NEWSLETTER 4th 1stQuarter Quarter, 2012 2017 ARTICLES Center for Local Government Presents Strategic CLG Presents Strategic Plan at Annual Meeting Plan (p. 1)

The Center for Local Government pre- Southwest and beyond. These goals Jeff Berding Speaks at sented its most recent strategic plan at its were determined through a series of CLG 2017 Annual Annual Meeting on March 23rd. This plan Board retreats, an general CLG satisfac- Meeting (p.2) was developed by the CLG Board and tion survey of Chief Administrative Offic- Electricity Consortium Staff throughout 2016, and was approved ers (CAOs), a program satisfaction survey, Nears Pricing (p. 3) by the Board in early March. The plan and one-on-one discussions with CAOs consists of six main goals for the Center: who were interested in talking. Solid Waste Bid in 2017 (p.3)

· The Center for Local Government is the Each of these goals comes with a set of CLG Leadership Acade- premier information hub for local govern- strategies and action steps, and CLG staff my Kicks Off (p. 4) ments in the and Dayton region. will report back to the board on the pro- It is the first place that local governments gress with each of these action steps over Service Metrics Consor- look to when they need information the lifetime of the plan. The full Strategic tium Update (p. 4) · The Center for Local Government is the focal point for engagement between local Plan and a Strategic Plan Summary docu- Sharonville Northern governments in the Cincinnati and Dayton ment was distributed to CLG CAOs in ear- Lights District Contin- region, especially amongst our diverse ly March that fully lists each of these ues to Grow (p. 5) member communities. strategies in detail. · The Center for Local Government has a di- Greenhills Designated verse membership base, and will grow that National Historic Land- Copies of the full strategic plan or the base in a sustainable fashion in order to mark (p. 6) enhance efficiencies between local govern- strategic plan summary are available by ments. request. They can also be found on our Innovation and Steward- · The Center for Local Government identifies website (www.C4LG.org) in the “did you ship Key to Montgomery Water Project (p. 7) new opportunities for governments to work know” section on our homepage. If you together, and works to enhance its current do not see it there, click on the “more” programs. button below the “did you know” feature. · The Center for Local Government is a re-

spected advocate for local government in- REGULAR terests, and will work to maintain and build We are happy to answer any questions FEATURES upon our reputation and public image. you have about the plan itself, how we · The Center for Local Government is pre- intend to execute it, or any other queries TJ’s Topics (p. 8) pared to withstand contingencies. that you may have. Thank you for read- ing! Andy’s Updates (p. 8) The last CLG Strategic Plan was passed in 2009 with a 2010 effective date, so this CLG Calendar (p.9) new set of goals is designed to fit the cur- CLG News Bits (p. 9) rent landscape of local government in

Jeff Berding of FC Cincinnati is CLG Annual Meeting Speaker

Jeff Berding of FC Cincinnati presented a fascinating look at Mr. Rahall takes over for Jen- FC’s first year of operations nifer Kaminer of Fairfax, who and its quest to become the had served on the CLG Board Cincinnati area’s third major since 2002. Ms. Kaminer was league sports franchise at the given a memento by CLG CLG Annual Meeting. FC Cin- Board President Mark cinnati is a United Soccer Schlagheck recognizing her League (USL) franchise, which service to CLG. As Mr. is one level below Major Schlagheck stated during the League Soccer (MLS). In its meeting, Ms. Kaminer has first year of operations, it ex- served through multiple Exec- ceeded its attendance goal by utive Directors, has seen the a whopping 7,000 fans per CLG Annual Meeting Attendees listen as FC organization grow significantly game (17,000 people on average Cincinnati President Jeff Berding discusses in her time on the Board, and has their inaugural season vs a goal of 10,000). We were helped CLG weather many chal- also excited to learn that they ex- lenges over the year. We thank ceeded their TV ratings and merchandise sales goals her for her service. by similar large margins. Besides the election of new Board positions, the slate The rise of FC Cincinnati has an impact on local gov- of officers for 2017 was chosen: Mark Schlagheck of ernment in our region. Not only would an MLS fran- Bellbrook will continue to serve as President. Vicky chise bring more publicity and economic impact to Earhart of Anderson Township will continue to serve the region, but it also would infuse human and finan- as Vice President, and Jim Lukas of Sharonville will cial capital into the already strong youth soccer pro- continue to serve as Secretary / Treasurer. grams in southwest Ohio. Indeed, FC Cincinnati has already looked for ways to collaborate with the youth Managers Recognized programs in the region, and will continue to do so. Finally, in a new tradition, CLG recognized new and retiring Managers. Among the retiring managers rec- Cleves Village Administrator Mike Rahall Elected to ognized were Sherry Callahan of Carlisle, Mike Berens CLG Board of Deer Park, Bill Becker of Deerfield Township, and In addition to hearing from Mr. Berding, CLG held Ray Hodges of Forest Park. New Managers include elections for two CLG Board positions. Kristen Brian Gilligan in Golf Manor, Eric Reiners in Deerfield Bitonte of Liberty Township was re-elected to a three Township, Jack Cameron who moved from Clearcreek year term on the Board, and Mike Rahall was elected Twp. to Delhi Twp., Michael Doss in Milford, and Ter- to his first term. Mr. Rahall has ample experience ry Timmers at the Little Miami Joint Fire and Rescue with our region and with CLG, having previously District. worked in Reading and Fairfield Township. He is in- volved with the CLG Benefits Pool currently as Although not all of them could be at the Annual Cleves’s representative to that group. We are happy meeting, we are happy to recognize them and wish to have him on the Board. them luck!

CLG Electricity Consortium SWORRE Solid Waste and Nears Pricing Recycling Bid this Year

The Center for Local Government electricity consor- The Center for Local Government’s Southwest Ohio tium will be conducting a pricing for electricity sup- Regional Refuse Consortium (SWORRE) Group B will ply costs in early April. We are anticipating a sav- be going back out to bid this summer, with a new ings for the group as we attempt to improve on the contract start date on January 1, 2018. This comes current $.0466 electricity supply rate. on the tail of Group A’s new five year contract signed at the end of 2015. The electricity consortium started in 2010 as an effort to aggregate the electricity supply costs for In order to ensure the best bid possible for the par- facilities and other accounts owned by CLG member ticipating governments, there will be tweaks to the governments. This makes it different from residen- Group B bid from when we last conducted it in 2012. tial aggregations, as it only focuses on government The main tweak is that we will be splitting this one accounts. The program started with nine govern- into a Dayton area bid and a Cincinnati area bid. The ments, and has seen decreases in electricity supply reason for this is that it makes it easier on haulers, costs every time a supply bid has gone out. For our which will hopefully increase competition for the 2017 bid, 13 governments are participating, which is bid. It also allows CLG to add new members to the up from 9 governments in our last bid in 2014. bid without it becoming too big.

Since 2010, when SWORRE and the Electricity Consortium were founded, participation has increased from 14 combined governments to 30. In that time, the two programs have a combined estimated savings of $3.3 million.

CLG works with Eagle Energy as broker for this pro- As second tweak will be that we will be pricing recy- ject. Eagle conducted an RFP of electricity suppliers, cling and solid waste collection separately. This al- and is currently in the process of negotiating and lows potential governments who collect for solid finalizing pricing. As of the writing of this news- waste with their own staff, but want to participate in letter, participating governments have been in- the CLG bid for recycling services. formed of the preliminary pricing, and have until April 18th to sign contracts. Finally, we are happy to be adding governments to this group! Currently, Amberley Village, Bellbrook, Participating governments are not required to sign a Deer Park, Miamisburg, Milford and Woodlawn par- contract if they do not like the pricing, but for those ticipate. By splitting this into two contracts, we will who do, it is anticipated their new rate will start in potentially be adding one new government to the May. At the time of the writing of this newsletter, it Cincinnati bid, and up to three new governments to is anticipated that contracts will be for 43 months. the Dayton area bid.

CLG will keep the membership updated via e-mail as Work on this bid will pick up in the spring, and we this bidding process comes to an end. will hopefully have significant updates by our next newsletter!

4th Annual CLG Leadership Academy Kicks Off

The fourth annual Center for Local Gov- more resources behind the Academy, ernment Leadership Academy held it’s while further diversifying our student first class on March 16th. This year’s base. We look forward to a strong rela- academy features 24 students who will tionship in the years to come. go through a six month program. It started on the 16th with “Local Govern- When this year’s class graduates, the ment 101.” It will be followed up with a Leadership Academy will boast a strong Xavier University class on either manag- group of 75 alumni. Indeed, since the ing different leadership styles, or know- start of the Leadership Academy in ing your leadership strengths (student’s 2014, at least 5 of our graduates have choice). After Xavier, students will take received department head level promo- classes on local government finance, tions. Eight of our 24 2017 participants human resources, ethics, and effective 2016 Leadership Academy came from communities with previous communication styles. Grad Kim Cox tells students Leadership Academy alumni, including 4 what to expect that were directly referred by 2016 The 2017 Leadership Academy also is alumni. our first to include students from governments cov- ered by the Miami Valley Risk Management Associa- We are excited for this year’s class, and wish them tion (MVRMA). This partnership allows CLG to put the best over the next six months!

Benchmarking

Since the last update, the Benchmarking project un- Because the database is tracking information in a derwent a series of upgrades aimed at improving the number of different service areas, the sheets of the experience of the end-user. First among these up- database have naturally become quite lengthy. The grades was improving the layout of the database. As “go-to” feature allows for easier navigation to a de- each participating jurisdiction can attest to, the sheer sired service delivery area. volume of information and figures contained within Finally, each of the existing measurement areas have the database is immense. This meant that one could been examined by CLG staff to determine whether easily become lost in the many tables of information the information being requested yields the kind of of the database. To rectify this, the database incor- information beneficial to a benchmarking project. In porated an eye-friendly color scheme where tables most cases, we believe that answer is yes, however were now composed of alternating colored rows. In some metrics have been identified as lacking and the same vein, scroll bars have been embedded with- have been removed from the database. We believe in each table to help the user navigate the tables of that these actions have created a more streamlined, information more easily. more beneficial product for the participating jurisdic- Another improvement added to the database is a “go tions. -to-link” found at the top of each jurisdiction’s sheet.

Sharonville Northern Lights District Continues To Grow

As a local government manager, if you have been to In 2017, the City, in conjunction with Conventions the City of Sharonville, you have likely attended an Sports and Leisure International, which pro- event at the Sharonville Convention Center-- the vides consulting services to the convention heart of the City’s Northern Lights District. If you industry, finalized a study indicating that the haven’t traveled to Sharonville in some time, a lot has Convention Center, given its meeting and changed in this corridor in the recent past, including, event growth since the expansion in 2013, but not limited to, the following: should expand once again with 20,000 square feet of additional exhibit hall space. This pro- In 2013, the Convention Center underwent a $25 posed expansion is currently under review. million expansion and renovation to accom- modate the region’s need for a state-of-the- In 2017, the City will finish a multi-year roadway art meeting and events facility– the Center improvement project on Chester Road now has nearly 60,000 SF of meeting space. ($10,000,000+) from Sharon Road to Kemper Over 200,000 people annually visit this facility. Road. This project has entailed under ground utilities, decorative sidewalks and other pe- In 2016, the Princeton School District completed a destrian-friendly amenities. $140 million project, which included a new 2,500 seat sports arena, 1,000 seat perfor- Given these exciting developments, additional full- mance theater, and 500 seat natatorium. service restaurants and other retail establishments are currently considering locating to this District. In May 2017, the Hyatt Place Sharonville Conven- tion Center hotel will open. This hotel will be The City of Sharonville’s Northern Lights District is attached to the Convention Center, allowing quickly becoming the region’s leading destination for visitors easy access for meetings and other convention, corporate, performance and other functions. The Hyatt Place will join more than events. To learn more about this District, visit 20 other nationally-branded hotels with more www.northernlightsdistrict.com or contact Jim Lu- than 3,000 rooms in the City of Sharonville. kas, safety Service Director, at [email protected].

Progress on Sharonville’s Northern Lights District in recent years is evident.

Greenhills Designated a National Historic Landmark

The Village of Greenhills is pleased to report that on Wednesday, January 11, 2017, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the designation of the Greenhills Historic District as a National Historic Landmark!

Obtaining the NHL designation was a multi-year pro- cess, going back to its inclusion as a goal in the Vil- lage’s 2009 Comprehensive Plan. The process to des- ignate the existing National Register-listed Greenhills Historic District as an NHL picked up momentum in September 2012, when three senior officials from NPS visited the community to assess how well the Greenhills is one of only three “green belt” towns in the physical integrity of the original Greenhills plan re- United States flects the trend of Greenbelt towns built during the New Deal era. The nomination was submitted for NPS Greenhills was considered to be a community with an staff review in November 2015. At their meeting in innovative site plan that safely accommodated the May 2016 in Washington, DC, the Landmarks Com- automobile while conserving natural features, and mittee of the NPS Advisory Board unanimously rec- that incorporated abundant parks, a surrounding ommended the nomination for NHL designation. greenbelt, pedestrian pathways, underground wiring, After a final review by the Advisory Board in Novem- and high-quality housing that was modern yet eco- ber 2016 the nomination was signed by the Secretary nomical in layout and materials. The plan for Green- of Interior in January 2017. hills also reduced costs by minimizing the size and length of water and sewer mains and the extent of The Village of Greenhills represents significant as- paved surfaces. pects of New Deal policy, an important period in the evolution of the American suburb, and pioneering Layouts of the townhomes are also noteworthy, using innovations in house and neighborhood design. An a reverse-front floor plan, with utility spaces— adaptation of American garden-city planning to the kitchens, coal storage and laundry—facing the street climate, topography, and cultural preferences of the and the living spaces facing gardens in the rear. This Midwestern United States, the Village of Greenhills design feature, combined with the elimination of a was one of the three New Deal greenbelt towns built wide setback from the street, resulted in reduced by the Resettlement Administration's Division of Sub- construction costs and gave each house a larger yard urban Resettlement. It is nationally significant for its with gardens which could be viewed from the living association with the Federal response to the Great room. There was also a concerted effort in the origi- Depression by providing economic relief in the form nal siting of the housing to work with the topography of employment for skilled and unskilled labor and to allow maximum light and air and to break the mo- making use of modern principles of design and lower- notony of the housing through a variety of setbacks, cost methods and materials of home construction in angles and porches to give each unit a sense of priva- an effort to stimulate the building industry and raise cy. Approximately 94% of the original structures are the quality of life for working-class Americans. still in active use.

Innovation and Stewardship Key to Montgomery Stormwater Project

In service delivery we are often tasked with delivering The final component of this successful stormwater a product or service that is better, faster and cheaper. improvement project required a partnership between This is the nature of our economy and part of the Public Works staff and a private developer to definition of customer service. In today’s world this transport approximately 2,400 cubic yards of earth may not be enough, as we may also be required to material excavated for the retention pond to a devel- meet various other requirements including minimized opment site in which the City is a partner. These re- risk, sustainability and environmental considerations. cycling efforts resulted in a cost savings of nearly The City of Montgomery Public Works staff is current- $24,000 for the public/private development project ly completing a stormwater improvement project that as it reduced the amount of imported earth material has exceeded expectations in all of the above areas. required for the development.

The City has developed a rain harvest system that in- The total cost of cludes the installation of a 5,000 gallon water tank the rain harvest that captures rain water runoff from approximately system and con- 5,700 square feet of roof area. The captured water version of a deten- will be used during the winter months to make salt tion basin to a re- brine for winter snow removal operations and during tention pond was the summer months to water the enormous volume $87,000. A grant in of annual flowers and hanging baskets throughout the amount of Montgomery. The rain harvest system will also elimi- $69,184 received nate the current rain water runoff that would normal- from the Hamilton ly be routed to a detention basin near the front of the County Storm Wa- facility resulting in a positive impact to the drainage ter District com- system as it moves downstream. bined with the $24,000 savings Montgomery’s Rain Barrel System in The project also included the conversion of a deten- for the develop- Action tion basin to a retention pond resulting in the excava- ment resulted in tion of approximately 2,400 cubic yards of earth ma- an overall $6, 184 terial to convert the existing basin to a pond. The ex- positive impact to our community. Additional cost isting outlet structure will be removed and replaced savings are expected to total $5,000 within the first with a multi-stage structure that will allow for a per- three years while the positive environmental impacts manent pond of water to be maintained and provide will be everlasting. a controlled stormwater release during rain events and reduce the amount and volume of stormwater When we challenge each other to “consider the possi- runoff to the downstream tributary. The new reten- bilities”, or ask each other “Why not?”, there is very tion pond will also provide substantial water quality little that cannot be accomplished. This can lead to improvements by reducing the amount of pollution solutions like the one being developed at the City of and sediments being introduced into the downstream Montgomery’s Public Works facilities, where vision, drainage system. Native wetland vegetation will be values and innovation intersect in creating a service planted around the perimeter of the retention pond delivery system benefiting a multitude of users! to reduce erosion and further enhance water quality.

T.J.’s Topics

Time flies! By the time you read this newsletter, The second item to hit on is our strategic plan, which Opening Day for the Reds will have come and gone we partially outlined in our newsletter. This is im- and it feels the year just started! (This may be a re- portant because it gives us a strategic direction for sult of the fact that we did not really have a winter). the next five years, and it gives us standards to self- So far this year, we started up our 4th Leadership measure by. I would like to thank everyone who pro- Academy, conducted our RFP for an electricity broker vided feedback via surveys or talks, and I would espe- and a supply bid, started work on our SWORRE bid, cially like to thank the CLG Board for all the work they and held our Annual Meeting. And there is more! put into the plan over the summer.

The first item I would like to hit on is outreach visits. I Finally, I hope you enjoyed the new focus in our have begun that process and I have met with a few newsletter of more stories from our member govern- governments so far. I expect outreach visits to really ments. One of our main goals is to be a facilitator, take off this spring and into summer. I will be reach- and whether we do that through our CAO Coffee ing out to each government soon if I have not al- Roundtables, by giving communities a chance to show ready. Outreach visits go a long way toward deter- off their progress in our newsletter, or by other mining what trainings we offer throughout the year. means, we always want to help be a conduit for com- If you have a training idea, please do not wait for me munication. to come to you however! Give us a call and I will be happy to discuss what you have in mind. Thank you for reading! I’ll be in touch.

Andy’s Updates

In my last update I mentioned that I was set to begin sion becoming an emerging issue within the realm of work on updating CLG’s marketing and program ma- HR, please share it with me. I am always looking for terials. In the weeks since that update I have in fact new topics and speakers for our trainings. began work in this area. First among my priorities is Last, you may have noticed a Spot Survey recently on updating CLG’s informational brochure. I hope to the topic of Drug Incineration. This is an example of have this piece finished in the weeks ahead so be sure an emerging issue facing many within or membership to keep an eye out for that. As always if you have any and one that will likely continue into the future. The ideas or suggestions about CLG programs to highlight taskforce looking into this matter is currently search- or have testimonials about some of the programs or ing for additional members to come and share their trainings you or your staff utilize, please feel free to ideas on how to address this issue. For more infor- send them my way. It would be much appreciated. mation on the taskforce, our proposed ideas, and our I am also collecting ideas for this year’s two HR Hot meetings feel free to contact me. This is an exciting Topics gatherings. The first gathering will likely be project to be a part of as we progress from the ideas held sometime in May, so be on the look out for an stage to implementing a workable solution. invitation in the weeks ahead. However, if you have an idea of a current HR topic or issue you are current- ly facing in your community or have a topic you envi-

CLG Calendar

2017 Leadership Academy Schedule (for 2017 Leadership Academy participants only) Class 2 - Managing Different Leadership Styles, April 18, 2017 8:00am at Xaiver University (3800 Victory Pkwy, Cin- cinnati, OH) OR Strengths Based Leadership, April 26, 2017 8:00am at Xaiver University Class 3 - Budgeting and Financial Principles, May 10, 2017 at Washington Township (8320 McEwen Rd, Washington Twp., OH) Class 4 - Human Resources Management, June 7, 2017 at Anderson Township (7850 Five Mile Rd. Anderson Twp.,OH) Class 5 - Applying Ethics, July 19, 2017 at City of Springboro (320 West Central Ave. Springboro, OH) Class 6 - Building Effective Relationships, August 9, 2017 at Amberley Village (7149 Ridge Rd. Amberley Village, OH) Graduation Event: September 13, 2017 (location TBD)

HCC CyberMorning Executive-Level Briefing, hosted by Hamilton Clermont Cooperative (this region's ITC for schools), April 4, 2017, 9:30-11:30am at R.S.V.P. Event Center (453 Wards Corner Road, Loveland, OH). Click here to see flyer with more information.

CAMA, April 21, 2017, 11:30am at Grande Finale in Sharonville (3 East Sharon Road, Glendale, OH 45246). The speaker will be Iris Bush, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. Click here for more details. Please RSVP [email protected] no later than noon on 4/17/2017 with name and lunch choice.

The Ohio Association of Parliamentarians- annual training session, May 19, 2017, 8:30am-5:00pm at City of Forest Park Senior Center. Click here for details. This is not a CLG event, please note payment instructions on the flyer.

CLG News Bits

Welcome to Administrative Professionals Annual Survey Coming This Colerain Township Luncheon Summer

The Center for Local Government The next Administrative Profession- The CLG Annual Survey will be would like to extend a welcome als Luncheon will be held on June coming this summer, so stay tuned! to Colerain Township as the new- 6. Details are still to be deter- This is our benefits / service pro- est member of CLG. Dan Meloy is mined. This is a twice yearly lunch- file / pay practices survey that we the Township Administrator and eon open to all Administrative Sup- use to populate most of the info in Geoff Milz is the Assistant Town- port Staff and any other staff from our Datacenter. Our annual mem- ship Administrator. Please reach member jurisdictions. Our speaker bership directory survey will be out to Mr. Meloy and Mr. Milz will be Deputy Fire Chief Jermaine coming out this spring, so stay and welcome them into the Cen- Hill of Forest Park. If you would tuned for that as well. As always, if ter for Local Government net- like to be added to the email list for you would like someone from CLG work! this event, please email Lori Stuck- to come out and demonstrate the ey at [email protected] datacenter, please call! Effective Governance Through Collaboration

The Center for Local ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATI ON Government Board of Trustees The Center for Local Mark Schlagheck Government (CLG) located in City of Bellbrook Cincinnati, Ohio is a unique non- President profit 501(c)(3) corporation, creat-

Vicky Earhart ed in 1990 as a clearinghouse for Anderson Township inter-governmental Vice President collaboration, training and information sharing. CLG member- CLG Staff from L to R: Lori Stuckey, Pro- Jim Lukas gram and Information Coordinator; T.J. ship consists of 54 local govern- White, Executive Director; Andy Lanser, City of Sharonville ments in 6 counties. Program Development Director Secretary/Treasurer

Kristen Bitonte CLG was created by government to serve government. Liberty Township

Michael Rahall Village of Cleves

4015 Executive Park Dr. Suite 216 Sharonville, OH 45241 513-741-7999 Fax: 513-741-8671

T.J. White Executive Director [email protected]

Lori Stuckey Program and Information Coordinator [email protected]

Andy Lanser Program Development Director [email protected]