 5 was recited.) 6 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. Bradley, will you 7 do the roll call, please? 8 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. Mr. Sims? 9 MR. SIMS: Yes. 10 MR. BRADLEY: Miss Jones? 11 MS. JONES: Present. 12 MR. BRADLEY: And Mr. Elijah? 13 MR. ELIJAH: Present. Mr. Bradley, 14 would you please embellish on the moment of 15 silence, please. 16 MR. BRADLEY: I was just advised 17 this week that Ms. Nevada Hicks had passed. And 18 her being our previous trustee of the township, 19 we though it would be appropriate to have a 20 moment of silence to honor her in that regard. 21 MR. ELIJAH: Thank you, ladies and 22 gentlemen. Have a motion for the approval of the 23 minutes from February 1? 24 MR. SIMS: I make a motion. 25 MR. ELIJAH: It's been properly 3 1 moved. Do have I have a second? 2 MS. JONES: I second. 3 MR. BRADLEY: It's been properly 4 moved and seconded. Mr. Sims? 5 MR. SIMS: Yes. 6 MR. BRADLEY: Mr. Elijah? 7 MR. ELIJAH: Yes. 8 MR. BRADLEY: And Miss Jones? 9 MS. JONES: Yes. 10 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. Bradley, is there 11 any information from the clerk to report at this 12 time? 13 MR. BRADLEY: My conversation with 14 the clerk -- and we discussed the resolution for 15 consideration, but aside from that he indicated 16 no communications. 17 MR. ELIJAH: Is there any business 18 under old business? 19 MR. BRADLEY: None. 20 MR. ELIJAH: Under new business we 21 have guests with us this evening from the RTA, 22 Mr. Jim Foster and Mr. Anthony Whitmore. I turn 23 the floor over to you. 24 MR. FOSTER: Trustees, 25 administrator, thank you very much for having us. 4 1 Every year the Greater Dayton RTA visits a number 2 of jurisdictions around Montgomery County, and 3 the whole idea behind this is to give you an idea 4 of what we are doing, certain things that we feel 5 are appropriate for your community, and to give 6 you an opportunity to ask us any questions that 7 you might wish and to give any of your citizens 8 an opportunity to answer ask questions that you 9 might wish. 10 As Mr. Elijah indicated, my name is 11 Jim Foster. I'm the director of planning for the 12 Greater Dayton RTA. My colleague, Anthony 13 Whitmore, is the director of marketing and 14 communications. Nonetheless, I'll probably be 15 giving most of the presentation or pursue 16 anything that you might wish. 17 I brought a packet of information 18 here. I left one on the desk. There is a copy 19 of the PowerPoint presentation here inside and, 20 also, if you wish to follow along, there is also 21 a brochure for the grants program. This is one 22 of our 2003 annual reports. The 2004 will be out 23 in a few months. This is the latest issue of our 24 internal newsletter and also a little document 25 that I might describe as bus riding 101, which is 5 1 an instructional brochure on how to ride the bus. 2 Finally, last but not least, a 3 genuine RTA pen. This is the best, kind ladies 4 and gentlemen. The RTA, we add value to the 5 community. I take that very seriously, and I 6 know Mr. Whitmore takes that very seriously too. 7 We feel that there's a very, very real value to 8 the community added, and it may not be reflected 9 in some of the things that your citizens see 10 every day. 11 Let's talk a little bit about what 12 we do. We operate 365 days a year, 21 hours per 13 day. I guess that begs the question, which ones 14 do we take off. It's about 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. 15 every day. 35 routes at present, 291 passenger 16 vehicles. We have a variety of diesel buses. We 17 have electric trolley buses. We are one of the 18 five systems in the United States. We do not 19 have the largest fleet. We do have the most 20 miles of wires. Electric trolley buses serve the 21 elder community. It is consistently the most 22 productive part of our system. We do have the 23 special chance street cars for special events you 24 may have seen during the flights celebration. We 25 have the project mobility vans, and we also have 6 1 the trams that -- we have two of them in 2 circulation for the downtown events, for the air 3 show, under contract and for baseball service. 4 Our fleet is 100 percent wheelchair 5 lift-equipped. That is, by no means, universal 6 throughout the United States. We take that 7 responsibility very seriously. Every single one 8 of our vehicles is equipped or is low to the 9 floor. We have 4,500 bus stops or, as I like to 10 call it, 4,500 wonderful destinations. And 11 something else that I should add that's not on 12 the slide here that would be of importance to 13 Mr. Bradley and myself, every single one of our 14 vehicles is equipped with a bicycle rack. We do 15 a huge business in bicycles. During the summer 16 months we have a special promotion that is funded 17 through MVRPC, and that special promotion allows 18 us to offer free fairs to anyone with a bicycle. 19 And I can tell you that we do better than 1,000 a 20 week in bicycle rides. Even this time of the 21 year we do bicycle rides. I am one of the people 22 that does that. I know Mr. Bradley is one of the 23 people that does that, but not every fleet in the 24 United States is equipped with bicycle racks on 25 every single one. 7 1 94 percent of Montgomery County 2 residents live within a half mile of an RTA 3 service. When we went county-wide in 1980, we 4 made a commitment to this county that we would 5 serve. But we do go to Phillipsburg, we go to 6 Brookville, Farmersville, New Lebanon, 7 Germantown. But we serve everybody in the 8 county. If you really need to get somewhere, we 9 can get you where you need to go. 10 We have a $57.3 million annual 11 operating budget for 2005, but that is our 12 estimated annual operating budget. We, at 13 present, have 681 employees. As you can imagine, 14 the vast majority of those are operators. Who 15 rides the RTA? We provide 13 million passenger 16 trips every day. We haul a lot of people. 17 They're a diverse group. A majority of them are 18 18 to 44 years of age. 62 percent of them use 19 the bus to get to work. I would argue that that 20 is the major value of our system to the community 21 is providing access to jobs for those people who 22 either need to use our service or who choose to 23 use our service for a variety of reasons. But 24 there are lots and lots of entry level jobs in 25 this county that would not exist without the RTA, 8 1 and I would argue again that is one of our major 2 values. At least 75 percent have obtained an 3 equivalent of a high school education. 4 Talk a little bit about our capital 5 plan, but I won't go into a huge amount of detail 6 on it. Revenue, vehicles and equipment. The 7 buses. Okay. We'll be spending just under 20 8 million on that. Utility vehicles, those would 9 be the support vehicles, the trucks that service 10 the overhead, things like that, maintenance 11 equipment, those sorts of things, 10.3 million. 12 For our electric system we're going to spend 13 about 3 million. I believe the number is 14 14 substations around the Montgomery County. We buy 15 the power from Dayton Power & Light. Transit 16 hubs and other improvements we'll be spending 17 11.3 million on that this year. 18 We're a partner in economic 19 development. This is something that not every 20 citizen, I can tell you, in this county thinks 21 that is an appropriate thing for a bus company to 22 be doing. However, I am a firm believer in the 23 additions and the support that we have made in 24 this community for quality of life. I would 25 argue that things that we have participated in, 9 1 and I'm not suggesting that the RTA is personally 2 responsible for everything good that has happened 3 in the free world, but I will suggest to you that 4 we have been a participant in a lot of items that 5 have improved the quality of life of citizens 6 throughout the region. 7 We have been a participant in the 8 minor league baseball stadium. We have 9 participated in Riverscape, where our community 10 has once again embraced the concept of the river 11 as a recreational facility, as a tool for 12 improving the quality of life. We have 13 participated in the Schuster Center and the 14 renovation of an old building at the corner of 15 Third and Main Street. Not everyone in this 16 community agrees that those are appropriate 17 things. And I would argue, ladies and gentlemen, 18 that we have an obligation to participate in 19 quality of life. And I would also argue that a 20 community that has good quality of life is 21 transit friendly. 22 As you can see, this is a list of 23 many of the things that we have participated in 24 in the community and we're not done yet. One of 25 the people sitting at the dais here knows that we 10 1 are still participating in Wright-Dunbar 2 projects. And I can tell Mr. Elijah that this 3 afternoon our board voted as one of our community 4 grants projects to participate in the Park and 5 Ride on North Williams Street between Third and 6 Second as a community grants program. This is, 7 in addition, to some previous money that we were 8 able to channel into the parking lot with that 9 facility. We believe very strongly in 10 revitalization of that neighborhood and other 11 neighborhoods in the city of Dayton. But I would 12 argue that those are very appropriate things for 13 us to do. The stronger the quality of life and 14 the environment in our community the more transit 15 friendly it is and the better it is. There's 16 good community reasons to do those kinds of 17 things. 18 Let's talk a little bit about the 19 community grants program. We are in a position 20 at the RTA to channel a certain amount of our 21 federal allotment into amenities and into local 22 community improvements. We have been very 23 fortunate since 1995 to channel $1.8 million. 24 What we have done with our allotment, we have 25 enabled local communities to have more investment 11 1 than they otherwise might have had in 2 transit-related improvements. As far as 3 Jefferson Township is concerned, in 1996 we 4 granted $22,000 to assist you with transit 5 amenities on West Third Street. In 1997 we 6 granted $14,500 for some Iona Loop improvements. 7 And on March 1, 2005, actually, about three hours 8 ago we granted you $15,000 for additional Iona 9 Loop and Derby Road improvements, and we are 10 pleased to be able to say that. The total grants 11 to Jefferson Township are $51,500. These are not 12 gifts but what they do is they assist you in your 13 capital projects and it allows us to make the 14 transit improvements better. It allows us to 15 assist you in doing the kinds of things that you 16 want to do, and we expect to continue this 17 program and we're proud to be able to participate 18 in it. 19 The RTA is a good investment. I 20 talked earlier about what I felt was the real 21 value to the community, and that is providing 22 access to and from jobs. But we, from time to 23 time, have an outside independent contractor come 24 in and take a look just at the kinds of things 25 that we do and how much investment we actually 12 1 generate. It can be jobs that simply would not 2 exist if we couldn't get people there. It can be 3 air pollution savings. It can be gasoline 4 savings. It's a variety of different things. 5 But the most recent study that we did along these 6 lines shows that the RTA returns to the community 7 over $4 for every dollar that it invests, ladies 8 and gentlemen. So the RTA, I would argue, is a 9 good investment in the community. We also 10 improve the quality of life. We add value to the 11 community, ladies and gentlemen. 12 I would be very happy to answer any 13 questions. My colleague, Mr. Whitmore, would be 14 happy to answer any questions, not only from you 15 but also your audience. And I thank you very 16 much for your attention. 17 MR. ELIJAH: You have any questions 18 or -- 19 MR. FOSTER: I thank you all for 20 your attention. And if you would indulge me 21 while I get my stuff out of your way, I will try 22 not to disrupt the rest your meeting here. 23 MR. ELIJAH: Thank you, Mr. Foster. 24 Thank you, Mr. Whitmore, for coming out and 25 enlightening us. 13 1 MR. BRADLEY: Thank you for the 2 grant award. 3 MR. ELIJAH: Really, thank you for 4 that. The letter's in the mail probably? 5 MR. FOSTER: Folks, you did it to 6 yourselves. The process is very competitive. We 7 did not grant every request that we were given 8 this year. I can tell you that the process is 9 very objective, that you made a good and 10 competent request is the reason that you got the 11 grant. We're just happy to participate. 12 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. Bradley, Resolution 13 05-03. 14 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. As you're aware, 15 I think at our last meeting we passed a temporary 16 appropriation for 2005. And as I indicated at 17 that time, that we had to have the appropriation 18 into the county auditor early March. And since 19 the clerk is out of town, I spoke with him 20 regarding the amount and the preparation of the 21 final year end reports and advised him that we 22 were going forward with this appropriation for 23 2005 at this amount. 24 MR. ELIJAH: When is the due date 25 for the commission of this information to the 14 1 county? You said it was April? 2 MR. BRADLEY: Yes, the first of 3 April actually. Requested it by the 15th of 4 March. 5 MR. ELIJAH: And this takes the 6 place of temporary? 7 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. Actually, they 8 don't issue certificates of -- they won't issue 9 you a certificate on the temporary, just on the 10 final appropriation. This is what they're 11 waiting on so we can get our certificate. 12 MR. ELIJAH: Any questions? May I 13 have a motion then for the -- 14 MR. SIMS: I make a motion for 15 Resolution 05-03, 2005 annual appropriation in 16 the amount of $2,304,466.82. 17 MS. JONES: I second the motion. 18 MR. ELIJAH: Properly moved and 19 seconded. May we call for the vote, Mr. Bradley? 20 MR. BRADLEY: Mr. Sims? 21 MR. SIMS: Yes. 22 MR. BRADLEY: Miss Jones? 23 MS. JONES: Yes. 24 MR. BRADLEY: Mr. Elijah? 25 MR. ELIJAH: Yes. We have a request 15 1 for the use of Charles Richardson Park. 2 MR. BRADLEY: Allen/Ivey family came 3 in and I think I have quoted in the package 4 request to use the park on August 6 for a family 5 reunion. They used the facility last August and 6 apparently was a success. And as is our request, 7 that folks that wanted to use Charles Richardson 8 Park write a letter to the board indicating the 9 date and time of the use and what they proposed. 10 MR. ELIJAH: That's the extent of 11 what we're required to do? 12 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 13 MR. SIMS: I have a request on that. 14 They had Crown Point Days over there, 15 Mr. Bradley, and it was raining and it tore up 16 the ground. Are we going to get that fixed for 17 them? 18 MR. BRADLEY: We got an analysis of 19 the grounds after the event last year. As you 20 indicated, it was wet and cars did some damage. 21 Two folks had looked at it and said it should 22 come back in the spring, take a look at it in a 23 month or so and look at what recovery has been. 24 We may have to put a restriction on vehicles when 25 it's raining because I think Crown Point Days has 16 1 so many folks and they used that back part of the 2 park for parking. If we can restrict the parking 3 in the park when it's wet, that will save us. 4 MR. SIMS: Okay. The other thing is 5 basketball clothes. I had someone call me and 6 said they was down -- somebody stole their 7 clothes. 8 MR. BRADLEY: That's part of the 9 problem with the park. Even the neighbors have 10 installed basketball rims in that park and they 11 don't stay the season we'll say. They're 12 ultimately either damaged or taken down. 13 MR. ELIJAH: Are they up now, do you 14 know, or do we have plans to replace them for the 15 season? 16 MR. BRADLEY: Mr. Foster, a 17 gentleman, came in last spring and indicated that 18 they wanted to do some things. They came to me, 19 I think, during the August period and installed 20 basketball hoops. Now, I haven't checked this 21 spring to see if they're still up. 22 MR. ELIJAH: Are the parks checked 23 for safety prior to opening to the public, like 24 spring? 25 MR. BRADLEY: They're really not 17 1 closed. They're open. But then we go through 2 and do safety checks, needs to be determined what 3 needs to be taken out. I think we had an 4 instance last summer where we had to take out 5 some of the screens over at Charles Richardson, 6 those kinds of things. 7 MR. ELIJAH: May we have a motion, 8 please? 9 MR. SIMS: Do you need a motion on 10 that? 11 MR. ELIJAH: It's a request approval 12 for the usage of the park. Is a motion required 13 on this? 14 MR. BRADLEY: Just approval of the 15 board. Just say yes. 16 MR. SIMS: Say yes. We don't need a 17 motion. 18 MR. ELIJAH: So we authorize the use 19 of Charles Richardson Park by the Ivey/Allen 20 family for their reunion on the 6th? 21 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 22 MR. ELIJAH: Let the record so 23 reflect that, please. So I understand March 7 at 24 5:30 is the date of that meeting. Do you guys 25 have that on your schedule? Do you got that? 18 1 MR. SIMS: March 7 at what time? 2 MR. ELIJAH: 5:30. 3 MS. JONES: This is Jefferson 4 Township Days? 5 MR. ELIJAH: Uh-huh. 6 MS. JONES: I'm sorry. The time 7 again? 8 MR. ELIJAH: 5:30, March 7, here at 9 the township office. That will be Monday. 10 MR. ELIJAH: Proclamation. 11 Proclaiming the month of March as mental 12 retardation and developmental disabilities month. 13 Has everybody got a copy of this? 14 MR. BRADLEY: In the packets, I 15 think. 16 MR. ELIJAH: Is there any question 17 on -- is there any question on the proclamation? 18 It's next to the last page. 19 MR. BRADLEY: I have proclaimed 20 March as this month. 21 MR. ELIJAH: So adopt it in the 22 record. 23 MS. JONES: How do we correspond 24 that information back to them that we've done 25 that? 19 1 MR. BRADLEY: They really don't ask 2 that we do that. We can write them a letter. 3 MS. JONES: Would you do that? 4 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 5 MR. ELIJAH: Will we do that after 6 we run spellcheck? 7 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. I'll formalize. 8 MR. ELIJAH: Do we have to formally 9 adopt the resolution? 10 MR. BRADLEY: Proclamation. 11 MS. JONES: And if you would send a 12 copy to them. If you could present a place where 13 we'd like to sign off. 14 MR. BRADLEY: Would you like to do 15 that? 16 MS. JONES: I would. 17 MR. ELIJAH: With the modifications 18 suggested, do I have a motion for the adoption of 19 the proclamation? 20 MR. SIMS: I have a motion to adopt 21 it. 22 MR. ELIJAH: May I have a second? 23 MS. JONES: I second. 24 MR. ELIJAH: Call for the vote, 25 please. 20 1 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. It's been 2 properly moved and seconded for the adoption of 3 the proclamation during the month of March, 2005, 4 as mental retardation and disabilities month. 5 Mr. Elijah? 6 MR. ELIJAH: As amended? 7 MR. BRADLEY: As amended. 8 MR. ELIJAH: Okay. I vote yes. 9 MR. BRADLEY: Mr. Sims? 10 MR. SIMS: Yes. 11 MR. BRADLEY: And Miss Jones? 12 MS. JONES: Yes. 13 MR. ELIJAH: Departmental reports. 14 MR. BRADLEY: They're attached as 15 well. 16 MR. ELIJAH: Are there any incidents 17 of note? 18 MR. BRADLEY: I would like to say we 19 have a new and improved -- well, no. We have -- 20 in the restructuring of the zoning department we 21 have two individuals that are doing our 22 administrative activities and doing our code 23 enforcement. Both have been on board about two 24 weeks now and I think they'll be doing a fine 25 job. Both are doing research as to how we can 21 1 strengthen our code enforcement for the township 2 and looking at specific areas in the township 3 that have been historically problematic and 4 coming up with a strategies they can work in 5 conjunction with the Montgomery County sheriff. 6 Looking forward to some great things. 7 Other than that -- and Mr. James 8 Thompson, our road superintendent, has been 9 hospitalized since Sunday with pneumonia. He's 10 doing much better. Hopefully, will be released 11 either tomorrow or Thursday. And we've got two 12 additional road department employees. Aside from 13 that, I think things are looking up. 14 MS. JONES: Also, Mr. President, 15 just for the record, we're also bringing some of 16 our paperwork in the zoning department up to 17 date. They have a lot that they have to do but 18 they're making some positive changes, bringing us 19 up to times, looking at some of our costs that 20 can be changed as far as, you know, citations and 21 those kind of things. So they've got a lot of 22 really good ideas, and I think this is going to 23 be a good thing. 24 MR. ELIJAH: Perfect. Is there 25 anything else that you would like to report? 22 1 MR. SIMS: I'd like to say one thing 2 too. 3 MR. ELIJAH: This is under trustees' 4 reports now. 5 MS. JONES: Sorry. 6 MR. SIMS: Mr. Bradley, I noticed 7 that we had another fire on Albert. 8 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 9 MR. SIMS: Could you kind of bring 10 me up? I wasn't here. I just got back in town. 11 What's the deal with this because this is the 12 third time this house has been caught on fire? 13 MR. BRADLEY: It's one of the houses 14 that Miller-Valentine is constructing in the 15 neighborhood. I found out the fire started at 16 6:00 a.m. This is the third attempt. They were 17 successful today. The previous attempts, I 18 guess, were caught in time to basically kind of 19 save it. I advised Miller-Valentine. They said 20 they were aware of the situation. I also found 21 out that they have security for those homes as 22 they're constructing them, but in this case they 23 just missed it this morning at 5:30. 24 MR. ELIJAH: If this structure's 25 been attempted to be burnt three times, has there 23 1 been any police investigation, arson 2 investigation? 3 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. And I spoke with 4 the state fire marshal and the investigators this 5 morning and they were under the conclusion that 6 it was an arson event. 7 MR. ELIJAH: And they will conduct 8 the investigation and let us know what they will 9 find? 10 MR. SIMS: Mr. President, what I 11 heard today, Miller-Valentine has security until 12 3:30 in the morning and after they leave, that's 13 when somebody comes in puts the house on fire, 14 sets the house on fire. It's terrible because 15 they're trying to build that area up. Somebody 16 just don't like that house. We need to do 17 something about it because -- 18 MR. ELIJAH: It's more than that. 19 Somebody's breaking the law and the appropriate 20 steps need to be taken with respect to that so -- 21 okay. You'll keep us abreast? 22 MR. BRADLEY: Uh-huh. 23 MR. ELIJAH: Anything else, sir? I 24 don't know if everyone received a copy of a flyer 25 that is being distributed around the township. 24 1 Have you received a copy of this or have you seen 2 a copy of this? They're on the back table next 3 to the agenda, aren't they? 4 MR. BRADLEY: Uh-huh. 5 MR. ELIJAH: Please make sure you 6 pick up one of these. There's been a lot of 7 discussion locally, throughout the state as well, 8 about the local government fund, and there will 9 be a lot more talked about before this issue is 10 said and done. What these funds represent are 11 dollars that flow from the township to the state 12 and then a portion of that back to the township, 13 in our instance, but other municipalities around 14 the state. 15 As you're aware, the state is also 16 having some budgetary problems. And one of the 17 things under consideration right now is holding 18 on to this money that the state relieves us from 19 as a result of our property taxes. 20 MR. BRADLEY: I think it's a sales 21 tax source. One of the options they have is to 22 let the sales tax go away or what is it -- it's 23 either going to disappear or reinstitute it. 24 MR. ELIJAH: This is going to affect 25 at least 10 percent of -- between 10 to 20 25 1 percent of the revenue that we have to be able to 2 provide services in certain areas, and there will 3 be a lot more talk about this and we may want to 4 do a special meeting or something to kind of 5 bring everybody up to speed. But please take one 6 of these. This is going to be a lot more 7 important in the upcoming months. That's all I 8 have. 9 MS. JONES: Mr. President, now may I 10 give the trustee report? The report that I gave 11 was not a trustee report. It was comments toward 12 the departmental report and it was what I had 13 observed with being up here and knowing some of 14 the changes that was happening in zoning, so I 15 was specifically talking about departmental 16 reports, things that I had seen changed and 17 potential changes that were happening in the 18 zoning department. So just to clarify for the 19 record, that was part of the departmental report. 20 I would like to say -- kind of 21 piggyback. Mr. Elijah talked about state and 22 federal money being cut and -- to say that we 23 attended a brainstorming meeting with the 24 township associations group. There were probably 25 30 to 40 people who attended from all the various 26 1 townships and just to talk about some concerns 2 where we saw or anticipated what money will be 3 cut. We do understand that when we talk 10 4 percent right now -- and I think people are 5 feeling comfortable with that -- that possibly in 6 June that we may be looking at 10 percent. But 7 things will actually happen in 2006, is that 8 correct, Mr. Elijah? 9 But the concern -- I mean, when you 10 talk 10 percent, they were talking about not 11 understanding exactly how that formula will go. 12 So $600,000 doesn't necessarily mean that amount 13 will be taxed 10 percent. It could be all the 14 other figures that play into that to make that 15 pot that size. So you're talking -- or could 16 possibly be talking an enormous amount of money 17 instead of just the 10 percent of that total 18 number because they could 10 percent all of it 19 that goes in there and with being unsure of how 20 they're going to be doing this because we don't 21 know. That was something that they threw out 22 saying we don't know how they're going to tax the 23 10 percent, which is a major concern. 24 Also, with a lot of the additional 25 dollars that we usually see and we will probably 27 1 not be seeing this year and that's not even 2 talking about all of the changes that are 3 happening that are going to be obvious. They 4 have done some major changes in their township. 5 I think it did make us feel pretty good that we 6 weren't sitting any different than the other 7 townships. All of us are close, on the same 8 track, and everybody is concerned all the way to 9 watching how many pencils they're spending. It's 10 good because the townships are getting together 11 themselves to say let's look at some things that 12 we can do to maybe help and assist each other 13 because we're at a different tier than the other 14 organizations and what the other cities and 15 governmental offices are saying. This is the 16 things that we'll have to do. So they're looking 17 at their own house, basically, to say how they 18 need to maintain. 19 And it's a good thing that we have a 20 township association because we have a lot of our 21 townships that get together and say what are some 22 things that -- it's just not a day-to-day 23 operation anymore and because funds will be so 24 tight that you have to be really careful about 25 it. So the ideas and thoughts of all of us 28 1 getting together and discussing where we're at or 2 maybe coming up with some ideas on things that we 3 can do to help assist one another is a good 4 thing. 5 I think that there's several other 6 meetings that's going to be planned and they're 7 talking about breaking down into smaller groups. 8 We'll be sending suggestions or things that 9 they've tried that have worked if it means trying 10 to save $2,000. Everybody realizes now that 11 $2,000 is an important amount of money to save 12 because you may not get that $2,000. They also 13 discussed how people were concerned about 14 maintaining the government business, day-to-day 15 business, even this year before seeing all the 16 big things that's happened because we know that 17 they will happen in 2006. So just to kind of 18 share with the citizens again. 19 And I know that we've been saying 20 over and over again we have to be careful because 21 we're not receiving that state and federal money 22 the way we were and still not yet knowing what 23 we'll be receiving. And it's just about at the 24 point where the townships are realizing that they 25 have to care about themselves and invest in 29 1 themselves and not depend on something that will 2 probably not come or at least not abundant as it 3 has been. Just to holler that out one more time 4 and say that's something that the board of 5 trustees needs to be very careful about. We're 6 watching that. 7 To also say we're not the only one. 8 Even some of the townships that have a pretty 9 good economic base are still in trouble and are 10 still watching their money very closely and are 11 still concerned and worried about last year. So 12 just to share what we got out of it. And we 13 stayed several hours talking about that. It was 14 a good meeting, I thought, and it does mean when 15 you're in a bad situation it's good to know. And 16 that's not to say -- it was good to know that it 17 wasn't anything that we are doing wrong but at 18 least things were happening to everybody. 19 They're cutting services. They're combining 20 jobs, you know. Some people are now taking over 21 three or four duties instead of one. There is a 22 couple of places where they're laying off. 23 They're changing benefits for employees. Just a 24 lot of things are going on. And we're doing 25 really good because we're working a skeleton crew 30 1 anyway, so some of their concerns are not 2 concerns that we have at this time other than 3 being able to continue to provide the services 4 that we're supposed to provide. 5 MR. ELIJAH: Just to piggyback on 6 that if I may. But prudent suggests that you 7 prepare for this while you still have room to 8 manage. You don't want to manage from a crisis 9 perspective, and that's what we're looking to 10 avoid at this particular point in time. There 11 are some townships in Montgomery County that 12 don't know how they're going to make payroll by 13 the end of the year, so things have gotten where 14 whatever cushions that they may have had have 15 been completely eroded and now it's hand to 16 mouth. We're trying to avoid some of these 17 situations by being prudent just as we would at 18 home. 19 MR. SIMS: Mr. President, I 20 represented Dixie Allen. I talked to her about a 21 week ago and she has said since she sits on a 22 committee, she's not going to vote for the 10 23 percent. She says that we need -- our people, 24 Tom Roberts, they are not going to vote on. They 25 need to appreciate their elected officials. The 31 1 townships need to do that. 2 Miami Township, they don't have our 3 state representatives. She was telling me that 4 we need pressure on the elected officials because 5 they're the ones. Regardless of what they make, 6 since they're the minority party, they are going 7 to do what they want to do anyway. 8 MR. ELIJAH: That's something we're 9 going to be monitoring as this thing rolls 10 forward. If, indeed, there's a need for us to 11 have to get on a bus to go to Columbus, we'll let 12 you know that's what we're doing and why. 13 MS. JONES: We have a form that's on 14 the website for our citizens. Please share with 15 our citizens. It will be really good if you guys 16 go in and make your comments to this and say that 17 you have issues with it and this is not a good 18 thing. Those letters will go out to those 19 people. Also, the township officials have also 20 sent in writing letters saying where we stand 21 with that. 22 Additionally, the township 23 association as a group has sent out letters 24 saying how we feel about these changes. So there 25 are some instruments already in place, and 32 1 probably what we need to do is to put out a 2 little bit or to put out more in the community, 3 and maybe that's something we could do with our 4 newsletter or something and they look at the 5 website -- to look at the website or any other 6 avenue, come up here. We'll give you a copy of 7 the form letter if you want to pass them out to 8 your friends and neighbors. Just say please sign 9 this. It's important. 10 MR. ELIJAH: Thank you. Are there 11 any other citizen comment forms in the audience? 12 MR. BRADLEY: We only have one that 13 was submitted, Robin Mobley of 5042 Lounsbury 14 Drive. 15 MR. ELIJAH: Miss Mobley? 16 MS. MOBLEY: Can I jump back? There 17 was two things that I wrote on there to say. 18 Since Mr. Sims had mentioned something about the 19 parks, I wanted to ask him about -- you mentioned 20 something about safety checks of the parks. Do 21 you do safety checks of the park and how many 22 times do you do that every year? 23 MR. BRADLEY: That's ongoing in the 24 summer months. 25 MS. MOBLEY: Both parks? 33 1 MR. BRADLEY: Yes. 2 MS. MOBLEY: I'm here for two 3 reasons. One of them, I wasn't here for the last 4 trustees meeting you had, so I made sure I made 5 it today. And I'm glad that some of the 6 community for Jefferson Township Days is here. I 7 would like to know what is going on with 8 Jefferson Township Days. Now, in that meeting 9 what other entities are going to be there at the 10 meeting? Are you inviting other organizations to 11 be at this meeting or is it just a meeting with 12 this new group that is doing Jefferson Township 13 Days? 14 MR. ELIJAH: Okay. It's my 15 understanding that Miss Calhoun will be at the 16 meeting along with the trustees. 17 MS. MOBLEY: Okay. Is the Optimists 18 going to be at the meeting? 19 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. Moore. 20 MS. MOBLEY: CDC, school board, 21 anybody, they're all welcome to be here at this 22 meeting? 23 MR. ELIJAH: No. This is a meeting 24 with Miss Calhoun because she had requested a 25 meeting. 34 1 MS. MOBLEY: There was also a 2 request made by the Optimists also, right -- 3 MR. ELIJAH: Uh-huh. 4 MS. MOBLEY: -- to meet with the 5 trustees? The reason why I'm asking, I'm a 6 citizen of Jefferson Township and ever since we 7 moved out here, I've been a part and assisted in 8 some way to assist in Jefferson Township Days. I 9 called and left a message for you, Mr. Elijah, 10 and also for you, Mr. Sims, on several occasions. 11 And I want to let you know that I'm offended as a 12 resident of Jefferson Township because I didn't 13 get a call back because I was pretty insistent on 14 cell phones, on phones. 15 Who is being allowed to participate? 16 I'm not talking here today. This on behalf of 17 the Optimists. I'm here to talk about today, 18 Robin Mobley, who helped and put in a hundred 19 percent last year and not to receive a phone call 20 or to be told that any suggestions or anything 21 that was made last year is like totally 22 dismissed. And as the trustees, who is going to 23 be running Jefferson Township Days? Are we 24 allowing one person or one organization or are we 25 allowing it to be a community thing? I have a 35 1 big concern. And I'm very offended that only one 2 person gets to make it, and it's no derogatory 3 thing or anything against Miss Calhoun, not at 4 all. It never was. I'm getting a little 5 offended because of Jefferson Township Days. 6 There's more than one organization in Jefferson 7 Township. I have citizens input on Jefferson 8 Township Days. 9 MR. ELIJAH: Do you have a specific 10 question? 11 MS. MOBLEY: I just asked you as far 12 as what entity because I know that -- I'm aware 13 that the organization -- there's been an 14 organization that has started and applied for a 15 501 C3; am I right? 16 MR. ELIJAH: I don't know about all 17 of that. I heard rumors. I'm not going to pass 18 on something I don't know for sure. I will know 19 Monday. 20 MS. MOBLEY: I don't like to be 21 involved with a bunch of -- I know that everybody 22 is aware of what is going on with Jefferson 23 Township Days or what is not going on with 24 Jefferson Township Days. This is March. I just 25 want to know even as a resident are we going to 36 1 have a part in Jefferson Township Days? I just 2 have a concern. But the meeting is March 7? As 3 a resident, I'm able to be there, right, because 4 you just mentioned that it was just between you 5 guys and Miss Calhoun? 6 MR. ELIJAH: We were trying to get 7 some of the specifics that you're referencing 8 cleared up. 9 MS. MOBLEY: Can you say what those 10 specifics are again? 11 MR. ELIJAH: Just the nature of what 12 the intent is of the organization, how they plan 13 on organizing and some of these kinds of details. 14 I don't have any other comments at this point. 15 Miss Jones? Mr. Sims? 16 MR. SIMS: Yeah, I've got a comment, 17 Miss Mobley. 18 MS. MOBLEY: Yes. 19 MR. SIMS: Miss Calhoun has done a 20 superb job. 21 MS. MOBLEY: Never said she didn't. 22 MR. SIMS: I think what you're 23 saying, you called me. I didn't -- you called 24 me. I would have came over to your house and 25 talked to you. 37 1 MS. MOBLEY: Left a couple of 2 messages. 3 MR. SIMS: What I'm saying, it's not 4 Miss Calhoun. It's a committee. What the 5 trustees try to do is find out -- what they try 6 to do -- that's why we're having the meeting. 7 MS. MOBLEY: When you talk about 8 committee, who decided who was going to be on 9 this committee? Was it the trustees or did you 10 allow one person to decide who was going to be a 11 part of the committee? 12 MR. SIMS: We haven't got to that. 13 We'll have a meeting on the 7th. 14 MS. MOBLEY: That's my whole point. 15 You've allowed this one person. Okay. Now, 16 you're saying you're meeting with the committee. 17 Who was able to make the decision who was going 18 to be on this committee? There was nothing sent 19 out to us as residents of Jefferson Township to 20 see if we wanted to be a part of the committee. 21 You allowed one person to put together a 22 committee and choose what they want. You let one 23 person make a decision who was going to be on a 24 committee. You guys didn't send anything out. 25 You didn't put anything on Channel 13. 38 1 MR. ELIJAH: Mr. Sims, if I may. 2 And please stay so you can address your concerns 3 after the meeting. If there are no more 4 citizens' comments -- if you will please -- we 5 will be more than happy to carry this on after 6 the meeting. We would be more than happy to talk 7 with you after the meeting. 8 MS. JONES: Miss Mobley, I do want 9 to share with you, we have a meeting scheduled on 10 the 7th of March at 5:30. If it's a meeting 11 where a decision's being made, then it's a public 12 meeting and anyone can attend. 13 MS. MOBLEY: Okay. Thank you, Miss 14 Jones. 15 MR. ELIJAH: That being it, may I 16 have a motion to adjourn? 17 MR. SIMS: So noted. 18 (Thereupon, the meeting was 19 concluded at 7:48 o'clock p.m.) 20 21 22 23 24 25 39 1 STATE OF OHIO ) 2 COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY ) SS: CERTIFICATE 3 I, Stacey L. Kimmel, a Notary Public 4 within and for the State of Ohio, duly 5 commissioned and qualified, 6 DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the above-named 7 meeting was reduced to writing by me 8 stenographically in the presence of the parties 9 and thereafter reduced to typewriting. 10 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a 11 relative or Attorney of either party nor in any 12 manner interested in the event of this action. 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 14 my hand and seal of office at Dayton, Ohio, on 15 this _ _ _ day of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, 2005. 16 17 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STACEY L. KIMMEL 18 NOTARY PUBLIC, STATE OF OHIO My commission expires 6-10-2006 19 20 21 22 23 24 25