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TRANSPARENCY

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Factguy View Drop Down
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    Posted: Feb 05 2016 at 10:10am

Economic Development Update

I’ve talked about this in a couple other blog posts, but it’s worth revisiting the topic and discussing how Economic Development will be fitting into the overall plan to start returning the city to sustainable revenues with the ability to meet its service obligations to the public.

Along with appointing a new Economic Development Director and adding a new Assistant Economic Development Director, we have been working behind the scenes to make our city much more business friendly.  We’re not finished, but we’ve made a lot of progress.

We’ve added a “one stop shop” concept at city hall.  In the past, if you wanted to open a business, we would parade you around the building to Zoning, Planning, Health, Building Inspection, Public Works and others giving you a stack of paper and send you on your way, hoping that you’d bring it all back correctly filled out and processed in the proper order.  I don’t blame anyone for that old process, it was simply how we and many other communities have (and many still do) set up their building permitting systems.  We’ve attempted to streamline that process so that a business can come in, meet with one person, and the City staff does the running, not the potential business owner.  We lead you through the system in the proper order to make it easier to do business with the city.  This is a fairly new program, but the early results are promising.  We’ll continue to tweak the program as we get feedback from local business.

We are completing a comprehensive re-write of our Zoning Code.  Much of our current code was written in the 1960’s and the style and content of Ohio Zoning Law has changed over time.  We have a very experienced team working with the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals to update our concepts and standards.  When the process is completed in mid 2016, we should adopt one of the most modern zoning codes in the State of Ohio.  We are also hiring a new Zoning Administrator to help businesses utilize the new code efficiently.

We are working to better market the city through social media, press releases, partnerships with the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

We are getting experience and understanding of how to effectively utilize new tools to promote development, redevelopment, and new financing options including use of the Butler County Land Bank, the Butler and Warren County Port Authorities, creation of a new development fund through Middletown Moving Forward that will be similar to the City of Hamilton’s CORE fund, and an agreement with our partners in the school district on how and when we should offer property tax abatements as an Economic Development incentive to stimulate new business.

We are getting more sophisticated in our use of local and state incentives available to offer custom packages that meet the particular needs of today’s businesses.  We now regularly work with Tax Increment Financing, Enterprise Zones, Job Creation Incentive Grants, Façade grants, and Community Reinvestment Areas.

We are working on making our work force and our geographic locations easier to use and more attractive for business recruitment.  We are working on getting a Work Ready Community Certification so that businesses know the skill level and readiness of our work force.  We are working with the State of Ohio on a site certification program which allows businesses to see not only acreage available for any parcel, but also the topography of the land, wetland or environmental issues, and other items that may be helpful in evaluating a particular piece of land for a particular use.

We are partnering with the Chamber of Commerce to complete retention visits to existing businesses.  In the past, I think we have often been so consumed with bringing new business to the city that we didn’t always give the attention needed to existing businesses that have stuck with the city through good times and bad.  They are the backbone upon which new business can be built and we have to listen to their needs and help our local businesses thrive and expand.

Finally, we’re looking at larger picture items such as traffic patterns and transit operations to discuss how we can move people, goods, customers, and workers more quickly and efficiently through the city to promote business, and to get employees to work, raw materials to our manufacturers, and customers to our retailers in faster, easier ways.

All of this is in the works in various stages and forms.  These are the types of building blocks that allow us to move forward at the speed of business and to be prepared to offer just a little better incentive package, a little better customer service, and a little quicker response time than our neighbors.   If we do the right things every day just a little better and faster than our neighbors, we will be successful in bringing new business to town and to helping our existing businesses be their best.

“Repeated Attempts” by the Journal News

Good morning!

I’m taking a quick 10 minutes to deviate from the long term discussion to address an article appearing the Journal News today.

The article is entitled “Not all Butler County departments joining online checkbook” and it discusses various Butler County communities intentions to put their city checkbooks online.  The very last sentence of the article reads:

Despite repeated attempts, Middletown officials declined to respond to the Journal-News’ requests for comment.

I actually have multiple comments for this article.

First, we, as city staff, work very hard every day to give you the best services possible with the manpower and resources available.  We are currently completing the same work with three hundred and sixty some employees that was being done by nearly 700 employees 15 years ago.   Some days we are just busy.  If there is a water main break, we’ll restore service before answering the Journal.  If there is an active crime scene, we’ll respond and catch up on press releases later.    If we don’t respond on a particular day or story, it’s because something has happened to make responding to the press a lower priority than whatever is going on at the time.

Second, the Journal news reporters generally tell us they have a 3 p.m. deadline to make the print version of the next day’s paper.  Makes perfect sense to me.   Whether we get asked the question one time or they make “repeated attempts” in an effort to meet their 3 p.m. deadline, our workload doesn’t change.  We’re still busy.  If we have the ability and desire to respond, we will, whether we get asked once or they make “repeated attempts.”

Third, I believe that part of my job is to be the Chief Advocate for the City.  I live here.  I love living here.  I’m encouraged by what I see happening while realizing that we still have so much more work to do.  This City government will not actively participate in stories in any media that reflect poorly on the community or on our image in the region.  The Journal has an obligation to report all of the news.  My job is to improve the community and to improve our image internally and in the region.  I will not participate in stories that are contrary to that mission.  Period.

Fourth, let’s talk about the online checkbook.  The City of Middletown, in fact, has been working with OpenGov longer than some of the communities listed in the article.  We are having a small ongoing software issue between our Finance software and the OpenGov software that doesn’t allow a clean transfer of data to OpenGov.  Our finances have been online for months and you can see our data up through November 2015 at:

http://www.cityofmiddletown.org/finance/transparency.aspx

Our December 2015 information and our checkbook are not posting accurately in the software.  We are working with the vendor on the situation and we will have our checkbook online when I know that we can reliably post real and accurate information for the public.

Remember that the Journal has about 3 paragraphs to cover a topic that I could sit and talk to you about for hours in detail.  The Journal articles are necessarily brief and pointed to get one or two main points across before it becomes old news.  That’s not a complaint, just a nature of the business.  They can’t tell the whole story. Your local government is the most accessible and transparent it has been in the last decade.  If you have questions, ask.   You can post here.  You can email us.  You can post on Facebook or Twitter or call us … you get the idea.

Have a great day!

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spiderjohn View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote spiderjohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Feb 06 2016 at 8:38am
thanx factguy
sounds pretty good
a deep hole to dig out from, but I am willing to lend a hand to pull the guy up
am familiar with the "one stop shop" packet--have looked it over and given the spiderjohn thumb up and passed mine on to a prospective business owner

not familiar with the blog though

https://youtu.be/ZgAoe1o2134
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Analytical View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Analytical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Feb 07 2016 at 1:47pm
The terms 'Business Friendly' and 'One-Stop Shop' have been around in American municipal and state government circles for quite some time now.  Communities within Ohio have successfully operated economic development, affordable housing, and business retention initiatives for years.  Soon, may Middletown be added to this list.

It's appropriate that City Manager Adkins has committed to now implement 'Business Friendly' and economic development 'One-Stop Shop' initiatives here.  Most local commercial real estate professionals will be supportive of him and his economic development staff.
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SEEKING THE TRUTH View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SEEKING THE TRUTH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 9:16pm
Actions speak more than words. Let's see how many new businesses come to town and how many get to stay in town. We all know that we have new guidenice in city hall Marty is no more. Doug if you are really trying to be more businesses friendly then you might want to start by fixing any screw ups that Marty left behind starting with the illegal rezoning of ones property and hold Marty accountable for his actions. Of course we all know he will just blame his boss which I believe was you at the time of the crime. Wow if you look at the people that have just got up and quit in the past couple of years it almost looks like there might be a list of some sort you think. let's see Judy then Marty now let's see who might be next to jump off this train or get thrown under the bus for some action of a city offical. Doug you want to clean up the cities buisness imagine start with fixing any problems left behind by Judy and Marty that would be the best start. Why let there mistakes become your headache. Do this and you will earn the respect in this town that you are working so hard to achieve.
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Factguy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Factguy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Feb 10 2016 at 9:45pm
Buzzwords, adopting friendly slogans and tax incentives, and modifying city ordinances will doubtfully bring in business and residents. Hamilton continues to dominate while Middletown remains a laggard. Too little, too late. 
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