Loveland, Ohio – Current Mayor Kathy Bailey and current Councilmember Kent Blair retained their seats on Council in the recent election. Andy Bateman was elected for the first time. All three will take an oath of office in a special council meeting on Monday, December 2. The meeting begins at 7 PM at City Hall.
After the three are sworn in and join the other four councilmembers at the dais, all seven will vote to elect a Mayor and Vice-Mayor who will serve in those positions for the next two years until the next municipal election in 2021.
The other council members are, current Vice-Mayor, Rob Weisgerber and members, Ted Phelps, Tim Butler, and Neal Oury who each have two years remaining of their current terms. Angie Settell was not re-elected.
Here are results of the Loveland Magazine informal poll of area residents when we asked, “Hey Psychics, “Who is most likely to be Loveland’s next Mayor?”
Kathy Bailey – 57%
The Loveland Frog – 13%
Tim Butler – 8%
Neal Oury – 7%
Andy Bateman – 5%
Rob Weisgerber – 5%
Ted Phelps – 3%
Kent Blair – 2%
Here is the agenda for the meeting…
AGENDA
City Council Meeting 7:00 PM Monday, December 2, 2019
Loveland City Hall 120 West Loveland Avenue Loveland, OH 45140
Call to Order
Pledge of Allegiance
Invocation
A. Loveland Police and LSFD Chaplain Bill Hounshell
Oath of Office for Newly Elected and Reelected City Council Members
Kathy Bailey – Oath of Office administered by Judge Brad Greenberg
Kent Blair – Oath of Office administered by Patricia Melson
Andrew Bateman – Oath of Office administered by Marla Simiele
Nomination and Election of Mayor
A. Oath of Office
6. Nomination and Election of Vice Mayor
A. Oath of Office
7. Benediction
A. Loveland Police and LSFD Chaplain Bill Hounshell
8. Adjournment
(The next City Council Meeting will be on December 10, 2019, at 7:00 PM)
Loveland, Ohio – On December 2, Loveland City Council will meet to swear in the recently elected members. The meeting will begin at 7 PM at City Hall.
Kathy Bailey is the current Mayor, however, after municipal elections in Loveland, Council meets in an “Organizational Meeting” and votes among themselves a Mayor and Vice-Mayor for the next two years.
Sitting at the Council table that night will be the three who finished at the top of the November 5th election; current Mayor, Kathy Bailey (2,642 votes), newly elected member, Andy Bateman (2,190 votes); and, current member, Kent Blair (1,873 votes). Current member Angie Settell (1,247 votes) was not re-elected. Council has 7 members.
The other candidates not elected were, Pat Ahr (1,183 votes) and Cory O’Donnell (769 votes).
Sitting with those who won on November 5th will be current members, Vice-Mayor Rob Weisgerber, and members Tim Butler, Neal Oury, and Ted Phelps.
Let’s have some fun and see if readers can see into the future, “Who is most likely to be Loveland’s next Mayor?”
Just for fun, we’ve thrown in our favorite write-in candidate, Ms. Loveland Frog! Because after-all it would be nice to have a “tad” more gender equality and hear something besides just 7 human voices croaking “Yes” in unison for the next two years.
Loveland, Ohio – On Wednesday, Mayor Kathy Bailey announced she has selected Kent Blair to fill the vacant seat on City Council. The council seat has been vacant since the resignation of Mark Fitzgerald on August 14 of last year. Blair will serve the remaining two-year’s of Fitzgerald’s term. Blair is expected to be sworn into office at the next council meeting scheduled for January 9.
In a press release, Bailey said she conducted personal interviews with several candidates before making her decision. “I selected Kent because he shares my commitment to community engagement and transparency,” Bailey said. “The voters made clear this November what qualities they want in their council members, and Kent exemplifies them all. He is committed to working with this new council to make the City proud of the work we do, and the manner in which we do it.”
Blair had submitted petitions to run for one of the four, four-year open council seats in last November’s election but withdrew from the race when Neal Oury submitted petitions to run.
The Back Story
On August 11 the Hamilton County Board of Elections ruled that Oury and the Loveland Community Heartbeat Political Action Committee (LCHPAC) had submitted sufficient petitions to recall Fitzgerald. The petition effort was successful, and could have resulted in a head-to-head race, Oury vs. Fitzgerald, however instead of facing the voters to retain his seat, resigned. That left Fitzgerald’s seat open and Loveland without a Mayor.
Oury then submitted petitions to run for one of the regular open seats on Council and that is when Blair withdrew his petitions to run. It was an apparent deal with LCHPAC who endorsed five candidates. If there was not a recall election, Blair would withdraw making room for Oury’s name on the ballot. Others receiving the LCHPAC endorsement were incumbents, Rob Weisgerber, Ted Phelps, and newcomer Tim Butler.
Fitzgerald stepped down as Mayor at an August 14 meeting so that he could still cast a vote on who would be the next mayor and vice-mayor. The votes were 4-3 in favor of then vice-mayor Angie Settell and then, council member, Pam Gross. After the meeting was over, Fitzgerald distributed a letter that he was resigning from Council. The attempt to elevate Settell to Mayor was later ruled illegal by City Solicitor Joe Braun because there wasn’t proper public notice of the meeting. Braun also ruled that the council seat would remain open until new council members were sworn in on December 4 and a new Mayor elected. Bailey was elected Mayor.
About Kent Blair
Kent Blair is expected to be sworn into office at the next council meeting scheduled for January 9.
In announcing his withdrawal from the ballot, Blair said on August 18, “I was one of nine candidates on the ballot for four City Council seats. When I was first asked to consider running, I made it clear to all that, while I want to serve, and believe that I would do a good job, the main outcome of the election must be removing the existing majority on Council. To help achieve that, if necessary, I would withdraw my own candidacy so that the full support of those in Loveland who share my goal could be focused, laser-like, on four candidates for four seats. With the recall election no longer a possible ballot question, the mathematics of the race have changed. It is in celebration of that victory, and in keeping with my commitment, that I have withdrawn my name for the ballot for November, and strongly urge any and all who share my views of the future of our city to support now and cast your votes when the time comes for Rob Weisgerber, Ted Phelps, Neal Oury, and Tim Butler.”
Blair is employed at U.S. Bank where he is an investment advisor and broker. He is a 12-year resident of Loveland and dad to a senior at Loveland High School. He has been a member of the Amazing Charity Race Committee since its inception and as a 7-year coach of SAY Soccer.
In announcing his candidacy Blair said he would advocate for transparency and resident engagement. At the top of his list for reform is the makeup of the Community Improvement Corporation. Blair added, “I am a strong supporter of accountability of elected officials to the people they serve. I believe in process, good stewardship of resources, an expectation of inclusion, and sensible growth. Loveland should stand for all of the residents, not the few who lead it. Development of a future master plan must be approached with an emphasis on community representation, not strategic power plays that benefit only a few.”
Bailey added, “I appreciate and thank all of those candidates who applied. This was a very tough decision, but I think Kent will be a great addition to the new council, and I am excited to work with him.”
On December 15, 2016, a Loveland City Hall newsletter was sent to residents announcing, “Downtown Development on the Horizon.”
The announcement continued, “Thus in 2017, the plan is for the current City Hall to be demolished. The planned replacement (elevation renderings shown above) is a four story building.“
The story sounded a little fishy to Loveland Magazine as we keep a pretty close eye on City Hall and we had never heard of the proposal, let alone how it could be a done deal. Also to be sure we did not miss something we researched past meeting minutes and found no council vote… no discussion… nothing. Someone at City Hall had written a story that wasn’t true, yet that didn’t stop the Loveland Herald from running with the story. Why wouldn’t they, they would not know better as they had stopped attending Loveland Council meetings years ago. Never-the-less, the Herald was able to gather enough quotes to write about the imminent demolition of Loveland’s City Hall.
Loveland Magazine never reported the story because we knew it was not true.
The newsletter and the Herald story fit the textbook definition of “fake news”, except it wasn’t going to end up being “fake” if City Hall could get away with the backroom scheming it took to hatch the plan. Many residents had different ideas.
The other things residents became aware of was the sudden announcement to impose very high fees and severe restrictions for community groups holding public events. Many residents had different ideas.
Add to that, the announcement that Donna Bednar would not be re-appointed to the Loveland Beautification Committee, and the subsequent resignation of all but one member.
Add to all of this upheaval was when behind City Hall’s closed doors a decision was made to “Trademark” the name Christmas in Loveland and the surprise announcement that City Hall had usurped the event that belonged to the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance.
It’s where the hashtag, “#lovelandtransparency” comes from.
This is where the stories below start and will give readers a final chance to catch up on our City Hall reporting (including the successful re-call effort of the sitting mayor) before they go to vote next Tuesday. These are resident views, candidate views, and some of the legal challenges both residents and council members faced this past year.
These stories below appear in the order they were published – oldest to newest.
Once again the citizens of Loveland were denied, by three council members, the right to undertake the business of the city. This is the second meeting of 2017 where, from my perspective, the same three council members failed their oath to the citizens of Loveland. Loveland Charter outlines that two council meetings are required to occur, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.
In researching the absences of councilmembers during the last four years, there has never been a time where three council members were missing for a monthly meeting.
There were only 3 times that 2 council members were out for a required charter council meeting
I also looked at what percentage of meetings councilmembers missed during their time on council (this specific calculation is the only way to determine what affect their absences has had on council) because a straight numbers calculation over different periods is not meaningful.
Two council members have missed almost 17% of the required charter meetings, only one is currently on council – Steve Zamagias
One council member has NEVER missed a required charter council meeting – Kathy Bailey
Another council member has only missed one meeting in the last four years, the one where that absence caused a lack of quorum- Vice Mayor Angie Settell
Rob Weisgerber has missed 10% of meetings, Ted Phelps has missed 7.78% while Pam Gross has only missed 5.56% of required charter council meeting during the previous four years.
Based on this review I can am left to believe that only Politics played into the absence of three council members for one required by charter council meeting. Loveland fails when the business of the city is disrupted by officials who sign a pledge to follow the Charter of our city and then fail to live up to that pledge.
Shanda Gentry is a twenty-year resident of Loveland
Only one conclusion can be reached – that their absence was intentional
by Rob Weisgerber
I recently attended the September 26th city council meeting with council members Ted Phelps and Kathy Bailey. This was a scheduled meeting and had been on the calendar, as per the charter. Unfortunately, the meeting never took place due to a lack of quorum when the other three members of council did not show up. (City council no-shows: “Alignment of planets” or “Act of political cowardice?”)
To cancel a meeting requires a vote of the council – there is no unilateral authority by any one member to cancel or reschedule a planned meeting.
Most importantly, I did not find a case where there was a lack of quorum to do the business of the City.
If and when an individual member of council cannot make a meeting, it has not been an issue. However, In my history on council I can’t remember a time when 3 members had last-minute plans come up which caused a lack of quorum, halting a regularly scheduled meeting.
Council members do sometimes have to miss meetings. Almost always council votes to excuse him or her. The fact that people miss meetings is not disputable or even in question in my opinion. As a matter of openness, I have missed roughly 18 meetings over 7 years (that is about 165 meetings). This is about an average of 2 to 3 meetings per year. With legitimate reason or cause, being excused is appropriate for any member of council.
I could not remember in my history on council when we have had 3 members of council miss the same meeting or, even worse, not having a quorum to conduct city business. Nor could I find any request to move a meeting because a couple of members could not make the meeting. This is the real issue. Looking back through the last 8 years of records, I could find about 4 or 5 meetings where 2 members missed the same meeting. No meetings in that time had 3 members missing a meeting. Most importantly, I did not find a case where there was a lack of quorum to do the business of the City.
Several times while on our family vacation, as happened this year in August, I flew home at my own expense to make the scheduled meeting.
The first I had received any information from Vice-Mayor Angie Settell was through the city solicitor, about 60 hours following our last regular meeting. The email stated that there may be a problem and she wanted a special meeting the following week. This discussion should have taken place at the council meeting just 2 and 1/2 days prior. My schedule is very busy and full and I could not accommodate her request. Council members Bailey, Ted Phelps, and I did propose other dates but I received no feedback regarding our offer. I did make it clear that priority has to be given to the scheduled meetings as we all know they are coming and can plan. If I make plans that I can control I schedule them for non-council weeks. Several times while on our family vacation, as happened this year in August, I flew home at my own expense to make the scheduled meeting. There are times outside of my control when I can’t make a meeting due to work commitments.
I did not receive Ms. Settell’s email claiming to be a press release. I also noticed a real issue with the date of the notice being September 19th as meeting alternatives were offered following that date.
In the last several months we have now had Pam Gross, Steven Zamagias, Settell, and former mayor Mark Fitzgerald vote to schedule a meeting where Bailey, Phelps, and I could not attend, a walk out meeting where Gross, Zamagias, Settell, and Fitzgerald created a lack of quorum to do the business of the city by abruptly ending it and walking out. Now we have the same members not showing up so no meeting can occur. Only one conclusion can be reached – that their absence was intentional – again.
While I have missed meetings before, not once did any absence of mine preclude the business of the city getting accomplished. I take my commitment to you and the city seriously.
Rob Weisgerber is a member of Loveland City Council
These three blind mice chose to offend we Loveland residents by disappearing for the week
by Walter D. Golladay
On 26 September, Loveland City Council was scheduled to meet on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Because a quorum of four council members did not happen, the meeting did not officially take place.
For unknown reasons, these three blind mice of Vice Mayor Angie Settell, and Council members Pam Gross and Stephen Zamagias were absent without just cause from their appointed duty station. That being, City Hall, Loveland, Ohio, 7 pm.
These three blind mice chose to conduct personal business elsewhere, not for the benefit of Loveland residents, but for another business, another individual, or themselves.
This Loveland resident has the firm belief that the 3 blind mice chose not to appear in order to prevent a council quorum being established with the City Council members present of Kathy Bailey, Robert Weisgerber and Ted Phelps. Kathy, Robert and Ted would have been the majority council members for the evening.
The three blind mice, need to be held accountable. In explicit detail, they must explain to the Loveland residents where they were that evening, and why they could not attend a long established council meeting date.
The three blind mice must explain to the Loveland residents where they were that evening.
They must also explain why none of them were available to attend alternates council meeting dates of Monday through Thursday, 25 – 28 September.
These three blind mice chose to offend we Loveland residents by disappearing for the week and preventing scheduled City of Loveland business from being conducted.
Should any or all of the three blind mice not be able to offer a valid reason for their absence, then we Loveland residents need to seriously consider not voting for them in the upcoming 2017 General Election.
These 3 blind mice must fully explain their absence at the 26 September Council meeting.
Immediately.
Walter D. Golladay is a resident of Loveland, Ohio
Loveland, Ohio– Apparently Tuesday’s City Council meeting will take place, however, there may be no business conducted. On Thursday, September 21 Loveland Magazine received the following email from Loveland’s Vice Mayor Angie Settell:
Never before receiving a press release from an individual member of the council, Loveland Magazine proceeded cautiously on reporting the press release. In this highly charged election season, it seemed prudent to verify Settell’s message and verify that it, in fact, came from her. Press releases are almost always either sent out from the City Manager’s office or the Clerk of Council. Add to that, the release sent by Settell referred to “We” as if it was being sent on behalf of others or from City Hall.
After receiving the “Press Release” we looked on the City Web site to see if in fact the meeting was canceled as the release might suggest. It was not. It was still listed as a public meeting and there was no “Press Release” on the website such as the one Settell sent out, the City Facebook page, or the City Twitter page. Looking at the City Facebook page also confirmed that there was a council meeting on Tuesday, September 26.
An email was sent to the Clerk of Council and the City Manager asking for clarification. We asked two questions. Did it come from Settell? Is there a meeting?
City Manager Dave Kennedy answered at 2 Pm on Monday simply saying, “There will not be enough members for a quorum at tomorrow’s meeting.”
Clerk of Council Misty Cheshire responded at 5:43 PM on Monday by saying, “The press release did not come from the City and was independently done by an individual council member. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night and will take place if a quorum is present.”
After the recent resignation of former Mayor, Mark Fitzgerald there remains six members of Council. A quorum of Council would be four. Settell’s release would suggest that three of the six council members do not plan on attending Tuesday’s meeting. She did not say which members would not be attending.
Not on the meeting agenda, but a decision that could be made at any future meeting is a vote on who will take Fitzgerald’s seat and serve the remaining two years of his vacated term. It will require at least four members to agree on a replacement. A 3-3 split council as it is today is a delicate attendance balance.
You can read the Agenda for the meeting where apparently none of the business listed will be conducted.
LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV will be at City Hall tomorrow night at 7 PM and be broadcasting live on our Facebook Page.
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Rule 19. Appearing Before Council (Five-Day Rule).
Any person, group or delegation wishing to be placed on the agenda to appear before Council shall direct a letter to the Clerk of Council so it is received by the Clerk no later than 12:00 Noon on the Thursday preceding the regularly scheduled Tuesday Council meeting, or the fifth day prior to the scheduled meeting if it is scheduled for a day other than Tuesday. The Mayor may suspend the Thursday rule in the event of unusual or emergency circumstances.
Loveland, Ohio – Life long Loveland resident Sherry Hamlin prepared a presentation to give at the September 12 council meeting, but while practicing it she discovered it was too long to fit into the five minutes allotted if she spoke during the Open Forum agenda item of the meeting. She said, “As I practiced my presentation it was running long and I didn’t want to cut it short.”
Anyone is allowed to just go to a meeting and sign a sheet at the doorway to the council chambers and they are given five minutes to address any subject on their mind, but Hamlin also knew of the “Appearing Before Council (Five-Day Rule)” which allows people to contact the Clerk of Council by noon on the Thursday preceding the meeting, and be allowed ten minutes of speaking time.
Hamlin said she wrote the required request three days before the cut-off, and it was the first time she had ever requested to speak in that time slot. “What happened next surprised me. I received a reply that Vice-Mayor Angie Settell denied my request to speak before council and suggested I consider speaking during the Open Forum instead. It seems I don’t have much choice since I was omitted from the agenda published on Friday.” She said there were no other requirements, “I just had to do was ask by Thursday at noon. I asked on Monday, nearly three full days before the deadline and I saw nothing in the rules that allowed the Vice-Mayor to deny my request.”
After the meeting, Hamlin told Loveland Magazine that what she originally wanted to talk about at the council meeting would have to wait for another meeting because the denial of speaking rights suddenly took precedence.
Hamlin said that business owner Tim Canada who does not live in Loveland or pay personal income taxes to the City has appeared during the ten-minute time slot four times since the beginning of the year. She asked Settell, “So I would like to ask this question. Why is it that a local business owner is permitted to speak during persons before Council, but I a resident am not?”
You can watch these LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV videos to see Hamlin asking her question, Settell’s response, and Councilwoman Kathy Baliey’s response. The Vice-Mayor defended her actions however Bailey raised some of the same questions as Hamlin.
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“The election of Mayor and Vice Mayor at the special City Council meeting of August14,2017 was not proper.”
– Loveland Solicitor Joe Braun
Angie Settell took an oath of office to be Loveland’s mayor on Monday, a position that was stripped away in a legal opinion today.
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland Magazine obtained a legal opinion written by City Solicitor Joe Braun today that throws a monkey wrench in the selection of Angie Settell as Loveland’s new mayor and Pam Gross as vice-mayor.
In the opinion, Braun said that the special meeting called by then Mayor Mark Fitzgerald for last Monday was not a legal meeting and voids the business conducted at the meeting.
The Clerk of Council had failed to post a notice of the special meeting 12 hours beforehand as required by Loveland law. The notice was put on the bulletin board outside City Hall four hours short of the 12 hours required.
Braun said, “The day after the August 14, 2017, special City Council meeting, I was advised by Councilwoman Kathy Bailey that a resident contacted her and alleged that the City had failed to properly advertise the special City Council meeting. Specifically, the resident indicated that the Clerk of Council had failed to comply with Section 109.04 of the Loveland code of Ordinances.” Braun continued, “I cannot ignore the fact that the posting requirements of Section 109.04 of the Loveland Code of Ordinances were not adhered to by the Clerk of Council. As such, any action taken by Loveland City Council at its August 14, 2017, special meeting should be deemed without legal effect.”
Mark Fitzgerald presided over what he assumed was his last Loveland Council meeting and facilitated the election of Angie Settell as the next Mayor. The solicitor ruled today that it was not a properly called special meeting of council.
Fitzgerald stepped down as Mayor at the meeting so that he could still cast votes on who would be the next mayor and vice-mayor. The votes were 4-3 in favor of Settell and Gross. After the meeting was over, Fitzgerald distributed a letter that he was resigning from Council.
Braun’s legal opinion does nothing to affect the decision by Fitzgerald to resign his seat on Council which he submitted to meet a deadline of the Hamilton County Board of Elections who gave him a midnight deadline to either resign or face a recall election in November.
Council remains a six member body. Council must begin again at a legal meeting nominating one of their own to be mayor and vice-mayor. A decision not made easy because Council is evenly divided into two camps of three members each. Braun said that Settell remains as vice-mayor is now also the presiding officer of meetings and might remain as such until November when voters fill the four open seats on the fall ballot.
A six member Council after the November election might still deadlock on a selection of mayor, vice-mayor, and someone to fill Fitzgerald’s remaining two year-term. Brauns opinion did not address that possible scenario.
Braun’s opinion at least temporarily strips Settell of her Mayoral duties and her ability to unilaterally appoint Fitzgerald’s replacement if the 3-3 divided council cannot agree on who it should be. Before Braun’s opinion, Settell had to wait for 30-days to make an appointment, but as of today, he said the decision must wait until after the November election.
Braun reached the following conclusions:
(1) I cannot ignore the fact that the posting requirements of Section 109.04 of the Loveland Code of Ordinances were not adhered to by the Clerk of Council. As such, any action taken by Loveland City Council at its August 14, 2017, special meeting should be deemed without legal effect.
(2) The election of Mayor and Vice Mayor at the special City Council meeting of August 14, 2017 was not proper. Ms.Settel should maintain her role as the Vice Mayor of Loveland and serve as the presiding officer of all City Council Meetings given the vacancy left by the resignation of the Mayor as a member of City Council.
(3) The decision to fill the empty City Council seat left by the resignation of Mark Fitzgerald vests with the remaining six members of this City Council Should those remaining six members not be able to reach a majority consensus before a new City Council is elected and seated in November 2017, then that City Council shall fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mark Fitzgerald under Section 2.03 of the Loveland Charter.
(4) The position of Mayor of Loveland shall remain vacant until a new election takes place by the remaining members of City Council, or until an organizational meeting is held and a new Mayor is elected by the newly elected City Council in November pursuant to Section 2.05 of the Loveland Code of Ordinances.
(5) Because the resignation of Mark Fitzgerald as a member of City Council took place after the special meeting, and not during it, the resignation is still effective as of 11:59 p.m, on August 14, 2017.
Neither Settell or Gross replied to a request for comment before publication deadline.
Just for fun, we’ve thrown in our favorite write-in candidate, Ms. Loveland Frog! Because after-all it would be nice to have a “tad” more gender equality and hear something besides just 7 human voices croaking “Yes” in unison for the next two years.
by Shanda Gentry,
by Walter D. Golladay
