CATCH A STAR
B1 Your Community Press newspaper serving Loveland, Miami Township, Symmes Township E-mail: loveland@communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, J u l y 2 9 , 2 0 0 9
Symmes Township road foreman Chip Brinkman
Volume 91 Number 23 © 2009 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Share your vacation photos
Whether you’re headed to the beach or the mountains this summer, we want to publish your vacation photos. To get started, go to Cincinnati.com/Share and follow the steps there to send your photos to us. Be sure to identify everyone in the photo and what community they live in. Photos will appear on your community page and may even make it into your local newspaper, so start sharing today!
An ocean? Here?
Whether you’re looking for an outdoorsy stay-cation or just a day trip for the kids, the Cincinnati Nature Center has you covered. The nature center, on Tealtown Road, Union Township, is hosting its first of four seasonal exhibits called Discover Our Hidden Ocean. SEE LIFE, B1
Collection time
In the next few days your Community Press carrier will be stopping by to collect $2.50 for delivery of this month’s Loveland Herald. Your carrier retains half of this amount along with any tip you give to reward Goyer good service. This month we’re featuring Zack Goyer, an 11th-grader at Loveland High School. He is in the marching band and plays the violin, and is a black belt in karate. Zack enjoys drawing in his spare time. He has been a carrier for two years and still puts papers on the front porch. For information about our carrier program, call Steve Barraco, 248-7110.
To place an ad, call 242-4000.
Web site: communitypress.com
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
50¢
District pays for security
Move includes resource officer By Jeanne Houck
jhouck@communitypress.com
Loveland High School’s recent annexation to Loveland notwithstanding, school officials say they are preparing to hire their own security personnel rather than a city police officer to act as school resource officer “I ... want at the school. Superintenpeople to dent Kevin know that we Boys said he believes it have would cost the complete d i s t r i c t confidence in $39,000 to $48,000 to go the Loveland that route – Police considerably Department less than the $75,000 he and their believes it ability to would cost to put a Loveland respond to police officer in situations at the position. our high Boys noted in a letter to school that city Manager would require Tom Carroll July police 6 that officials intervention.” in Symmes and Miami townKevin Boys ships – which Loveland also are in the schools Loveland City superintendent School District – long have made it clear they will not contribute a penny to the position. On May 27, Symmes made good on its pledge to, as soon as the property was annexed, remove the Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy it had been paying to act as resource officer there. Loveland has applied for a federal grant to help fund the position. Boys notes in his letter to Carroll that the city has offered to contribute about $10,000 of the cost of a school resource officer. City officials believe other entities need to step up to the plate. The district’s decision to go with its own security personnel is not a reflection on the Loveland Police Department, Boys told The Loveland Herald. “I also want people to know that we have complete confidence in the Loveland Police Department and their ability to respond to situations at our high school that would require police intervention,” Boys said.
PROVIDED. SUBMIT PHOTOS TO THERRON@COMMUNITYPRESS.COM.
Miami Township Multimedia Coordinator Will Menz teaches township Administrator Larry Fronk how to update the township’s newly redesigned Web site.
Miami Township launches new Web site By Mary Dannemiller
mdannemiller@communitypress.com
After two months of designing, redesigning, editing and working out technical glitches, Miami Township’s new Web site is ready for the public to visit. The site, miamitwp.org, now features video channels, contact information for all officials and 15 years of searchable trustee meeting minutes. “It’s hard to come to meetings at night and residents need to be able to find out what happened,” said community relations director Tim Pennington. “We have 15 years of searchable minutes, four years of resolutions and our current and past budgets – if you can’t find, it doesn’t exist.” Pennington and Miami Town-
By Jeanne Houck jhouck@communitypress.com
Loveland City Council was scheduled to vote July 28 on a new set of rules for nonprofit organizations seeking assistance from the city. Administrative staff drafted the proposed rules with input from the Ad Hoc Committee on Loveland Non-Profit Organizations. The committee was established by the city in December after city and Loveland Initiative officials butted heads over continued funding of the nonprofit group with
Browse the weekly ads from your favorite stores any day of the week, all in one place - online at Cincinnati.Com/weeklyads. Great deals and great features, like your own shopping list, are just a click away.
» Shop now at Cincinnati.Com/weeklyads
“The residents are the bosses of this township. Residents drive everything we do so we’re trying to respond to their needs in ways that benefit the community and are financially sound.”
Mary Makley Wolff Miami Township trustee
ship multimedia coordinator Will Menz did most of the work on the new site, saving the township thousands of dollars. Aside from paying $1,500 for information technology consultant company LANSolutions to help work out technical kinks and a $300 class on how to use open source software, the township incurred no costs for the redesign.
“We tasked our departments to find ways to save money and we’re doing it well,” said Trustee Mary Makley Wolff. “I think there are a lot of ways to save money, but they require research and being creative and we have people in our departments who are willing to do the work. As a result, we did it cheaper and got a better product.” The open source Web site will not only save the township money on software upgrades, but also will allow employees and department heads to update their portions of the site. “The residents are the bosses of this township,” Wolff said. “Residents drive everything we do so we’re trying to respond to their needs in ways that benefit the community and are financially sound.”
Loveland mulls nonprofit rules
THE WEEKLY ADS: NOW CLICKABLE.
Search: weekly ads
HERALD
federal funds earmarked for the city. With rules in place, Loveland City Manager Tom Carroll said, “Organizations seeking funding would benefit from having required information clearly stated and the city would benefit from having requests for the following year received in time for the annual budget process.” The proposed rules would require nonprofit organizations to apply no later than Sept. 15 for financial assistance for the following calendar year. The proposed rules also would:
• require applicants for help from the city to provide proof of their nonprofit status, information about their proposals and how they would improve the quality of life for Loveland residents and businesses and a way to measure the success of the proposals; • prohibit requests for assistance for political and religious projects, unless religious groups are seeking help for non-religious purposes. The city would not provide assistance to fund ongoing operating expenses, reduce debt or venture capital for profit-making activities.