Submitted by Mayor Stefan C. Densmore, pdf version click here.

 

15th Annual Golf Manor Soapbox Derby. I’m pleased to announce the 15th Annual Golf Manor Grand Prix, scheduled for Sunday, May 17th on Bremont Avenue in Golf Manor. Golf Manor kids ages 7-18 years of age can borrow a derby car and race FREE. One of the cars available this year is sponsored by the Golf Manor Police Department! Kids must schedule ahead of time to go pick out their race car.

There are two age divisions for the race. The Stock Division is for ages 7-13 years old. The Super Stock Division is for ages 9-18 years old. Kids interested in racing should sign up as soon as possible, and then schedule a day to select their race car. Dates available to select your race car are May 11th through 15th. There are also a lot of forms to fill out– links to those forms can be found on our website.

 

Park Bathrooms should be open next month. We typically open the park bathrooms in May. This year we were hoping to open them a little earlier given that we have soccer practices actively occurring there during April. We are opening the municipal building to the public for use of the bathrooms on the nights that soccer practices and games are occurring as an alternative. I want to thank our staff for making that possible. The water line to the park bathrooms is still shut off from winterization protocols but the request has been made to have the water works opening those lines back up as soon as possible. 

 

Attended Open House of Tyrex Development & Construction, spoke to the principle owner about their past projects, which span Over-the-Rhine, Hyde Park Square, 5th Street, Walnut Street, Mason, Blue Ash, Walnut Hills, and more. Their projects closest to Golf Manor include the building at the former Cincinnati Gardens location, as well as The Coffee Exchange in Pleasant Ridge. Terrex Construction was founded in 2014 and provides consultative construction services for commercial real estate, and help manage completed projects. They are located at 6222 Wiehe Road, and we welcome them to the village! 

 

Salary Adjustments. It was brought to my attention that the salary posted for the Chief of Police position is higher than our payscale currently affords. We also have a situation where our starting salary band for the maintenance department is higher than the supervisory band for that department. I’ve asked the chair of our finance committee, council member Zach Michaelson to take on these challenges toward a legislative solution. As many of you know there has also been requests to operationalize the bonus or salary structure for staff who are put into the position of managing the responsibilities of vacant staff positions. My hope is that we’ll have some legislation evolving in finance committee that bundles all this together, sometimes that’s not possible though– in either event I want to thank Zach and the committee for the amount of extra hours they are putting in to resolve these issues. 

 

Neighborhood Food Pantries. We now have a second little food pantry in the village– in addition to the one we have at the east Losantiville location, we now have one placed at the west Losantiville location. I want to thank everyone who has made that possible, including Dani Lape for construction of the pantry, Council woman Gwen Chesser for leading the project, Acting Chief Reed of our Police Department, and Mills Fence for providing the labor of placing the post. I believe our little pantries reflect very positively on our village, communicating a message of care for those that may be struggling in our community, and these pantries combine that message with freely available tangible resources– so once again, thank you to all involved.

 

I attended the Condo Association Meeting of Ridge Acres and discussed the possibility of a third little pantry being located there. This would address concerns that our pantries are presently solely on the north end of the village. I received feedback about the idea and proposed placement. The consensus at the meeting was for placement near the Turning Point church on Ridge Acres road. I have not yet reached out to the admin or pastor of the church to see if they would be interested in taking on the project. I have a condo owner on Ridge acres who volunteered to help as a custodian of the pantry should the placement be approved.

 

Attorney’s fees have significantly surpassed our budget. Our fiscal officer pointed out that the billing cycle of the law firm we use works in such a way that we don’t see the January bill until March, so we’re probably even more over budget than we think. I’ve put the following policies in place to help increase our clarity of service usage moving forward: 1) I’ve asked our lead attorney to notify me, and cc our fiscal officer, with a weekly estimate of total usage; 2) I asked to see a breakdown of the monthly bill by primary contact, to gain clarity into the individual usage of our legal services, e.g. the mayor, the heads of departments and committees, individual council members, or other. 

 

Henry H. Faulk, husband of former Mayor Donna Faulk, died last month. He was a devoted husband of nearly 43 years, a loving father to their children Jason and Shannon, and a cherished grandfather to Penelope. He was a dear brother, uncle and friend to many. He was known for his intellect, humility and service work. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Kolping Society. He played saxophone, coached youth soccer and baseball, and served as a leader in the Cincinnati Knothole Baseball Association. He also enjoyed tending his garden. His legacy of compassion, dedication, and quiet strength will live on through the countless lives he touched and the family he loved deeply. There was a proclamation made by the Hamilton County Commissioners marking Thursday March 19th as Henry H Faulk Day. 

 

Education and Earth Day Proclamations. I read a proclamation here at the municipal building with members of the orthodox jewish community, their children and educators. I’ve done this annually at the Yeshiva but this year we held it here at the municipal building as all the kids were out of school for the holidays. I’ve included a copy of the proclamation in my report.

 

I’ll be reading an Earth Day Everyday Proclamation and posting information about our Mayors Tree Program tomorrow on Earth day. I started the Mayor’s Tree Program three years ago with funds provided by the Duke Energy Foundation. The program provides native canopy trees freely to Golf Manor residents, more details about how the program works will be available tomorrow,

 

Admin Search. I have requested that the Ohio Plan Risk Management group provide a Full-Service Executive Recruitment Process for us. I’d like to use these guys to design and engage the search process for our village admin. I’ve met with the executive director, Michael Hinnenkamp, and believe they can provide a process that will withstand public scrutiny. I’d like this process to be fully vetted by council, with input on the position profile from myself, the heads of each department, the council and community– and he assures me that we can do this without having to design everything from scratch, that in fact they do this all the time. I have a draft of what they will be doing for us to share with council. As their process will take awhile, I will still be asking the council to confirm a temporary admin to assist me until I make my longer term appointment. 

 

Appointment of Temporary Village Admin. I emailed the resume of Nathan Cahall to all the council members last month, and encouraged each of them to reach out to him with any questions they have. Mr. Cahall is available to serve as an interim administrator while our search process plays out for a full time administrator. He meets my requirements, and I believe he meets the criteria that the council has presented to me. He is available this evening to answer any questions that the council may have. We can call an executive session as well as ask questions publicly, either way at the pleasure of the council. Our legal counsel has already vetted a potential contract for Mr. Cahall’s services, so we can vote on this tonight if it pleases the council. It certainly would please me.

 

Other Projects. Yosemite has been paved. Speed humps and edge seals are also complete as well as on Ridge Acres. Security cameras are operational in the park, as is some new lighting. The HVAC system in the municipal building is being reviewed to formulate a plan to replace components toward an updated system over the next 5 years. Our current system has a hard time switching from heating to cooling, which makes the adjustment to fluctuating outdoor temperatures very challenging.

 

Ohio Municipal League updates: You can view a PDF of all the State bills OML is tracking from their website. There are a number of these that if passed in present form could significant effect our village operations, so I’ve included their summaries of some of the legislation in my report: 

 

“One of the most comprehensive bills in recent times was House Bill 184 — which was originally an intercollegiate athletic contracts but became a “Christmas tree” bill near the end of 2025, before being signed into law. It became effective March 19.

There are provisions in the bill for municipalities to pay close attention to going forward. The law:

• Exempts from public records disclosure economic development information submitted to political subdivisions and explicitly clarifies that municipal income tax-related information is not a public record, strengthening confidentiality protections for sensitive business and taxpayer data. OML will be providing more guidance on these aspects in the near future.
• Transfers administration of the Ohio Post-Traumatic Stress Fund to the Department of Public Safety, expands coverage to include a broad range of public safety personnel (including volunteers), and provides a significant $40 million funding infusion for FY 2027 to support mental health services.
• Allows projects that previously received — but later lost — enhanced historic preservation tax credit awards to requalify for those higher credit amounts upon reapplication, preserving access to more generous incentives that are no longer broadly available.
• Authorizes local governments to extend certain TIF agreements for up to 30 additional years for major, long-standing employers that commit to significant investment (≥$100 million) and job retention (≥1,000 jobs), providing a powerful tool for retaining and expanding large economic drivers.

Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) & Retirement Policy

• HB280 would increases employer contribution rates from 19.5% to 24%, phased in over time. It also allows additional increases if actuarial benchmarks are not met and has received two hearings. The bill received two hearings in the House Public Insurance and Pensions Committee. SB239 is companion legislation in the Senate that is receiving sponsor testimony in the Senate Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology Committee this week.

• HB473 would prohibit public employers from paying state retirement pension contributions on behalf of employees. The bill has received four hearings in the House Public Insurance and Pensions Committee.

These measures could significantly impact municipal budgets, particularly given that many communities already dedicate a large share of resources to public safety.

Short-term Rental Legislation

• SB104 is preemption legislation that seeks prohibitions on the local regulation of short-term rentals, such as Airbnb and Vrbo. It has received four hearings in the Senate Local Governmetn Committee. HB109 is companion legislation in the House. A substitute version of HB109 was accepted that the sponsor characterized as a compromise, but it remains a preemption. This bill has received three hearings in the House Development Committee.

 

• HB161 is narrower legislation that would extend local lodging taxes to short-term rentals (with no regulatory preemption), as well as require short-term rental platforms to collect and remit the taxes. It has had three hearings in the House Development Committee.

Municipal Income Tax Legislation

• HB503 recently passed the House and received sponsor testimony in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. It requires voter approval for reductions or repeals of municipal reciprocity credits and prohibits combining reciprocity and tax rate questions on the same ballot. It also includes an amendment for the Ohio Department of Taxation to study municipal income taxes and issue a report by the end of the year.

OML opposes the legislation due to its potential to create financial uncertainty and delay local fiscal decision-making — particularly as municipalities adjust to recent property tax changes. Members are encouraged to contact their senators regarding concerns.”

 

Our State Representative, Ashley Bryant-Bailey, will be in attendance at our next council meeting to share a little bit about all this legislation occurring at the State level– and to meet and answer questions. On behalf of the village I’m very proud that she will be stopping by. 

 

This Mayor’s report is respectfully submitted to the residents of Golf Manor. Thank you for the honor of being your Mayor. 

 

Mayor Stefan C. Densmore 

Village of Golf Manor