Three Trotwood City Levies Pass, Schools Rejected Again

By Bruce Kettelle

Several Trotwood precincts were late being counted Tuesday delaying the outcomes of several close races. With the last precinct tabulated at 12:30 AM Wednesday both the Trotwood EMS and Fire issues were approved, one street levy passes and the incumbent city council members were re-elected to new four-year terms.

"We have to be very excited that they won," said fire chief Gene Lutz as he watched levy results roll in at the firehouse on Little Richmond Rd. "We can continue to provide this level of service and replace outdated equipment." The EMS renewal levy is passing with 66.4% of the vote. The fire equipment additional levy was much closer with 51.1% of the vote.

The Trotwood street department will have some new money for next year. Voters gave 51.6% approval to funding for street maintenance including additional salt supplies for snow and ice control in the winter. But the request to fund other expenses including leaf pick up only attracted a 39.7% approval leaving this category unfunded for next year.

"We worked very hard for this," said public works director Thomas Odenigbo. "It must be what the residents want and I'll live with it." Supporters of the street levy were gathered at the community center in Sycamore Woods.

A complication in the ballot language for the second street levy left some voters confused. One unidentified voter in ward three said he thought the wording was so vague that it sounded like a general fund levy. He said he voted no and thought others might have mistakenly done the same.

The Trotwood-Madison City Schools will be waking up today to the failure of their second levy attempt. They are trying to raise additional operating funds for the first time since the early 1990s. Even though the district reduced the request this year only 41% of the voters agreed with yesterday's 7.5-mill attempt.

Last years 9.06-mill levy received a slightly higher percentage at 44.6. During that 2008 Presidential election 71% of Trotwood’s voters turned out to the polls.

School supporters gathered at the former Moto Photo headquarters lamented that this will mean cuts in the 2010-2011 budget. "The board will have to make cuts in academics, extracurricular, and bussing," said assistant superintendent Rexanne Wagner. "They will feel the cuts."

Three school board members were reelected to four-year terms. Deborah Daniels, Teena Davis and Denise Moore ran unopposed.

There was competition for three of the four city council seats. Rap Hankins narrowly retained his seat in a heated race from newcomer Janice Chinn. Chinn centered her campaign on the failure of city council to raise objections over the new Greyhound Bus terminal opening last month on Shiloh Springs Rd. Hankins pulled 807 votes to Chinn's 774 in the Ward 2 race.

Joyce Sutton Cameron (Ward 1) and Mary McDonald (Ward 4) easily kept their council seats with 61% and 62% affirmations. Cameron received 1,103 votes to Mattie Clay's 703. McDonald captured 545 votes to J.D. Williams II's 333.

Ron Vaughn ran unopposed in Ward 3.

Trotwood's turnout was a little heavier than usual off-year elections. A total of 6,103 voters came to the polls, a 33% turnout. The highest turnout is Ward 3 with 36% and the lowest is Ward 4 with 29%.