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MIDDLETOWN — The Second Ward Community Council and the Middletown unit of the NAACP will host a candidates forum at 6:30 p.m. today at the Middletown Community Center, 800 Lafayette Ave.
Middletown City Council candidates and city issues will be featured during the forum. The public is invited to attend.
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A.J. Smith, a candidate for the 2nd Ward seat on Middletown City Council received an expensive lesson in local politics.
Several weeks ago, his opponent John Soppanish, filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission concerning the use of photographs in Smith’s campaign literature.
While a probable cause panel rejected Soppanish’s complaint, Smith ended up getting billed nearly $1,200 in legal fees to defend himself and his campaign.
In these hearings, the person filing the complaint has the burden of proof to convince the panel there was a violation of the elections law. However, Soppanish was not at the hearing and was not required to be there, although it was strongly encouraged. Soppanish was at a meeting with The Journal’s editorial board to discuss the Middletown city charter amendment.
If anything, it goes to show folks that candidates need to be prepared financially for setbacks or potential legal challenges.
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Councilman David Schiavone raised a concern Tuesday, Oct. 20 during the board meeting of the Middletown Public Housing Agency about the amount of money that would be spent to hire a firm to do inspections of the city’s Section 8 housing.
While the funds would come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Schiavone believed the costs were as much as 2.5 times the costs that were presented a year ago. In his comments, Schiavone said he didn’t “feel comfortable this was the best price.” He also inquired if the contract was bidded out.
Doug Adkins, the city’s community revitalization director, said he was comfortable with the contract and price, $140,000 a year, that was negotiated with The Inspection Group of Westerville, Ohio. He also pointed out that there were several types of inspections that needed to be done, each with a different price.
The proposal was slated as an emergency ordinance so the inspections could be switched from CONSOC Housing Consultants of Columbus, the city’s Section 8 program administrator, to the new vendor by Nov. 1.
City Manager Judy Gilleland reminded council they were dissatisfied with the Housing Quality Standards inspections that were being done by CONSOC and this was the solution to ensure quality housing.
During council’s business meeting, she also pointed out that the city already negotiates professional services contracts without going through the competitive bidding process.
Gilleland also noted it would delay the process by a few months if the city went back and put the proposal out for bidding.
Councilman Tony Marconi may have pointed out the real reason for council’s apparent reluctance — “we don’t want to mess this up.” That would be a pretty good reason as well — right before election day on Nov. 3.
Council gave the proposed ordinance a first reading with a second reading slated for the Nov. 3 meeting. They also asked Law Director Les Landen to have two versions of the ordinance ready, one for a second reading that would take effect 30 days after council approval, and another for emergency legislation that would take effect immediately after passage by council.
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State Sen. Gary Cates passed along a clipping from The Toledo Blade in which a proposal to restructure its City Council from 12 members to nine was defeated in a close election last month.
The Blade said the defeat kept intact Toledo’s council of six at-large and six district (or ward) seats. Toledo also elects a president of council in addition to a mayor.
Middletown voters will make a similar decision on Nov. 3.
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COLUMBUS — No probable cause was found in a complaint filed against A.J. Smith, a candidate for the open 2nd Ward seat on Middletown City Council.
Mark McGinnis, a Columbus-based attorney who represented Smith during the hearing before a panel of the Ohio Elections Commission today, Oct. 7, said the panel ruled 4-0 in favor of Smith. He said there will be no further action in this matter.
John Soppanish, Smith’s opponent, filed the complaint alleging false statements being made in campaign literature in that photos were “doctored.”
McGinnis said Soppanish’s issues were not specific in his complaint and did not have personal knowledge other than it was something he felt. In addition, McGinnis said there was no inquiry made of Smith about the photos that he owned because he worked on the Obama campaign in 2008.
Neither Soppanish or Smith attended the hearing in Columbus. Soppanish also did not have representation at the hearing, McGinnnis said.
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The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 336, who represent Middletown’s firefighters are endorsing the following candidates for Middletown City Council.
According to union president Jon Harvey, the following candidates winning their endorsement are incumbent Councilman Jim Armbruster in the 1st Ward, incumbent Councilman Tony Marconi in the 3rd Ward and Daniel Picard in the 4th Ward.
Harvey said the union chose not to make any endorsements in the open 2nd Ward race between A.J. Smith and John Soppanish.
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Some job shuffling will be happening by year’s end as the city’s two deputy police chiefs, Majs. Mark Hoffman and David Van Arsdale will be swapping assignments.
Police Chief Greg Schwarber said he will be retiring in about a year and a half and to be fair to both command officers, he said both could use some experience in each other’s areas. Both Hoffman and Van Arsdale will be eligible to compete for the chief’s job when Schwarber retires.
Hoffman is in charge of the Investigative/Support division which includes oversight of the criminal investigation section, police records and the city jail. He has previous been in charge of the Operations division, which oversees uniform patrol, communications and property.
Van Arsdale has spent his entire career in Operations as part of the uniform patrol section. This new assignment will give him the opportunity to gain experience in the Investigative/Support division.
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