JUDGE ZUK RETURNS B1
Your Community Press newspaper serving Miami Township and Milford Clermont County Municipal Court Judge Ken Zuk talks with attorneys in his chambers
Vol. 31 No. 9 © 2011 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
E-mail: milford@communitypress.com We d n e s d a y, M a r c h 1 6 , 2 0 1 1
By Kellie Geist-May
When it comes to keeping an eye on severe weather, the National Weather Service needs feet on the street. “We have a lot of great technology to provide information about severe weather, but we still need ground truth information – people who are out there, seeing what’s actually going on,” said Mary Jo Parker, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington. FULL STORY, B1
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Block watches can help city kmay@communitypress.com
Weather spotters can save lives
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The Milford Police Department hopes to start block watches throughout the city. Milford Interim Police Chief Jamey Mills said the block watches, which are the same as neighborhood watches, would help dissuade and prevent crime while creating a relationship between the police and the community. “I think one of the big things (the police department) needs to improve on is communication, not just internally, but with the community. I’m not trying to create a new way to contact the police
department, but I would like at least one person in each neighborhood who can be in touch with us,” he said. “Block watches are all Mills about getting to know the police department and your neighbors.” Mills said he envisions having a block watch captain in each neighborhood. That person would be the liaison between the police and his or her community. “We’d like the residents to ask around and see if someone would want to be the coordinator or, if
someone knows they want to do it, we could help them spread the word and generate interest. Then we’ll set up an initial meeting to talk about the program,” he said. Officer Megan Bovenzi, who is going to be the block watch coordinator, said the program will help people get to the know their neighborhoods, which also can help with reporting things that are out of the ordinary. “We are a small agency and we can’t be everywhere all the time, so we really need our residents to help us stay on top of things and solve problems,” she said. “We need to hear from the people.” Mills said the neighborhoods could include areas such as South
Milford, East Milford, Clertoma, Tree Ridge, Stone Ridge, Meadows. Bovenzi said the city’s neighborhood structure and residents can really make the block watches successful. “I think this program will totally complement this city,” she said. “This is a good tool that will help residents network with each other and with us … We are trying to give people an opportunity to be involved in safety services.” Areas also will be able to put up “Neighborhood Crime Watch” signs, Mills said. Anyone who is interested should call the police department at 248-5084 and ask for Bovenzi.
Census shows county growth
See how each community in the county grew – or didn’t. FULL STORY, A3
Students organize food drive
The fourth-grade students at Boyd E. Smith Elementary recently organized a food drive for Milford Miami Ministries with a Super Bowl theme. FULL STORY, A2
Schools strive for energy efficiency
By turning off the lights, turning down the heat and closely monitoring energy consumption throughout the district, the Milford Exempted Village School District saved about $206,000 in the 20092010 fiscal year. FULL STORY, A3
Milford works with EPA on aquifer
Milford is working with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to seek federal funds to further investigate contamination in the aquifer. FULL STORY, A2
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Practice run
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Members of the Milford elementary schools Dance & Drill Team pose at the end of their performance March 9 for family and friends. The Dance & Drill Team will be one of more than 60 units performing at the Milford-hosted TriState Circuit competition for winter guards and drumlines from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Milford High School. Pictured, from left, are Brianna LeMaster, Rachel Vonderhaar, Natasha Johnson, Emily Geise, Mollie Baker, Makenzie Troehler, Bridgett Ridder, Chloe Rowley, Andrea Eppert and Emily Chen.
Milford to revamp sign ordinance By Kellie Geist-May kmay@communitypress.com
For a business, a sign is more than just a name plate. It’s one of the quickest ways to reach potential customers and clients. To help clarify the types of signs that suit both businesses and the community, Milford officials are putting together a committee to review and revamp the city’s sign ordinance. “We are looking for business owners, planning people, residents and basically anyone who would be willing to look at Milford’s sign ordinance. Feedback from the business community will be really key because they are the ones who benefit from signage,” said Milford Assistant City Manager Pam Holbrook. The current ordinance was approved in 1999. The committee would meet a
Sign committee
Milford officials are asking for volunteers, residents and business owners, to help update the city’s sign ordinance. The committee will meet several times during the next few months. Committee members will provide input regarding the current ordinance and future regulations. Participants should either reside within city limits or own a property or business in the city. For more information or to volunteer, call Pam Holbrook at 248-5093. few times to draft a new ordinance to present to planning commission members and Milford City Council. Both would hold public hearings. Holbrook said she expects a new ordinance to be in effect in about six months. Planning commission member Oliver Roe, of D.E.R. Development, said sign requests are some of the most common issues to come before the planning commission. “Sign requests make up a substantial portion of what we see at
our meetings. On occasion, we are faced with some tough decisions – sometimes it’s the specific circumstance; other times it’s the current code that makes it difficult,” Roe said. “In today’s world, information is a highly-valued commodity and this has served to increase the importance of advertising and marketing in retail and in the business world as a whole. As a city, we must be able to balance the needs of the business community with the restraint of carefully cal-
culated zoning ordinances,” Roe said. “We must bring our sign code up to speed and hash out any gray areas that have grown as a result of these changes and just to work out the bugs in general.” The ordinance includes signs throughout the city, including the Old Mill Overlay. In addition to overall review, Holbrook said she expects the committee to talk about electronic signs, like the PDQ sign near Interstate 275. “Electronic message centers have become really big and, if we don’t address that in our ordinance, we don’t have a clear way to address those,” she said. Anyone interested in serving on the committee should call Holbrook at 248-5093. Holbrook said the city also is interested in signspecific concerns community members might have. Anyone who would like to talk about specific issues also can call Holbrook.