Seven victims had ties in the local area: Wendy R. Faulkner, 47, of Mason was a Vice-President of information technology for Aon Insurance Group. She was at a meeting in the south tower of the World Trade Center when the planes hit. Douglas M. Cherry, 38, of Maplewood, N.J., was Vice-President of the professional services group for Aon Insurance Group. Mr. Cherry, who grew up in Terrace Park, also was in the south tower of the World Trade Center. Kelly Booms, 24, of Brookline Mass., was a passenger on American Flight 11, which struck the World Trade Center’s north tower. She grew up in Blue Ash and graduated from Miami University. When she died, she was an accountant for PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Robert D. Peraza, 30, of New York City, was a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, which had offices on the 104th floor of the north tower of the world Trade Center. His parents live in Mason. Cathy Salter, 37, a University of Cincinnati graduate, was a claims manager at Aon Insurance Group in Cincinnati before transferring to the company’s New York office. She was last seen on the 98th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center. Brian P. Williams, 29, of New York, lived previously in Edgewood, Kentucky, and graduated from Covington Catholic High School. He was a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald and died in the World Trade Center attack. Martha Rezke, 56, was a Pentagon accountant whose brother-in-law, John Rezke, lives in Liberty Township.

Bevis asked for a moment of silence for all the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.

A raise in sales tax
It is Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich’s opinion that a new sales tax is imperative to reducing crime on the streets. The money will be used to improve the jail accommodations.

“It is a $225 million project and I do not feel it is fair to ask police officers to do their jobs by arresting people who are committing the crimes and acts of violence, and then releasing these same individuals the next day ... it is not a situation we can tolerate,” Heimlich said, who presented village council with handouts about the Campaign for a Safer Hamilton County, which is being chaired by Heimlich, Sheriff Simon Leis, Jr., Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters, and Carl H. Linder, Jr.

This campaign addresses the issue of the need for a new jail in Hamilton County. He thinks everyone recognizes that this business of arresting people one day and letting them out the next simply cannot continue.

Over the course of 20 years, approximately 70,000 criminals have been released early from jail short of serving their time. When talking with judges, they all say they have to give out a shorter sentence because they know there is never enough space.

“If you go back to when the jail was built, it was told to County Commissioners that the jail was too small. In 1991 a place called Queensgate was rented for what was to be three years at $2 million dollars per year,” Heimlich said. “ The new jail was never built and so far the County has spent over $25 million dollars in rent for a run down building.”

Last year the county hired one of the top corrections planning firms to look into a new solution. After a 5 month study, they determined that we need a new jail and we have to get rid of the older facilities. The consultant recommended building the new jail within 5 minutes of the Justice Center. According to the consultant, that should give county enough room until 2020.

“We want to build the new facility in a way so that it can be expanded. The big question is how we are going to pay for it,” Heimlich said.

The plan is to put a $.25 sales tax on the ballot. He believes a sales tax would be better than a property tax.
“We have control over the sales tax as opposed to property taxes. Forty-five percent of sales tax comes from outside of Hamilton County, therefore those who come to the professional games etc., are essentially helping to pay for the new jail,” he said. The tax will go for 10 years at the most. If it is paid off before 10 years, the tax will go away.

There is a possibility that we will receive $15 million to $25 million from the state, but commissioners are not including that in their figures.

As soon as the jail is paid off, the sales tax will go away. Even with the new tax, taxes will not go up over the rate of inflation.

Most of the County leaders and law officials are supportive and have endorsed this levy. The issue should not be how much it will cost to build the new jail, but how much will it cost if we do not. He asked the mayor and members of council to show their support by passing a resolution.

Adams moved, seconded by Ms. Sullivan that the minutes of August 28, 2006 be accepted as written. On roll call; four ayes, no nays.

The following communications were read:

Please park on the correct side of the road
Bevis said he has observed that people are parking on the wrong side of the road. To him this appears to be a safety issue as when people pull out, they will be crossing a lane of travel.

There is an ordinance in place prohibiting this type of parking. Chief Rick Hines said he has been working in the village for 19 years and people were parking that way when he came here.

“We are looking at something that people have been accustomed to doing for 40-plus years. The majority of the people who park in the Historic District park the opposite way,” Hines said.

Bevis asked if council should take a look at the ordinance. Hines said that was up to council, but as far as enforcement, it is something the department has not enforced for years.

Mayor Policastro said it is hard to park in the Historic area. Clerk Stan Bahler said the harder it is to park, the more dangerous it is to park on the wrong side of the street. Hines said if council decides to make changes, it will be a major job educating the residents. Bevis disagreed saying it would take one warning ticket - people are a little smarter than that.

Sullivan disagreed saying finding a good parking spot in the Historic District is like winning the lottery. “It will be a grave inconvenience to residents ... and a waste of time for the police department,” she said.

It was suggested to make a friendly reminder in the Mayor’s Bulletin. Clerk Stan Bahler said if the village is going to remind them and then not enforce it, what’s the point? “If we are not going to enforce the ordinance, then remove it from the books. We can’t selectively enforce some ordinances and not enforce others,” he said.

Resurfacing issues at Park Lane
Residents of Park Lane made a request to have Park Lane resurfaced. Mayor Policastro said he has been looking into this with Ebelhar and it seems Metropolitan Sewer District only wants to resurface 75 percent of the “U” area on Park Lane.

He is meeting with MSD and it is Mayor Policastro’s opinion that once you get over 50 percent and you have a unit like that, you should do the whole thing.

He has asked the Engineer to give him an estimate of what it will cost. If they do not agree to finish it, council should look into finishing it themselves, especially after what those people have been through, and perhaps compromising with MSD.

Public forumDuring public forum, village residents are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns, ask questions from council, make suggestions and share any other thoughts concerning village decisions, projects and expenditures.

Ms. Denise McCarthy, 6722 Chestnut Street, presented Mayor Policastro with a petition list of 103 names against the selling of the green space at Chestnut and Plainville. She plans on having an additional 75-80 names by tomorrow. Mayor Policastro said we are going to do this the democratic way. The Mayor’s Bulletin will come out with a “tear off’. It will explain everything - the benefits etc. It will be up to the people. After the people have spoken, he will either turn it over to Council, or if they don’t want it - it will just die. Whatever money comes from the sale of the piece of property will go directly back into the Parks Fund, especially for bathrooms and the tee ball park. He said all the facts are not out, and people need to have all the facts in order to make a decision.

Ms. Mary Alice Maze, 6734 Chestnut Street, said she has been a resident for almost 19 years and she just found out about this proposal last week. She usually reads the Council minutes and she was real surprised that was the first mention of something going on. She has heard that talks have been going on since May. She finds it very disconcerting that this is more of a behind the scenes proposal. Nothing has been mentioned in the Eastern Hills Journal or the Town Crier which are the two large mass medias for the Village. She believes if this is going to be a true democratic process, it should be put on the ballot for the November elections. Mayor Policastro said there have been no talks, no behind the scenes activity. He does not know where everyone is getting this information. Frank Raeon, a City Planner, approached the Mayor with this plan. The Mayor wrote a letter to the Emery Memorial about selling the property. They gave their permission but, said it had to be okay with the people. Ms. Maze said one member of the Parks Advisory Group told her that it had been in discussion since May. Mayor Policastro said that is when Mr. Raeon made the suggestion and the letter was sent to the Emery Memorial. It has taken them this long to respond. He told the Parks Advisory Board that this was suggested by Mr. Raeon. He is going to do a survey similar to that of Resthaven Barn. In his bulletin also, he is going to mention the possible sale of property behind the library and the sale of the Steam Plant. He wants the residents to be aware of potential income streams coming into the Village. One of the promises he made when he ran for Mayor was to find ways to finance the Village by bringing in new business for payroll taxes, because a future operational levy is the last thing he would want to do.

Ms. McCarthy said she is not against new businesses coming into the Village. She believes we need more businesses. However, she feels there are more appropriate places in the Village than in between two schools. Mayor Policastro said all we are doing right now is looking into a suggestion.

CouncilmanEbelhar said the first he heard about this proposal was at the last Council meeting. He said it has not been in front of Council for a long period of time. Mayor Policastro said it will not be referred to a Committee of Council until he hears from the people.

Solicitor McTigue said the very first step in the process in selling a piece of property is for Council to first make a determination that the Village no longer has a use for the property. If Council makes that determination, then there is a whole process that we need to go through. He certainly believes that the Village residents will have an opportunity to let their feelings be known.

Mr. John Swisher, 6624 Wooster Pike, said in the Historic District we do not have the luxury of having streets wide enough to accommodate a lot of vehicle turnaround. A lot of streets are not marked that there is no parking on one side. There are times when he can not get his trucks through without having to make a lot of extra turns. Forcing people to park in one direction will force them to find places to turn around which can be a real challenge. He respectfully asked that the issue not be pushed.

Ms. Karen Koetzel, 3865 Beech Street, said the lanes in the Historic District were built in the 1920’s and are not built for the size trucks Rumpke feels they have to use now that they are down to pick up once a week. There has been a lot of property damage on Lane A. Large truck drivers run into fences, hedges etc. She suggested the Safety Committee look into posting signs limiting the size of through trucks. Mayor Policastro referred the matter to the Safety Committee.

Ms. Maze said she has witnessed Rumpke dumping the recycling in the trash truck. People take the time to separate the recycling and it can be very frustrating to see it tossed in with the garbage. Mr. Ebelhar said they have a huge recycling center where the recycling is sorted out from the garbage. They may have to send one truck for whatever reason, but it gets sorted out on their end.

Mr. Nowlin asked when the curb will be replaced on the western end of Wooster Pike. Mayor Policastro said that is obvious damage and he has been told that it will be replaced.