1. Longtime West Chester Twp. trustee George Lang leaves for the statehouse
After 14 years as a township trustee, State Rep. George Lang took another step in his political career up to Columbus.
He replaced former representative Margy Conditt, who resigned in September.Former Butler County State Central Committeewoman Ann Becker went on to replace Lang on the trustee board after a landslide win in November.
RELATED: Becker wins vacant West Chester seat handily
There were eight people vying for the vacant seat and Becker came out with 33 percent of the vote.
2. West Chester Twp. loses veteran administrator to Hamilton County
Judi Boyko had been at the helm of the state’s largest township until August, when she moved on to become Hamilton County’s assistant administrator.
“What a huge victory this is for Hamilton County,” Lang said at the time. Judi is an amazing talent who I have come to value over the years. As an administrator, I have a big respect for her ability to get things done; as a person I have developed a deep affinity for the being that she is. Over the last decade, Judi has become the heart and soul of our community and under her leadership West Chester has flourished. Her impact on West Chester will still be felt 100 years from now. She will be missed immensely. The biggest winners today are the businesses and residents of Hamilton County.”
The trustees hired a national search firm to find her replacement, and they chose Larry Burks, who hails from Nebraska. He is currently the assistant city manager in Bellevue. He signed his contract several weeks ago, and will be moving to the area in February.
RELATED: West Chester’s new administrator tells us about himself
“He clearly was the individual who had the greatest breadth of experience that we needed for the kinds of services that we have here in West Chester,” Trustee Mark Welch said. “He had quite a bit of experience in a like-sized jurisdiction… he is very direct in his communication, which I like. He’s very thorough and detailed and I really get the impression he’s a very quick learner.”
3. West Chester caused an uproar from Right to Work opponents this year
Trustee meetings were packed at the beginning of the year with angry union workers from this area and even outside the state after Lang told the Journal-News he wanted to pursue “Right to Work” status for the township.
The designation means private unions can’t force workers to join or pay dues. Lang said taking that stance would make West Chester Twp. a magnet for manufacturing and other jobs.
MORE: Right to Work debate causes uproar
The township building was filled with hundreds of people packing the meeting room, lining the walls and crowded into the lobby area.
A federal court decision opened up the designation to jurisdictions other than states, but when that decision was questioned and the state legislature here starting talking about adopting the designation, West Chester backed off and the crowds backed down.
4. Two lawsuit consent decrees adopted, with one finished and the other cancelled
The West Chester Twp. trustees spent much of 2016 listening to angry residents protest the renovation of the old West Chester nursing home into a drug rehab facility, and they made a deal with the doctor involved after he sued.
Dr. Mohammed Aziz was given permission to create a drug rehab facility on Ohio 42 in January, with conditions spelled out in a consent decree. Work is ongoing at the site that sits directly across from the Pisgah Youth sports fields, next to a daycare and in front of a residential neighborhood — proximity that caused the protests from neighbors.
The township was sued again this year by Todd and Jamie Minniear, the owners of the Community Montessori School, after the zoning appeals board turned them down on their project to buy the historic Station Road schoolhouse and build an addition.
MORE: Butler County magistrate dismissed historic schoolhouse sale
The trustees want to sell what they call a “money pit” to the school for $250,000.
The trustees approved a consent decree that addresses traffic and other concerns in October, but Butler County Common Pleas Magistrate Justin Lane cancelled the deal on a legal technicality.
The fate of the schoolhouse sale is unclear now.
5. West Chester trustees decide new pot businesses have no business in the township
The trustees were slower in issuing a moratorium on the newly state-sanctioned medical marijuana businesses than other Butler County jurisdictions but issued a complete ban in the end.
“There are many, many ways that I want West Chester to be an early adopter and a trailblazer, but this isn’t one,” Trustee Mark Welch said. “There’s just too many what-ifs. The fact that federally it’s still illegal, the impact on other businesses, there’s just too many places we don’t have clarity to allow it.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed into law last year a bill that legalizes marijuana for medicinal uses, including cancer, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder or chronic pain. It allows multiple forms of medical marijuana to be sold, such as edibles, oils, patches and vaporizing, but smoking the plant is not allowed. Neither are home-grow operations.
In May, a resident informed the trustees he wanted to bring a cultivating business to the township, and after that they issued a moratorium while they studied the uncharted territory of pot businesses.
They approved starting the process of completely banning the businesses in November.
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