Moredemolition.Moredemolition.Moredemolition. Less Middletown.Lost Middletown.

Here’ssome slightly stale news that may be worth another look.

Journal News Friday,October 27, 2017

Butlerstudents set for big transition

Moredemolition.Moredemolition.Moredemolition. Less Middletown.Lost Middletown.

Here’ssome slightly stale news that may be worth another look.

Journal News Friday,October 27, 2017

Butlerstudents set for big transition

WCPO,Channel 9 TV news, has been doing investigative reporting on localpolice departments. (You can see it on WCPO.com) Three days in arow, their reports included a segment about specific complaints onMiddletown police officers (three officers to be exact). The reportsexposed records of misconduct from excessive and unnecessary use offorce to sexual harassment.

Perhapsthe most scandalous of these reports was the numerous filings againstLieutenant James Cunningham by fellow police officers (both male andfemale) concerning sexual harassment. Many of the complaints weremade BEFORE he was promoted to lieutenant! There was minimaldisciplinary action taken by Major Hoffman (who maybe should be heldcomplicit?) for Cunningham’s numerous and serious violations.Cunningham, as a police officer, was doing the very things for whichhe could arrest others. It’s shameful that good officers have beensubjected to such working conditions.

Werethere many other incidents that went unreported or ignored? Thisinvestigation encompasses only the last 3 years. But what otherviolations and suspensions have occurred and been condoned by thepolice department and municipal court over the other 25 years ofCunningham’s tenure?

Sinceour city manager, Mr Adkins, has requested Cunningham for some of his“special” projects unrelated to policing, such as locating blightfor the city to seize (or buy … like Bar Boca for $35,000) and teardown. It would appear that Adkins is also complicit!. Adkins had toknow about Cunningham’s record, in fact, Mr Adkins was Prosecutorfor the city when Cunningham was a patrolman and sergeant.

Cunninghamhas been allowed to retire rather than be fired or heldresponsible for his actions, thus continuing to be rewardedfor bad behavior and Middletown residents are paying for it. He has demoralized our police department, maligned our residents andbeen the source of deep embarrassment to the city. NOWOUR TAX DOLLARS WILL PAY FOR HIS RETIREMENT!! One more financialnail in the city’s coffin.

Wherewas council when all this corruption was taking place? Werethey waiting for instructions from Mr. Adkins or were they justoblivious as usual? Shouldn’t council have some questions for MrAdkins at the next council meeting? Oh, they’re still waiting forinstructions.

Wonderif the group of people who have been abused or maligned by Cunninghamhave thought of going for a civil suit?

Seecomments in red on Mr Adkins“explanation” of Kettering’s abandoned rezoning request whichhe posted on City of Middletown Manager’s blog.

Kettering Health Network Rezoning Request

October17, 2017October 17, 2017CityManager Middletown 1Comment

There’s been alot of discussion around town on the benefits and pitfalls ofallowing Kettering Health Network to add overnight beds to theirfacility at the old Reyton Inn site at the I-75 Interchange.

Kettering (KHN)originally came to the city with a plan to build a $30 millionoutpatient medical facility that offered an Emergency Room andoutpatient services. As theproject progressed, KHN revisited the original plan and inquiredabout adding 8-20 beds for overnight stays in space that wasn’totherwise designated. As it stands now, an outpatient stay isanything less than 23 hours. In order to accommodate that request, azone change would have to be sought and approved by PlanningCommission and subsequently, City Council.

That’s right,our “leaders” have“intentionally crafted zoning ordinance” whichsplit hairs and make it asdifficult as possible for anyone to bring in good jobs and healthcarefor a majority of the citizens. Every other nearby area would welcomethe opportunityto have KHN’s jobs, services andprofessionals especiallyif, like Middletown, Atriumwas their only choice for healthcare.It would be great to go to a localdoctor or hospital that would acceptour insurance.

The KHNapplication for a zoning change went to Planning Commission, andafter a long public hearing, the Planning Commission recommendeddenial of KHN’s zoning request to allow the hospital bedsfor overnight stays. This had no impacton the original KHN plans for the facility.

The PlanningCommission (evenafter staff recommended approval)recommended denial of KHN’szoning request. I wonder why?

On the MUSAblog, blogger swohio75(who seems to be in the know in the city building) says:

“AsI said, staff's recommendation was for approval. Assumption is thatthe City's Planner ran this recommendation up through the chain ofcommand (to Adkins likely) who didn't see an issue with therecommendation.

Thedecision is now in Council's hands. I can't say why PlanningCommission denied, because the Admin has decided that PlanningCommission meetings are not necessary to record and broadcast ontheir YouTube channel as had previously been done.”

Thissounds like a complaint from swohio75 that the Planning Commissionmeetings are no longer recorded oreasily available for public view. We need more people to take note thatourcity government is becoming more unapproachable and unresponsivebecause more and more government processes are taking place out ofpublic view. What an invitation to run a muck!!

Do you know whythe Planning Commission meetings are no longer recorded and broadcast?Adkins’ directive todiscontinue YouTube recording of thePlanning Commission meetings convenientlykeepsmeetingsand discussions hidden from thecitizens. Mr Adkins,... didn’twe loseabout$360,000whichthe cable company paid toMiddletown annuallyfor theircable TV monopoly, butwas actually money tobe used for the operation ofPublicAccessChannel24!!! Thatmoney (according to you) was just a gift to the city and if anyfunding wentto Channel24, it was just out of the goodness of your heart. Intruth, that money did not belong to the city at all, but was onlyfor the public access channel. Adkins closed Channel24 down, citingtheir lack of funds to operate,funds which the city had confiscated. Because ourcity business islonger monitored by the public via broadcasting, ourcity government hasbecome even moreunresponsive to thecitizens they were elected to serve. City council is oblivious to thisjust like they are oblivious to othercity admin methodsof circumventing theSunshine Laws!!! “Little”things like the SunshineLawsmean nothing to Adkins.

After PlanningCommission votes on a proposed zoning change, the matter comes toCity Council to affirm or deny the recommendation of PlanningCommission.  Under City Ordinances, there must be a publishednotice of public hearing at least 30 days before the matter can comebefore City Council for consideration.   The notice waspublished and the 30 day noticeperiod meant that the matter would notcome to City Council at the October 3rd meeting, but rather onTuesday’s meeting on October 17th.

The delay wasnot staff driven, Planning Commission driven, or at the request ofeither KHN or Atrium Medical Center.  It was simply a matter ofMiddletown law which requires that people know about the proposedchange and have 30 days opportunity to express public opinion,both at the Public Hearing, and also to their City Councilrepresentatives.

Whydid Mr Adkins’ Planning Commission recommend opposing Kettering’srequest?? Mr Adkinsmay have hada lot to do with Planning Commission’sdenial. It seems ratherconvenient that he brought up the zoning ordinance that “requires 4affirmative votes to overturn PlanningCommission’s recommendation. (Hehas total control over these boards and commissions! Remember whenCVB didn’t do exactly asAdkins wanted??So, heforced the entireboard to resign and replaced them with his own puppets; even thoughrequestsfor resignations and appointmentsto boards is a function ofcouncil).

The KHN zoningrequest was set to come to City Council today.  Under MiddletownOrdinances, if City Councilwishes to reverse the recommendation of Planning Commission, it takesan affirmative vote of four of the five Council members to overturnPlanning Commission’s recommendation. Four out of five City Council members would need to vote yes to allowthe KHN zoning to be changed to permit hospital beds at the newfacility.  City staff recommended to City Council that thezoning be changed to allow the beds as requested by KHN.

Thisis a misquote … thezoning ordinance amendment does not describe the total number ofcouncil members as 5.

Here’sthe amendment found underMiddletown zoning ordinance which addresses Council’s votingrequirements to overturn a Planning Commission recommendation:

1284.01of the MiddletownOrdinances
http://library.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Ohio/middletown_oh/parttwelveplanningandzoningcode/titlefourzoning/chapter1284amendments?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:middletown_oh$anc=JD_1284.01

CHAPTER1284:  AMENDMENTS

Section

1284.01   Amendmentto text and map.

1284.02   Procedurefor amendment.

1284.03   Applicationfee.

CROSSREFERENCES

   Feefor zone change - see P. & Z. 1286.02

§1284.01  AMENDMENT OF TEXT AND MAP.

   Wheneverthe public necessity, convenience, general welfare or good zoningpractice require, the City Council may, by ordinance, afterrecommendation by the Planning Commission and subject to theprocedures set forth in this chapter, amend, supplement or change theregulations, district boundaries or classifications of property, nowor hereafter established by this Zoning Ordinance or any amendmentsthereto. No such action shall be taken until the proposed amendmentor change has been submitted to the Planning Commission for approval,disapproval or suggestions. The Planning Commission shall be allowedat least 30 days for consideration and report. Anyordinance which violates, differs from or departs from therecommendation of the Planning Commission, shall not take effectunless passed by theaffirmative vote of at least four membersof the City Council.

(Ord.4886, passed 12-27-1968)

Thisamendment was in effectprior to 2014.Thenumber of council members wasreduced (in2014) to 5of theoriginal7. Thatmeansthat prior to 2014,the required 4out of 7 votes (54%)was a simple majority vote,not a super majority vote. Asimple majority vote by our current 5 member council would be 3 outof 5, … not 4 out of 5 …which wouldrequire anunheard of 80% majority.

ApparentlyKettering’s rezoning request would have (shouldhave) been approved.

MrAdkins prides himself on being a lawyer, so it’s difficult tobelieve that he wasn’taware of thetruth of this matter. Not to mention that it appears our lawdirector, Les Landen was also unaware??? And perhaps our (lawyer)council member Dan Picard didn’t know either? Ifany of them were aware … well … whatwould you conclude????

On Monday,October 16, 2017, around noon, KHN submitted a letter to me formallywithdrawingtheir application to rezone the two parcels in question, therebyabandoning their request to add hospital beds to the new facility. The KHN zoning requests have been removed from today’sCity Council agenda and they are nolonger under consideration by the City at the request of KHN.

Again, this doesnot change the original designs of the facility to offer EmergencyRoom services and outpatient services.

There have beendiscussions in the community that the city supported or didn’tsupport the KHN plan and that the matter was somehow subjectivelybeing manipulated by City government to get a particular outcome.  This one is by the books folks.  Planning Commission made theirrecommendation.  The city followed the law and standardprocedure to publish notice and offer time for comment.  KHNwithdrew their request completely with no input from  Citystaff.    I do not know their business reasons forwithdrawing their request.

SoKHN withdrew their zoningrequest, probably thinkingthat they were goinglose the council vote. Mr Adkins, if“thisone is by the books” then we want tosee and read the book. Is it Adkins’little book of hide the facts, discussions, and meetings? Adkinsclaims not to know the reasons that KHNwithdrew their request completely. Kettering,at this point had talked directly to council members and wasaware of their positions and thoughtthat the 3of 5 votes in their favor…supposedly,would not be enough. … Mr Adkins, you knew this!! Reportedly,Mulligan and Moon were against therequest. KHN didn’t know that asimple majority, 3 of 5 votes,was all they needed.

Ifcity hallinsists onpreventingKHN andothers to bring innew much needed enterprise which willpromote growth and prosperity inMiddletown, then ourcity willcontinue to fail while everyone aroundus is thriving.This is rejecting a gift horse that wasa positive in every way. KHN hasask for no money or tax breaks from the city. Ifall of council, the city manager and city staff have to be replacedto save Middletown, so be it. Januaryof 2018 may see petitions circulating to recall council, followedby hiring a new city manager and staff.

There will be nopublic hearing on this item or a vote of council tonight. The request is withdrawnand done.

I hope thisexplains the process and time-line so people can understand whathappened and why.

Yes, Mr Adkins,we do understand what happened and why! Unfortunately, with yourhelp Middletown is losing jobs, tax dollars, residents and selfrespect. Allowing the good old boys mind set to keep destroying ourcity should no longer be tolerated by the citizens.

Hardto believe that Mr Adkins has not edited out the only comment made.

Onethought on “KetteringHealth Network Rezoning Request”

1. Dan jones

   October 17, 2017 at 5:12 pm

   This is a huge loss to the people of middletown!! Most who live in this city cannot afford transportation so they’re forced to go to atrium for their medical needs. As everyone in this town knows and as any medical professional will tell you atrium is the worst hospital in southwest Ohio! It doesn’t effect me I drive to UC west Chester or Kettering but it hurts the tens of thousands of poor residents of our city! What would’ve been the big deal of just giving them the permit? It would’ve meant more tax dollars for the city and improve the city overall! Thanks for taking the time to read! Let’s make middletown great again!!!

ThisJournal-News article Wednesday. October 18, 2017 seems to contain“Richter-ized” propaganda to support Mr Adkins (unverified)claim that approval ofKettering rezoning required a super majority, 4 out of 5 councilmembers, to reverse the planning commission’s disapproval. Comments in red.

Hospitalzoning support battle waged by email

Kettering,Premier sent 300 missives over Middletown project.

MIDDLETOWN— Before Kettering Health Network pulled its rezoning request toallow overnight patient stays at its $30 million facility underconstruction in Middletown, the healthcare organization and its maincompetitor in the region — Premier Health — each worked to swayMiddletown City Council to support their opposite stances on theproposal.

Morethan 300 emails were sent to city leaders since Middletown PlanningCommission denied Kettering Health’s rezoning request last month asboth sides lobbied for council support of their side.

Asuper-majority of council members, four of the five members, wasrequired to reverse the planning commission recommendation.

MrAdkins, please tell us (if you can) exactly what ordinance containsthe rule that a super majority is required to reverse anyrecommendationby a bureaucratic planning commission!!!! Ifthis can not be demonstrated, then Kettering should be allowed torevisit their rezoning request, and win an approval with asimple majority of 3votes.

Citystaff had recommended approving the request to the planningcommission and city council.

Duringthe required 30-day notice period between the planning commissionmeeting and next council meeting, Kettering Health officials metseparately with council members to explain their desire to add asmany as 20 beds for overnight patient stays at the 63,000-square-footfacility slated to open in mid-2018.

KetteringHealth needed the two parcels off Ohio 122 at Union Road, about amile south of Atrium Medical Center, to be rezoned as the currentzoning code was written as part of the incentives to have thehospital, now Atrium Medical Center, built there. While other typesof healthcare facilities were permitted uses, there was a specificcategory for hospitals for patient stays for 24 hours or more.

Therewould be no need for any of this controversy if the zoning code hadbeen written without the preconceived, preplanned bias to unfairlyinsulate Atrium from competition. Why should Middletown’s citizensbe limited to 1 hospital facility?? City hall had already bribedAtrium with free land, free installed infrastructure and $195 millionin bonds to build the hospital. Taxpayer money paid the bribe!!! But that didn’t satisfy Atrium. By contrast, Kettering is askingfor no assistance and is able to provide insured care. Read on tothe next comment.

KetteringHealth gave no reason for withdrawing the requests, which the cityreceived about noon Monday from Richard Haas, Kettering Health seniorvice president.

“Ourdecision to withdraw our rezoning request has no impact on ouroriginal plans for the medical facility,” Elizabeth Long, KetteringHealth spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Our services will includea freestanding Emergency Department; outpatient services such as Laband Radiology; and a Physician Office Building. Construction is ontrack and we will be caring for patients by mid-2018. We are enjoyinga great partnership with Middletown city leaders and we look forwardto furthering our involvement in the Middletown community.

Ina letter to Mayor Larry Mulligan urging for council to uphold theplanning commission’s decision, David Pearce, a former MiddletownRegional Hospital board member, said “the zoning was intentionallycrafted with the $300 million hospital as the key centerpiece/stakeholder.”

Takenote!!!! “the zoning was intentionally crafted withthe $300 million hospital as the key centerpiece/ stakeholder.” THE ZONING WAS INTENTIONALLY CRAFTED … and a virtual monopoly tookover Middletown’s healthcare.

Pearcesaid that in the past 17 years “nothing has changed and the zoningremains critical to the hospital’s (and its partners’) success.”

Sincewhen is it ethical for a government entity to use zoning ordinancesto create a monopoly; especially one that has had such adverseeffects on our city’s quality of healthcare and the loss ofavailability of health insurance. These are big changes in the last17 years.

Thatzoning for the hospital was part of the city’s master plan adoptedin 2005.

Where,in the 2005 master plan, does it say that the zoning for the parcelsdesignated for healthcare facilities shouldbe biased to favor one facility over another? Besides,in 2005, Atrium was not yet builtand special zoning for them could not have been in the originalmaster plan. And even if it wasin theplan, it is unethical to arbitrarilylimit competition inthe healthcare marketplace. A monopoly usually results in higherprices and lower quality! That isexactly what our citizens are complaining about already!!!

PremierHealth employees and other community supporters emailed dozens ofletters to council members to uphold the planning commission’sdecision. A number of the email letters contained the same paragraphswith Premier Health’s main points:

■Thatthey believe in providing quality health care to the Middletowncommunity and proud of the hospital’s 100 years of service. Atthe outset, Atrium wanted to erase our memory of MRH. Now thatAtrium is failingdismally they want to claim to be an extension of MRH’s proud 100years of service.

■ Thatthey want these high-quality services to continue and feel that theaddition of unnecessary hospital beds would jeopardize Atrium’sability to continue offering specialty services that benefit thecommunity. Commentsfrom the community do not describe Atrium’s hospitalservices ashigh quality. That’s why so many beds at Atrium are empty.

■Thatadding a second hospital in Middletown will not create new jobs longterm, but could cost the jobs of Middletown citizens who have workedthere with pride for many years. Atriumhashalfthe numberof beds thatMRH’snew section had which resultedin the loss of 1000 jobs. whenAtrium opened.

Notethat this entire article is biased infavor of Atrium. The claimed dozens ofemails in show of support is limited to Premier employees andassociates. Thenumerous expressions of opposition (such as the reader commentsection which followsJournal articles in the digital copy)are totallyignored. Theycan be viewed in a previous post on thisforum.

“AtriumMedical Center is proud to be the City of Middletown’s hospital. Asevidenced by our 100-year legacy serving the community, we arecommitted to continually improving health services for Middletownarea residents. Our patients come first,” Michael Uhl, president ofAtrium Medical Center, said in a statement. “As a stakeholder inthe City of Middletown’s economic development efforts, Atrium willcontinue to work with the city and others to revise the master plan.By working collaboratively to update the master plan, it couldbenefit all parties and promote the overall economic viability of thecity.”

Atriumand Michael Uhl should be ashamed of trying to take credit for theproud100year legacy of MRH. Atrium has continually reducedthe quality of healthservices and they lack the necessary contracts to provide insuredservices to the majority of area residents (whichmakes patients their last consideration). The statement that the master plan will be revised/updated lookslike it will be reworded to agree with all of Atrium’s pretensesto be a pillar of the community. A match stick might better describethat pillar.

Contactthis reporter at 513-755-5067 or email Ed.Richter@coxinc.com.