December 19, 2006 - Volume 15, No. 51

a Winkler Company publication

Also featuring photos from our monthly supplement...

Distinctive Homes circa 1912 & 1913

Lebanon Citizens National Bank breaks ground on Far Hills Ave.

Oakwood and bank officials line up along Far Hills Avenue and break ground signaling the beginning of construction of the Oakwood branch of Lebanon Citizens National Bank.

Architect’s rendering of Oakwood LCNB branch.

On Friday morning, city officials, bank officers and other dignitaries broke ground to dedicate the building of Oakwood’s newest banking institution, Lebanon Citizens National Bank (LCNB), a 127-year-old firm with headquarters in Lebanon, Ohio and the tenth largest banking institution in the Dayton area. The bank is to be located at the corner of Far Hills Avenue and Oak Knoll Drive. Two longstanding buildings were recently razed to make room for the planned one story building that will include walk-in and drive-up banking, and an ATM.

Also to be on premises are two other financial services: DAKIN Insurance Agency and UVEST Investment Services.

The Oakwood branch of LCNB is the first established in Montgomery County. The bank has 18 branch offices located throughout southwestern Ohio. Building completion and opening is slated for the spring of 2007.

Projected Oakwood 2007 budget set at $23 million

By Lance Winkler

The Oakwood City Council met on Monday, Dec. 18 with all members present. Mayor Judy Cook announced a number of committee appointments, among them Steve Byington to be renewing his seat on the Oakwood Planning Commission, Becky Butler newly appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals and councilmember Stanley Castleman to the ED/GE regional economic development group.

The Regional Dispatch Study, a proposal to centralize fire, safety and EMS call services at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office was touched on. Mayor Cook assured the audience that no decision on the issue has been made pro or con as yet. Mayor Cook said that a final decision will not be reached until the end of May when the feasibility study is to be completed. Furthermore, a go-no go decision is to be considered after an impact study is presented to the city council at their next meeting on Monday, Jan. 22. The public is invited to the meeting to give their input as well.

Two Oakwood citizens, Connie Gardner and Dan Edwards, got up during the visitor portion of the meeting and gave their opinions in opposition to adopting such a proposal. Ms. Gardner queried the council concerning the dispatcher proposal, asking if Oakwood has been threatened with the loss of government funding. Dan Edwards indicated that Oakwood is very special and one of the best aspects about living here is the rapid response time of fire, police and emergency medical services to calls within Oakwood’s city limits. He gave a personal example to illustrate his concern and brought up a recent county dispatch miscue that affected an Oakwood merchant to further illustrate a possible problem.

Labor negotiations with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 107 representing 25 safety officers are still ongoing. The three-year contract expired in October and the city and FOP negotiators are still at odds. The FOP wants a 5.5 percent wage increase each year for three years while the city offered three percent. Arbitration officials suggested a five percent increase. Another sticking point is that the city wants an alcohol and drug testing policy for the department. The union said no to the suggestion and the arbitrator said it is not in the contract. Negotiations are headed for binding mediation.
Council member William Duncan introduced the projected city budget for 2007 - $23 million. Duncan qualified that amount by itemizing $7.8 million from the current budget to make the net budget $15.2 million for the new year.

City Manager Norbert Klopsch gave a Power Point presentation on Oakwood’s projected goals for the new year, among them: the 2008 Centennial Project, a property subdivision analysis, a green space plan, traffic flow monitoring, water system preventive maintenance, Oakwood Avenue improvements, a volunteer program for the Oakwood Safety Department, the Sugar Camp development, the Park Avenue Streetscape, the Orchard Drive municipal lot, a winter aquatics program agreement with the University of Dayton, and the projected Old River Drive to be built for access to the soccer fields.

The next formal meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 22, 2007.

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