Smith, who became the chief executive officer of the Butler County Finance Authority in 2024 after leading Hamilton for 13 plus years, said the goal of the former Butler County Port Authority is to achieve economic resilience in the county.
The county finance authority helps obtain the funding for developments that benefit communities all across Butler County. These projects generate new investment, revenue and employment opportunities. The finance authority can issue bonds, make loans, and buy and sell real estate to facilitate projects.
Council members were in agreement that Middletown needs to explore an opportunity for collaboration with the finance authority.
“When you think about economic resilience in Butler County, Hamilton and Middletown are literally the poster children for that. Two of the strongest communities economically in the county for many decades and probably over a century,” Smith said.
But industrial cities like Middletown and Hamilton faced major changes after World War II.
“The challenges both face today is because no one had a crystal ball 40 or 50 years ago to adjust to what was happening in the local economies,” he said. “How do we create tools, how do we create plans, how do we create systems to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future.”
For example, Smith said recent conversations with West Chester Twp. leaders brought up the need for resilience.
“It is clear they (West Chester Twp.) have built a lot of retail boxes. The nature of retail is changing and what happened to Hamilton and Middletown post World War II could happen to West Chester very quickly,” Smith said.
Smith outlined the county authority’s strategic plan that he said was borrowed early in his career from Proctor and Gamble while he was a city manager in Wisconsin because it is not complicated.
“It’s not vague and can tangibly show progress. I can count the number of jobs that are created. I can count the new investment with a report card on how we are performing,” he said.
Smith created a Committee of 17 to hear directly from the largest county employers including Cleveland-Cliffs, Cincinnati Financial, UC Health-West Chester, GE Aerospace and Miami University.
The meetings are an opportunity to hear from the county’s largest employers about economic issues and resiliency.
“Simply put, Butler County does not want to be caught flat footed and have one of the five largest companies leave and nobody has been in contact with them,” Smith said.
He also pointed to an Innovation Strategic Working Group focused on harnessing the entrepreneurial power in Butler County helping the county grow from within and a newly developed Airport Strategic Working Group.
Smith said he realized the county’s three airports located in Hamilton, Middletown and Oxford (owned by Miami University) have potential adjacent land that is “ripe for development opportunities.”
“But they were not talking a lot or were not coordinating,” Smith said. The airport working group is “developing a plan to maximize the assets and already exist.”
Councilman Paul Lolli said he is “very excited about our opportunity here. We have a tremendous opportunity for development.”
He asked city staff to explore a partnership with the Butler County Finance Authority and report back on what that would look like.
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