A Few "Elected" Mafia Family Members

Brown, Estrop & Bridget B-gon Countdown

Rue and Tackett B-gon Countdown

Gov DeWine B-gon Countdown

• Feb 2019: appointed City Mgr by Mayor Copeland (1998-2024) (after a months-long search, of course)

• Jan 2015 - Feb 2019: Deputy City Mgr (promoted by Mayor Copeland)

• 2011 - 2014: Planning and Zoning Administrator

• 2008: Hired as Assistant to the City Manager (Matt Kridler 1989-2009, Jim Bodenmiller 2009-2019)

Heck will be in office in perpetuity, because it requires 3 Commissioner votes to fire him and he selects the Commissioners and who's allowed to replace them.

City Manager Bryan Heck

Power without Empathy Leads to Ruin

Nov 2017: elected City Commissioner with 4,804 votes, 28% of the 16,730 total votes. The number of Springfield registered voters has been around 30,000 for the last decade. So,16% of eligible voters voted for Rue. This was the only time he was "elected" and the Clark County Board of Elections commented online that it was one of the lowest voter turnouts they had seen in a while.

Jan 2022: Copeland named Rue Assistant Mayor

Nov 2023: Rue ran unopposed after Copeland resigned. 9,446 people voted for him or or 30% of the eligible voters. The Springfield News-Sun reported, "Rob Rue, a commissioner currently serving as assistant mayor, was the lone candidate Tuesday for Springfield mayor." I've never seen so many "unopposed" elections in my entire life.

A good summary of exactly who Rob Rue is: The Buckeye Reporter article, Special report: Renting Apartments to Haitians is BIg Business for Springfield Mayor Rob Rue and Others and the Fall Semester: How to make a fortune off a Haitian page of this website.

Rue will be in office until December 31, 2027 (when I imagine Tracey Tackett will be "selected" and we'll all wish we had Rue back).

Mayor Rob Rue

The Top-tier Springfield Associates

• This is a standalone (not part of a bigger metropolis) town of 58,000.

• Clark County paid 51 employees more than $100,000 each in 2022,

• The city's average annual salary is around $46,412, with an average hourly wage of about $22.

• The city of Springfield paid 83 employees over $100,000 in 2023, according to the Payroll Project, an annual reporting project from the Springfield News-Sun and Dayton Daily News. This number is nearly double the 42 employees who earned six figures in 2022.

2024 Payroll Data Update

2024 data should be published in Fall 2025. But it wasn't. Every other city and district in the area (and most of Ohio) published it. But not the City of Springfield. I'm sure they're hiding now, because of the 2023 Dayton News article.

But FOIA and public records require it.

Interestingly enough, Regina Jeffers responded to my question asking when 2024 payroll/salary data would be published with, "On what site are you looking for the salaries? I know the Springfield News-Sun inquired and we responded back in February on salaries."

And AI responded, "For the Springfield, Ohio city government, specific 2024 payroll information isn't publicly consolidated."

So, I asked for base salary data for all employees making over $60K in 2024 for my own reporting.

They've reported salaries for over a decade. And all of a sudden.....

It’s incredibly telling that her first response was to ask me what sites I was using to look for information. I’d bet my annual salary that it’s to send legal threats to take the information down? Why would they stand alone in wanting to hide the information?

Here’s why:

Salary table with summary – bullet list of the top 3 or 4….notes column.

This is just a quick list of more information on the Syndicate Salary Increases 2019-2023 but mostly 2023 page of this website.

City Manager Bryan Heck $187K (2023) Of note, Dayton's City Manager makes $284K. A city part of a metropolis.

Development Director Logan Cobbs (former Deputy City Manager - she really couldn't handle any job) (in 2022, she was the Intermittent Management Analyst at $83K)

Assistant City Manager and Economic Development Director Tom Franzen base salary $167K in 2023 (He was promoted to this position in 2013 after working in the City Manager's office for 13 years "running econ dev programs and overseeing the airport".)

Economic Development Manager Kassie Scott (salary not in database, she's on Tom Franzen's team, so I'm sure there's lots on her plate)

Communications Director Karen Graves (in 2023, she was the Strategic Engagement Manager at $93K)

Deputy Director Public Safety Jason Via ($120K in 2023, up 25% just from 2022 when he was in Corrections)

Fire Chief Brian Miller ($168K in 2023)

Service Director Christopher Moore ($163K in 2023)***

Law Director Jill Allen ($159K in 2023, in 2022 she was making $136K, so a pretty nice raise)

Community Development Director Shannon Meadows ($148K in 2023) **It looks like she left for a job in another township in 2024. Logan Cobbs filled her position.

Director of Finance Katie Eviston ($147K in 2023)

Assistant Finance Director job open in 2025 at $140K

Accounting and Budget Manager - job created in 2024 at $102K

Human Resources Manager/Director (retired City Manager) Jim Bodenmiller retired from City Manager position in 2019 and rehired in 2022 as Human Resources Manager = Double-dipper. $141K in 2023

*** What's a Service Director? A created (in 2016) position for someone who's been with the city for 2 decades for someone they don't know what to do with? According to Facebook, he plans, directs, coordinates, supports, and evaluates the programs and activities of the Water Treatment Plant, Wastewater Treatment Plant, Utilities Maintenance, Facilities, Street Maintenance, Traffic Control, Fleet Maintenance, Forestry, and Administrative Divisions of the Service Dept. He has to be close to retirement now.

Total of just these folks = $1,877,000. And some of these are 3-year old salaries on previous jobs. I estimated Bodenmller's double salary at $200K. This does not include perks or benefits or retirement dollars.

I just can't understand why some of these jobs are needed in a town of 50-58K. Then, think about all the other taxpayer-funded jobs.

According to this Dayton Daily news article, the City Manager doubled the payroll of those making over $100K from 42 in 2022 to 83 2023. This is an annual reporting project put out by the Springfield News-Sun and Dayton Daily News every year.

They maintain a searchable database by year by name or agency: https://www.daytondailynews.com/data/news/payroll-project/

Another searchable database is: https://opengovpay.com/employer/oh/city-of-springfield

All Selected, None Elected

The County Coroners throughout the state being appointed by Commissioners sounds like no big deal, but just know. The Syndicate wants nothing more than less voters involved in their business. And that's just what it is for them - their business.