Press release from state Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton:
State Representative Combs (R-Hamilton) today announced the passage of House Bill 276 from the Ohio House of Representatives. This legislation revises the state policy regarding telecommunications service and repeals current law governing alternative regulation of telephone companies.
House Bill 276 will create a more favorable environment for competition in telecommunications, while retaining consumer safeguards and lead toward competitive pricing. It will establish uniform regulations for telecommunication services and permit the industry to invest in Ohio’s infrastructure and technology, instead of overly burdensome regulatory compliance.
“Today marks the first step in modernizing Ohio’s antiquated telecommunications laws,” said Combs. “This bill will be a much needed catalyst to help bring jobs and economic development to Ohio.”
Since 2001, traditional landline telephone companies have lost 3 million customers due to increased competition from rapidly advancing technologies, including wireless and digital telephone service. More than 20 states have adopted telecom reform laws, which will spur investment in new technologies and create vital jobs.
House Bill 276 is supported by the Ohio Chamber, National Federation of Independent Business, Ohio Telecommunications Association, AT&T, and Institute for Policy Innovation. Rep. Combs is a sitting member of the House Public Utilities Committee.
Press release from Butler County Job and Family Services:
The Butler County Department of Job & Family Services (JFS) is collaborating with Shared Harvest Foodbank to make it easier for individuals who are in need of food assistance.
Shared Harvest outreach workers routinely visit local food pantries that offer individuals immediate food assistance. Through a partnership with JFS, they help people electronically file applications for benefits through the Ohio Benefit Bank Program. Benefits include food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance as well as state and federal tax filing. Shared Harvest outreach workers also make home visits for people who are unable to leave their homes.
“Our partnership with Shared Harvest allows us to reach individuals in need that would normally have trouble making it to our office to apply for benefits. The program makes it much easier for people to apply for assistance since they can file an application at the food pantry,” said JFS Assistant Director Jerome Kearns.
Each month, Shared Harvest has three outreach workers who make visits to these food pantries:
Open Door Food Pantry
Address: 800 S. Front Street, Hamilton, OH 45011
Phone Number: 513-868-3276
Oxford/Talawanda Community Service Center
Address: 5445 College Corner Pike, Oxford, OH 45056
Phone Number: 513-523-5859
Tri-County Assembly of God
Address: 7350 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, OH 45014
Phone Number: 513-874-8575
Lighthouse Food Pantry
Address: 626 Ridgelawn Avenue, Hamilton, OH 45013
Phone Number: 513-867-9463
Anyone wishing to apply for assistance at one of the food pantries or to have someone visit them at their home, should contact Shared Harvest at 1-800-352-3663 and leave a message for SNAP Outreach. If individuals need more information about the benefits offered by JFS, they can contact the department at 513-887-5600.
Butler County JFS works with the citizens of Butler County and its partner organizations to create opportunities for self-sufficiency and to provide a safety net to families in need. By providing transitional benefits, skill-building opportunities, and help in getting and keeping jobs, the agency strives to assist families in poverty.
A discussion on public employee pay raises turned personal today, March 18, with Butler County commissioners trading accusations of who and what was responsible for ballooning pay in recent years.
It erupted when Commissioner Charles Furmon made a motion to reinstate the salaries of two of the county’s highest paid employees — Assistant Human Resources Director Laura Campbell at $92,771 and Records Center Director Rhonda Freeze at $85,772.
Furmon said the move last year to cut their pay $13,771 and $15,873, respectively, was done “for no reason, at random, for personal reasons possibly.”
He said he approved the cuts to Campbell and Freeze on the understanding that more cuts in other departments would follow. But he produced a list of 14 other employees whose salaries have shot up between 24 percent and 91 percent between 2002 and 2008 — whose salaries weren’t cut.
Here is Furmon’s prepared statements, and background data:
Furmon’s motion died without a second. But Commissioner Donald Dixon said the reason further cuts were stalled is because Furmon is slowing down a salary study.
Dixon said Furmon was looking out for Campbell for his own personal reasons.
“You came into my office and said why don’t you leave her alone,” Dixon said of Campbell. “(You said) She’s a friend of mine and she’s from a little town in Kentucky I’m from and she has no one to take care of her.”
As for the pay raises over the years, “You sit here and say they gave the raises. You gave the raises,” Dixon told Furmon. “Chuck Furmon voted on their salaries and put these people where they are.”
“You’ve been here three years. It’s about time you accept some responsibility in what’s going on here Mr. Dixon,” Furmon countered.
Furmon argued that it was a merit pay system — like the one the salary study is supposed to create — that led to the increases.
Dixon pointed to Furmon’s list of pay raises as further proof the pay study is needed. He made a motion to move ahead full-speed with the study.
That motion also died without a second, though Commission President Gregory Jolivette said he would look over the data and make a decision at the next commission meeting.
Butler County has been paying a company with ties to a local politician nearly $1,000 a month for more than a year without any contract or resolution authorizing the payments, according to Commissioner Charles Furmon.
And he says he can’t get anyone to do anything about it.
The company is Performance Benefit Solutions, owned by West Chester Twp. Trustee George Lang and his wife. The company provides flexible spending accounts to county employees using another company called Hauser Corporate Solutions.
In a letter to the Auditor of State requesting an investigation, Furmon argues that the 2008 resolution allowing PBS to offer products to county employees says they’ll do so “at no charge to Butler County.”
Yet despite a lack of a contract, Furmon says the county paid PBS and HCS $1,000 a month for a year and a half before he stopped the payments late last year.
Here is a copy of Furmon’s letter, and a letter sent to the county prosecutor on the same issue asking for an Attorney General’s opinion:
“No program documents exist, and no documents of any kind explain the pricing structure for what is being paid on a regular monthly basis,” Furmon wrote.
In the letter, dated Feb. 23, Furmon expresses frustration that “I find myself in the rare situation of being unable to mobilize my county prosecutor or county auditor to do anything about (the issue).”
Furmon says the prosecutor’s office told him the payments were valid because one for $12,000 was authorized by commission resolution in March 2009 — though there is still no contract or language in the resolution referring to ongoing payments.
“Somehow it was pushed through a back door,” Furmon said by phone. “If you push any kind of contract through a back door and it gets partially paid, does that mean you have to pay it the rest of our lives? That doesn’t make sense to me.”
“The county auditor has simply not responded to my inquiry,” Furmon wrote in his letter to the state.
Butler County commissioners agreed this morning, March 15, to establish a committee to analyze the necessity of proposed tax levies.
Commissioner Donald Dixon outlined a plan that calls for a nine-member committee and a thorough, nearly yearlong process for reviewing levies before they go on the ballot.
It also limits the amount that expiring levies can increase, not allowing it to exceed inflation.
Dixon said the plan is based largely on Hamilton County’s tax levy policy.
“I’ve talked to them about their committee, and they say they’ve saved a lot of money and it’s the hardest working committee they have appointed,” Dixon said. “If we can get it started, I think it’s going to add a lot of value for the taxpayers.”
Dixon’s plan would require agencies to hire a consultant to review the agency’s financials, operations and management structure. It requires a detailed plan on how levy money would be spent.
Based on this information, the levy review committee would recommend whether the tax is needed, at what rate and for how long.
The Butler County Board of Elections has decided not to bar a woman from the May 4 Republican primary for a party central committee position, agreeing it was likely a poll worker’s mistake that made her a Democrat. The board also is reconsidering its decision to disqualify another candidate, saying that ruling was based on miscommunication with the secretary of state’s office. That story is here.
Josh Sweigart reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Josh at jsweigart@coxohio.com.
Josh Sweigart
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