BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CLEVES -- The Cincinnati Water Works and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department say they are prepared to step in the breach should the village of Cleves dissolve and become part of Miami Township.
Voters in this town of 2,300 will be asked Nov. 3 whether they want to continue as a village. A group in support of dissolving gathered enough signatures to place the issue on the ballot.
Residents have expressed concern about who would supply water to the village, because Cleves runs its own waterworks, and who would provide police services if the village police department had to disband.
Bill Phelps, administrative assistant to David Rager, Cincinnati Water Works director, said that if the village does dissolve, it would be up to Hamilton County to assume responsibility and supply water. "Most likely they would ask us to take it over," said Mr. Phelps. He said Cincinnati could assume responsibility for Cleves' physical plant and run it as a satellite.
Mr. Phelps said Cincinnati "has some relatively easy hook-ups we can make to our system" over four to six months.
"Our rates would be somewhat higher than they are experiencing now," he said, "but we don't think it'll be any more than $5 or $6 per month on an average bill."
Mr. Phelps also said the debt on the Cleves utility would probably transfer to whoever takes it over.
Steve Barnett, spokesman for the Hamilton County sheriff's office, said sheriff's deputies would patrol Cleves, just as they do in Miami Township.
Mr. Barnett said Sheriff Simon L. Leis Jr. has made a commitment to create a district in the Cleves, North Bend and Miami Township area should the village dissolve.
That would mean establishing an office with one sergeant and 11 officers. North Bend and Miami Township are currently patrolled from the sheriff's patrol headquarters in Colerain Township. Creating a new office, or substation, would be new, and whether more manpower would be needed would have to be determined by a crime survey and analysis of the area.
"That puts the people there more often, or in a little closer contact," Mr. Barnett said of a new substation.
