Dear Northmont Resident
When I ran for Englewood City Council. last year, I had the opportunity to visit over 90% of the homes in the City. I also visited every precinct.
A common theme I heard over and over was that we need to move forward as a community-forward as one community not two, three or four different ones. An editorial in the "Dayton Daily News" on Aug. 25 said the same thing.
Most of the citizens I talked to favored a merger. In fact, a telephone survey commissioned by Englewood verified what I was hearing. That city residents favor a merger between the City of Englewood and Randolph Township. This was a fact that was never mentioned in The Englewood-Northmont Community Newsletter put out quarterly by the Mayor and City Council. They also did not report that city residents (by almost 95% )were satisfied or very satisfied with the Randolph Township Fire Department. Other facts in the survey you did not read about in the City newsletter were that the citizens of Englewood, favored by over 60%, "... a recreation center be constructed for the Northmont area."
As a taxpayer, I'm concerned about all the money being spent at taxpayers expense on frivolous lawsuits filed by City Council. Since 1985 according to the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts, the City has filed 23 civil lawsuits, some that were later dismissed. During that same period of time, 17 lawsuits were filed against the City. Most recently, the City filed an injunction to stop the merger between Randolph Township and Clayton. The City says that it, along with Union, contributes about 53% of the revenue towards the fire department and "has no say" on how the fire department should be run. What they don't say is that about 63% of the expenses are incurred within the city limits of Englewood and Union. The residents in Randolph and Clayton have to make up the other 10% to cover Englewood's and Union's expenses. This spending on the cost of litigation has to stop. We must come together as a whole community to survive.
Each of the four Northmont communities has a vested interest in the future of this community. The City of Englewood, Union, Randolph Township and Clayton must sit down and begin talking. That will mean putting aside petty grievances, personalities, and personal feelings.
A common thread running through all four communities is the Northmont School System. Perhaps we should all return to school and learn how to use common sense in our approach to problem solving. Perhaps if we do, a new Northmont community could be formed. Perhaps we could call it the City of Northmont. At the very most, each jurisdiction would have to give up their name. At least the name currently on the side of the school busses, "Northmont City Schools," would remain the same.
Fred Sinay,
Englewood