Commission Meeting October 22, 2024

All there.

**Focus
Rue's theater. Handpicked citizen speakers. All thanking the commission for their hard work and dedication in such challenging times. Rue's theater instruction: We ask you don't approach the dais. The definition of a dais is a platform for a lectern, seats of honor, or a throne. Nobody h as EVER approached him, threatened him, nothing. All for the national news. $10 million from the Governor was for everyone: translation services, driver's education, and a clinic for the Haitians. But for everyone.

**Presentations/Staff Report

Presentation by Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation. And Clark Country Community Developer.

Their 10-year anniversary. Established in 2008 by Ohio code. To return unused properties to use. To fight foreclosures. Rue has been sitting on the Board for a while. County Commissioners on the Board, etc. OIC, Habitat for Humanity partners. Tons more.

Upper Valley Mall - they took ownership about 5 years ago. Now it's the Upper Valley Business District. Actively leasing space. That entire site is now owned by one entity. So we'll see big changes now.

South Limestone grocery store - they took ownership, we all know that success story.

Now they're getting into new construction. Affordable homes. Building up instead of demolitions.

In the works: manufactured homes permanently sited. On Grand Avenue. Southern and Grant. Liberty and Linden, too.

They subsidize with $50K down-payments and a 20% discount on purchase price. Have to be below poverty percentage (300%).

Upcoming Brownfield Project.

Tax lien collection of taxes contract to sell off delinquent debt. 67% goes to schools. $162 million in collections in 2024.

**Rue Statement
The prayer/invocation and pledge. Please give us peace in our community, Lord. (This is always directed at the citizens - we're still dangerous.)

His usual warning to citizen speakers about disruptions. Some new stronger sentences. Read the city's statement (still in the news).

"Due to heightened security, we ask that you do not approach the dais.

**Citizen Speakers

Diana Daniels (mispronounced it Diane, as always - she speaks at every meeting) - Asked a question twice now. Answer uses data points presented. The Health Commissioner was data used on personal interactions with "our guests". Who wrote the presentation? Racism and tolerance of the citizens. No objective data. Describing citizens as racist and intolerant is slanderous. You should apologize. Talk to your law director.

Gary Armstrong - I ask for public info all the time. I'm getting slow walked. He asks for answers about data on monies. I don't get information that's factual and true. I've asked two yeas. Where di the 700K go? Untruthfulness from my city representatives. One man didn't answer that he has LLCs last meeting. A classmate of someone I'm looking at got a special deal.

Glenda Bailey - weak men create hard times. Shouldn't have had power in the first place. Haitian flag day was a message - a declaration on war with the town. Heck encouraged it. 20,000 militia. Haitian Times - Ohio Haitians Speak - at the community center. That's the day of the bomb threats that cancelled schools and . Cost us millions. They cancelled the event, but that was a lie. They knew Later DeWine admitted they were hoaxes. who did it benefit? The Haitians. It allowed lawsuits and stopped Trump from coming. Their hateful plot worked. Jamie McGregor can prove the threats. When will all the criminals be prosecuted?

Larry Ricketts (water guy) - I want to commend the commission for your public service and the thankless job you have. Most of us want to thank Heck for the hard work he and his excellent staff do. About the driving issue, I live on N Fountain Ave near the Ridgewood neighborhood and we take walks every morning and it's obvious these young people didn't take driver's education. Pedestrians have the right of way, but nobody seems to know this. Many times, they see us and speed up to try to beat us. They need to get to work, to Winans. And they are not Haitian drivers. We asked the city for SOLAR flashing lights, etc. And his 3 minutes was up.

Kenneth R. Seelig Jr. - The Mario of Clark County on the internet. Tonight I represent the bikers' club. 46th annual toy run this weekend. We had 3,015 and raised $11k cash for the kids of Clark County. I have never had as much negative BS as I had this year. Did anybody here see it? We're gonna protect intersections ourselves next year. It's a parade and we are on our own.

Devon Hendricks - Dreads guy. The hate. The real story. These beautiful people. The white man shooting the ducks. Why don't we talk about that. The kids in school - what are y'all teaching in your homes. The hate. The truth will come out.

Robert Spinelli - I've asked several times and never heard back. Only one of you ever even reached out to me. Where was the money going that DeWine gave? Where are the grants? Thank you Tracy Tackett. I get no answers from Bryan or anyone else. Why are you not representing Springfield? Why are you not answering the citizens' questions? Why are we asking questions over and over and over again? You have answers, you just don't want to tell people.

Wes Babian - every single meeting. Thank you for allowing me. Then our immigrant neighbors. I wish to express my gratitude. To hear and to respond to the issues raised. Because of the unprecedented circumstances> The outstanding goodwill and support. And from borders beyond. Our Haitian friends are encouraging their constituents. A future of promise and growth. Our new neighbors.

Jessica Schafer - I was targeted online after speaking here. Spreading your 3 minutes of hate. You willingly repeat white supremacists from the web, Nazi regime, vultures and con artists all for clicks and likes. Republican and white - hate movements always eat their own. They will turn on you. Wake up. Vote for the tax levies! Our kids need education so we don't have this.

Melissa Skinner - No answers, no victim advocate communication for months. I wish the same passion was out there for the illegal drivers - no licenses. Why are we not doing something about this? Have any new officers been hired? What isn't working now? There seems to be no plan. We all need to follow the same laws. Being ignorant of the law doesn't count.

Someone spoke up and Rue had an officer make him leave.

Terry Atkins - the accident Barron mentioned was 1 block from the police station. All the money spent at the Executive Inn is up for sale. Throwing good money after bad. Haven't heard a word. A county school has orders for teachers not to give the Haitians anything below a C. They're just being dumped on us. Why week after week after week after week. But lack of transparency, and no answers/information. Hoping nobody finds out. I still get reporters calling me.

Peg Foley - Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. And to our fire and police and safety forces. And to our educators and in our schools. I moved here in 1990. Trash collection had stopped and street lights were out. It was stuck. But now, we're growing with new neighbors, building new homes.

Claudia Fett - Also thank you and gushing..

**State Director of Public Safety Andy Wilson Speech

Update on the help we've been asked to give the city. Traffic issues. This is data -driven. Said that before.

1,167 stops:
831 tickets
337 warnings
51 OVI arrests

Our officers have been shocked at the speed on Limestone. They call it a drag strip.

Our #1 public safety concern with the Haitians. We've been putting resources into their driver's education. Our rules are foreign to them. We're trying to get more service for them. Haitian and Creole specific. But for everyone. We don't want them relying on each other for help. We' are training Haitian trainers. But this is for everyone.

The bomb threat - We were very engaged in mitigating that. Enemies of America. They use the internet to interfere with communities in distress. We worked with the FBI about the countries that sent them in. They tried to shut the city down so we would blame each other and the Haitians. We let them puppet us. None of them were initiated by Haitians. Some threats were locally - in the county. Arrests were made.

The money the Gov pledged. It was for primary health care. The majority was spent on that He rushed in that money to increase capacity for the care. Mobile clinic. But it's for everybody. To relieve pressure on the existing. And then a permanent clinic for basic health issues. But for everybody.

No licenses - no enforcement. We had a meeting with the judges today. Our laws are weak. THIS IS BULLSHIT. If you want this changed, you have to go to the General Assembly. Bernie Willis, Kyle Koehler.

**Rue's Immediate Comments

It's hard for me to see people bring complaints to the podium and then leave.

There is no reason for a lack of transparency here. It's not a part of us. It's very difficult for people to accuse us of false hoods. Borderline slanderous and criminal. To spew lies is wrong. We're just trying to serve. THIS IS ALL BULLSHIT.

Our staff is going to try to answer your questions. Tonight people actually wrote legibly on their cards, so we can read them. Email me if you don't get an answer.

**Heck's Reports and Answers

He'll speak with the Health Commissioner about the data used in the slides.

Hotel information and Cindy Phillips - I'm going to have Jill Allen to talk about public records. I'm going to follow up with you, Mr. Armstrong.

Received 2 insurance checks for 360K. The loss was 365K. Because we're in the Ohio pool we got $75K and the $360K. Deposited in general fund. Can be used for any purpose. Federal funding on the building - appraisal RFP. Firm from Dublin Ohio and has worked for the city before.

I'll have Chris Moore follow up with you, Mr. Ricketts, about specific intersections.

Received school funding for translation services and devices in every classroom. The health department for the clinic. The 2.5 million in the mobile clinic. And establishing a permanent clinic. Resettlement dollars - we're not eligible. TPS aren't eligible for that. We continue to work state and fed for more resources. Let's bring as many of our tax dollars back to our community.

Iworks runs our report a concern on the site. I'll work with the staff because this is buried on our site. We're working with other firms to redo this.

Police recruitment - interviews scheduled for 25 people in December. We use the National Testing Network. They select the communities to send their app to. 10 of those. We hope to hire. (Still not hired in September 2025.)

Executive Inn is not for sale. We're assessing next steps.

735 West Pleasant sale - city partners with the Haitian Community Center. It was the fire station. We marketed it in March. Didn't get a ton of inquiries. But we got a proposal from them. Planning to do ESL, help with job apps, translation services. $270K. 2023 property appraised for over $500K. This is the only formal offer we got, said Heck.

**Commission Comments

Tackett
It's great to see new life here! (presentation)

Thank you, Andy. It's been great having you here from the state to hear our concerns. You're educating all of us.

Thank the Highway Hikers for what they do.

Sheltered Inc and Leadership Clark County wrapped in winter clothes drive.

Thanked all the NGOs for their meeting about the homeless last week.

Brown
Asked Heck if the former fire stations could be used for other purposes? For the homeless, for the schools, etc.? He said that was challenging because of the unisex bathrooms and ADA compliance issues (built in the '80s).

Estrop
Thanked the Tax Collector for collecting from these "deadbeats" who are not paying their share and costing us all money.

Request a point of personal privilege (?!) The school has a levy on this ballot. A renewal levy. Springfield City School District. Asked commission to vote yes, to support the levy.

Rep Wiliis expressed interest in investing in driver's education for all.

Houston
Asked Heck to say that there were no federal dollars involved in the Haitian Community Center sale. He said, "No. This is a nonprofit funded by donations."

**My Thoughts

Heck introduced the guests and ending with, "all around awesome Mindy Clark". (County Treasurer Pam Littlejohn's "Deputy" Treasurer.)

Why is Estrop talking about a tax levy (for Springfield School District) on the ballot? He and Rue said they weren't involved in the tax levy on the November 2025 ballot (for the Clark County jail)?

Rue threatened everyone with slander or criminal charges if they keep saying mean things about him or anyone on the Commission. (To hell with free speech, I mean the day I can't call a spade a spade or a POS a POS...I'm moving to 1950 Russia.) Of course, we could do the same thing. All he's (and everyone else involved, including the county and the state) done is slander Springfield citizens TO THE NATION. But this town is skittish and fearful and won't do anything and he (and everyone else) knows it and has depended on it.

Rue Theater. He has been nothing but lies and bullshit since I've been watching anyway. He calls it being "misquoted".

• Said, Due to heightened security, we ask that you do not approach the dais. First of all, nobody caused concern or was a threat to him or the commission. It was all made up. Nobody has ever approached them in a meeting. Secondly, the definition of a dais is a platform for a lectern, seats of honor, or a throne.

• There is no reason for a lack of transparency here. It's not a part of us. It's very difficult for people to accuse us of false hoods. Borderline slanderous and criminal. To spew lies is wrong. We're just trying to serve. THIS IS ALL BULLSHIT. All he does is insult the citizens of this city. He calls us names every meeting and now on the naitional stage. We are racist and intolerant and can't even write legibly so we can be contacted for the information for which we drive to the meetings to ask.

• Our staff is going to try to answer your questions. Tonight people actually wrote legibly on their cards, so we can read them. Email me if you don't get an answer.

Andy Wilson's speech about the bomb threats was all made up. There were NO arrests and NO local culprits. And saying that people in other countries want us to turn against each other, using us as puppets makes entirely no sense.

Larry Ricketts is all about the Haitians. Talking about his morning encounters on his walk in Ridgewood about bad drivers and they are not Haitian. Fired up in this meeting, until put in his application to run for commissioner.

I'd say still hand-picked. Started in September, will last as long as they think the outside is watching.

The answer to the question about why no license and no insurance people are not being enforced or fined? Because TPSers can't have two strikes or they lose benefits.

Heck's going to reach out. He's assessing. He's investigating. He'll get with people. He'll report back. (September 2025, we're all still waiting....)

Rue is just a liar. Not even debatable. He has lied since he got into office and hasn't stopped as of September 2025. But now they want us all to believe they're honest and transparent. I don't know how that works in anyone's mind with the ability to think.

*** Wes Babian attends every meeting to talk about how much he loves the commissioners, the city manager, the mayor. How selfless and wonderful they are, especially in such stressful and challenging times. He gushes about the love he has for "our new neighbors. He is the Board President of the Clark County Combined Health District (CCCHD) and has a salary listed as zero but directly (in descending salary order) under the top two making over $360K. The CCCHD has made a literal fortune off the Haitians from other people's tax dollars. Wes Babian was Warren Copeland's pastor at the First Baptist Church for 20 years. He is now on the Board of Rocking Horse and the CCCHD, among others in the health field. He is listed as having no salary, and organizations never publish bonuses and benefits for the public. He lived in a 4 BR 4BA, 4300 square foot house on a quiet dead-end street neighboring only about a dozen houses that he sold for $370K in July 2025. According to the Interwebs, he has a net wroth of 1.375 million. These things explain why he's on the Board of everything and as he sees it, chooses to represent his god at every meeting. Thanking Rue for allowing him to speak for 3 minutes. Sanity to me!