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Council pays tribute to Mayor Wells

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By Ed Richter, Staff Writer 6:42 PM Thursday, July 9, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown City Council paid tribute to former Mayor Robert “Bob” Wells, who died at his home Sunday, July 5.

Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr. recounted the life of Wells, not only as a member of council who served the city well, but also as “a true Middletown cheerleader” during the Tuesday, July 7, council meeting.

As Mulligan spoke, he became emotional while he continued making his comments as a PowerPoint slide presentation featuring a number of photos of Wells was shown.

Mulligan noted Wells was courteous, considerate and had earned the respect and high regards from the community.

Other council members expressed condolences and sympathies to the Wells family on its loss during the Council Comments portion of the meeting.

Councilman Bill Becker said that Wells had always believed in Middletown and was a kind, gentle man who was a personal friend.

Detachment update

One resident from the Bridgewater Villa subdivision came to Tuesday’s council meeting to get an update on the request of the property owners who wish to have their property detached from Middletown.

Todd Bailey of Baybrook Court presented a map of the subdivision to be detached to Council Clerk Betsy Parr as part of their documentation.

Law Director Les Landen said he has looked at the statute and is planning to talk with Bailey and Warren County officials.

Last month, Bailey and another resident presented a petition from 60 of the 80 property owners of the subdivision who are requesting to be detached from the city and transferred to Turtlecreek Twp.

Salt purchase approved

Winter weather is several months away, but council approved the purchase of 4,500 tons of highway rock salt for the 2009-10 season.

According to city Purchasing Agent Cindy Strayer, changes in the salt industry and last year’s mild winter have brought down salt prices.

She said the city is the lead entity for the Southwest Ohio Purchasers for Government cooperative which represents 86 government entities. The cooperative opted to bid out the salt contract in May and that proved to be a good choice, she said.

Strayer said the cooperative’s contract with Cargill Inc. of North Olmstead, Ohio, is worth more than $10 million for the bid of 162,525 tons of salt.

The city will be paying $267,435 for this season’s salt supply or about $59.43 a ton. That’s about 40 percent less than it paid last year, which was $98.58 a ton.

Strayer said motorists will notice next winter’s salt won’t have a blueish tint as it has in the past. She said the Morton Salt Co. adds the coloring for cosmetic reasons.

Appointments confirmed

City Council confirmed the appointments of Sean Woodmansee to squadperson and Carrie Carpenter as city prosecutor.

Woodmansee was the top candidate in a field of six firefighters vying for the position.

Carpenter has been the assistant city prosecutor and was promoted to prosecutor after Doug Adkins was confirmed last month as the community revitalization director.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or erichter@coxohio.com.

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