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Some stakeholders apprehensive about proposed United Way merger

Warren County official  reviews pros and cons at  ‘unofficial’ gathering.

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By Ed Richter, Staff Writer 12:58 AM Thursday, January 7, 2010

LEBANON — More than two dozen interested volunteers, agency representatives and board members attended a meeting to hear an “unofficial” information presentation about the proposed merger between the Butler County United Way and the Warren County United Way on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and also asked plenty of questions.

The meeting, which was held at the Nixon-Brandt House in Lebanon, was organized by Dan Engen, the Warren County United Way’s vice president of allocations. He said about 200 people were invited to attend the meeting, that was organized to inform the community as well as the 40-year-old organization’s donors, volunteers and agency representatives. The meeting was not called by the Warren County United Way Board of Directors.

Engen reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed merger as well as gave an overview of the time line of how this proposal evolved.

While Engen has said he was not opposed to a merger, he believes that these discussions should include the organization’s stakeholders.

“There are some on the board who are not sure if this has been vetted thoroughly,” Engen said.

“Personally, we haven’t seen anything of a strategic plan (for the merger).”

Bill Johnson, the board’s treasurer, who is an adjunct business professor at Sinclair Community College, said he did not oppose the merger either, but the proposal needs to be vetted and a business plan needs to be in place.

On Dec. 15, the Butler County United Way board voted unanimously to proceed with the proposed merger. On the same night, across the hall at Butler Tech’s Public Safety Education Campus in Liberty Twp., the Warren County board, which has a different governing structure, voted to proceed to the next step of the process as required by Ohio law.

However, the board has set a target of Jan. 31 to complete the process.

The merger would not affect the Middletown area, which is part of the Greater Cincinnati United Way, or Oxford, which has its own United Way agency.

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