New Miami was sued by a large group of people who were fined by the village’s speed camera program that was later ruled unconstitutional. A judge recently ruled the speeders were owed $3.4 million.
In her response to questions from this news organization for an interactive voters guide before the election, she said the case needs to end.
“I believe the Village should not continue to spend money fighting the speed camera lawsuits,” she wrote. “The Village should settle and stop spending tax payer money on attorney fees.”
RELATED: New Miami: Village only owes speeders $10K, not $3.4M
Henley did not answer the question about speed cameras.
She told the Journal-News she can’t comment further until she has a chance to talk to Village Solicitor Dennis Adams and the attorneys handling the case. But she hopes once she takes office in January she can convince the council to drop the protracted fight that has cost village taxpayers more than $360,000 in attorneys’ fees.
She won’t have a vote on council but said she hopes to convince council to settle the case.
New Miami is also waiting to hear if Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Howard will issue a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction, banning new, punitive state laws that have shuttered the village’s speed camera program.
“I personally don’t like the cameras, the council voted to use them but I don’t see the benefit for the purposes of safety,” she said. “If that is their intended purpose I don’t see how it makes anything any safer, other than a warning to people that there’s traffic cameras ahead, slow down, but speed limit signs do the same thing.”
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