J.D. Vance was elevated from U.S. senator to vice president of the United States in November after Donald Trump was re-elected to the White House on Election Day.
Trump and Vance will be sworn in as president and vice president on Jan. 20, which continues the rags to riches story of the Middletown native and author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.
Vance will need to resign ahead of his swearing in ceremony next month.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is required to appoint a temporary replacement to Vance’s Senate seat, which he assumed in January 2023. That temporary replacement will serve until voters elect a permanent replacement in the November 2026 election for the term. Senate terms begin Jan. 3 following elections.
Ohio now faces the task of first temporarily and then permanently replacing Vance in the United States Senate.
Vance’s current term expires in early 2029, but last night’s victory will require him to resign from his post before being sworn in as the next vice president in January 2025.
Hamilton’s fight on MCD 7th assessment
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The Miami Conservancy District planned this spring to readjust its appraisal of flood protection benefits in 2024, which would have been the first reappraisal since 2012 and seventh in the organization’s existed.
Though increases of the assessment, which are only on properties affected by the 1913 flood, were nominal for many owners along the Great Miami River. However, property owners in Hamilton, which had devastating flooding more than a century ago, would have seen their flood protection taxes in some cases double and triple, and in other cases increase tenfold and even fiftyfold (Spooky Nook).
Hamilton residents, business owners and City Council demanded the MCD Board figure out a new formula because the one they’ve followed, and is permitted by Ohio law, is outdated.
After months of lobbying, the MCD board created a lower formula, and has prompted some lawmakers to consider changing how that MCD assessment is calculated.
Middletown Schools debates redistricting options
Middletown City Schools unveiled four redistricting options among concerns within the district’s community, earlier this month and parents were able to share their opinions and concerns about the proposed plans, each of which would impact thousands of students next school year.
Middletown Superintendent Deborah Houser said the strategy is to be able to more efficiently apply the district’s resources, funds, programs and personnel while allowing more kindergarten and elementary students to attend schools in their neighborhoods.
It will be the first re-districting of the 5,900-student school system since 2011, and will impact students in kindergarten through sixth grade. In October, Middletown has more than 3,300 students are enrolled in K-6.
A final school board decision is now scheduled for late January or early February, according to school officials. Middletown parents have until the end of December to share their opinions.
Lakota East principal resigns
Now-former Lakota East High School Rob Burnside resigned in November after he was under investigation by district officials. He was accused by school officials of alleged insubordination and failure to follow orders from his supervisor regarding a former student of the school, according to Lakota school records.
Burnside, who had been Lakota East’s principal since 2021, had not commented publicly about his departure, which was announced following a Nov. 22 emergency school board meeting called to accept his submitted resignation. He had been on paid administrative leave on Nov. 4.
There were two pre-disciplinary planned hearings held, according to district documents. In a Nov. 16 letter notifying Burnside of the second pre-disciplinary hearing, it was “to discuss allegations of misconduct.”
“You are being charged with insubordination/failure to follow the directives of your supervisor, willfully violating our board policy for student attendance and putting yourself, team and district in a potentially liable position,” according to the letter, which also citing supporting evidence of witness statements and email correspondence.
Matthew MacFarlane was named interim Lakota East principal.
Monroe voters OK bond issue for new high school
The Monroe Local School District received voter approval of a 3.49-mill bond issue that will help fund the construction of a new high school.
The approval also activated millions of state dollars through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, which will also contribute to the cost of construction, which the project will take about three years from design to completion.
Monroe Schools Superintendent Robert Buskirk the OFCC and the school district are working on next steps and timelines.
The state would provide $25.36 million of new high school’s $62.1 million projected cost.
A new high school would be built on the southeast corner of Monroe’s school campus on Yankee Road, which currently houses grades 2-12 in a single, three-winged complex.
John Carter sentenced
John Carter, the former fiancée of Katelyn Markham, was convicted and sentenced this year in her 2011 disappearance and death.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Carter was sentenced to three years in prison, the maximum allowed under a June plea agreement by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Dan Haughey. Ahead of a murder trial, Carter agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter. The prosecution had more than 100 pieces of evidence that would had been introduced at trial.
During sentencing, Haughey said, “The court believes that Mr. Carter has shown no genuine remorse for this offense.”
Markham was an art student, days shy of her 22nd birthday, when she was reported missing by her then-fiancé Carter in August 2011. Her skeletal remains were found more than a year-and-a-half later on April 7, 2013, in a remote wooded area in Indiana, around 30 miles from her Fairfield home and not far from a farm owned by the Carter family.
Missing West Chester Twp. 6-year-old found dead
Joshua Al-Lateef Jr.’s cause of death is drowning and has been ruled a accident by the Butler County Coroner’s Office following an autopsy.
The 6-year-old autistic boy went missing on the afternoon of Nov. 20, and found 28 hours later in a pond near his home on Wyndtree Drive.
The mother called 911 on her way home when she was told her her son was missing. An older brother also called 911.
Close to 300 volunteers helped search around the apartment complex for the missing boy on Nov. 21, which included public safety personnel from local and regional agencies, and officers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio BCI.
The boy was dropped off earlier in the day of Nov. 20 by a bus driver and had been with his adult sister.
Hamilton Justice Center opens
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Hamilton’s long-awaited criminal justice center partially opened in mid-December.
The city’s police department moved into the Hamilton Justice Center on Dec. 10, vacating its longtime department, which was a former Kroger building, on South Front Street.
The 64,000-square-foot, $32 million justice center on South Eighth Street, which spans Walnut and Hanover streets, will also house the Hamilton Municipal Court, the first time the police and courts will be in the same building since the courts moved to the city building when One Renaissance Center was built.
The courts will move from the second floor of the city building in late January and early February, according to municipal Judge Dan Gattermeyer. The court’s address will be 700 Hanover St., and the entrance will face the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. The police department’s address is 801 S. Eighth St.
The moving won’t end with the courts. Hamilton’s Fire Station 26 in Lindenwald will move from Laurel Avenue to Ohio 4 into a new $6.2 million station in February or March.
City Manager Craig Bucheit said the city is preparing requests for proposals for the former police station at 331 S. Front St., and the Laurel Avenue fire station, 651 Laurel Ave. His staff are “actively evaluating options” for the soon-to-be-former court space.
Middletown development continues
In June, Middletown and Warren County leaders broke ground on a $200 million project called Renaissance Pointe.
The 3,000-seat, multi-purpose event center with office and retail space, hotels, restaurants and various residential options, will be built on 50-plus acres on Middletown’s east side along Interstate 75 at Ohio 122 and Union Road. The project is in the Warren County portion of Middletown.
Phase I improvements are expected to be completed by the end of May 2025, according to city records. While this initial work is expected to several months, work to complete the multi-use and multi-faceted project could take seven to 10 years.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Community center plans move forward
A project that started two years ago to renovate the Robert “Sonny” Hill Jr. Community Center in Middletown came back on track in 2024.
The 83-year-old building on Lafayette Avenue renamed for the late mayor and community advocate had been overdue for a face lift and interior improvements, city leaders told the Journal-News.
After the schools pulled out of the redevelopment project, city staff developed a new scope with a $5.9 million budget, which included $2.1 million in ARPA funds and funding from the state and Butler County.
Construction is expected to be completed around December 2025.
Ground breaks on aquatic center at Y
The Great Miami Valley YMCA and Middletown created a partnership to construct what’s being called Monsoon Bay aquatic center at the Atrium Family YMCA.
Ground was broken in October on the $3 million project and it will offer water attractions for the whole family, toddlers to adults, Mike Bramer, YWCA CEO, told the Journal-News.
Monsoon Bay is scheduled to be open to the public in June 2025 and will including a zero entry for toddlers, slides, and an outdoor bathhouse.
Towne Mall bought by city
Middletown voted to fund the purchase of the former Towne Mall, which sits on a 32-acre parcel. In July, City Council agreed to issue $7.45 million bond anticipation notes to fund the $10 million purchase.
Middletown had made an offer to purchase Towne Mall last year with the intent of placing Renaissance Pointe at the location, but eventually withdrew the offer.
Personnel changes in Hamilton and Middletown
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Butler County’s largest two cities saw leadership changes in 2024.
In April, the top administrative executive at the city of Hamilton changed when former city manager Joshua Smith stepped down to take on the revamped county port authority that developed into the Butler County Finance Authority.
Craig Bucheit, who had been Hamilton’s long-time police chief, was appointed to succeed Smith. Bucheit became the first new Hamilton city manager since Smith was hired in September 2010.
Long-time police officer Trent Chenoweth, who most recently served as assistant chief, succeeded Bucheit as police chief in July.
Middletown sees leadership changes
In Middletown, there was a round robin of changes, which started the beginning of the year with the city’s police chief still on on administrative leave. Now-former chief David Birk and the city agreed on a separation deal. The city, however, never revealed why Birk was placed on administrative leave, which started in December 2023.
In August, Earl Nelson was elevated from deputy chief to chief for the Middletown Division of Police. He became the city’s first Black police chief when he was sworn in on Aug. 6. He was also the department’s first Black sergeant when he was promoted in 2017.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Several days before Nelson’s promotion, former Middletown City Manager Paul Lolli received a payout in a sudden retirement deal. No one has said what brought on the abrupt retirement, outside of a city statement that it was “due to personal circumstances.”
Lolli came back into the fold, however. In September, Zack Ferrell, who moved outside of the city, resigned his City Council seat. Afew weeks later, in a 3-1 vote, Lolli was voted to fill that vacancy. Mayor Elizabeth Slamka was the “no” vote.
Lolli, a former Middletown fire chief, became the second person to lead one of the city’s public safety departments, serve as city manager and then on city council. Former Middletown police chief Bill Becker was the first.
Fairfield sustainability plans grow
In what one Fairfield city councilmember called “a work of art,” the city’s sustainability plan is something Councilmember Tim Meyers in August said no other Ohio city their size has.
City Council this September adopted Fairfield Sustains, a plan that helps shape Fairfield’s future, Meyers said. He and Councilmember Gwen Brill two years ago charged city staff to develop a forward-thinking sustainability plan with priorities, goals, strategies and action steps.
What city staff call essentially “an action plan” lays out a strategic and comprehensive roadmap on how Fairfield can provide “a superior” quality of life for residents and businesses.
In November, the city created and advertised for a sustainability program manager, who would be responsible for, among other things, developing and implementing sustainability initiatives and managing programs. They are no longer taking applications for the job.
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