| Middletown City Managers Weekly Update to Council May 24, 2009 |
| Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:45:51 AM - Middletown Ohio |
 Traffic Complaints about Construction Activity
As long as there is road construction activity, there will be complaints. Granted all of the traffic back-ups are a major inconvenience, but the long term benefit of having streets paved is worth it. Fortunately, this will be a big year with regard to street paving. I’m happy to be dealing with construction complaints rather than the complaints surrounding lack of street paving.
Energy Grant $490,000: Bike Path or Building Improvements
Good news! We have been notified that we are the recipient of another $490,000 in stimulus funds to be used for energy efficiency related activities. Activities that might be eligible include bike paths (due to fuel conservation) and renovations to city facilities to conserve energy. Renovations to facilities would include lighting, HVAC systems, windows, energy efficient pumps and the like. We are having staff discussions right now about finding the most appropriate project. We have a number of older city-owned buildings in need of improvements that would qualify for the energy efficiency grant, which would in turn provide a return with energy savings year after year. At the same time, it would be great to make the final 2 mile connection of our bike path to Franklin, which would then connect us to a 6 county region with over 250 miles of pathway. If any council member has any thoughts on whether we should renovate a city-owned building or connect the bike path, please let me know. Like many of the stimulus funds, we don’t have a lot of time to prepare the application, so we’ll need to make a decision in the near future. My preference is to finish the bike path.
Blighted/abandoned property: less expensive to demo and maintain vacant lot than continue to spend money on police services and weed/nuisance abatement year after year
As we work through Code Enforcement efforts, certain repeat problem properties become evident. We are taking active steps to resolve these problems permanently. As an example, we identified a property on Moore Street as needing demolition. The property is vacant and abandoned. The owner of record is a mortgage company from Texas. Upon investigation, it was found that water on the property had been shut off since 2007. The tax department has received no income tax returns or revenue from the property since 2006. We have abated nuisances (mowed weeds, boarded up windows, etc.) four times at the property in 2007 and 2008 and have levied over $2700 in liens on the property to recover abatement costs. The property taxes are delinquent on the property. Since the property became vacant in 2007, Middletown Police Division has been called to the property seven times, once for theft, once for a burglary, three times for vandalism and twice for disturbances. In response, the City is starting demolition proceedings to bring the house down, and we will foreclose on our liens and take control of the property. The long term plan will be to return that property to productive use. In the mean time, the cost of maintaining the vacant lot will be less than the costs that we are expending currently.
This is one house on one street. We have several hundred if not a thousand properties in a similar situation. The cost of blighted property within the City has to be measured not only in reduced property values and neighborhood pride, but also in the thousands of dollars spent by the City to abate maintenance and safety issues and to respond to criminal activity. Over the next year, we have budgeted Neighborhood Stabilization money from HUD to demolish over 50 blighted properties within the City. We have 13 properties in demolition proceedings at this time and another 9 properties identified for the next round of demolition. If we continue on this path, we will make significant improvements in this situation over the next few years.
Red Light Camera in Operation
The new company, Redflex Traffic Systems, is now in full operation. Warning citations, with no fine, have been issued for violations captured on 05-01-09 through 05-16-09. Beginning Sunday, 05-17-09, violations captured will be issued a citation with the civil fine of $100. This company also affords us greater technology in reports and monitoring.
Cincinnati Mayor attends shopping center convention that we attended last year
Following is an excerpt from the Cincinnati Enquirer about Cincinnati Mayor Mallory’s trip to the Las Vegas shopping center convention that several of us attended last year. While we didn’t see an immediate return on our investment in attending the convention, we made a great number of contacts that continue to surface. Just as Mayor Mallory stated below, we were able to make developers aware of investment opportunities all over Middletown, not just at the Towne Mall.
“Joining Mallory at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention are representatives with CB Richard Ellis – the retail broker for The Banks – and Trent Germano, vice chairman at Atlanta-based Carter Real Estate which has teamed with The Dawson Co. for the project. ‘This convention brings together all of the major players from around the world, and we are taking our message about Cincinnati directly to them,’ said Mallory in a news release. Mallory is expected to also meet with retailers to tout other investment opportunities in Cincinnati.”
Cemetery Vault demolition
From our research, it appears that the renovation of the vault is still going to be in the neighborhood of $60- 80,000; well above the $22,000 budget. I’m awaiting final word from another contractor, but it appears that we will be demolishing the structure. We will store the stone on site and use it for decorative purposes. Demolition is not our preference, but there are greater priorities in the community for $60-80,000. We will be meeting again with Fred Wehr of Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum to discuss cemetery maintenance. I have asked the Community Foundation to consider using their $11,000 funding to place the historic grave markers horizontally. This will provide a long term solution to the vandals knocking over the tombstones. Fred Wehr suggested this as a solution.
Upcoming Events
May 29 Butler County Legislative Breakfast, 7:30 a.m., The Knolls of Oxford, Main Building, 6727 Contreras Rd. Contact Oxford Chamber of Commerce at 513-523-5200.
Council members, please let Betsy know if you plan on attending.
May 30 Main Street Art and Music Festival, 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m., Arts Central District, Central Ave.
June 1 Park Board meeting, 5:30 p.m., Conference Room 2C
June 2 City Council Meeting, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers
June 3 Airport Commission Meeting, 5:00 p.m., Conference Room 4A
June 3 Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting, 5:30 p.m., Council Chambers
June 3 Broad Street Bash, 5:30 – 9:30 p.m., Central & Broad (DixZ Highway will perform)
June 6 Kids All-American Fishing Derby, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Smith Park
June 9 Board of Health Meeting, 7:30 a.m., Conference Room 2C
June 10 Planning Commission Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Council Chambers
June 13 Multicultural Parade and Festival, 10:00 a.m. -8:00 p.m. Douglass Park
Links for additional information:
City Manager’s Weekly Update: www.cityofmiddletown.org
Middletown Community Calendar: http://www.calendarwiz.com/middletowncalendar
Pothole Patrol: www.cityofmiddletown.org or call 727-3691 (Option 2)
Have a great week! Judy
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