Saturday, January 30, 1999
North Bend survival subject of whispers
Newcomers don't like taxes
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NORTH BEND — The firehouse doors are now closed, and its police department several years ago disbanded and gave way to policing by the county sheriff's department.
Some are asking whether this small town on the far west side of Hamilton County will be the next to test the waters of dissolving as a village and merge with Miami Township.
When North Bend began steps to disband its fire department a month ago, it prompted talk of dissolution in this community, the smallest village in the county.
Just last November, Cleves, right next door along the Ohio River, was faced with the issue of dissolving and ending its 210-year history as a village. Residents voted not to dissolve.
While some in North Bend maintain that dissolving the village is remote at best, the talk persists.
“I think there's ulterior motives to what some people do,” Councilman Kenny Gross said of the decision to disband the fire department in late December. Mr. Gross helped re-establish the fire department in 1995. “I'm afraid of where we're headed. I have roots here in the village, and I don't want to see it go the other way. But I know there's a faction out there that would love to see it dissolved. We could have just taken the first step to our demise here. But I'm speculating.”
However, some would say that by cutting services and lowering taxes, the village is short-circuiting any move to even get such an issue on the ballot.
Even as Cleves went through the pain of a dissolution campaign, both pro- and anti-dissolution advocates predicted other small towns might follow suit. The appeal is that by becoming part of a larger community, the tax base is enlarged and taxes lowered.
Ron Bowling, a Cleves resident and chairman of Save A Village Environment (SAVE), which fought the dissolution move in Cleves, said the group plans to start a petition drive to merge the communities and make both less vulnerable to dissolution.
“I feel it is just a matter of time before the wheels are put into motion on dissolving this incorporated village into the township,” Mr. Bowling said of North Bend. “There's been a fair amount of talk about it.”
If there are whispers about dissolution, it wouldn't be the first time in this 210-year-old town.
Four years ago, both the police and fire departments were disbanded after the village found itself indebt, in the middle of political turmoil and mismanagement, and following a resounding defeat by voters of both a police and operating levy.
In May 1994, village council seriously considered allowing the town to merge with Miami Township. The village eventually rebounded, finally passing an operating levy and emergency services levy in November 1994, even bringing back its fire department, and talk of dissolution disappeared.
Partly, some believed, backing off the idea was a reward to village officials for trying their best to make things work. But saving North Bend as a village, whose population has grown from 550 to 900 with the recent addition of upscale housing, also had to do with the village's sense of history.
North Bend was the home of President William Henry Harrison and the birthplace of the president's grandson, Benjamin
Harrison, who became the country's 23rd president.
John Cleves Symmes, its founder, who envisioned the town as a thriving metropolis in the 1700s, is buried in its Congress Green Cemetery.
The town never became a thriving metropolis, of course. It once had a market, but that has since closed. There is an auto repair shop in the center of town, but it is a town without a real center.
There are no traffic lights. Not counting its upscale subdivision, Aston Oaks, which still is under construction, there are only a little more than 200 households.
Bill Kane, the village's vice mayor, said dissolution of the village would not stand much of a chance. People didn't much care for the idea last time around.
“I would say it would be a remote possibility,” said Mr. Kane, “They could put it on the ballot, but I think it would go down in flames.”
But North Bend continues to grow, just as Cleves has grown, and the face of the citizenry changes. The campaign last year to dissolve Cleves, initiated by newcomers in the village, was turned back, but the vote was considered close, 58 percent to 42 percent, with just 188 votes separating defeat from passage.
Mr. Kane said the problem in Cleves doesn't hold in North Bend; Cleves village officials cavalierly dismissed those who had questioned the high taxes. That group eventually organized the dissolution movement.
“The problem is that people came in with questions and they sloughed them off,” said Mr. Kane. “You don't do that with people.”
But if North Bend wants to rebuff any move to dissolve, the best way is by lowering taxes, say Cleves officials. This they accomplished by disbanding the fire department, a move that Mr. Kane said will “return another three mills back to the taxpayers so that everybody's taxes are going to go down.”
But not everyone is alarmed by the notion of dissolution.
Fred Fisher, who has lived in North Bend since before World War II, said disbanding the fire department was welcome news.
“I'm all for it,” Mr. Fisher said. “We've got (fire) coverage. We've got the township. In fact, it's just a matter of time before North Bend will be in the township. There's other people like me. It'll lower your taxes. I like township government.”
Margaret Knapp, another resident, also isn't disappointed by the news.
“It sounds to me like we're getting more for our money as taxpayers,” said Ms. Knapp. “The township already has fire service. They're going to combine, and that sounds good to me.”
But Mr. Gross said the village will miss the dedication of the firefighters.
“Our guys excelled at getting to the scene,” said Mr. Gross. About a half-dozen of them lived, literally, within running distance of the firehouse on Taylor Avenue.
“They didn't get in their cars,” Mr. Gross said. “They ran out the back door, ran across people's yards and got there in record time. This village is going to miss that.”
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