UPDATED: So long, Armintrout, Wilkin, Hastings building; city auditor cancels purchase order on mayor's property
Lead Summary
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
As some of you have noted lately, I’ve done my best to avoid writing about the Idiocracy in Hillsboro city government.
Frankly, I’ve lost interest in the comedy road show that dropped by Hillsboro public office in 2012 with Sideshow Bob – and many willing Republican accomplices – who have unnecessarily cost taxpayers more than $800,000, according to one council member’s recent estimate.
But after talking with a few other public officials, and after some column requests (I rarely take requests), let’s have at it on the good old Armintrout, Wilkin, Hastings building on Gov. Trimble Place that’s up for demolition with a $33,000 – more or less – purchase order submitted to the Hillsboro city auditor on March 20.
According to Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis, “On March 20, my office received a purchase order request for $33,100 from the Hillsboro City Service Administration office, which is headed by mayor Drew Hastings, for the demolition of a building located at 120 Governor Trimble Place. This building is owned by mayor Drew Hastings. This immediately caused a concern that this was a conflict of interest resulting in an ethical violation. I called Law Director Fred Beery about this issue and he stated that there was no conflict.
“After speaking with Mr. Beery, I reluctantly issued a purchase order. However, I later learned that the mayor's property taxes were going to be assessed for a period of five years in order to pay for the demolition. This immediately raised more concerns about special assessments. Revised Code 727 appears to me to state that the legislative authority is the one that approves things like this through a resolution. However, no resolution was presented to city council for approval. I have also learned that the administration has a so-called "Demolition Program,” complete with an "administrative policy for funding demolition" which spells out the requirements, processes and options for participating in the program. This program, however, has not been formally approved by city council. I also contacted the former safety/service director who was there until November 2016. He told me that no such program existed during his tenure. Therefore, I canceled the purchase order until I could research this further.”
The auditor canceled the $33,100 purchase order for the mayor’s property on March 26 and informed The Highland County Press on March 27, following a request from the newspaper.
To his credit, Lewis initially questioned the ethics related to a sitting mayor taking advantage of public funds for his personal property.
Lewis told me Wednesday, March 21 that he asked the law director for a legal opinion on the use of these funds for the mayor’s property.
According to the auditor, the law director said he had communicated with Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins on the matter.
The auditor even quoted the law director as saying that Collins said “a public official doesn’t give up his rights as a private citizen” or words to that effect.
My initial response to the city auditor was that the alleged words of the city law director were rather funny. After all, since when has Beery listened to the county prosecutor’s opinion?
Collins tried to tell him that the city was wrong in its indigent burial (i.e. cremation) policy related to a local funeral home’s lawsuit against the city, which the city lost.
(Since Jan. 1, 2012, the city has been real good at losing court cases at your expense.)
The county prosecutor also tried to tell the city law director – with supporting documentation from the Ohio attorney general – that the city’s motel lodging tax was improper. This is all well-documented, of course.
Last week, the understandably irritated county prosecutor provided some clarity to the matter.
“I did not give an opinion to the city,” Collins told The Highland County Press. “I have no authority to give the city an opinion. If the city wants an opinion on ethics in government, it can request an opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commission.”
Collins was understandably upset that the mayor’s most recent safety and service director, Mel McKenzie (No. 4, if anyone’s counting) supposedly forwarded information to members of city council that Collins said there was nothing unethical about the mayor taking advantage of more taxpayer dollars.
Collins also noted that Beery has ignored her previous legal opinions (with supporting documentation from the state of Ohio) on the city’s legal battle over indigent burials and a duplicative lodgings tax that has been noted repeatedly by the state auditor.
Just for fun, let’s go back to the February 2016 meeting of Hillsboro City Council regarding the mayor’s property. (See http://www.highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/Headlines/Article/UPDATED-II-Hillsboro-council-members-consider-purchase-of-Governor-Trimble-West-Walnut-buildings/2/73/31451.)
At that time, former Hillsboro Police Chief Todd Whited said his department had more pressing concerns that were not being addressed by the mayor’s administration.
Hillsboro City Council members and city administrators engaged in a lengthy discussion on a proposed ordinance to purchase this property at 120 Governor Trimble Place, plus a storage building on West Walnut Street that was rented by the city and utilized by the Hillsboro Police Department. At that time, both properties were owned by John “Buck” Wilkin.
At the Jan. 11, 2016 Hillsboro City Council meeting, a resolution originally placed on the agenda – to authorize the safety and service director to lease the property at 120 Governor Trimble Place, Hillsboro and to declare an emergency – was removed prior to the start of the meeting.
“I had an opportunity to discuss this matter with the administration prior to today’s (Jan. 11) meeting,” Council President Lee Koogler said. “I am asking that this go into the finance committee to review. I think there’s some issues about structure of the acquisition, and I think it’s better that we get an idea of what structure is being proposed before we get into looking into an ordinance.”
Finance committee chair Dick Donley reported that the finance committee held a joint meeting with the property maintenance and restoration committee to discuss the purchase of the two uptown properties on Jan. 28, 2016.
“Discussion centered around purchasing both properties,” Donley said. “The property at Governor Trimble Place is offered to the city at $65,000, and the property at West Walnut Street is offered at a cost of $50,000.
“The owner also offered to lease the properties for 10 years at 4.5-percent interest.”
To his credit, council member Bill Alexander had reservations about the city’s purchase of the Governor Trimble Place building. “The immediate concern is the expenditure of money for these two properties,” Alexander said. “I guess I wanted to make certain I understand correctly – we would be looking at about $60,000 on the [Governor Trimble] building and approximately $40,000 for the demolition and preparing of that as a parking lot?”
Council member Justin Harsha also asked the mayor about the urgency of the proposed ordinance. Koogler also pointed out that the 2016 legislation to sell the property was being presented as an emergency.
“You’d have to ask the law director that,” Hastings said.
As always, ask the law director… how convenient. When has the law director ever offered a definitive opinion on anything since 2012?
In 2016, when the so-called GOP mayor was pushing the city to buy the (then) Wilkin building, Hillsboro Police Chief Todd Whited said his department had more pressing concerns that were not being addressed by the administration.
"Last year, when we put our budget together for 2016, we (Hillsboro Safety Service Director Todd Wilkin and the chief) included a position for a plain-clothes drug investigator. This was not a new position, it was replacing a position that we previously had. Instead of spending $65,000 – plus demolition costs – on the building on Governor Trimble Place just to add eight parking spaces, we could put that to better use for the taxpayers."
Indeed.
The first time I publicly called the former “Armintrout” building the new “Wilkin” building, I got a phone call from Wilkin, my good neighbor across South High Street.
Wilkin said he purchased the building as a favor to the mayor. He also asked me if I wanted to buy it. I declined. (Even though the offer was tempting – that building once housed two of the liveliest bars in Hillsboro history. Talk about an entertainment district.)
Here we are two years later. There was a sign on the building as recently as March 21 advertising “office space for lease,” with a familiar cell phone number. Thus, the building can’t be in horrible shape, or in need of taxpayer funds for demolition assistance, right? Would a sitting mayor advertise a building for lease that was in need of immediate demolition? Surely not. Anyone on city council or the GOP Cent Com want to weigh in? Of course not.
(Man, how I’d love to hear former Judge, State Lawmaker and City Law Director Jim Hapner’s legal opinion on this one.)
The bottom line is this: As one of my favorite local judges has said: "If you have to ask if something is ethical, it probably isn't." (As the old saying goes, “All the graft ain’t in Newport.)
Hillsboro city voters and taxpayers owe a sincere debt of gratitude to City Auditor Gary Lewis for his considerable efforts to be an honest and ethical steward of public funds. Members of Hillsboro City Council would do well to listen to him.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, the only locally owned and operated newspaper in Highland County.
Frankly, I’ve lost interest in the comedy road show that dropped by Hillsboro public office in 2012 with Sideshow Bob – and many willing Republican accomplices – who have unnecessarily cost taxpayers more than $800,000, according to one council member’s recent estimate.
But after talking with a few other public officials, and after some column requests (I rarely take requests), let’s have at it on the good old Armintrout, Wilkin, Hastings building on Gov. Trimble Place that’s up for demolition with a $33,000 – more or less – purchase order submitted to the Hillsboro city auditor on March 20.
According to Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis, “On March 20, my office received a purchase order request for $33,100 from the Hillsboro City Service Administration office, which is headed by mayor Drew Hastings, for the demolition of a building located at 120 Governor Trimble Place. This building is owned by mayor Drew Hastings. This immediately caused a concern that this was a conflict of interest resulting in an ethical violation. I called Law Director Fred Beery about this issue and he stated that there was no conflict.
“After speaking with Mr. Beery, I reluctantly issued a purchase order. However, I later learned that the mayor's property taxes were going to be assessed for a period of five years in order to pay for the demolition. This immediately raised more concerns about special assessments. Revised Code 727 appears to me to state that the legislative authority is the one that approves things like this through a resolution. However, no resolution was presented to city council for approval. I have also learned that the administration has a so-called "Demolition Program,” complete with an "administrative policy for funding demolition" which spells out the requirements, processes and options for participating in the program. This program, however, has not been formally approved by city council. I also contacted the former safety/service director who was there until November 2016. He told me that no such program existed during his tenure. Therefore, I canceled the purchase order until I could research this further.”
The auditor canceled the $33,100 purchase order for the mayor’s property on March 26 and informed The Highland County Press on March 27, following a request from the newspaper.
To his credit, Lewis initially questioned the ethics related to a sitting mayor taking advantage of public funds for his personal property.
Lewis told me Wednesday, March 21 that he asked the law director for a legal opinion on the use of these funds for the mayor’s property.
According to the auditor, the law director said he had communicated with Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins on the matter.
The auditor even quoted the law director as saying that Collins said “a public official doesn’t give up his rights as a private citizen” or words to that effect.
My initial response to the city auditor was that the alleged words of the city law director were rather funny. After all, since when has Beery listened to the county prosecutor’s opinion?
Collins tried to tell him that the city was wrong in its indigent burial (i.e. cremation) policy related to a local funeral home’s lawsuit against the city, which the city lost.
(Since Jan. 1, 2012, the city has been real good at losing court cases at your expense.)
The county prosecutor also tried to tell the city law director – with supporting documentation from the Ohio attorney general – that the city’s motel lodging tax was improper. This is all well-documented, of course.
Last week, the understandably irritated county prosecutor provided some clarity to the matter.
“I did not give an opinion to the city,” Collins told The Highland County Press. “I have no authority to give the city an opinion. If the city wants an opinion on ethics in government, it can request an opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commission.”
Collins was understandably upset that the mayor’s most recent safety and service director, Mel McKenzie (No. 4, if anyone’s counting) supposedly forwarded information to members of city council that Collins said there was nothing unethical about the mayor taking advantage of more taxpayer dollars.
Collins also noted that Beery has ignored her previous legal opinions (with supporting documentation from the state of Ohio) on the city’s legal battle over indigent burials and a duplicative lodgings tax that has been noted repeatedly by the state auditor.
Just for fun, let’s go back to the February 2016 meeting of Hillsboro City Council regarding the mayor’s property. (See http://www.highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/Headlines/Article/UPDATED-II-Hillsboro-council-members-consider-purchase-of-Governor-Trimble-West-Walnut-buildings/2/73/31451.)
At that time, former Hillsboro Police Chief Todd Whited said his department had more pressing concerns that were not being addressed by the mayor’s administration.
Hillsboro City Council members and city administrators engaged in a lengthy discussion on a proposed ordinance to purchase this property at 120 Governor Trimble Place, plus a storage building on West Walnut Street that was rented by the city and utilized by the Hillsboro Police Department. At that time, both properties were owned by John “Buck” Wilkin.
At the Jan. 11, 2016 Hillsboro City Council meeting, a resolution originally placed on the agenda – to authorize the safety and service director to lease the property at 120 Governor Trimble Place, Hillsboro and to declare an emergency – was removed prior to the start of the meeting.
“I had an opportunity to discuss this matter with the administration prior to today’s (Jan. 11) meeting,” Council President Lee Koogler said. “I am asking that this go into the finance committee to review. I think there’s some issues about structure of the acquisition, and I think it’s better that we get an idea of what structure is being proposed before we get into looking into an ordinance.”
Finance committee chair Dick Donley reported that the finance committee held a joint meeting with the property maintenance and restoration committee to discuss the purchase of the two uptown properties on Jan. 28, 2016.
“Discussion centered around purchasing both properties,” Donley said. “The property at Governor Trimble Place is offered to the city at $65,000, and the property at West Walnut Street is offered at a cost of $50,000.
“The owner also offered to lease the properties for 10 years at 4.5-percent interest.”
To his credit, council member Bill Alexander had reservations about the city’s purchase of the Governor Trimble Place building. “The immediate concern is the expenditure of money for these two properties,” Alexander said. “I guess I wanted to make certain I understand correctly – we would be looking at about $60,000 on the [Governor Trimble] building and approximately $40,000 for the demolition and preparing of that as a parking lot?”
Council member Justin Harsha also asked the mayor about the urgency of the proposed ordinance. Koogler also pointed out that the 2016 legislation to sell the property was being presented as an emergency.
“You’d have to ask the law director that,” Hastings said.
As always, ask the law director… how convenient. When has the law director ever offered a definitive opinion on anything since 2012?
In 2016, when the so-called GOP mayor was pushing the city to buy the (then) Wilkin building, Hillsboro Police Chief Todd Whited said his department had more pressing concerns that were not being addressed by the administration.
"Last year, when we put our budget together for 2016, we (Hillsboro Safety Service Director Todd Wilkin and the chief) included a position for a plain-clothes drug investigator. This was not a new position, it was replacing a position that we previously had. Instead of spending $65,000 – plus demolition costs – on the building on Governor Trimble Place just to add eight parking spaces, we could put that to better use for the taxpayers."
Indeed.
The first time I publicly called the former “Armintrout” building the new “Wilkin” building, I got a phone call from Wilkin, my good neighbor across South High Street.
Wilkin said he purchased the building as a favor to the mayor. He also asked me if I wanted to buy it. I declined. (Even though the offer was tempting – that building once housed two of the liveliest bars in Hillsboro history. Talk about an entertainment district.)
Here we are two years later. There was a sign on the building as recently as March 21 advertising “office space for lease,” with a familiar cell phone number. Thus, the building can’t be in horrible shape, or in need of taxpayer funds for demolition assistance, right? Would a sitting mayor advertise a building for lease that was in need of immediate demolition? Surely not. Anyone on city council or the GOP Cent Com want to weigh in? Of course not.
(Man, how I’d love to hear former Judge, State Lawmaker and City Law Director Jim Hapner’s legal opinion on this one.)
The bottom line is this: As one of my favorite local judges has said: "If you have to ask if something is ethical, it probably isn't." (As the old saying goes, “All the graft ain’t in Newport.)
Hillsboro city voters and taxpayers owe a sincere debt of gratitude to City Auditor Gary Lewis for his considerable efforts to be an honest and ethical steward of public funds. Members of Hillsboro City Council would do well to listen to him.
Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press, the only locally owned and operated newspaper in Highland County.