Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Something for the newspaper

The questions should go to an investigative newspaper reporter to be answered by the township trustees and Councilman Fix.

More questions

I have more questions about the development agreement:

9. I am not sure why this agreement must be 30 years for a number of years. Mr. Fix how did you and the township come up with the 30 years in the development agreement? Was this based on a study? Intuition? Or was it simply a WAG?

10. I also noticed in the agreement in both the pre-annexation for properties contiguous to Pickerington and the JEDD agreements on properties not contiguous to Pickerington. You have already stated the general terms of these agreements. Those terms are that we will share equally with the township after expenses. These up front terms seem to say it all and why would we need a pre-annexation agreement or a JEDD agreement?if you have already determined the tax sharing.

11. A follow up on the question above. The trustee stated in a letter to the editors recently that the city would not provide any services to these JEDD areas like water, sewer, road access or police. Apparently the trustees already have in ?“their?” minds the terms of ANY future JEDD agreement. Could someone share with me and others in the community what those unspoken terms will be if this development agreement is approved by the voters?

12. As was posted after my post yesterday I noticed that two properties in the township are applying for commercial zoning. I have also noticed that over the last couple of years the township has did a number of spot zonings in the township. I am sure those that support the township blindly will say no that is the plan. If the new zoning requests on Basel-Western, and Hill Road south are not spot zoning please explain why they are not? If you have that answer then please answer why the township re-zoned properties on Busey road to commercial and the 3 acres on Wright to commercial. I would say this practice of spot zoning can lead to a deterioration of property values and court costs if local land owners take the township and the county to task on the issues? Why has the township based this spot zoning decision on? Do they have studies to justify their decisions or are they flying by the seat of their pants?

13. What was pointed out in the Southeast Messenger article on the public hearings was that there is NO incentive for property owners to enter into these JEDD areas out in the remote areas of the township if they already have the infrastructures in place. So what incentives is the township going to give these property owners to enter into JEDD agreements?

14. In areas that do not have infrastructure in place who is going to provide that infrastructure? Along Allen road they do not have water, sewer, or a road wide enough to accommodate larger trucks and heavier traffic for commercial development. If outside governments do invest in the infrastructure how will the JEDD proceeds be divided up in light of the fact that the terms have already been set with this development agreement? Do you folks in the trustee office think Canal will build a road just to cover expenses? Building a road will take debt capacity and revenue to pay that debt off. Neither of which the township has much of. If this agreement limits Pickerington?’s growth and ability to borrow and pay off debt how do any of you propose that these future roads or infrastructure will be built?

Time for the paper Township

As we work our way through this mess that was created by Fix and the Township Trustees I am beginning to see the true value of conforming our city boundaries and creating our own paper township.

Right from the get go we can capture the $220,000 we are going to send to the township this coming year.

We remove the legal fee money used in the past to sue the city at every turn. This alone will save both the township and the city millions.

Fire protection is a different issue than the paper township. However no matter what your position is on the paper township is it is very conceivable that a community (city) of 15,000 could form and run its own fire department with little or no additional expenses. The splitting up of the fire department assets would be handled by the common pleas court of Fairfield county and they would divide those assets up fairly Would the City need a second fire house up north? Maybe? If they did I am sure they could impose impact fees to pay for a portion of that new facility. Maybe use EMS run billing to supplement the salaries of the EMS techs. Maybe use some of the money from the split up of assets with Violet Twp to pay for the second fire house. I am sure there is a very qualified staff at city hall that could work out the details. I doubt that Violet Township is the only government in Ohio that is able to run its own Fire Department.

Forming a paper township would not interfere with cooperation in the future because the city could still enter into these JEDD agreements and CEDA agreements if appropriate. If Violet Township decided to work with Canal then let them. Pickerington would not be subsidizing the Fire department for the abated properties down there.

By the way how come there has been no offer of a CEDA agreement from the Township to the City?

The City has it?’s own 911 system at the PD and they could hire 4 of 6 police officers they are currently short. I am sure since Fix is so concerned about the police that he would support the effort. They could also build a fire sub-station next to the PD to house the EMS units needed up north of the City and have quicker response time than the VFD.


I think the numbers are close enough that the City and her voters need to pursue the idea. Clearly Fix and the Mayor has those on council convinced that this would ?“tear the community apart.?” thus forgetting their recent campaign promises to the seniors of this community. Could and would it be willing to shift the tax burden from property taxes over to income taxes to support his new fire department? That will be the question for our voters not Fix and Weltlich. Clearly Fix finds himself our of touch with the voters.

I would encourage anyone willing to help to send your contact information to Brian Wisniewski?’s web site and your response will be handled confidentially.

brian@oraclebrian.com








By Petition carrying member

Let's move out on this

I guess what galls me is that a paper township is not even being pursued by council. If I remember back to what Patriot was posting earlier, forming a paper township can be an act of council and not need to go to the voters. Of course, in deference to Wisniewski, et al, perhaps an issue this important should go to the voters.

Here?’s my rub. The supporters of the economic agreement in both governing entities never lifted a finger to pull together financial data to support their case. The opponents did, however and it was compelling. Figuring the lines are pretty much drawn, I would guess that the supporters of a paper township are also the opponents of the agreement. So why aren?’t we pulling together data to support the case?

Is this whole paper township thing hinging on a single issue? It this fire department truly the issue? I look at other cities our size and see Public Safety Departments with Public Safety Directors overseeing both the police and fire departments. I see opportunities for things like impact fees being applied across the board to both fire departments and police departments. I see public safety levies bringing in revenue for both fire and police.

Is it that we think we are inventing something here with a Public Safety Department and a paper township so we have to be prepared to go to court and all that rigmarole? Well folks, I?’ll be blunt. It just ain?’t true! Other cities in Ohio have done this and so can we.

Let?’s get out there and talk to these other fire departments and wee why they are looking for joint service areas and mergers to aid them in revenue and coverage. Let?’s see just how truly well-respected our fire chief is with his peers. Yes, I do know that he has approached ALL chiefs in central Ohio begging them to reject talks with Pickerington if we try to form our own township and fire department. I really don?’t think Taylor is the second coming of Christ that the trustees think he is among his peer group. That certainly rings true with the fire officials I have talked to.

By the way, I sell equipment and technology that is used by fire departments and I have talked to other fire officials and yes, they all know Taylor and yes, they have all heard his speeches and ?“deals?” to keep Pickerington from having its own department and you know what they say? There are more trained and experienced fire department personnel in this area or willing to relocate to this area that the city would be overwhelmed with competent staff.

Can council at least form an exploratory citizen committee to look into this?