Friday, August 20, 1999
County finally hears voters
No money for radio system? Taxpayers didn't believe it
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It was a “read my lips” statement. Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus, moments after an emergency communications levy was rejected by voters May 4, said the county could not and would not pay for the system out of its general budget.
“The county is not going to belly up to the bar and pay for this,” Mr. Bedinghaus said then. “That's not the way it works.”
It is now.
The two other commissioners also stated several times during the campaign that the county would not pay for the digital, 800-megahertz system. But the three announced Wednesday that the county will, indeed, try to find about $30 million to build it.
The system, when finally built in 2002, will serve at least 40 of the county's 48 communities. It will allow police, fire and ambulance personnel to talk with one another during emergencies.
The commissioners' new tune left Marty Chadwick feeling misled.
Mr. Chadwick, 38, a University of Cincinnati facilities management employee from Westwood, voted against the levy because he thought that the county should pay for the system.
“I didn't believe them going in,” Mr. Chadwick said. “I thought they were lying about it, that they had enough money.”
Commissioners say Mr. Chadwick and other voters, who have now rejected three levies for the system, weren't lied to.
Mr. Bedinghaus said the proposed system will be a scaled-back model and commissioners were following the recommendation of a committee that studied communication needs of the entire county.
“What the committee presented to us at the time was a regional solution,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “We bought into that. I still think in a perfect world, that's the best solution, but voters have turned that down now three times.”
That explanation doesn't make sense to Sarah Miller, 40, a Republican from Miami Township. Mrs. Miller voted against the levy.
She said loose words by commissioners last May could come back to haunt them in elections.
“Do you think we're ever going to believe that story again?” she asked. “It looks to me like if you hold their feet to the fire, you can get them to pay for what needs to be paid for.”
Alan March thinks the commissioners acted properly during the campaign. Mr. March, a lieutenant with Cincinnati's communication center, voted in favor of the levy.
“I don't feel misled,” Mr. March said. “The commissioners said it was a one-time purchase, and this is the way we want to pay for it. The voters said "No,' but they still believe in it. And now they've found a different way to do it.”
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