Monroe Chat

The next town hall is Wednesday, July 29th at 6:30. A perfect opportunity to discuss city issues then go across the street for a yummy dinner at the Red Onion.

I hope more people attend. This is a great opportunity to talk to our city leaders & staff.

Some questions I have:
1.Why are most all council agenda items submitted as "emergencies"?
2. Do we have a plan to deal with the horrible condition of the cemeteries? Many of the historical markers are damaged, including our town founders, Nathaniel Sackett.
3. Door to door solictitors. Can we ban them all together?
4. Economic development - why is no one forcing/encouraging/whateverittakes the owners of the Munafo's Jubilee strip mall on Main St to finish the interior of the remaining retail outlets and get them rented? Isn't there a 100% abatement on that property? How can the city ever expect to draw any tax base off the center, when the owner won't finish construction? Walls & Ceiling go a long way towards rental income.
5. Speaking of empty malls, are anymore in the works? Besides the one on Rt4 by Speedway?
6. What plan does MPD have for traffic control when the mall opens? I was out there yesterday and saw 2 wrecks within minutes of each other from the flea market closing. Add in mall traffic...
7. Suncoke - an update, including costs spent.
8. Fire Station - an update on possible location
9. Police - possible substation in Excello or complete rebuild/move of current station?
10. What happened to Neighbor Watch that was to start this year?
11. Is Gallaher Rd still to be resurfaced? The patch job is only marginally helpful & the road is still horribly bumpy. What about Mason off S. Main?

Great set of questions C&C - would you post the responses ????

I like it! I might have to attend and bring my popcorn! GREAT QUESTIONS!

save me a seat.

Beasly wrote:I like it! I might have to attend and bring my popcorn! GREAT QUESTIONS!

I will be glad to speak on each and every one of those questions. If any resident has attended the past few council meetings a lot of those same questions were answered. Anna Hale And Bob Kelley will be at the Town Hall meeting on wednsday evening.

Thanks Tracy!

I'm sure most of these can be answered fairly quickly and I did miss the last meeting. It'll be wonderful to have Anna there, too.

ok i took a little time to put togther a few answer. I will discuss more in detail at the Town Hall meeting

Some questions I have:
1.Why are most all council agenda items submitted as "emergencies"?

Myself or Bob Kelley will address this issue during the town hall meeting

2. Do we have a plan to deal with the horrible condition of the cemeteries? Many of the historical markers are damaged, including our town founders, Nathaniel Sackett.
This item I have not been made aware of until your questions and I will follow up with Brad Collins.

3. Door to door solicitors. Can we ban them all together?
We currently have a permit process that each solicitor should follow. If you have someone at your door you can call the police and have them check out his permit and intentions

4. Economic development - why is no one forcing/encouraging/whateverittakes the owners of the Munafo's Jubilee strip mall on Main St to finish the interior of the remaining retail outlets and get them rented? Isn't there a 100% abatement on that property? How can the city ever expect to draw any tax base off the center, when the owner won't finish construction? Walls & Ceiling go a long way towards rental income.

As a City we can not force anyone into finishing the interior of a building unless it is a sfaety issue and then we would have to follow the statelaws on that. Most times the finish is per the contract with the tenet. They (owners) will not spend money putting on finish dry wall when the tenet may want something else and will not take a lease unless the owner spends money to build it out as they want. Maybe we can approach them about covering up the windows to hide the unfinished space. This is something I can discuss with the Development department and get back to you on. If you have some thoughts on this please share them with me.
5. Speaking of empty malls, are anymore in the works? Besides the one on Rt4 by Speedway? Bob is on the planning committee and can address this on wed night.

I am not aware of any at this time.

6. What plan does MPD have for traffic control when the mall opens? I was out there yesterday and saw 2 wrecks within minutes of each other from the flea market closing. Add in mall traffic...

The chief explained, to the council at the last meeting, that he and Cheif Neu have been working on plans to help with the traffic issue during the mall opening and the first couple weeks. Brad Collins has been working with the contractor and ODOT about how to help also. The city staff will be working on this to help but understand all drivers will need to practice some more patience in that area.

7. Suncoke - an update, including costs spent.
I will get the numbers for you and let you know either tonight or tomorrow.

8. Fire Station - an update on possible location.

I beleive it will be on the east side of 75 but that has yet to be decided
9. Police - possible substation in Excello or complete rebuild/move of current station?
Yes we will need to expand or relocate the police department in the near future. A location has not been decided yet.

10. What happened to Neighbor Watch that was to start this year?

The chief informed us that he intends to put this in his budget for next year. This is due to staffing and the willingness of a officer to step up and take this task on. During the past couple years we have been adding new officers and getting the manning to a level that ensures the safety and wellbeing of the citizens and police officers of Monroe. The experienced officers have been spending time training the new officers and the chief expects to start the program back up in 2010.

11. Is Gallaher Rd still to be resurfaced? The patch job is only marginally helpful & the road is still horribly bumpy. What about Mason off S. Main?

Yes this has been in the plans since 2002 but due to budget constraints and the emergency it has not been completed.

This is on the agenda for this evening (Finally, we have also included $800,000 in financing for the Gallaher Road Improvement Project. This project also received recommendation by the Public Works Committee.)

The roads to be resurfaced as a part of the projectthis year are Old Street, Church Street, Courtland Drive, Elm Street (Main to East), East Avenue (63 to South of Courtland), Bernard Drive, Rachel Lane, Austin Smith, Boyd, Holman Avenue, Todhunter Road (Britton to Yankee) and South Salzman Road as a part of our agreement with IDI.

Once again I will be joined by Mr Kelley and Mrs. Hale tomorrow at the town hall meeting come up and ask any other questions you have.

Also this propety is not 100% abated.

4. Economic development - why is no one forcing/encouraging/whateverittakes the owners of the Munafo's Jubilee strip mall on Main St to finish the interior of the remaining retail outlets and get them rented? Isn't there a 100% abatement on that property? How can the city ever expect to draw any tax base off the center, when the owner won't finish construction? Walls & Ceiling go a long way towards rental income.

I wish more people would show up for these meetings. I like them much more than Council meetings because of the informal setting, with everyone on an equal footing.

Thanks to Bob & Tracy for answering all my questions and leaving me perfectly satisfied that Council & Staff are doing everything right. I like that we can question them and they have the answers and don't give anyone the runaround or excuses. Even if ever in disagreement over an issue, as long as anyone has the passion to stand up for what they believe in, then all is good. (and last night I agreed with everything 100%)

Thank you Susan for attending the meeting last evening. My goal in setting up these town hall meetings in this fashion was just as you explained. A chance for residents to ask questions about issue the city is facing or will face and how we handle the issues. The council works for all the residents in Monroe but if we do not get a chance to talk with you on your concerns how can we help. We (council) do what we feel is right and take into consideration the comments we receive.

I am looking into moving the town hall meetings to Thursday evening to try an accommodate more residents. If yo uhave any suggestions that would allow more access to the councilmembers please let me know.

Tracy